Weight Stack Pulley Tower VS. Plate Loaded Pulley Tower: Is it Worth The Upgrade?
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- Опубліковано 9 сер 2023
- Is it worth investing in a weight stack? If you enjoy cable workouts, and ESPECIALLY if you enjoy performing supersets and drop sets, then it's a no-brainer for me. The upgrade was absolutely worth it.
I'm definitely going to get a second @BELLSOFSTEEL weight stack tower to open up even more possibilities because it has already made my workouts so much better.
If you have questions let me know. Otherwise, here are all the links to the pieces of equipment and videos mentioned.
PS: I had absolutely no idea there was a "skin smoothing" setting on my camera which apparently I toggled on when filming. If you're wondering why I look so strange, that's why. Recording video is my worst enemy 😅
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Equipment Used:
Plate Loaded Pulley Towers: www.bellsofsteel.us/all-produ...
Weight Stack Pulley Towers: www.bellsofsteel.us/all-produ...
Aluminum Wheel Pulley Upgrade: www.bellsofsteel.us/all-produ...
Lever Arms: www.bellsofsteel.us/all-produ...
Leg Press Attachment (what I use as my lat pulldown seat): titan-fitness.pxf.io/5b0KXN
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My Other Videos:
Plate-Loaded Pulley Tower Review Video: • The BEST Cable Machine...
Lever Arm Cable Hack: • Unlock The Full Potent...
Lever Arm Full Review: • 35 Exercises You Can D...
Aluminum Pulley Upgrade Review: • Aluminum Cable Pulley ...
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Leave me any questions below and I'll do my best to help!
One of the most underrated home gym channels. I took his idea of putting pulley towers on my rack to make a budget functional trainer and it changed the home gym game for me!
Yesss I love to hear that! I absolutely love the setup of having them right on the rack 🙌
Did you go stacked or plate loaded? The plate loaded are sold out smh.
Exactly!! I just mimicked his setup with two plate loaded cable towers onto my rack.
Bro, I love this channel. The synopsis between pricing for building your home gym and going to the gym was the best. Definitely subscribed
Appreciate the in depth look at our cable towers Matt! Hope the towers continuing serving you well long in the future! 😁😁
I have no doubt that they will!
send this guy a second stack for doing a nice video on your product
I just ordered a dual plate stack today because of this guy's videos! Thanks Matt and Bells
Fantastic video. The hack at 10:37 was worth the entire watch.
One of my favorite home gym channels! Loved this!! I got the weight stack and love it! Matt ur amazing and handsome 👌🏽💯
I'm looking to add a cable machine to my gym and found this video really helpful, thanks!
the home gym macgyver! I worked out at a hotel gym and had access to a functional trainer for the first time in 2 years, forgot how much I loved them. Defs don't have space for a FT at home but this I can fit in, and the lever arms working with it is huge!
Just discovered your channel via the Bells of Steel IG! Love what I see so far!
Great video. I went weight stack because its easier for my wife to workout at the same time. We can swap around easily without unloading and loading tons of weight.
Saved up the extra money and went with the weight stack too. The time saved from loading plates during warm ups/down sets or changing exercises where there is a huge weight change e.g lateral raise to calf raises/lat pull down.The convenience was worth the added cost.
Absolutely agree
I'm going to be going with the weight stack as well. If you don't currently have a ton of plates, and you need to buy extra for this machine, it's really not much of a cost savings.
Solid review matt! One day I'll have the space to have a home gym! 😭
Save up now so when you do you can invest in the exact equipment you want! Make it worth the wait.
Great videos! Curious which pulley system you are using that has weight right by front of rack, have not seen that in my searches. Probably going with Rep PR4000 rack. Is your rack 5/8 inch or 1 inch?
I just ordered two of the weight stack towers 😬 my wife is going to kill me. But I really needed some motivation to get back In my garage gym and I think this will definitely do the trick. I may go after the lever arms next
You should post a few videos taking us through your workout routine on your home gym setup!! That would be so sick
I can definitely do that! I'll put together an upper & lower day to edit together 🙏
@@MattRosenmansweet I’ll keep a lookout for it!
Imagine two stack loaded towers spaced far enough to do full stretch cable Flys with a wall mounted folding rack in between those 2 , could have a super low profile home gym on a single wall
I faced this decision when purchasing a functional trainer and decided to go with dual selectorized weight stacks instead of one with a single plate loaded weight sled, in spite of the fact that I have 700 LB of plates in my home gym.
