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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
123 of 124 found the following review helpful:
 Well Built and an Excellent Value Jan 23, 2006
By canoekayak
"ski bum wannabe"
During High School and in the military, I did a lot of weight training. Ok, I'm not 16 nor 21 anymore. I'm now in my 40's and am an active cyclist, and skier. I bought this machine based upon the Consumer Reports write ups (it was rated number one) so my wife and I can quickly and easily do some strength training. My key requirements were size, Lat and Leg exercises and Durability/Quality. Only way to review this is to break it down a bit:
Assembly: A lot of parts, Directions are passable, but not great. Biggest problem I had was determining which bolt for which hole. It took a good 4 hours to assemble, and I'm pretty good at this kind of stuff.
Customer Support: Had a plate break in shipping, and it took under 2 minutes to get to a human being. (you deal with body solid directly for support.) He made note that a plate was broken and asked me to finish assembly and give him a call back, to make sure I didn't need anything else. I finished up, and had no other issues. Called back to his direct extenision and he drop shipped the plate from the warehouse. I'd say that was great service.
Exercises:
Leg Exercises - Leg lift for Quads is great. The standing one legged hamstring curl, took a bit to get used to but given the small size of the machine, I'll take it.
Bench Press - Very smooth, and you get two hand positions, one for more inner pec and the other for more outer. Downside is that the start position is a little far back, but now that I think about it, I may have the bench arm on backwards. Doh!
Lats/Back - This is where I believe this machine earns it keep. It provides a Lat pulldown, and a seated row position. This was key to me and it performs as expected. (note I'm using this for toning and not body building. A 160 pound stack works for me.)
Shoulders/Arms - The curl bar thats included does has a static handle, so its not good for curls. You will need to purchase a bar that has rotating handles. Since I use dumbbells for these exercises, it didn't matter much. I'm ordering a single rotating curl bar, so my wife can add some exercises.
Overall, I'd say its a great value for someone who wants a smaller in home machine to cover a lot of exercies, and wants to add strength training to their workout. If your looking to get 'Pumped Up', you'd be better with Free weights or a Gym membership. I looked for a used one, but they didn't last very long and had a pretty high resale value. I am certainly happy with my purchase, and now need to flip that bench press attachment around.
51 of 51 found the following review helpful:
quality machine Apr 25, 2006
By David
Overall, I am very satisfied with this purchase.
1. delivery. It took about 2 weeks from Chicago to southern California. The delivery man moved the 6 boxes into my garage, even though they are only obligated to drop at curbside.
2. assembly. It took over 6 hours to assemble by myself. The instructions are not very clear. There are many bolts and nuts that look very similar, so you need to carefully distinguish the different sizes. The problem is compounded by diagrams that are low quality (low resolution).
3. finished product. The time and effort involved was worth it because the machine is solid and a joy to use. Every motion is smooth and quiet. Very compact. Lifetime warranty is reassuring.
I would have given 5 stars if the instructions were better.
29 of 30 found the following review helpful:
 Very satisfied with new Home Gym Aug 14, 2006
By Douglas Dillenberger
"Doug"
The Body-Solid Home Gym arrived in six boxes in only 10 days. The instructions for assembly were not that great but after taking the time to organize the parts in particular the various sized bolts and associated nuts it went very well. I think the key to assembly is to read over each section carefully and get the exploded view down pat then follow the step by step directions. By the time I was done it took just about five hours and I had a few parts left over. The machine is everything I had hoped for. Its smooth action is a delight and both me and my wife love it already. I missed the workout center but now that I work out of my house the 20 mile round trip into town just didn't make sense. The money was well spent and I am 100% satisfied.
19 of 19 found the following review helpful:
Sturdy and well designed. Oct 19, 2008
By Get Real, Butthead
The unit is very well built. I do metal work and have experience with this type of fabrication, and the machining was perfectly alined. The assembly instructions list EVERY part and give a good assembly plan. Remember, there is an assembly order that you need to follow. I advise that you put it together according to the instructions. Materials are packaged well and shipping was handled professionally.
It is difficult to build a "stock" unit that can fit "all" body types. So, the adjustment options to fit each body are limited. But, if you're like me, Joe Average, it's a good fit.
As for the gym function, it works great. I have limited space and need to fit gym, spinner, and free weights into one very tiny room. This is the perfect unit for my setting. Small footprint with versatile functions. Pully bearings are sealed -a big plus for those of us who sweat during a workout. Multiple attachments make upper and lower body exercise variation possible. Range of motion when lifting weight is important. The unit allows for a full range of motion for every type of exercise I can perform.
All in all, a good unit for the price.
14 of 14 found the following review helpful:
Very Nice Machine Jan 11, 2009
By Jedidad
This is a very nice machine and the basic exercises are very good. I have a few complaints but the plusses outweigh the minuses.
I really like the small footprint of this unit. I live in a condo and I've got it in my living room. (I'm not married so I can get away with that.)
Shipping:
The components come in several boxes shipped by a freight carrier. Some of my boxes were damaged and one of the white frame pieces was scarred. Not much can be done about that other than packing the thing in a wooden crate.
Assembly:
Very easy to assemble but time consuming. As others mentioned, it's a good idea to sort out all the bolts into labeled ziplock bags to keep track of them.
All pieces were there, thank goodness.
One negative is the instruction manual lists the sizes of some bolts in inches and some in millimeters. They include a diagram of a ruler in inches but, LOL, I found it to be wrong.
One problem I had was the cable attached to the weight stack was too short. I called Body Solid tech support and apparently this was/is a known problem because before I could even explain my problem he told me what it was. They shipped me a D-link to insert inline and the cable is fine now.
Usage:
There was no exercise manual with my unit only a wall poster. The poster only lists 20 exercises. When they shipped me the D-link they included a DVD of exercises. I haven't watched it so perhaps there's more on the DVD.
I found the ab crunch strap very painful to use. Maybe I'm using it wrong but I plan on purchasing the Body Solid Ab Crunch Harness in hopes it works better.
I also plan on getting a Stirrup Handle. Too bad it didn't come with one as several exercises on the poster require one.
I'm very happy with the core exercises (chest, legs, lats). I've only been using it a couple of weeks and I can already see results.
See all 37 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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