Marcy Smith Machine Cage System Home Gym Multifunction Rack, Customizable Training Station

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!

4/1/2020 Update: Cable flies are perfect on this machine, your pecs will respond very quickly. The supplied bar that attaches to both adjustable pulleys is extremely versatile for a variety of exercises: lat pull downs, tricep push downs, rows front raises. Give it a try and see what works for you. I posted a new picture with the bar attached. FIRST: if you do not see it listed here for the $1598 I paid, buy it directly from Marcy! The seller who has it here for over $3000 is seeking to take your money! Second: This is a very sturdy piece of equipment that delivers big for less than $2000! I am nearly finished with assembling the system. This is a preliminary review based on shipping, assembly and value. I will post an update after using the system for a few weeks. The assembly is actually very straightforward. As long as you’re comfortable using a couple of wrenches and reading exploded view diagrams you’ll be fine. Be patient, it will take time to locate parts between the different boxes and bags contained therein. If you have room to lay each unwrapped piece out do so, it could help cut down the assembly time tremendously. This is a high quality piece of equipment. The supplied accessories make it a great value. The foot plate for rowing is the main flaw I’ve found so far. It is a totally flat plate, not ergonomic for a natural foot/ankle position. I need to reach out to Marcy to replace two of the bench leg pads. One cover was punctured in shipping and two pads have permanent deep depressions in them from shipping. They’ve been out of the box for several days but haven’t returned to a smooth round shape. More to come after I finish the assembly later this week. UPDATE: Running the cables and attaching the pulleys is not difficult, tedious and repetitive but not difficult. The smith machine is very smooth and has a natural range of motion. A couple of issues I have with the system are the butterfly attachment and the foot plate for seated rowing. The arc of the butterfly motion seems too long. When performing seared butterflies I noticed I am reaching out to keep my arms in contact with the pads as I complete reps, as if the bars are too far away from me. I have just over a 6ft-3in wingspan and and never had this issue with any other seared butterfly. I suspect either the support the arms attach to is an inch or two too long, or the back pad needs a spacer between it and the frame it connects to. A significant enough spacer will force you forward enough to maintain a natural range of motion while performing butterflies. The last issue with the fly arms is that they touch at the peak of the motion. This will result in cosmetic damage to the ends of both arms over time. Simple fix is a rubber 2in sleeve over then ends of both arms but since that’s not provided, I will wrap mine with electrical tape. The problem with the foot plate is it is flat, not ergonomic for a natural foot position. Some of my photos will show the foot plate and the support for the butterfly arms. The Marcy customer service representative was very helpful when I called to request the replacement pads and some rubber end caps.

UPDATE: Marcy's customer service replied to my email and they were eager to help and resolved the issue quickly. Product support is very important to me, so I changed my 4 stars to 5 stars. Boxes arrived (5 of them) pretty beat up, but once I removed everything from the boxes and found no visible damage. The equipment is all very well made and I felt it was a good purchase. Instructions could use a little help, but the diagrams have been pretty easy to follow so far. At one point, I had to install the guide rod sleeves onto the guide rods. I cannot get them on even after filing the edges off the rods and spraying WD-40! I then tried gently tapping them on using a rubber mallet. That's when I noticed ball bearings on the floor. I emailed Marcy, but have not yet received a reply. I will update this once I hear from their customer service

After a lot of research on similar home gyms, I purchased this as it seemed to have the most bang for your buck. Assembly was relatively easy with the assembly instructions on YouTube. I used a battery powered impact gun and t-handle Allen wrenches to make assembly super fast. Once set up this machine is beautiful, sturdy, and makes a remarkably small footprint for the amount of options available to you. In my first few uses, anything that utilized the cable pulley system seems rough, and I had believed I bought a piece of junk. But, after 6-10 uses it seems to have broken in and has become really smooth in its operation. For the price you pay, Marcy included so many little additions you really feel like you get a ton for the money. Its been a great machine that has everything you need to ditch a gym membership.

I could not wait for this machine to arrive!! I have bought so much gym equipment since this Covid-19 outbreak hit. Once I saw this machine available online I sold my bowflew, one of my weight benches, and my other smith machine. I told my wife the next thing I buy would be what I WANT and not just machines to get me by. THIS WAS IT!! I got mine Friday May 22nd 2020 (two days ago) we stayed up all night put this machine together. I went to bed and my wife stayed up till 4 am and I woke back up around 6am to finish it. It took us til about 730pm that day to finally use it. We were already in love before it arrived and continued to fall more and more as we received it. The materials are top class! They did not cut corners with this machine. From the medal used to build it to the handles springs rollers etc are all top notch. Its better than I originally expected. The assembly takes time of course.. We got stuck at one point with the 4 (2 set) of "silver poles" we put the wrong set on the smith machine part. Took us a min to realize it was the wrong set. Ill just say this at step (6) part number (17) is not the 2 poles with the dents on the ends. Besides that it was pretty easy just time consuming. My wife did the cables herself. I know some people have comments about them but she did it by herself while I was sleep. She's amazing tho, soooo. Anyway Im writing this review as Im anxiously waiting on her to finish our weekly meal prepping so we can get back started. THIS IS THE MACHINE YOUR LOOKING FOR!! Its definitely worth the money, they could easily charge 2000+, easily. Sidenote the machine had a few scratches but Im assuming those come from the shipping plus one pulley roller had a small piece chipped off. But all and all those were miner things. I added a few in some pictures, and also a page from the instructions to show how easy it is to assemble. MARCY IS THE TRUTH! Update: 2 days after I received mine the price skyrocketed. I paid $1600+ the price has since more than doubled. As much as I love my Marcy I would definitely not pay close to $4000 dollars for it. I guess its about supply and demand at this point.

This cage is built to last. It was delivered ahead of time. I went into Amazon 5 days before my original delivery date and selected to change delivery of the item to the next day. That was a pleasant update. Two Amazon drivers unloaded all 5 boxes and placed them on the floor of my gym. I then spent around an hour unboxing the boxes and inventorying the contents. It took roughly 7 hours to put the entire contents together (alone) help will definitely benefit anyone putting this together, if for nothing more than entertainment value. Definitely have your own ratchet, sockets, wrenches and Allen wrenches. I suggest a sharp box blade to cut the plastic wrapping open around all the fasteners as well, this will allow you to quickly grab but still see what number goes with each fastener. The Right & Left designated pieces are not in correlation with the pics in the book they are as if you are standing inside the cage looking out EXCEPT the add ons at the very end that hold the bar and the dip handles. Those are as if you are looking at the machine. The construction of this equipment is solid. I would say damn near commercial quality. The only drawback I see and I knew it when I bought it was the seat does not have anyway of doing leg extension or calf raises or anything leg related. That doesn’t stop you from being able to do legs with this cage so it doesn’t deter in my rating or my want of the cage. It’s perfect! I’ve been lifting for years and this machine is definitely capable of big gains and taking anyones home workout to the next level.

We purchased this product 3/2022. After careful assembly, the machine worked very well for almost two years. About six months ago, the cable system began to twist. Despite disassembling the entire cable and installing it again, the cables are consistently twisting in the back making use of the equipment nearly impossible.

Great all in one system, but it has a major issue. Since day 1 quite a bit of the metal arrived warped, including the weights themselves. After almost a year it gets more difficult to put weights on the bars, they often get stuck and take a few minutes of prying to remove. This isn't feasible and I'll have to order new weights from another company. See photo reference for the metal scraping and warping of the weight. This isn't limited to the bar, there is warping throughout the machine which causes tension in various places.