There are many reasons I made that decision.
- much easier to quickly drop set with a stack than plate load.
- 2:1 does cut your weight stack in half, but it also removes any practical limitation due to cable travel being too short, so you can perform movements with much more range, a tradeoff I quickly made once I fully understood the benefit. I have a 1:1 lat pull down and cable travel limitation was restrictive to the point where I couldn't do all the exercises I wanted, 2:1 solved that issue. I also have stack pins that I can load with more weight if needed.
- I was able to place my dual stack functional trainer in a corner, with a plate load you need to be able to walk behind the machine to add or remove weights. My 17 x 35 basement gym was pretty full, if I purchased a plate load, that would have taken up all remaining space. Going with the dual stack allowed me to also purchase a Teeter Dex II which I call an inversion chair, which is great for decompressing your spine while also enable inverted sit ups and roman chair style back work.
- this enables the user to identify and work on any imbalances in strength on one side of the body. Instead of both sides using the same stack and the dominant side pushing and pulling more of the load, you can put more work into the weak side to get it to match the dominant side.
There are some cons, mainly the additional cost and the penalty for the 2:1 ratio, but I considered those and still went with the dual stacks.
Thanks for the video. Do you use the lever arms with one plate loaded and one weight stack tower?
great video! I want to do the same set up too but doesnt like how the feet look. Do you know if the feet can be removed?
Good review.. I appreciate the fact you look as though you are actually use your equipment and not collecting equipment to build your EGO........ Don't COUPE out.
My favorite part about the 3x3 1” racks is that you can build a Frankenstein rack of rep, rogue, BOS, titan and sorinex
If the weight stack comes with aluminum pulleys and the 210lbs of weight i dont see the price as anything too crazy. I'm definitely going to order one, as im going to get frustrated with the plate loaded. Just got to figure out where to put it as i have limited space. Great video
Hey Matt, can you please post links to the threaded rod, thigh pads and anything else you used for lat pulldowns?
Selectors are the way to go. Smoother, more convenient, less cluttered. You spend near zero time re-racking. Less likely to hurt yourself re-racking. Once in a blue moon I’ll herniate a disk from racking.
With two weight stacks, if you need more than 210lbs with a 1:1 ratio, hook left pulleys together, do the same for the right, and hook them with a lat pulldown hook bar (ie: gym pin). You would now have 420lbs with 1:1 ratio.
After some time has passed, would you say the selector stack is smoother than the plate loaded version with the aluminum pulley upgrade? I hear the loaded version with the aluminum pulleys is smoother than the selector stack.
I getting the plate loaded version. I simply cannot afford the weight stack version.
Good afternoon Sir,
I have a Rogue 1/2 Rack. Can the Bella weight stack tower be attached to my half rack?
Thank you
I want to go with plate loeaded but i am afraid of the feel, is it gonna feel different, like if its lighter at some point, because too me the plate load seems like the better bet especially for home gym where you will progress and pretty easyli use the entire stack
My biggest concern with weight stacks is moving them if the time comes
Great videos on this pulley tower Matt! Do you get more height with the pulley trolley right-side up? lol I assembled my BoS plate loaded cable tower the same way you did (with the pulley trolley upside down. I notice the pulley position is lower when the pop-pin is at the top, so the net effect seems… about the same? Curious how the top height compares for you. Also, we did that because the BoS assembly video does it upside down! The instructions are correct but I just watched the video like you!
Funny you should ask- I was debating flipping it because I had the same thought, so I did some measuring to try to figure out what the difference would be. It is extremely minimal. You get an extra half an inch or so at the top, which is not going to make or break any movement.
BUT that being said, there is an absolutely difference when it's upside down in regards to the movement. The bolts actually get in the way when it's upside down and it limits the side to side motion of the pulleys. So when you use the outside pulley, if you're performing an exercise like flies, it doesn't pull inside nearly as smoothly since the bolt is stopping it from angling towards the middle. Not sure if I articulated that properly, but since I have one upside down and the other one correct, I can totally notice a difference
@@MattRosenman thanks you so much for this information! I will probably flip it when I upgrade pulleys or want to spray them with silicone grease (or when my wife makes me!). lol enjoy your vids. I have a small Titan rack, also but really want to get a second pulley tower so I can try out your jammer arm hacks.
@@MattRosenmanI’m trying to understand your comment… I thought the one on the right side in this video is “correct” with the pull pin at the top of the trolley. But that seems like the setup where the pulley bolt hits the trolley and limits travel. The upside down trolley (the left one, I thought) seems to allow greater inward rotation of the outside pulley. Can you clarify?
