Weight training machines in the 1970’s and 1980’s

Workout notes: I still have a cold, so I felt run down. I slept in, and then lifted over lunch: 11-12. 3 sets of pullups, 2 sets of the other usual exercises. I focused on doing “full repetitions” and not much else; I kept the weights the same. My strength was ok; endurance was lacking. My head feels as if it is stuffed and my throat is scratchy.

But it isn’t as bad as it could be; one of my friends got pneumonia. I don’t feel THAT bad.

Yesteryear

Are any of you old enough to remember these machines?

The top is the “newer” Universal machine; the second from the top one is the “older” one; the blue machine is the Nautilus and the bottom is an isokinetic machine.

Take a look at the older Universal machine. Look at the bars that the weight stack slides on:

This pair of bars actually tilted back as the weight were raised; this kept the leverage to the user the same.

The newer Universals had a weight stack that did NOT tilt back as you raised the weights:

So as the weights were raised, a roller transferred the load to the lever that the user was using. So the result: as you extended your arms, the weight would stay the same but your leverage would decrease; the resistance actually went UP as you extended your arms!

There were isokinetic machines as well; the resistance was supplied by something that looked like a shock absorber. You set the SPEED of motion; it gave you the resistance that you supplied to it.

Hence, I (an ordinary high school football player) could use the same machine as my larger, much, much, much stronger friend (6 5″, 260 lbs …”almost” made a WFL team; got invited to try out for NFL teams). But, if you slacked, you could get away with it; the resistance it gave you was proportional to the effort you put into it.

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