The BEST Cable Machines For Your Garage Gym – 2024
Last updated on August 20th, 2024 at 09:35 am
After you tackle the basics of a bar, bench, plates, and a rack… there are two items that tend to stand out as next purchases. One is dumbbells, the other is Cable Machines.
One of the extras or what we might call the wants instead of the needs of a garage gym. Something to give us some more options for back work, curls, triceps pushdowns, and all the other fun stuff we get with a high and low cable set-up. I’m currently on my 5th option for cable work, so I figured I’d detail the path I’ve gone on, the pros and cons of each, and what I think YOU should choose depending on your needs, space, and budget.
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Before We Dig In
You are going to see a few different classes of cable machines, each with a number of options within them. Before proceeding, think about the following.
- What is your budget?
- How often do/would you use cable machines?
- What kind of space do you have to dedicate to a cable machine?
- What kind of equipment owner are you?
- How do you plan to USE your cable machine?
- Do you perform super sets, circuits, or other sets where multiple cables at differing heights and weights is required?
What To Buy
If you have limited space, limited budget, or simply will rarely use cable machines in your home gym
- get some bands (code GML saves 10%)
- build a DIY Cable Pulley Sytem
With a bigger budget, where space is still a factor, look into one of the Small Footprint Cable Machines
If you have more space with a bigger budget, and especially if you plan to use cable machines regularly, Dedicated Cable Machines are the route to go.
- Powertec Workbench Levergym
- Inspire Fitness FT2
- Force USA C10
- Prime Fitness HLP Selectorized Single Stack
If you have a BIG budget, but limited space, or simply want to get really creative with the most unique option on the market, grab a Beyond Power VOLTRA I.
Cable Machines FAQs
Here is some common language and terms and FAQs for Cable Machines.
Weight Stacks
This is what you commonly see in commercial gym machines. They use a pin to adjust the weight, as the weight is built into the machine itself. This is more costly, but quicker to adjust and use.
Plate Loaded
A common home gym solution for cable machines, as they cut the shipping cost, complexity of the machine, and cost of the unit, while using something you already own, weights!
1:1, 2:1, 4:1 Ratio
Cable Machines have pulleys. Pulleys were originally created to make your life easier in lifting large loads. The amount of pulleys and the way they are set up in your cable machine dictates how much mechanical advantage you get. If a machine is a 1:1 ratio, that means 100lbs FEELS like 100lbs. 2:1 would mean that 100lbs feels like 50lbs, and 4:1 means it feels like 25lbs. The benefit to 1:1 is obviously the greater load capacity for stronger athletes. But the higher the ratios typically have smoother cable operation, especially for smaller movements.
Adjustable Cable Column
Some machines have a cable attachment point that can be adjusted from low to high, and multiple places in between. These are common on functional trainers, and give a lot of advantages for exercise selection.
Lat Pulldown
A fixed high pulley is often called a Lat Pulldown. It can be used for a number of exercises, but often is stuck in place and has no ability to swivel, adjust, and more.
Low Row
A fixed low pulley is often called a Low Row. It can be used for a number of exercises, but often is stuck in place and has no ability to swivel, adjust, and more.
DIY (ish) Cable Machines
Bands
I’m a HUGE fan of bands. From mobility, to accommodating resistance, to a decent cable system replacement. They are cheap, mobile, and extremely versatile.
They are GREAT for warm-ups. I use them before every session. Rows, crossovers, curls, good mornings, extensions, adductors, abductors, and more. They are so easy to set up, they have minimal wear and tear on the body, and are suited really well to higher rep work to move a lot of blood. Seriously, bands are phenomenal, so much so that I use them OVER my cable machine for this purpose.
For a cable machine replacement, they do some things well, and others not so well.
Good Band Exercises
They are good for exercises where the motion path is almost entirely linear, can easily be anchored/wrapped around a band peg or rack post, and you want to take advantage of the varying strength curve. Meaning, as the band gets longer (i.e., closer to the end of the rep) it gets more difficult. If that matches your strength curve, we are on point.
