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Post by stormshadow on Jun 22, 2022 19:35:19 GMT
Fred I like them a lot. Have done for close to 25 years with no deleterious effects. I do them very very slow for maybe about one set of 15 reps. Time under tension probably 4 to 5 minutes. I go to parallel only most of the time slightly short of parallel. Sometimes I just do them isometrically for a similar amount of time with no movement. I think the spine is a mechanical marvel, but just like other mechanical marvels like sports cars, their struts and shocks and other suspension mechanisms can wear out with too many flexions under load. I think if you go all the way down it can hurt your disks. I do them at least once a week if not twice. However I have known people they are not good for. For example, people ('experts') say behind the neck presses, pull downs, chins and upright rows are terrible. Not for me, I love them. Do them slowly carefully and purposefully and see how you feel. If you think about it, the slow sit back exercise from Total Fitness in thirty minutes per week from Morehouse is a variation of it without the roman chair. Now the Roman column is a different story. I would not do. I did a couple when I was a young man and I could here things cracking and moving that was quite unsettling, both my body and the "rickety Roman colum" I was using. It was more of a Visigoth throw together. Not to mention that if you fall off you will almost certainly break your neck. There was a Richard Gere movie where he hung upside down and I wanted to try it. physicalculturestudy.com/2016/10/12/5461/#:~:text=Wrapping%20one's%20feet%20around%20a,a%20highly%20advanced%20ab%20exercise.
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Post by fredhutch on Jun 22, 2022 20:31:43 GMT
Stormshadow, it's funny you mention the Roman column, in the book "Strength: A Treatise on the Development and Use of Muscle" by Charles Sampson (1895) he has plans to build your own roman column. I remember a photo of Sig Klein in his gym and there is a roman column behind him. Always thought it was a way cool piece of equipment, although actually doing it is another matter that I think I'll leave to the young. I believe the roman chair is a derivative of the roman column, in fact I think an improvised apparatus using a chair is also mentioned in that same book, if I'm remembering right.
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Post by stormshadow on Jun 22, 2022 23:43:08 GMT
You are right Fred. It is a derivative which is why I thought you would enjoy. And really cool you knew about it.
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