Took a few years to build equipment up as I got back into finding my fitness again but absolutely love the space. Sonos 100s and Sub Mini last to go in.

P.S. Don’t worry guys, a railing is coming soon! And of course, I still need to buy plenty of more gear.

Got this in today and holy smokes it’s bomb proof. I had recently bought the AbChair/Dip Attachment for my Blazzed Rack and didn’t love it. Too heavy and unwieldy to get onto the rack and then way too much play.

Went looking for something that was gonna be rock solid and this is it. Thing it extremely well built and the Stainless Steel knurled handles are the best dip handle I’ve used in any gym.

While we demo and renovate our home gym in the basement we have moved just the essentials into the garage for a few months. It’s 30 degrees currently in the mornings when we work out but luckily my husband hoarded some random porch heaters we will be using through the winter. The final product in our basement will be worth these few months of pain.

bought this cable tower from taobao, $540 shipped to Panama

all aluminum pulleys and 3mm steel tubes

All this shoved into a small 289sq ft room

I just added two Titan Rack Mounted Extended Arms to my FrankenRack, and honestly, this may be one of the better additions I've made to my small setup. I didn't want to buy an entire rack conversion/extension kit just to get a couple of additional mounting points or storage options. That would mean more hardware, more footprint, and ultimately losing more valuable floor space. With these, I get the additional functionality without giving up any floor space at all. These arms let me basically use the unused space around the rack instead of expanding the footprint of the rack itself.

I'm primarily using these as part of my DIY pulley setup, and so far I'm really impressed with how solid everything feels. With the way I have the FrankenRack configured, the extended arms give me another really useful mounting location without having to build out another section of rack.

At around $80 per arm, I think that's a pretty good value compared with what it would cost to accomplish the same thing by expanding the rack itself via ROGUE or TITAN. For me, this isn't really about "adding another attachment." It's about maximizing the rack I already own, instead of continuing to make the rack wider or buying another rack, these allow me to squeeze more functionality out of the existing footprint.

I'm adding a third securing point to the current 2 bolt setup, per side. It feels "SOLID" as is, but once I add that third point, I expect it could actually reach it's max load rating NP, even though I will not be pulling that much with it.

First impression, Secure and Functional!

I just got my VTS last week after having ordered it in April. Overall I'm very happy with the product. I never thought I'd be willing to spend the money on a smith machine but this being $500 at the time with iso handles and a traditional straight bar included made it a no brainer. I did not realize at the time of order that it would end up taking 6 months for the preorder to come through (and if I had I probably would have skipped it).

However after waiting for the extended period and resisting cancelling the order, I am very happy with the results. I'll start with a disclaimer that I have not used the flagship VTS however i fail to see how it could be much better than this. Very smooth up and down the rack and feels solid under weight, very much does not feel like a compromise vs another product.

Now for the issues

-Extended wait time is a big one. I try not to hold this one against them as they would proactively supply updates and insights and it ultimately ended up making the product better (first batch didn't seem to be up to their quality). They even made a few improvements along the way like including extra parts and making the weight horns removable.

-my straight bar is not long enough. Show in one of the pictures, enough of the bar is supposed to protrude from each side for a small collar to attach and secure it. Mine appears about 2 inches too small. I reached out and they said there was an issue which affected some customers and they would send out a replacement in a month or so once the next shipment comes (ugh)

-one of the rods which secures the bearings and roller was slightly too large, about a millimeter or so in diameter compared to the others. Due to this one of my rollers does not have a set of bearings and it introduces a small level of play. They also said they would take care of this but have not gotten back to me on a timeline.

TLDR:

Great piece of equipment and provides a lot of utility for such a small cost, especially compared to competitors and their prior products. I would highly recommend the product and I chalk most of my problems up to the pre order process, which is always a risk when supporting a product early. I'm sure I missed many points people may be curious about so feel free to drop any questions in the comments.

3 new friends wandered into our yard. Naturally I needed to replace my gym partner with them.

6x18 gym space

Have rep ares rack , rep peppin, bullet proof fitness isolator , rower , bike erg, echo bike, ski erg and some attachments.

What else should I add?

Been trying to create a space that I actually want to spend significant time in. I upgraded equipment and vibes. Think I’m in a good place now.

BLUF: If you're on the fence or hesitating about going through Alibaba to buy your gym equipment, do it. I have few regrets and will do it again for some more equipment soon.

Got my workout station, legs ext/hamstring machine, and bench delivered after 5 months shipping time. took two days for me to unpack and put it all together by myself.

$2990 all in with shipping, equipment was about $1500 and shipping was the remainder. Includes:

- Workout Station - Smith machine/power rack/cable wings/butterfly and chest attachment/high and low cables/two 100 lb weight stacks

- Leg extension/hamstring curl machine with 150 lb weight stack

- Flat/incline bench with preacher curl and leg ext

- 45 lb Olympic bar

- Weights in kg: 2x25, 2x20, 2x15, 2x10, 2x5

Customer service was amazing, great chat communication from order through shipping to install, even sending me videos when I needed help with the cable routing. Bought from Changsha Dinuo Technology Co and will buy from them again.

