Louie Simmons and Westside Barbell have achieved their goal of bringing the reverse hyper to the masses with the Westside Scout Hyper, providing an excellent quality piece of equipment with an affordable price tag.
Westside Barbell’s Scout Hyper is the stripped down version of the traditional reverse hyper machine both developed by Louie Simmons.
Made to be lighter, portable and more affordable, making it suitable for home gyms, sporting clubs or clinical settings.
Which Muscle Groups Does The Reverse Hyper Target?
Target areas of the reverse hyper are the spinal erectors, glutes and hamstrings. According to Westside Barbell, another added benefit is it allows the spine to be decompressed in a safer position.
What’s In The Box
1 x Westside Scout Hyper
1 x Hardware pack including tools and instructions
1 x Hyper Strap
1 x Set Spring Collars
Westside Scout Hyper Weight And Dimensions
First thing you will notice is that at a height of 46.5” (1181mm) it’s quite tall. Luckily there’s a handy step that helps users to mount and dismount more easily. At the feet of the unit it’s 47.5” (1206mm) in length and 27.5” (698mm) in width.
Gross weight of the packaging and machine is 100.3lb (45.5kg) and the machine itself is 86lb (39kg). Lifting the package into a car or truck is likely a two person job for most, especially if you bought it for the purpose of treating a bad back.
Build Quality
Build quality is good, everything assembled as it should with no fitment issues or poor workmanship. Like many pieces of gym equipment, this reverse hyper is made in china likely keeping the price affordable for the average user.
Rogue specifies that user weight max is 300LB (136kg) and a max of 176LB (80kg) for the swing arm.
Bumper plates limit the amount of weight you can load, with the swing arm having 5.5” (140mm) long, Olympic pegs on each side. With our bumper plates we could only load 66lb (30kg) per side, totalling 132lb (60kg). You will get a bit more on by using competition plates or some steel olympic plates.
Having thicker bumper plates also made loading awkward as the gap between the leg and pegs is quite narrow. Users with a bad backs, might need to stick with lighter weights that are easier to load until their back improves.
Setting Up the Westside Scout Hyper
Protective packaging has been well thought out, allowing the majority of the Scout Hyper to come pre-assembled. The remaining assembly required is easy with well written and illustrated instructions, even the tools required are provided.
When setting up for use it’s best to have it on a level surface and make sure that the locating pins are firmly in place.
Using the Westside Barbell Scout Hyper
To get on we found that putting the left foot in the hyper strap, using the step to position the torso up on the pad while gripping the handles and then passing the hyper strap over to the right foot was the easiest method.
Once on the pad you place your hips toward the end of the pad so your legs can hang freely. During the movement Louie Simmons recommends lifting the head slightly when bringing the legs up and lowering on the down movement. Raising the weight requires you to squeeze the glutes, then lower halfway in a controlled manner and then release.
Dismount by allowing the swing arm to come to a complete stop and then release your feet from the hyper strap. At this point you can reach for the step or just hop straight off.
How Stable Is It?
Pushing the machine back and forth from the side you can get it to wobble, but not from the direction the swing arm swings.
Testing with a 220lb (100kg) user and 132lb (60kg) of weights, we didn’t experience any lifting of the front legs as other users have reported.
Finding a perfectly flat surface was a bit difficult for us, so our machine was on a slightly uneven surface where the front legs were slightly higher than the rear however the legs didn’t lift from the ground.
Will It Fix My Back Problems?
First of all, if you have a pre existing back or neck injury you should discuss using a reverse hyper with your doctor or physical therapist.
Anecdotally many users including Louie Simmons have reported making improvements in back pain or having completely stopped back pain altogether. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to locate any studies on the reverse hyper fixing back pain or reversing damage.
Is The Westside Scout Hyper Worth It?
Keeping the Westside Scout Hyper affordable and portable obviously means there needs to be some trade-offs. In the case of the Scout Hyper, Louie Simmons and Westside Barbell have struck a good balance between weight, strength, quality and price.
For some power lifters or bodybuilders they might not be able to get enough weight on the machine and with vigorous lifting, stability might be an issue. But the majority of users aren’t going to have a problem.
A Westside Scout Hyper is a great addition for a home gym or even in a clinical setting.
Our test subject will be using it over the next few months and report back on any improvements made with their own back problems.
Please visit the Westside Barbell website for more information.