They work well for curls (stand in the band) and triceps pushdowns. Face pulls are awesome, and good mornings and band deadlifts can be a really spicy warm-up or finisher.
OK Band Exercises
Things like rows and crossovers are a good example. While the peak contraction is excellent and can certainly lead to a great pump, it doesn’t entirely mimic the same exercise as you would have in a cable machine.
Because a band starts off weak, and ends very strong, you forgo the stretch in these exercises, and the contraction can be almost TOO hard. So you quickly go from nothing, to too much, in the same exercise. Again, plenty good for warm-ups. But for actual working sets, you are going to miss a LOT of what is good about these exercises by using bands.
Really Bad Band Exercises
Lat pulldowns are a great example. They have a huge ROM, and the difference in tension from the top to the bottom of the rep for bands is just too much. The top is either laughably weak, or the bottom is overbearingly powerful. Just not a viable solution for this type of work. Anything where you are moving a great deal, especially from different angles, really makes bands a bad solution as well.
The other downside to bands, is the loading scheme. In a cable machine you go up a plate, or add a 10lb plate, and you make small jumps as you progress. Bands jump pretty drastically between one to the next. Plus, since it requires you to stand in the same position each time to get the same tension, it is hard to accurately replicate from workout to workout.
If you have nothing, and want something, bands are AWESOME! And if you have a solid power rack, you probably want bands anyway to do some awesome accommodating resistance stuff. Just don’t expect a $10 pair of bands to replace a dedicated cable machine.
Bells Of Steel Cable Pulley Attachment System
The Bells of Steel Cable Pulley attachment system is one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” ideas. They made a cable machine, without the machine. Genius! There have been a few different offerings of this one on the market, but they are all aimed at making a simple solution for the common athlete. With the strap system in place, you can easily connect the cable to your rack, hit your sets, put it back, all in a few seconds of set-up and tear-down time. For a lot of home gym owners, that is huge! You shouldn’t spend more time getting ready to lift than you do lifting.
As with most things, its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. Because it is such low weight and moveable, the thing isn’t stable at all. If you get even a little squirrely on your cable movements, it’ll start swinging like a pendulum. Also, because it inherently needs to be wrapped around something tall, if your rack or ceilings aren’t tall enough, your lat pulldowns become more of a row. Meaning, your full ROM at the top just doesn’t happen. You typically need to sit down on the floor for lat pulldowns, which can be a bit awkward and potentially dangerous if it gets swinging. This also makes anchoring yourself if the weight gets heavy pretty difficult.
If you are exploring this option, make sure you check out the article Build a BADASS DIY Cable Pulley System for $100.
Cons
You don’t get a low pulley, unless you buy an extender kit and have a lower crossbeam to wrap it around. This is where the set-up time becomes a bit onerous, because you are officially setting up two cables to get one thing done. You also likely need to grab some extra pieces to make it work fully (detailed in the above article).
It makes it really difficult to have a heavy lat bar on one end, attempt to adjust the weight on the other end, and not knock yourself out or pinch some fingers on plates. Remember, this thing is so simple that when you disconnect the loading pin, there is absolutely NOTHING holding your cable attachment in place.
It you buy one of these or DIY your own, make sure you get a cable that is wrapped in a coating otherwise it is REALLY easy for it to start breaking apart. We are talking about metal strands rubbing on a metal pulley, weighed down by potentially a few hundred pounds. Even in a few weeks, that cable can quickly become a poking hazard. When I owned mine, it didn’t take long for this to happen. If my daughter had been around at that time, there is no way I would have held onto it for any longer.
If you need a cable set up that takes up almost zero storage space, this is a fantastic option. You are going to get a better array of exercises and be able to use various attachments and easier loading adjustments than bands. Just remember that you are getting that at around $100, so don’t expect commercial grade performance.
