I am a 45-year-old male with on and off history of weight lifting. I am recovering from a complicated forearm fracture 7 month ago, restarted weightlifting as part of my physical therapy. By now I have reached a level with multiple exercises where the weight started to be heavy – so, I was looking for something keeping me safe while I am working out alone in my garage.
Not sure where exactly saw this machine online, but I liked what I read about it. I liked the Smith-machine part of it, as well as the separate pulley system with two height-adjustable handles, with the low-pull cable, and with the pect machine part. My only concern was the incline of the Smith-machine, but eventually I pulled the trigger.
My heart skipped couple beats when (very fast) got an email with the subject "Unexpected problem with completing your order…"! And then my heart skipped again when I saw that the carrier will be FedEx (the email was just notifying me about multiple packages sent by FedEx), I had very unpleasant experiences with them for couple months now. However, the five packages showed up next day – thankfully FedEx left them without needing my signature (as they originally notified me). I guess, the boxes were so heavy that nobody would just take them… 🙂
Because of the heavy stuff inside, the cardboard boxes have seen better days… but inside turned out to be perfect. Few minor scratches, but nothing serious (no bent or missing parts). I just want to highlight here that each of the 5 boxes were heavy (do recommend some cart or somebody's help if you need to carry longer distance).
The included manual for assembly is extremely straightforward. I am no mechanic or engineer, but had absolutely no issues assembling the machine. Well, I had two minor ones: I switched the Smith-machine guides with the rear pulley guides; and I mounted some pulleys before looking at the cables – both of these were looser errors, easily fixable. It took me (working completely alone in my pace) approximately 6-7 hours/two evenings with the corrections of my mistakes. To avoid mistakes, I would suggest to always look couple steps ahead. An another suggestion: make sure that you assemble it where you want to use it, or at least very close – this thing is heavy (specially if you are alone).
The assembled machine came out as a beast! It is massive and sturdy. I did use silicone lubricant for the guide rods – specifically the rear weight pulley was moving very hard/not returning to the base with light plates. The solution turned out to be loosening the lower and upper screws holding those guides.
So far I have spent 2x 3-day cycles on this machine and I could not be more satisfied! The incline of the Smith-machine does not bother me at all while doing bench presses and squats. It is quite a liberating feeling that the weights will not pin me down even if my healing arm fails during the bench presses!
As nothing is/can be 100% perfect, I could mention two things here: a lat pulldown attachment, and a little bit lower bench. I am too high to use the lateral side pulleys for lat pulldowns, and the bench is high to push my legs into the ground while bench-pressing. But these are minor issues, I have found solutions. I have attached a pulley to the middle of the pull-up bar on the top, and used an extra cable (both from Amazon) to the lower-middle pulley; then using the loaded Smith-machine barbell over my thighs to hold me down. For the bench presses I put flat weight plates under my feet.
Overall, I am very satisfied, cannot wait my next session on this machine!