Expander

[abobo]

I was reading about how great the chest expander (http://www.mattfurey.com/expander.html) is for your shoulders. Has anyone tested those claims?

[ewallace]

I called Kim Wood, strength coach for the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals
I don't know but right about now I wouldn't take any advice from anyone affiliated with the Bengals!

[abobo]

I was thinking that you could use one of those for internal and external rotations, to strengthen the old rotator cuff. Just wondering about it's usefulness in that, or any other action.

[SevenStar]

I still have one of those spring things. haven't used it in years though. Maybe I should start back and see what benefits I can yield. it seems like it may be able to do something for the back, to a limited extent.

[Mr. Bao]

Abdobo:

Greetings and good health. I am a functional strength specialist and sport and strength trainer for New York Sports Clubs in nyc. I am also a wing chun student of Alan Lee (www.wingchunnyc.com)

The Chest expander is a good tool for rehab and restoring balance and stability of your shoulder complex. I have used this product to help restore some of my clients with frozen shoulders and boxers who had some minor shoulder problems.

But you can the same product at www.performbetter.com which also has some of the best functional strength tapes out there. Don't be confused with the iron strings chest expander back in the early 80s and late 70s. The rubber band of the chest expander requires your shoulder to stablize in a much greater degree.


I hope this helps. Good luck.


Bao

[Silumkid]

I agree with Mr. Bao....the tubes such as SPRI tubes and the like are a bit better as far as resistance goes (in my opinion) and I feel they are far more versatile too. You can do exercises with resitance tubing that would never work with spring expanders.

[IronFist]

Funny how a "chest expander" doesn't even work the chest.

No, it doesn't. The pecs pull the arms inward, like if you make a T and then keep your elbows straight and clap your hands.

I could see how it would work the rear delts tho, like if you did the "expanding" drill. Or I guess with creativity it could work the front and side delts, and maybe even the triceps.

Aside from rehab, I don't think there's really a use for one. Kind of like BowFlex :D

IronFist

[abobo]

Originally posted by IronFist
Funny how a "chest expander" doesn't even work the chest.


Funnier still is that it used to be called a "chest crusher (http://www.davedraper.com/photo-chest-crusher.html)."

[guohuen]

There's something really special about getting your chest hairs caught in the old spring stretchers.

[ElPietro]

Originally posted by guohuen
There's something really special about getting your chest hairs caught in the old spring stretchers.

Haha, I remember having that happen to me once...well with arm hair when I was a kid and thought those things were great.

As Iron said, they will work the rear and maybe side delts, but I could just do rear and side delt raises...and using weights I can easily increase or decrease resistance as needed.

I will correct myself on one thing though. Rubber bands do actually have merit. The thing with bands, is that tension increases as it is stretched out. As you see with a lot of westside programs using bands and chains, where for example you attach a band to the bar on a bench press...the band will not add resistance on the first part of the lift, yet will make it more difficult at lockout, thus making the lift probably more effective as people are generally a lot stronger at lockout.

So I guess I will say that this thing does have merit...but you will get to the same point using weights eventually, but training with bands supplementing weights I think is going to become more and more popular.

Hmmm...it seems I was out to attack this device, yet now I have supported it! Bah! **** my brain for going against my intentions! It's still gimmicky though. You can buy all purpose bands that are rated in different tensions, that can be used on a variety of exercises...this would be a better choice. Ha! Take that gimmicky band thingy! :D