Other DIY Cable Machines
If you want to explore the world of Home Gym DIY, no one does it better than my dude Kyle at KaizenDIY. You can check out the DIY videos below, or hit up the article over on Garage Gym Experiment.
Small Footprint Cable Machines
Sometimes you want something a little more robust, but still can’t dedicate a huge budget, or especially a huge amount of real estate to it. This is where some of these cable machines shine!
Ironmaster Lat Tower
This is a HUGE upgrade over the bands and DIY options. But this is also a MUCH bigger investment. You need the Ironmaster Super Bench and the Lat Tower, which is going to run you $700+.
With their Superbench offering you get a REALLY solid adjustable bench, followed up with some awesome attachments. Leg curls/leg extensions, hypers, preacher curl, dips, and a few more. My experience with the ones I’ve used, has been nothing short of solid.
For the Lat Tower specifically, you get high and low cables which is awesome. Because of the bench, the tower is pretty damn stable. Its not 500lb commercial grade stable, but damn if it didn’t take face pulls and lat pulldowns like a champ. The lat tower almost completely disappears on your wall when storing it away so you aren’t stuck dedicating space to it on your floor.
Bonus points with the Ironmaster, is that you get the awesome adjustable bench, which could actually replace your flat bench depending on your goals. And of course, with all of the other attachment options you open yourself up to a huge array of other exercises.
Cons
The lat pulldown has you sitting on the bench, which is ideal The low row has you sitting on the floor, which isn’t exactly ideal. This also means you need a decent amount of open space to use this effectively, since you need to set up the bench, the tower, and be able to get a full set up on the other side.
The biggest drawback to the Ironmaster set-up in my opinion is the steep entry price. You could get a much better lat tower for the same price, but you certainly aren’t getting a better bench, lat tower, leg curl, and more for the same price and footprint. One other thing to keep in mind, if you are above 6ft tall or have a crazy long torso and arms, you might not get full ROM on lat pulldowns.
If you have the budget, need a solid adjustable bench, and have enough space to store things but still want the freedom to get it out of the way, Ironmaster is a great approach.
Surplus Strength UPS
Surplus Strength took the DIY concept, and surpercharged it. The Universal Pulley System is a rack attached cable machine that looks like it was actually built for a rack. It reduces a number of the issues of the DIY build beyond simple aesthetics as well. The cables are of course polyurethane coated, so no fraying. The UPS has two pulleys, one in front and one in back, to reduce the swaying potential. You have stainless steel pieces, heavy duty pulleys, and everything is custom colored to match your rack aesthetic. It also has the option for the low row attachment.
Now, the UPS still flounders in that it has to attach to your rack, which means it needs to be broken down when not in use. But it works off hitch pins, or via their Speed Pins, so it should take just a few minutes to go from nothing to full set up.
This should work with most 2×3 or 3×3 racks, 1″ or 5/8″ hardware.
Your biggest hurdle here again, is price. About $400 for the base UPS, add in a loading pin, speed pins, and other items and you are around $500. Add in the low row and it is another $200. All said and done and you are close to the price of a new rack.
Bells of Steel Plate Loaded Cable Tower
BoS has put together a fairly compact offering with this plate loaded cable tower. This thing should be able to stow away tightly in a corner and against a wall. If you needed to move it, it only weighs 85lbs so that should be doable as well. With the dual handles you have a lot of options for rows, curls, triceps work, and more.
On top of that, a lot of guys have been able to custom retrofit this and add Lat Pulldown options, cable fly options, and more.
Plate loaded is kind of a bummer, but for this particular use case, it makes perfect sense. It also keeps the price down, as this dedicated unit costs less than the UPS. Now the UPS is American Made, custom colors, with excellent craftsmanship. The Bells of Steel piece is an import item. So the pricing differences make sense.
REP Fitness ARES and Athena
There are a LOT of rack attached options on the market. A big downside is that MOST are made by the same company who makes your rack. So you need to pay close attention to this. This might honestly even impact your decision on what rack to purchase.
