9123 Ghd & Sissy Squat - Hamstring Bench

Used as a Hamstring Bench (Nordic Norwegian Curl), it is effective in training part of the posterior muscle chain (ischio-crural muscles, trunk muscles) predominantly through eccentric (slowing down the load) and isometric (stopping the load) yielding exercises.

In this way, the 9123 bench, combined with the fundamental exercise of the pulldown, makes it practical to train all types of muscle contraction (isometric, concentric, eccentric) and thus all the components of strength production. As with GHR 9013/1, we would like to point out that this type of training can be fundamental in preventing and limiting anterior cruciate ligament injuries, which are often due to asymmetries between the posterior muscles (short and underperforming) and anterior muscles of the thigh.

Similar, although more specific, is the use of bench 9123 as a Sissy Squat Bench; training only the quadriceps muscle in combination with the squat. In this case too, we are dealing with a complementary exercise, with the particularity, given the presence of the "shin blocker" cushions, of being able to easily vary the workload through the inclination of the torso, more or less backward, or, in addition, through the use of weights (dumbbells, discs resting on the chest, or barbell placed on the trapezius).

The use of weights in some ways betrays the role of a complementary exercise aimed at analytical, intense, high repetition, quadriceps 'exhaustion' work, even though, for sports such as alpine skiing, the 'unnatural' posture assumed on the Sissy Squat Bench reproduces the backward position to which the skier is often called during load shifts on skis in certain phases of turns, where the overload is extremely high.

A condition, the latter described, where the patellar tendon and anterior cruciate ligaments are subjected to very high tensions and stresses, to the point of requiring a careful evaluation of the danger-benefit ratio of the type of exercise and its overload.

A couple of clarifications: the Sissy Squat Bench is actually a Roman Bench, or Roman Chair Squat. On the other hand, the term Sissy Squat (a name derived from Sisyphus, a mythological character depicted with enormous thighs) identifies the famous, but different, exercise made famous by Vince Gironda.

The Roman chair is back in vogue under the name Sissy Squat Bench thanks to the spread of 'old school' training. Finally, training the quadriceps is not the only use of the equipment, which is also effective for core chain exercises.

GHD & Sissy Squat SPECIFICATIONS:Dimensions 1510 x 650 x 460h mm
Weight 45 kg
Maximum load 120 kg