Are Hammer Strength Machines in kg? A Straight Answer for the Select Seated Leg Curl

“Are Hammer Strength machines in kg?”

I got this exact email from a gym owner in early January. She was ordering strength equipment for a new 12,000-square-foot facility and needed an answer before the construction team poured the slab. The machine on her shortlist—the Hammer Strength Select Seated Leg Curl—comes in different configurations depending on where it’s built and who it’s built for. A one-word answer like “yes” or “no” would have been nice. It also would have been wrong. So I am not going to pretend the answer is simple.

The question I get asked every week

As a quality and compliance manager in commercial fitness equipment, I review every spec sheet, placard, and user manual before it reaches the customer. I’ve been doing this for more than four years. In a normal year, I’ll review 200+ unique product documents. The “is it kg or lb” question is still the most common one I get.

Not because buyers are lazy. Because the public information does not always say.

Here’s the part that trips people up: “Hammer Strength” is a brand, not a single machine type. It covers plate-loaded power stations and selectorized Select machines. They don’t share the same loading system, and they don’t share the same answer.

Why there isn’t a one-word answer

Plate-loaded machines don’t have a machine weight

When you’re looking at an Iso-Lateral leg press or chest press, there isn’t a weight stack. There’s a lever arm, a seat, and a loading peg for your Olympic plates. The machine doesn’t “have” a certain number of kilograms. The resistance starts with the mechanics of the lever, plus whatever plates you add.

That’s why the “are Hammer Strength machines in kg” question doesn’t apply cleanly to the plate-loaded lineup. A leg press doesn’t care whether your plates are in kg or lb. You make that decision when you buy your plates.

Selectorized Select machines depend on the market

The Hammer Strength Select Seated Leg Curl is different. It’s a selectorized machine. There is a weight stack, and that stack has to be labeled with something.

In the North American market, the label is usually in pounds. For international orders, it is often in kilograms. The same model can ship with different stack labels because the unit system is a regional configuration, not a universal spec.

People think the machine decides whether it’s kg or lb. Actually, the reverse is true: your region and your order spec decide what the machine says.

Commercial strength equipment is generally tested to standards like EN 957 and ISO 20957, but those standards don’t tell a manufacturer which unit to print on a weight stack. That’s why the order spec matters more than any general statement about the brand.

Where the old assumption came from

The “Hammer Strength = pounds” assumption comes from an era when most Hammer Strength equipment lived in American collegiate and pro training rooms. That was true fifteen years ago. Today the brand is sold globally, and the specs reflect that. The unit system on a Select machine is not a statement about quality; it’s a specification option.

What this means when you order a Select Seated Leg Curl

If you’re buying a Hammer Strength Select Seated Leg Curl, the unit system is a line-item decision. Don’t assume it’s kg because the distributor is based in Europe. Don’t assume it’s lb because the product photo looks American.

Ask directly: “Does the weight stack label read lb or kg?” If you don’t get a straight answer, ask for the spec sheet. The spec sheet will show the stack configuration, and that’s what you should verify before signing the PO.

This might sound like a small detail. It isn’t.

The cost of ignoring the unit question

The smaller projects I review face this problem more often than the large chains. Large gyms often have an equipment manager who knows to ask. A smaller owner is doing the planning alone. They’re also pricing a Bose home theater for the member lounge, comparing a VR treadmill for the immersive cardio room, and researching how to make your own escape room in that unused studio. In that context, a “kg or lb” detail feels tiny.

But tiny details on strength equipment turn into expensive corrections.

If your facility is metric and the stack arrives labeled in pounds, your coaching staff will have to convert every load. In practice, they won’t. They’ll coach to the number on the stack. On a leg curl, 100 lb and 100 kg are not close to the same movement. A 220-lb jump is how minor tweaks turn into soft-tissue injuries.

There’s also the programming problem. Progressive overload only works if the recorded load is accurate. Once the machine’s labels don’t line up with your tracking system, your athlete’s history becomes guesswork.

And in a multi-use facility, inconsistency is visible. When one piece says “lb” and the next says “kg,” members and staff notice. It makes the entire venue feel less intentional.

What to do next

To finally answer the original question: some Hammer Strength machines are in kg, some are in lb, and some are plate-loaded with no fixed unit at all. The correct answer for your facility is determined by the model and the order spec.

If the Hammer Strength Select Seated Leg Curl is on your list, do three things:

• Get the spec sheet from a verified distributor.
• Confirm whether the stack is labeled in kg, lb, or both.
• Put the unit requirement in writing before the order is processed.

For the plate-loaded machines, stop worrying about “machine units.” Worry about the plates you’ll buy alongside the machine.

If you’re a smaller operator, don’t be afraid to ask what feels like a dumb question. I’m the person who reviews the answers. I’d rather answer “Are Hammer Strength machines in kg?” ten times than watch another facility install the wrong weight stack. Small doesn’t mean unimportant; it means there’s usually one person carrying the whole project. That person deserves a straight answer.

The next time you see a simple yes or no answer to that question, you know they’re only looking at one model. Whether you’re outfitting a 50,000-square-foot performance center or a small studio with a single Select Seated Leg Curl, the rule is the same: specify first, then order.