REP Fitness dropped a BOMB in 2022 with the ARES and Athena rack options. If you have a REP Fitness rack already, or are considering it, these are MAJOR options for you.
A huge plus here, is that these units are going to be stable, take up minimal space, and offer a BIG bang. With huge stacks, lots of features, and being integrated directly into your rack, these are pretty sweet.
Now, I don’t believe these are home runs. The reason is that by adding something like this to your rack, you are reducing it’s function AS A RACK. Take a look at the Athena. The adjustable cable columns are the front post of your rack. The cables run along the side of the rack. These are all tripping hazards, make using chains nearly impossible, and limit your abilities for deadlifts in a rack and more. I’m also personally a fan of various supersetting options, and sharing the space with my family. If I want to squat, and my wife wants to do cable work, these types of units make it very difficult to do so.
REP is the leader right now with their rack attached options, but you can bet Bells of Steel will have a Hydra option soon. Powertec has had one for their racks for YEARS, and Rogue recently launched theirs.
Dedicated Cable Machines
Ok, if you have the space, budget, and want/need for the best cable machine experience, the dedicated set up is the way to go. The crazy part is that there are a TON of options here. So I’ll try and keep it to a few options, while still providing enough detail to make a good selection.
All In One Cable Machines
These pieces aren’t ONLY cable machines, but they do include them. These range from terrible pieces of trash like a Bowflex or something made by Marcy. To higher end models similar to my favorite Powertec Workbench Levergym or units made by HOIST Fitness or Inspire Fitness.
There are a few things to consider here. First, some of these take up a decent chunk of real estate. The Levergym for instance takes up more space than a standard lat tower and low row. But what you get in return is often multi functional. Second, anything branded “home gym equipment” can often be limited in its ability to support athletes outside of a more “average” shape and size. I am 6ft tall and can just BARELY get the right range of motion on these units. My buddy JB at garage-gyms.com is 6ft4. He struggled immensely to use the Levergym.
Last is the built in stacks. If the unit has these, you need to pay attention to the weight ratio. If it has a 200lb stack, and is a 2:1 ratio, that means you are only going to FEEL 100lbs of load. That is likely far too little for rows for most people, and could be too little for other exercises as well.
If you can find one that fits your space, budget, and needs with the right amount of load, you can get a SERIOUS bang for your buck. Leg extensions, leg curls, chest presses, pulldowns, rows, curls… Some of these All-in-Ones even have options for leg press add-ons. Hard to beat for the space cramped home gym athlete.
Functional Trainers
A functional trainer is in the simplest words, two adjustable cable columns in one cable machine. In a commercial gym they are often part of a large cable set-up and are used for triceps, biceps, and even cable crossover work.
In a home gym or smaller facility, functional trainers look more like the REP Fitness FT-5000.
They can often fit in a corner, can be plate loaded or run off stacks, and the pulleys can adjust on the columns.
Pros & Cons
A big pro for functional trainers is often the amount of exercises they can do. Again, triceps, biceps, rear delts, crossovers, various leg kick backs, and much more. The big con is that they rarely have big enough weights for back work like rows and pulldowns.
This makes a lot of functional trainers an accessory to a more traditional Lat Pulldown & Low Row Combo in a gym. Yes, that would mean you need multiple cable machines.
The exception to that rule is something like the Inspire Fitness FT2. I snagged one of these at the end of 2022. It still has the traditional adjustable cable columns, but it also has a dual cable high pulley for pulldowns, and a dual cable low pulley for low rows. It ALSO has a built in Smith Machine that works off of the cable stacks.
This means a TON of options, in one cable machine, without needing to carry weights around. I’ve been able to use single cable attachments like my MAG handles, dual cable handles like the Prime ROT-8, and really leverage a TON of awesome cable attachments. My wife uses it, my daughter uses it, it is a workhorse.
