Inspire FT2 Review – Still Worth It In 2024?

Last updated on October 3rd, 2024 at 09:19 am

Inspire Fitness has been making Home Gym Equipment since 2003. For almost two decades their Flagship model the Inspire FT2 has stood on a mountain top, alone, as the glorious do it all cable system for home gym owners looking to pack a MONSTER punch, in a small space.

But today, that mountain top is a little busier than it was just a few years ago. We’ve got quality offerings at the high end and budget end of the spectrum, and everywhere in between, not to mention some more unique options and new releases on the market recently. So the question is… is the Inspire FT2 still a good option for today’s home gym owners?

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Transparency Note

I’ve had the Inspire FT2 in my garage for over a year, testing out all the pulleys, gadgets, gizmos, and what not. I don’t have any affiliate link, code, discount, or anything from Inspire. We originally purchased this bad-boy used thanks to Marketplace, at a cool $2,500. So I did buy it out of my own pocket, but at about half of the current retail price. Because I bought it used, I won’t be discussing assembly, shipping, etc.

Inspire FT2 Video Review

Inspire FT2 Overview

If you don’t know the Inspire FT2, let me give you a little background. The Inspire FT2 is at its heart, a Functional Trainer. But what separates it from the majority of functional trainer offerings on the market are three things.

It not only has the adjustable cable columns; it also has dual low pulleys and dual high pulleys. This allows you to avoid the typical craziness of having to rig up some kind of pulley solution for heavy low rows or deal with a lack of height for pulldowns.

The SCS bench, along with the Leg Developer, connect directly into the cable system so you can have a plate stack driven leg curl and leg extension, much like you’d find in a commercial gym.

And the Inspire FT2 has a built-in smith machine, which runs off the stacks. So, the entire machine is completely weight plate free, meaning you could in theory own this, some cable attachments, and nothing else. Or, simply not have to ever load and unload your plates for accessory work. Let’s get into the details.

Inspire FT2 Specs

• Brand: Inspire Fitness
• Made In USA: No
• Dimensions: 61 in x 58 in x (Min) 83 in (Max) 88 in (155 cm x 148 cm x 211/224 cm)
• Dimensions w/ SCS Bench: 61 in x 89 in x (Min) 83 in (Max) 88 in (155 cm x 226 cm x 211/224 cm)
• Weight: 700 lbs
• Weight Capacity: N/A
• Knurling: Yes on Smith Bar and Pull-Up bar
• Finish: Electrostatic Powder Coat
• Assembly: Others claimed multiple hours
• Bearings: Precision Steel ball System
• Resistance Ratio: 2:1
• Residential Warranty: Limited Lifetime on frame and all parts

Inspire FT2 Performance

Cable Stacks

The Inspire FT2 runs off these two plate stacks. The entire damn thing runs on them, the smith, the adjustable cable columns, the low pulleys, the high pulleys, the leg developer pulleys… everything!

These come in at 160lb per side, which is 10lb per plate, with an optional 50lb upgrade per side as well. The pulleys are a 2 to 1 ratio, meaning that while they are 160lb, what you are actually lifting is closer to 80lbs, and this is consistent on every pulley throughout the machine. You might have noticed that the stacks are NUMBERED, instead of labeled with the weight.

This is very likely because of the 2 to 1 ratio, as well as the options I’ll mention in a bit for the smith machine. You might want it to say “5 lbs, 10lbs, etc.” but the plate weighs 10lbs, it feels like 5lbs… but only sometimes… so I get why they simply went with a numbered system on the Inspire FT2.

Is That Enough?

80lbs per side is likely enough for MOST people on MOST exercises except for back work and the leg developer.

What we have for leg work, is that the cables actually run from both stacks, meaning you have up to 160lbs of resistance to work with.

And for low rows and pulldowns, you have a couple options. The high pulleys actually swivel just a bit on the Inspire FT2, so you can hook up a carabiner to the center and attach your favorite single hook attachment and work up to that 160lb range or get a custom solution to connect the cables together.

The low row pulleys do NOT swivel, so you gotta get creative. We went custom through my guy David Dennis at Gorilla Strength USA, and he made us these triangle pieces for the exact fit of the low row and high pulleys. You can get a piece from KaizenDIY, you can use a Darko Shorty or Longy Bar, use a Gym Pin D-Handle Bar, amongst a bunch of other options. Basically, you are going to want to connect the two pulleys together.

Now you might be sitting there saying… 160lbs, that’s still not much. Yeah, it can easily be topped out by stronger athletes. This is where my good friend the Gym Pin comes into play. I use this pretty much every time I use the Leg Extension, sometimes for triceps extensions, and sometimes for back work.

