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The most comfortable tool for something uncomfortable
My favourite equipment does one thing really well. Why single-purpose beats the do-everything machine.
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by Adarsh Gopal
The most comfortable tool to do something incredibly uncomfortable
Being a student of gym equipment and how people use it, my favourite kind of equipment is a simple piece that does one thing really well.
The last few years has seen an explosion in gadgets that pack in a tonne of capabilities. The glute ham machine that also does back extensions, hyper extensions, and crunches. With the back extension configurable anywhere from parallel to 45 degrees. The squat rack with two massive pulley stacks and a cable system that slides from floor level for curls all the way up for lat pulldowns. Well engineered machines that do a lot. And take too long to set up. These tools save space, and that matters for some.
But making one piece of equipment do many jobs has costs. It needs plenty of little bits and pieces, and a frame big enough to support them all. It leads to cramped experiences. When you’re squatting, it’s not comfortable to have someone sitting in your rack doing cable rows. And it creates friction. Switching a 45 degree back extension into a floor glute ham takes time. Time that isn’t there when you’re supersetting two moves, or three people need to get through 6 reps each inside 4 minutes and one of them needs to regress to a back extension.
Space still comes at a premium. So I bias to the most compact, robust, simple design possible. Give every piece the reasonable footprint it needs. Build it stable and comfortable, with room for small adjustments. Make cushions quick to swap or clean.
Here’s the simplest glute ham machine possible. It can’t get any simpler. The length is exactly what’s needed so it can’t tip. The plate holding the cushion is just the right size for a person with long shins to squiggle forward and find their position. The footpad is adequately long. The height is fixed. We add rubber pads under the cushion as needed. And the details that matter most are the ones you feel: cushions and geometry shaped so the knees rest naturally and the ankles slide in snug. Nothing to lubricate. Nothing to jam your fingers in. Nothing to adjust. Slip in, 6 reps, done, out of there.
That’s the whole idea. The glute ham is a brutal exercise. The machine’s only job is to remove every discomfort except the one you came for. I enjoy this simplicity. A machine built for great squats. A machine built for glute hams. It costs more floor space than the all-in-one. And that’s a price worth paying.