A few other companies like Force USA make similar units as the FT2. The most commonly recommended budget Functional Trainer is the Inspire Fitness FTX, which is commonly sold at Costco for a STEAL of a price.
Lat Pulldown & Low Row Combos
First, if you have room for multiple machines and commercial grade equipment, then this is an awesome route. You can get a commercial grade tower off the used market and save a bundle and get the best performance possible. Second, is if you have no want or need for a full fledged machine like a Powertec Levergym, these offer a LOT of options without taking up extra space.
You can find brand new options from PowerTec, Bells of Steel, or a number of other companies.
Prime Fitness Prodigy Line
Prime Fitness is best known for their commercial grade equipment, but in recent years has expanded to serve the home gym and private studio game. The stand out for me is the Prime Fitness Single Stack. This is a cable machine with a dedicated lat pulldown & low row cable that are a 1:1 ratio, with an adjustable cable column that is a 2:1 ratio. The stack version comes with a 350lb stack, which should be more than enough for MOST exercises for MOST people. When in doubt, toss in a Gym Pin and you are good to go.
The Single Stack also comes in custom colors, and works with their entire prodigy line of awesomness.
They also make their Prime Prodigy HLP Rack, which is a full commercial grade power rack with integrated cable system inside of it. This is the kind of rack, that if I was starting over from scratch, it would be very difficult to ignore. Custom color ways, built in cable functionality, with a ton of unique features, from a seriously awesome company. This would save you some serious space from needing a dedicated cable machine. Space you could use for a leg press or something else.
Fly Wheels
These aren’t cable machines, but they also kind of aren’t NOT cable machines? They work off inertia so they are definitely not plate loaded or stack driven. They don’t have ratios. But they DO let you work a lot of similar movements, often with the cable attachment of your choice. A lot of them are also INSANELY compact, and can be super advantageous for smaller gyms, for travel, or even to bring inside.
The K-Box is one that is on my review pipeline as it has intrigued me for awhile. My buddy Kurt reviews the Quest Station above. These are NOT cheap, and again, not EXACTLY cable machines, but something to look into more.
SMART Cable Machines
Beyond Power VOLTRA I
There have been a number of SMART home gym options hit the market in recent years including the Tonal. I haven’t been a big fan because they all were meant to replace the entire gym, not be part of it. Then we got the VOLTRA I, a SMART cable machine with 200lbs of resistance and a lot of unique features. I have spent over a year with mine, and it is MOSTLY good. This thing is expensive, but unique doesn’t even begin to distinguish this from a traditional cable machine.
Other SMART Devices
The MAIAK-GO is a new contender on the market in the exact same ball park as the VOLTRA I. Rack attached, smart device, cable machine with 200+lbs of resistance. It will be on Kickstarter for a much lower price, but then jump up considerably. Check out their AMA for more details.
You could grab something like the ANCORE, or the SHOGUN FLEX. There are more and more options releasing every day in this category at different price ranges and different specs.
Wrap-Up
Hopefully the above gives you a picture of how you can incorporate cable machines into your garage gym whether you have zero space and budget, or a lot of it. Figure out your needs, your budget, and your space, and lets get to work.
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Joe Gray
My name is Joe Gray - aka Gray Matter Lifting - and I've been lifting at home since 2013. In that time I've built a badass gym, deadlifted over 600lbs, helped grow r/Homegym to over 1 Million subscribers, created the Garage Gym Competition and written a ton of posts here on this site. I love the Garage Gym Community... If you do too, I hope you stick around.
3 Comments
King Haswell
Hi, I ended up getting the spud cable kit, I’d like a MAG grip, however for tricep press downs or something do you recommend a small straight bar, or a rope? Thank you!
Gray Matter Lifting
Check out this article for some ideas: https://graymatterlifting.wordpress.com/2020/09/21/cable-attachments-the-gray-matter-buyers-guide/
King
Thank you, missed that article.