As a gym enthusiast, machines and trends come and go. There are a lot of things, once omnipresent, which one now rarely or never sees. This thread is a list of those.
Machines and equipment to work on the neck.
Nautilus machines for everything.
Those weird mobile straps that were supposed to… I dunno… massage muscle?
Gravity boots and stretches while upside down.
Anything else?
I really miss the great workout I used to get from this gym machine. Not sure why they went away.
Because they didn’t do much except loosen your bowels?
If old movies and cartoons are any guide, steam cabinets.
Looks like there are modern versions of a pullover machine but I haven’t seen one in the wild for a looooooong time.
I don’t know if it’s a “machine,” but only one gym of the many that I have belonged to had a pegboard:
FWIW, it was a boxing gym, and was about the most “serious” gym I’ve ever been to. It was “swamp” cooled, and only people, who really wanted to be there worked out there in the summer.
Rolling massage machines like this:
https://images.app.goo.gl/t9xT7U7Dpi5Lcajh8
I’ve never seen one in real life, only in movies, but some googling suggests they MAY still be available.
Lots of scary options here:
Including what I think is the same photo of the fellow with the waist belt, that another person posted.
We had a lot of pegboards in our HS weight area. Not many folks were any good at it.
Not sure what those folks thought that device would be good for. 
Those “vibrating belt” things were supposed to exercise your waist. :eyeroll:
The belts would often break, or come unsecured, and I’ve heard of people receiving crippling back injuries from the fall
~VOW
Our HS gym also had climbing stuff. A rope with a knot conveniently placed at the end with a wafer thin mat for protection. And a bizarre grip of metal rods and wooden planks against a wall. I’m guessing these things were considered liabilities and are gone, but really have no idea.
I haven’t seen in a while those front fly machines that you push with your forearms rather than your hands. They were nice since they didn’t but so much strain on your wrists.
" Nautilus became a publicly traded company in May 1999. The company **stopped selling exercise equipment to gyms in 2011 and shifted its focus to home-use equipment."
And gym teachers who were all little Napoleons enjoying their power as they commanded all the over-and-underweight dorks to “Want It”:
“Ya gotta reeeeally want it if you’re gonna make it to the top! No one goes to their next class 'til Ronald here makes it to the ceiling!”
Reminds me of a quanset hut that the captain of our rugby team rented, and filled with whatever surplus gym equipment he could find. An off-brand “All-In-One Fitness Center” next to a Nautilus abs machine, next to an unpowered treadmill (just a belt), next to some monstrosity that said “de Sade” on the side. Oh, and milk jugs filled with sand for free weights.
And one corner was the “shower room” with a pathetic drain, which meant there was standing water in front of all the ex-army lockers.
It meant that as a young rugger I could work out for free, but I still cringe.
We had two gym teachers. One was academic, super nice, helped coach a winning university football team. The other was a power-tripping Napoleon, and not so little…
I got my start lifting in a military gym which had two dozen Nautilus machines. I wonder who services them - they were really good.
I have only been in one gym that had a French Press machine where you curled your arms over and behind your head. Not just for delicious coffee!
You don’t see any of the old-timey chest expanders --the gizmo that was a pair of plastic handles connected with a few long springs. I think we actually had a set growing up. I also remember the Benny Hill gag when he uses them and then screams as the springs rip out a massive tuft of chest hair.
Mad magazine had a great cartoon about them!
Medicine balls seem old-timey but made a comeback after CrossFit. But I don’t see people throwing them to each other. Don’t know any club with weighted clubs for shoulder work, though I went to a CrossFit gym with a tire and sledge hammer.
If I can find a partner, I will do situps with a thrown weighted ball. Unfortunately, our gym as these odd “mushy” balls that are internally asymmetrical. It makes catching an throwing the ball harder than it should be.
In all seriousness, I’m trying to picture this. Do you sit up and then try to catch the medicine ball your spotter heaves at your head? I’m imagining you sliding along the floor like the movie trope of the shotgun blast propelling someone across the room.
You start in the down position and do a hard/fast situp while pushing or throwing the ball to the partner.
Or both partners face each other, one throws the ball, the other goes to the floor slowly then proceeds as above so they alternate.