Roman Chair

Roman Chair from Dino Gym

Roman Chair from Clark's Gym

Vintage Commercial Roman Chair

Custom Fabricated Roman Chair

Roman Chair Layout Exercise

Variety of Abdominal Exercises

Frank Zane on Roman Chair

My interest in an old school Roman Chair is to contest (4) USAWA lifts.  Hardly a good return on investment, but what is an athlete to do.  The unique feature of the vintage benches is a flat pad that does not allow for support beyond the buttocks.  Modern Roman Chair/Hyperextension benches have pad with a 15 degree angle and while ubiquitous are not suitable for All-Round Weightlifting.

The Dino Gym Roman Chair is the most elaborate with a safety in case the lifter goes below parallel unintentionally.  It is big, heavy and unsuitable for my garage.

The Clark's Gym Roman Chair is by contrast much simpler and appears to be a commercial unit.  It may have been fabricated.  I like this design for the simplicity and size.  I could set it up anywhere.

Buffville contests Roman Chair lifts using a flat bench and the safety pins on a power rack.  I could do something similar with an Abmat Abmigo as a foot catch.

In a perfect world, I would find a vintage commercial unit.  I intend to wait for that eventuality rather than modifying a modern Roman Chair.