This is an invaluable tool for something like the Inspire FT2. Add extra weight, hang chains, you name it. Overall, for someone like my wife, a much more normal human being, the stacks are plenty. She has never once reached for the Gym Pin, and I doubt she ever will. For me, more weight would be nice, as one of the reasons I wanted a stack machine was to not load plates. So this is definitely an area where for the bigger and badder dudes and dudettes, the Inspire FT2 falls a little short.

Multiple Pulley Options

The overall smoothness and general operation of the pulleys is great. The occasional oil, a little adjustment to make sure you’ve got it balanced, and ensuring that the pulleys are all screwed in tight, and you are in business. I mention this because there is a LOT going on here, and there are a handful of places throughout that need to be working correctly, otherwise you get lopsided cables. We had this for the first few months until I figured out what was wrong.

I see no future where these pulleys or cables are going to need replacing, which is a VERY good thing, because there are a TON of pulleys, the cables are extremely long, and it is fairly complicated for the cable to run through the entire system. I’d hate to have a system that needed repair every couple of years.

Our Go-To Cable Set-Up

What we’ve found over the past year is that we use the adjustable cable columns A LOT on the Inspire FT2. Cable crossovers is one of my favorite chest exercises. Rear delt work is fantastic here, and even triceps work with the dual cables is just magnificent. Plus you can super set easily between things like curls and triceps extensions, or left and right side iso-lateral movements. We can even set one side up for my daughters height and one for mine if we are working out together.

We use the dual pulldown primarily with single cable attachments like our MAG Grips. But I will say that I have grown to really enjoy the Iso-Lateral function of the Prime ROT-8 handles with this. And we often use one of the pulldown options for triceps extensions with the Gym Pin Long Triceps Rope, Face Pulls, and other options that benefit from more range of motion.

While I wouldn’t be devastated with a single cable pulldown, we would definitely lose some functionality. And we absolutely 100% NEED the extra height on the pulldown compared to the adjustable columns. A basic functional trainer without the pulldown wouldn’t get the job done.

The dual low cables on the other hand are MOSTLY a waste in our space. 9 times out of 10 they are being connected to our 2 to 1 cable connector for the sake of some low rows. The only time in recent past I can remember using them individually was for seated leg curls with the IPR Straps.

What Am I Getting At?

While the idea of dual low and high pulleys sounds nice on the Inspire FT2, and I’d never argue against it as I find the occasional use for them, I’m not sure I’d work that hard to hunt them down. I’d be sad at losing the dual pulldown because I do find that useful, but I’d be able to get bye with just the dedicated pulldown function by itself.

I WOULD struggle going back to a single cable column though like on the Prime Single Stack, and I wouldn’t be happy with a more common functional trainer without the dedicated pulldown features.

If you had asked me before owning the Inspire FT2, I would have landed on… the dual adjustable cable column isn’t a big deal. But today, I’ve got a very different perspective. And working with my wife, I can say that some of her favorite exercises are also the ones I mentioned, using both cables at once. So the Inspire FT2 does a pretty freaking fantastic job of hitting all the needs with a few extra wants for a cable system.

Smith Machine

The cool part as I mentioned, is that this hooks directly into the cable stacks of the Inspire FT2. You use the adjustable cable column trolleys as your spotters to set the Smith, lower it into place, and then unhook the cable from the column, and onto the Smith. Done!

The bar itself weighs 25lbs. If you remember I said the stacks only go up to 160lbs COMBINED… 185lbs with the bar would be nowhere near enough for a lot of people. Good news is, you can double the weight with a quick adjustment, and get up to ~350lbs. This makes things like RDLs, squats, and bench a reality, even for stronger athletes on the Inspire FT2.

Now the hiccup here, is the starting position. This is the same issue I had with my Powertec Levergym, you have to start in the bottom of the rep. A traditional Smith you can rack it wherever you want. Top, mid, bottom, etc. You just rotate the bar, it locks in place, good to go. With the Inspire FT2, you rest the smith on the trolleys and press, row, and lift from there.

Works for things like RDLs and rows, not so great for bench and squats. You can try and kind of “hack” this by starting at the top, engaging the adjustment process, lowering to where you want, and then getting to work, but its clunky and especially since you’d ideally get a stretch, not be stopped by a block, it just doesn’t work the way I’d really want it to.

