History Of The Chest Expander

The Chest Expander is a mostly forgotten piece of bodybuilding equipment which even predates the barbell. In this video we take a brief look at the history of the Chest Expander as well as some modern applications.

[NattyLifeYT]

Long time no see! Some life events got in the way of my YouTube progress these past months. It’s awesome to come back and see that the channel kept growing even while I was away. Thank you for all the kind messages and welcome to all the new subscribers :) I’m looking forward to getting back on the grind and bringing you all some fresh content.

200k is super close!! I can’t believe it 😱

[ЗвездыБольшойПротуберанец]

I've had one of these since I was in school, they were popular back in the 80's and weren't uncommon. It was an expander with 5 removable springs and there were grip expanders in the handles. I used it for many years, but around the year 2003 one of the springs burst, and after a while the other, and I received a strong blow to the wrist, I even have small scar after that.)

[GoldenEraBookworm]

And thanks for the shout out bro...time for me to reintroduce all the silver and bronze era chest expander workouts

[aleks]

My Dad had one with 3 springs and used it to supplement his weightlifting. He probably bought it in the 1960s along with his weight set. You did not want to use it shirtless if you had a hairy chest or the springs would grab your hairs....ouch! 🤣🤣

[notmytempo]

Amazing. Ive been using heavy resitance bands as finishers to my isolation work and they just feel great, a chest expander would be absolutely phenomenal

[MaseraSteve]

Ooo man i almost forgot about this! i got another recollection that i used to play with this on our relative house and no one told me What the function really is.. till couple years later i saw this on tv.. thanks for covering this.. time for me to go shoppin

[BigRon]

I bought a York heavy duty chest expander back in the 1970's. Some of the springs have broken. I looked for a replacement, but everything is junk. York Barbell Company discontinued it, and is more interested in selling expensive machines. Thanks for giving me a lead to getting some great equipment! Btw, in England it's called "strand pulling" and is popular, but I couldn't find an equipment vendor.

[CoachKen]

Great video!
I use a chest expander all the time.

[HWEder]

Great video. A good quality set of chest expanders are a serious addition to any home gym and a lifetime investment. I've trained with them regularly for years now. It's interesting to see new high quality ones are now on sale again. I Have some old Jack Lewis chest expanders that also have a foot stirrup attachment for lateral raises and curls. They're 90 years old and still in good condition, I use them every workout along with weights and bodyweight exercises. The traditional straight pullback exercise done slowly builds the rear delts and develops muscular detail to the whole upper back.

[GirevikGee]

My grandad was an OG child with one in the late 20's/early 30's! He gave it to me a couple of decades ago now but is in storage... this video makes me want to get it out now and have another go at it :) good to see you making videos again too dude!

[joellontoc]

Wow I remember those contraptions being advertised tv when I was a kid. Had no idea they had been around for so long before.

[richardhill]

This brings back memories in the 70’s before I purchased my first set of weights, I had a chest expander a pull-up bar and a bicep blaster!

[HardtailsandFunTrails]

I may have to try one of these. I'm mostly a kettlebell user, and train for strength and endurance more than hypertrophy. I can see this being excellent for traveling and supplementation though. Welcome back to YouTube!

[sturdyturk]

Chest expanders are easily the most interesting piece of workout equipment ever made

[DaveAdams]

That's actually really neat! You never really see items like this in modern home gyms. I have a Tonal but something like this would definitely be a good supplement on non-program days or on days when I wanna focus on a particular move without logging in to my home fitness data miner.

[Oldtimenattylife]

Known a fantastic 50+ year chest expander that I use on a regular basis and obviously it works incredibly well!

[likemy]

your videos are so well researched, man. You deserve the growth your channel is getting

[Jazzverso]

Never heard of this equipment, really interesting video bro!

[c.galindo]

Cool.
Great piece of knowledge and it does have its uses.
A good piece of equipment to asd into an exercising regiment

[aidaninsua]

Great to have you back bro. Interesting stuff. Might have to get one of these eventually.