Only problems I had is the rear weight attachment wouldn't slide smoothly so I had to ream out the rubber grommets, easy enough. The bench is ok but I will probably upgrade to one that feels more sturdy. The other equipment feels like commercial quality, without question. I estimate these would have easily been $6k-$8k new from US sellers. FB marketplace place had some here and there but nothing substantial enough to make me consider anything on there.

Ask any questions and I'll be happy to answer as best I can. Thanks for reading!

Had to sacrifice the dining room, but this fit my priorities so much more!

Shout out to FB Marketplace where found the C2 Model D, Marcy half cage, 7ft bar, bench, and the recalled Bowflex 552s for all well under MSRP. Took about a month to secure them all. The Chirp wheel was a gift from a friend, and got the belt at a grocery store years ago when used to go to Planet Fitness. wrapped it all up by picking up 190 lbs of bumper plates and barbell clamps off Amazon. Total cost was just shy of $1450!

My daily routine looks like an erg session in the morning immediately before breakfast and heading out for work, followed by a combination of barbell lifts (Zercher squats, bench, deadlifts, bent-over rows, and pull-ups) right when get home. finish up accessories using the 552s for bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, skull crusher variations, and raises for all 3 delt heads.

Looking down the road, I think the only other real addition would be a functional trainer for cable work and lat pulldowns, along with some aesthetic upgrades like neon lights, signs, and a mirror. But honestly, it's preem at this point! Would appreciate any experienced recs!

Gym was getting super cramped

HVAC went out and they were able to reroute some ductwork that freed up some extra space, which is epic for a basement dweller

Painted, strung up lights, mirrors, and laid new flooring. Feels great to have the space back

Feel free to ask about anything

I got a great deal on a Jacobs ladder. They cost about 3600$ new and I got it for 800$. It's used but in near new condition. So happy with it and it feels like I completed my tiny old barn space.

I needed a way to anchor my feet. This worked a lot better than I thought it would. These Rep blocks are quite versatile!

Freight’s Lab

Haven’t seen many people having diy stands for the Snode dumbbell set so I thought I’d share my monstrosity. Got two metal plates from the nearest metal fabrication shop for 30 bucks 11 gauge steel. Bought the cap rack from fb market place for 20 bucks so all in all 50 bucks for a decent stand that is not a museum piece. Didn’t even have to buy hardware just reused the one it came with.

I bought this for my family to use. Cable work doesn’t play a huge role in my training. However, it has really come in handy when I’ve been injured and to add some easy accessory work. I train for the Highland Games and prefer free-weights and bands but this has become a valued piece in my gym. I’ve had it over a year and this is my review.

Pros
- Good construction. I’m sure Bells’s Oblivion is better quality but I have yet to feel like I’m missing out. This has not given me any problems yet and it has never felt cheap or flimsy.
- Smooth. I’m sure if you used this side-by-side with a high end cable system, you would feel a difference with smoothness. However, I haven’t felt that it needed to be more smooth. It’s left me satisfied as long as you lube the guide rails from time to time.
- Good weight for typical cable movements. There are some movements were I stack the weight but the majority of exercises I do on this, there’s plenty of weight. Any movement I stack, I either increase the reps or find a barbell equivalent.
- Small footprint. There is great versatility in this machine in a small footprint. Perfect for home gyms, particularly if you enjoy cable movements.
- Light trolley. Easy to move up and down.
- 1:1/2:1 ratio selection. Nice feature. It’s good to be able to choose between either ratio options.

Cons
- Lat pull-downs are not optimal. They have been working on an attachment (the Stinger, I think) to improve the lat pulldowns and I been waiting patiently for this. Release it already!
- No numbers on upright. If I really wanted to dial in my cable training, I would probably appreciate if there were numbers on the uprights. Not a big deal for me.
- No articulating arms. Again, I hear there might be a release for this but not available yet. I don’t want articulating arms but that might be important for some.

Note: While I have tried many cable machines at gyms, I cannot compare this with any other company’s cable towers. This is the only cable tower I have tried.

My overall impression. I grudgingly bought this because I love my family. But, now that it’s here, I’m glad I have it. It’s become a good accessory and injury rehabilitation machine. I bought some nice attachments and this machine with nice attachments makes it feel like a higher end product, even though it’s a value product. I would recommend it for people who are looking past the core gym items. There are more important things to buy first imo, but this is a worthy product once you move past the main pieces. I can see an item like this being even more important for people interested in bodybuilding.

Hi all, this is my temporary home gym I am very proud of. The future plans is for the left hand side of the building to be a gym which is around 12-15 metres long by 4 metres. Me and my father in law built this and has taken a while due to money but I feel so proud every time I am lifting. The area I have my gym is 4m by 3m ish and is eventually going to be a place for storage. For now it’s enough room to do basic movements. Im doing 531 so this suits me perfectly.

Is it cold ?yes.
Is it dusty? YES.
Is it abit cramped?? Yeahhhh

But it’s mine. Zero gym membership. Freedom to lift around family when needed. Commute to the gym is 20 seconds. Blast my dad rock and have some iron therapy. The next addition will be a dip bar and maybe some gym flooring other than that im not going too crazy as I’d rather spend money building up the main side of the gym as building materials are expensive as shit.

I cannot believe how incredible this 3-D Smith Machine is. I can now work out by myself safely. Because the uprights move easily forward and backwards, you can do curls, squats with an angle board, bench press, shoulder press and a lot more. I am in love with this machine.