I’ll also note that since the smith bar sits on top of the trolleys, and there is a solid inch or two before the weight actually engages, this doesn’t work great for things off the floor without often raising your feet. My wife has to stand on a platform to do RDLs, and Hip Thrusts, which would be awesome here, would need even more elevation. Yes, there are workarounds for all of this, but it all adds up to a less than ideal experience on the Inspire FT2.

What About The Knurling?

I’ve seen other reviewers talk about the knurling on the smith bar. While I wouldn’t complain if it was better, it is a machine. No one is complaining about the knurling on a Hammer Strength Low Row or Prime Chest Press… The bar should never be sliding off your back in a smith machine because of lack of knurling and if you are failing a lift in a Smith because your grip gave out… strap in and get to work.

So the Smith is solid for SOME exercises, and pretty meh for the rest. In my own lifting, as much as I’d like to get after some smith squats and presses, I’m just not. I basically never choose these over anything else I have available to me. My wife does RDLs often here, that’s it. This is one of those… so close, but that little hiccup is a BIG roadblock to it working properly. Big thumbs up for including a Smith Machine and making it work off the stacks, but take most of that away for how lackluster the performance is on the Inspire FT2.

Inspire SCS Weight Bench

The bench as a whole is a pretty standard “home gym bench”. What I mean is that it is decently stable, has basic upholstery and vinyl, a ladder system for adjustments, wheels to roll around… it’s an adjustable bench. The bench won’t win any awards, but it gets the job done.

The adjustment pieces on this bench alongside the ladder handles always seem to be on the wrong side or in a bad spot in general. The upholstery, because we use this to stretch sometimes, is starting to wear thin in spots. It is far from the best bench I’ve ever owned, but the leg developer piece is a BIG win for the home gym.

As someone who incorporates leg extensions and leg curls basically every week, and my wife does leg extensions as well every week, this is a crucial piece to our gym. Past leg developers have been OK, often missing the mark in a number of ways. This one is also not perfect, but the cable driven function is awesome. Plus, you have the weight peg so you can still load it up to mix in plate loaded and cable driven on the Inspire FT2.

The only downside is that you need a pretty considerable amount of space for this. I put our DB rack right in front of it, and it is just barely enough space. You need about 90inches from the wall to really make this work fully. There is also some weird adjustments with the bench, the seat, and the leg developer, trying to get the right combo for different sized athletes. My wife can’t quite get the leg curl to sit right without hurting her knee.

Overall, the bench and leg developer get a solid score… they could be improved if the cable could have the tension adjusted to fit tighter spaces better, if the adjustments were a little less one too big and one too small, and the bench was just overall more in line with the nicer benches today. But the cable driven aspect overall is something I do not see in any other home gym offering, cable set-up, etc. outside of some DIY retrofitting. So they get a huge thumbs up there.

Accessories

The Inspire FT2 comes with a number of cable attachments, a storage rack for said attachments, a built-in pull-up bar, and these nylon shrouds.

The built in storage, I ripped out instantly. I dropped in a piece of wood, put my keyboard and mouse in there, and “wall mounted” a computer monitor. These hook into the computer, which is also connected to the stereo system. This allows us to stream music, as well as track our workouts in Excel.

I went with Wall Control and built the best cable attachment storage on the planet to take care of the storage gap left behind. No knocks on Inspire for their storage, as it is perfectly capable of holding all the attachments they provide. But for those of us with a cable attachment addiction, it just isn’t even close to meeting the needs.

Cable Attachments

The cable attachments are mostly budget friendly options. If you are like me, and have a wall full of cable attachments, you aren’t likely to get much use out of them. We’ve used the Pull-Up strap a lot for assisted pull-ups. And we have used the “night stick” for things like rotational work and pallof presses.

Pull-Up Bar

The pull-up bar is a chromed and kind of awkwardly knurled piece. It feels like they went for an aggressive knurl, but it really just chews up the hands, instead of providing a better grip. It is nice to have this, as mentioned, for the use of assisted pull-ups. Otherwise, MOST home gym owners are going to have a couple options for pull-ups, and this probably won’t be their first choice.

Nylon Shrouds

The nylon shrouds are far from the metal ones provided by the likes of Prime Fitness. But they also do their job in a home gym setting. They discourage anyone from reaching in and grabbing the cables, getting fingers pinched, and hide a lot of what is going on behind the scenes here in the Inspire FT2.

I give the Inspire FT2 a couple points for thinking about integrated storage and including attachments with their set-up. I’m always a big fan of companies who care about where you are going to put stuff. I just think they have an option to do something like The Dane from Fringe Sport and include an actual pegboard instead of just some piece that ONLY works with their stuff.

