Dorian Yates was known for his brutal training and descents 6 consecutive Olympic titles From 1992 to 1997, but despite his love of free kilos, “The Shadow” also knew when it was time to turn his attention to the car, as he explained in a recent Instagram post.
Using footage from his Blood and Guts movie, Yates took his 1.8 million followers down memory lane to explain his process for the seated chest press machine and all machines in general. “I really liked the Hammer Strength ISO chest press, I got it at Temple Gym around 1994/95 after using a bunch of Hammer Strength equipment in the US,” he shared. B:
Before hitting the chest press, the OG (Olympia Gentleman) always made sure to do some warm-up sets that included free weights, such as the barbell incline bench press, working to failure. After that, he’ll move on to the car. “Machines vs. free weights. I recommend using both, which I did,” explains the Englishman. “There are pros and cons, but I’d say use both.”
Dorian Yates explains how he splits his time between free weights and machines
Yates says that when it’s time to really push to failure, machines are a safer option, where exercises like the seated chest offer great value. “On this machine, each side moves independently, so you’re making sure that both sides are working at their maximum and that one side isn’t doing more work than the other,” the bodybuilder begins. “Repeating it through the full range of motion, notice how far back my elbows are to work the pectoral through its full range, and at max compression I’m squeezing my pecs. Going to positive muscle failure and after Leroy (Davis) takes a spot and finally lifts the weight for the last few where I keep it in the static phase of the strength and do additional negative reps fully taxing every part. rep You can’t really do that with free weights safely, so it’s better to get out of the machines to failure.” It’s all about “total muscle failure” for this Olympia icon.
And, while Yates had an audience for his epic workouts, machines make it possible to lift without a partner present. So next time you’re at the gym, why not try pre-fatiguing your muscles with free weights before pushing past failure on the machine more safely? Say Dorian Yates trained you.
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