Reverse Hyper alternative

I’ve been searching for an alternative to a reverse hyper machine since my “health club” doesn’t have one. The exerball alternative doesn’t give you the complete impact of a reverse hyper because of the compression of the ball. So this morning I came up with the idea of picking up a flat bench and laying it across dip bars. Its stable, you have full range of motion and there’s no give in it like the exerball. As for resistance… thats a part I haven’t figured out yet. Does anybody have any suggestions???

That sounds like it will be adequate. Now for the resistance: place a dumbbell between your feet.
Need more help just ask.

If you have a training partner, have them provide the resisitance on the back of your calves/ankles. You could also try some kind of ankle attachment on a dips chain??? Just an idea, don’t flame me for it.

Are you sure that is stable?

If you have a power rack, then set the bars of the power rack at about chest level or a little below and then lay a big piece of wood across the bars(the pins) and then use it like that. If you have a low cable pulley under you, you can get a strap that connects to the low cable pulley and put that around your ankles and use that as your resistance.

Hmmmm, I might have to try that.I was also thinking of removing the footholds on a decline bench and setting it up on boxes.Any thoughts?

Switch gyms.

Does a bench provide enough surface area for your torso?

If you want to use quite a bit of weight, you can use a small weight belt and use it to strap the dumbell between your feet. I’ve seen this approach used with over a 100# dumbell.

ZEB, I tried it today and it was stable as can be. It worked perfectly. I just have to figure out the best way to add resistance.

Jumpstretch bands work well.

Jumpstretch bands work well.

Sorry guys, but there is no effective alternative to the reverse hyper. Try romanion deadlifts instead of assing around.

irondoc,
Westside is/has a great lifting philosophy, and I respect Louie S. And Dave T., but come on!!! Yes, I know that the “reverse hyper™©®” is a great machine, but if I can build/buy a comfortable high bench, and find an efficient way to add resistance I can then simulate the “reverse hypers™©®” to at least a 99.9% compatibility. If I wanted to sell my version, I’d have to call it “Rick’s inverted butty blaster”, because of copyright, trademarks and crap. I can picture my infomercial now, “Rickco presents…”

I’m sure Louie started doing “reverse hyper™©®” on a glute/hamm raise, and after a few times said, “I could improve on this, and sell it.“

I have a reverse hyper and have tried alternatives before, they don't compare. Remember this is from experience. You will not get the intended effect from bands, dumbells, etc. We routinely use 180 - 340 lbs. there is momentum involved but the effect is there. 

I would substitute an exercise that hits the same region, rather than do a sub par version that will not give you anywhere near the effect.

I have seen people try to go cheap with inferior equipment. Louie and Dave now the how and why on design. The cheap guys always see what a difference when they use the elite glute ham, reverse hyper, power rack etc.

Actually Rick, you are wrong. Simulations do not do it justice. Ive tried everything and nothing felt like the time I got on a reverse hyper. Not to mention the fact that adding any kind of weight is impossible.

What you need to do is take a can of shaving cream, some chewing gum, and a bottle rocket.

No wait, thats MacGuyver.

I would find a different exercise. Whereas you can’t completely effectively do the reverse hyper, you CAN do many other exercises. I don’t know a single person that can’t benefit from some glute/hams, or good mornings.

If you need ideas check out Christian Thibadeau’s article on hamstring training, or any of the others on this site. (I think 7 best hamstring exercises is a good one.)

RIT, I’m just looking for a way to do it at my gym. I’m already doing nat glutes, good mornings, sitting good mornings and stiff leg deads. Obviously not on the same days. I switch them in and out all the time. I’m just looking for a way to add another highly regarded exercise to my routine.

Do most reverse hyper machines double as a regular hyper machine??? If so, I can use that as a selling point to management.

irondoc and Goldberg,

I agree with you guys that Louie and Dave’s rev-hyper is superior to most if not all knock-offs. I have access to EFS RH and GHR benches at the OL facility I train at about once a month, but many people do not have access to them because of cost,
gym facilities, etc. Although I love EFS equipment, I recently purchased a cheap GHR bench for my home gym. It cost $160, so I saved around $300, which I’ll use to purchase two more 20kg bumpers. I knew that it wouldn’t compare to the quality of an EFS bench, but since I’m an engineer (control systems), and have friends in the metal fab industry, so I figured that if it didn’t meet my needs,
I could have it modified. To my surprise the only thing that needs modification is the foot plate.

In the next few months I'll build a RH, and because I don't plan on selling it, my only costs will consist of material and my time, I won't have to cut corners, so my Rickco ;-) version will compare to the EFS bench. I plan on incorporating some modifications (Louie and Dave more then likely tried them and they didn't pan out, but you never know), so if you guys can think of anything let me know.

So while I agree that there are usually no substitutes for EFS equipment, once in a while one has to improvise. I’m sure EFS didn’t build the perfect RH bench the first time, the current versions are the result of a lot of tweaking; so while placing a flat bench on a dip bar isn’t ideal it may be the first step to obtaining an EFS bench, or inventing one’s own. If a gym owners see enough people doing an exercise they may just spring for a proper bench to do it on!

Rick

PGA,

I think I would try to find an article supporting how good the reverse hyper is for lower back rehabilitation/prehabilitation and then maybe a couple of snippets of some high profile, more mainstream organizations (Pro Football teams, olympic teams, etc.) who use the reverse hyper. Gather this information and give it to your gym owner. That way, he/she will not want to miss out on this “new way” of training. I’m sure that this is how this swiss ball craze started (every gym has swiss balls now). In the meantime, I would concentrate on doing Romanian DLs and Dimel DLs as a substitute to the Reverse Hyper.