Overall Thoughts On The Inspire FT2

Overall the Inspire FT2 kicks butt in a few categories, has a few things that were good ideas but just didn’t pan out in our gym, and a couple things that really could have been awesome but need some updating.

I’ll wrap up the overall review of the Inspire FT2 with this… I VERY regularly find reasons to use this over anything else in my gym. The stacks are just so convenient, the adjustments are quick, I have a million options with all the cable attachments and angles. The dual cables make super setting quick, and the bench paired with my dumbbells in sight means I’ve got just an absurd amount of options to jump back and forth on. The Inspire FT2 is stable and suitable for me at 6ft 260lbs, for my wife at 5’6 and 150lbs, and my daughter at 7 years old.

I normally do my big lifts in the morning, and my accessory stuff in the afternoon. I regularly do my entire afternoon workout without leaving the corner of my gym. My wife has often done entire workouts from start to finish with the Inspire FT2.

Because it goes fairly low in weight and can adjust easily, my daughter uses it as well. And if I have other kiddos over, friends, family, whatever… it is so simple to use, it takes little supervision after an initial introduction, it just fits really well into a home gym.

I don’t see myself living in a world where my home gym doesn’t have a plate stack driven cable machine with dual adjustable cable columns, and some form of low and high cables. And honestly, the FT2 does this, and if you aren’t in the big boy camp like myself of pushing lots of weight on a few key exercises, you’ll never need to load a plate for accessory work ever again if you don’t want to.

Add in a rack, bar, and plates with the FT2 alongside the cable attachments and you’ve got a TON of options for your workouts.

Other Options On The Market

The question we started with, and we’ll end with… Is the Inspire FT2 still worth it today? Originally you had a few commercial retailers like SAMSON, StrayDog Strength and Sorinex who offered racks with cable systems built in, and then functional trainers from a number of companies. The Inspire FT2 was a breakthrough for a home gym.

In the last several years we’ve seen a ton of options come out… Prime Fitness dropped the Prodigy Rack which has dual adjustable columns, fixed high pulleys, dual 350lb weight stacks, that is all built around a 3×3 and 1” hardware rack design.

Then we got the REP Ares and Athena, now Rogue has their rack cable systems and Fringe Sport just dropped the DANE.

Want to Frankenstein an FT2? Cool… grab a rack, maybe a Dialed Motion set-up, and the upcoming Bells of Steel Smith Machine rack attachment, or the BulletProof VTS or Buffalo Bully Slider. Hell, toss the VTS on a Prime Prodigy Rack and you could connect the cable driven pieces to the VTS and have independent moving Smith Arms as well as add your own barbell to the mix, or toss on some Crandall Fitness Jammer Arms and connect those.

Any combination of the above gets you an actual rack that takes attachments as well, so you could include your Mutant Metals UDA for cable driven weighted dips, or hook up some VOLTRA I’s if you wanted to spend thousands of dollars and build out an insane set-up with no weight stacks at all.

Inspire released the FT2 and hasn’t done much to up their game since, while companies like ForceUSA have continued to one up and redesign their all-in-one options, even including Leg Press attachments and options to extend the width of their crossover cables. You even have a ton of Amazon options for all in ones.

The FT2 costs $5,000 retail right now, and that doesn’t include the bench, leg developer, or add-on weight stacks. A Prime Fitness Prodigy Rack is $5,500 and that is a fully commercial, custom color, made in American BEHEMOTH of a rack. You could buy a REP PR 5000 and two VOLTRA Is and come in at just slightly over what the Inspire FT2 costs.

The retail price and the build of the Inspire FT2 just doesn’t seem to make sense any more. They’ve been outpaced and outmatched over the course of the last two decades.

If you already own one, or maybe you can find a screaming deal on a used one, the decision is a little more difficult. It works, it does what I need it to do, and it fits well in our space with some unique features and options that are just flat out awesome.

But if you are looking at buying something like this today, whether you are trying to build out a one and done rack or a dedicated accessory corner like I have with all the other options on the market, I just don’t see this competing anymore. I think you simply have too many options that offer more in a similar package and at similar or better price points.

Now if Inspire retrofitted their Smith to work better, made it a 3×3 system, improved a few minor details, and maybe added some new attachments to their line-up, I think we are back in business. But for now, my stance is, unless you already have it or can get one used, look elsewhere.

Wrap Up

We really enjoy our Inspire FT2 for the VAST majority of what it does. But today, it is a little difficult to recommend with so many other options on the market. It has given me a clear vision as to what I would need in my space if I was to replace it, but as of right now it isn’t going anywhere.

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