I wish they would offer it with a 3 inch post and at 88-90 inches high. 80 inches really limit ROM . The vast majority of basements are 91-93 inches clearance. SO they could offer 2 versions, an 80 inch and an 88 or 90 inch. A 90 inch high 3 inch post they could make a seat attachment for pulldowns etc. They could even offer a foot attachment as well as a 3 inch post would be so much stronger... I am surprised no one has come up with this.... Here's hoping.....
Hey Matt, with one weight stack and one plate loaded tower do you find flys feel different on each side or can you easily match weight?
Great video! Biggest concern is 210 just seems easy to max out for pull down and row. I suppose you could do one hand 1:1 but with plate loaded you’re not maxing that thing out.
Correct, that could be a difference maker. Only counter-argument would be that these aren't really meant for either and most people buy a separate lat pulldown tower (that is taller) which typically also allows for rows. Since you have to sit on the floor for these lat pulldowns due to the height, a lot of people probably won't prefer that. Either way, you could definitely load up more with plates, that's for sure
@@MattRosenman yeah I'm trying to decide which to buy because I don't have space for both. Was thinking maybe adding a gym pin would work since it has similar dimensions to the one sold on BoS
Is weight stack alot smother then plate lodded?
Hey man love the review I have made an attachment that turns these towers into a lat pull-down with a leg holder so you don’t have to be on the ground
Oh man, that sounds perfect. Been hoping to find something like this on the market for this specific unit. And you still have enough height?
@@MattRosenman ua-cam.com/users/shortsuogzk2OC7CE?feature=share
Did u see any excessive wear of the cables after installing the pulleys?
Do i need to buy the lube? How long i got to wait for it to smooth? Can i use it or i got to wait a while until it smooth?
I have considered “upgrading” to the BOS Tower, over my valor cable tower. The BOS just seems a little beefier. I was hoping it was taller on the starting point for the lat pull downs, but it doesn’t appear to be that much taller.
Still not sure if I should “upgrade” or if I should just keep with my Valor Tower.
I think it ultimately depends on what you want to do with it. If it’s strictly a cable machine than honestly there’s probably no real reason to switch. I have the BoS tower bolted to the back of my rack which is an ideal setup for me, and I already had BoS rack attachments so being able to use those on the tower (to free up space on my rack) has been hugely beneficial.
@@MattRosenman I have my Valor tower attached to the wall. I usually sit on the floor for my lat pull downs. I was hoping it was a little taller to make lat pull downs better, but still stay under the garage door.
I have inexpensive plate loaded with a seat to lock in
Buy a gym pin or uni lateral movements 7:56
I love the idea of the gym pin but it wouldnt really work with this setup. The cables are really close to the weight stack so loading a plate would be extremely difficult. Theoretically you could use the pin on the backside of the stack but I have mine bolted to my rack so I think it’s a no go
@@MattRosenman got it! I use & have one for my cable machien by inspire. Best thing ever. Progressive overload 😆 I guess just opt for uni lateral or larger tut
I love the idea of it. With the right setup, it'd be a game changer for sure
@@MattRosenmancould you add the gym pin to the back
Coop is a 🪴
Getting a kickback from affiliate links is most definitely being “associated” with the company. You stand to gain financially from promoting some products over others. There’s nothing wrong with that! But presenting it as you’re “not associated” with the company is dishonest
Congrats on the weight stack.
I think every home owner will eventually go to weight stacks when they realize how easy it is to switch weights, and aren't winded by the time they get to the actual workout, and you can step down in the middle of a set and get the most reps to failure without losing the pump and without needing someone else.
Totally. It all comes down to price but I cant put a price on that convenience
I justify my home gym purchase by saying it's healthier than not going to the gym because I would never go to the gym. Plus even when I tried to go to the gym all the stuff I want to use either doesn't exist in the gym, or is being used by someone else, which completely kills my motivation. I also don't like to excercise until it's like 12-3am so nothing is ever open when I want to exercise. On top of that I would have to socialize when I'd rather stay in the basement. AND I found I can just leave my weights where they are and I don't have to change my weights out besides when I go up in weight on a particular exercise, so everything is ready to go when I want to do it.
Yup!! All awesome reasons.
I remember buying super lube and everyone looks at me awkward like "why do you have that" when they see it or I recommend it LOL. Like I literally bought it from the hardware store it's not for that purpose...
😂