EXM3000LPS

This Gym is the real deal! Solid and built with no compromises! Some have complained about the instructions, but I think they were sufficient with diagrams that show how it all goes together. A picture is worth a thousand words, and if you tried to explain how to put this size of a project together by worded instructions, you would definitely confuse some people, especially if it were done by someone with ESL language skills. Second, you would need a lot of wording and that in itself would turn a lot of people off. The diagrams are simple and you need to study them carefully while assembling the gym. Here is my experience and advice if you want to put this thing together like a pro. My wife was telling me to hire someone, but I'm glad I didn't. You will have a much better understanding of this gym if you do it yourself. It's not too hard, but it is a big project. So you need to take your time and work carefully and not expect to put it together in an hour or two. Save yourself a couple hundred bucks! I needed to put this thing in a room that is 10.5 feet by 12 feet. Not a very big space for this equipment. I already had a tread mill, stair climber, and an inversion table in the same room, all of which I wanted to keep. After looking at all the pictures of the EXM3000LPS gym online of all the different stations on this gym, I decided to put my existing equipment in the corners of the room and the gym positioned in the center so that the gym and my other equipment wouldn't interfere with each other. Not being too sure of the outcome, I assembled the gym so that it would be able to re-position the gym if there was going to be any problem. If you face a similar problem of not knowing how exactly you want this gym to be positioned, then you need to follow the order outlined below so you can move the gym before it becomes too heavy. First, unpack all the boxes that come. Get the instructions (diagrams & parts list) and look them over good. Each part has an identifying letter and number on the parts list, and the corresponding part letter and number labeled on the assembly diagrams. But the parts themselves are not labeled except for colored stickers on some parts that show which section of the frame they are on. Also note that the instructions mention that you have 10 days from the purchase date to register your purchase for warranty service. If you are not ready to put this thing together right away, I suggest you open the boxes to get the registration paperwork and get that done. Not sure whether they would give you any trouble if you were late, but that's what the instructions say. So get a roll of masking tape and a fine marker, and unpack all the parts, bolts, washers, frame parts, and identify them and place them in like groups and check the numbers. Measure the diameter and length of bolts and stick the masking tape and identifying letter and number on each group of same parts. One issue I had was there were two parts that I didn't find, which hold in some round foam pads. I thought they were missing, however, during assembly I found that these two parts were replaced by a single part which goes into the end of a 1" pipes and holds the foam in place. But here is a note of caution: There are actually two parts shown on the parts diagram which have the same exact description, "01" ROUND ENDCAP" but the part numbers are not on the parts. The only way to tell the difference, which is that one has a slightly larger diameter than the other, is to stack them together so that the larger diameter part is noticeable. I made the mistake of forcing the larger part into the smaller hole and then was left with a part that wouldn't stay in because it was in the wrong location. And the first part was forced in to where I would have to destroy it to take it out. The smaller part goes on 1" pipe on the frame and there are two, the larger parts go for the knee bends and there are 4 of them. The pipe welded to the frame have a smaller hole than the knee bend pipes. The foam pads are all the same that are held in by these parts. After you have identified all the parts and have them neatly laid out around the room where you are assembling this gym, then work on getting the frame together first. DO NOT assemble the weight stacks or any cables and pulleys, leave them for last. Put together all the main frame parts and if you need to adjust the position a bit this way or that, you will be able to push and adjust the gym. But once the weight stacks are in, you cannot move this gym. On the top of the gym where the weight stack poles attach, you can put the bolts in to hold the system together, but do not tighten them until you have assembled the rest of the frame and then put the weight stacks in and tighten everything up.The last thing to do is to assemble the cabling and pulleys. Trust me, you will have to remove cables and pulleys if you try to install them too soon. Take a little time to properly identify the cables. Just like the rest of the parts, the parts themselves are not labeled. But you can determine which ones are which based on the ends, lengths and other details of each cable. And once you have everything else assembled, you can understand which cable is used where better, and they are shown on the diagrams. All the pulleys are the same, except one. Don't make the mistake of assembling everything on each diagram in the diagram page order before proceeding to the next. Instead, assemble the frame first, then the seats and all other parts, then the weight stacks, weight stack covers, and last the pulleys and cables together. I also had an issue with one of the pulleys rubbing on a weight stack cover. I could not adjust anything to give it more clearance so I adjusted the hole in the cover to move the it 1/4" away from the pulley and it is fine. Not a big deal nor any compromise in functionality at all. But I want it to be quiet and something rubbing would bug me. You could put this thing together in a day if you begin early and work hard at it. But I assembled it over several days and took my time and enjoyed seeing it come together. It is such a good quality product, I didn't mind assembling it at all. And when it's all done, you know all about your gym. As far as the end cap that I forced in the wrong place, I contacted Body Solid and they sent me 4 replacement parts. The customer support is excellent from Body Solid. One other issue was that the weights on the weight stacks were sticking on the vertical bars that hold the weights in place and guide them up and down. This was solved by applying a little silicon lubricant, like the kind you use on a treadmill, to the polls. That made everything work smoothly. Don't use grease or oil since there is plastic bushings inside the weights. I attached some photos of how my gym fits with my other equipment, and also a comparison photo of the two end caps that look alike and how to tell them apart. The room is 10.5 feet by 12 foot but my wife and I can use all my equipment without any problems. The inversion table folds up against the wall, the treadmill is near the ab station, and the stair climber is in front of the leg press. We even have room for a chair to change shoes on.

This system is fantastic for the home gym. High quality, operates very smoothly, and covers everything top to bottom especially when you add on the Vertical Knee Raise. We installed it in our basement on (4) horse stall mats which left the perfect footprint for this to be on.......8 feet by 12 feet. We just started using it and am amazed with the amount of exercises this provides. Will never need a gym membership again. Love the convenience! Now lets talk about the directions. Ummmmmmm.....what directions! Some sketchy diagrams do not count. But 20 hours later.....we figured it out. It takes two people......sometimes just to think it through. Some suggestions: Take the time to unpack EVERYTHING and lay it out per station.....sort it.......sticky tag it with the part piece. Sort all the hardware into bags and mark on the bag the part piece. Note each station has a red, blue, or yellow dot and tend in general to be packed station by station. Note the dots tend to be on the "up" side of the piece. Print out the directions from Body Solid website on 11 x 17. Easier to see than the provided 8 1/2 x 11. Note the page numbers on the directions. Install in this order. Print out all the photos in different orientations you can find. Will be very helpful. For the cables, run everything then tighten the nuts/bolts. If you start by tightening the nuts/bolts for the pulleys, you will have to undo some of them to get the cables in. Don't forgot to check to make sure there are not plastic end caps or levelers needed under a piece. We did that, then had to find a way to life it to get them under there. Not fun. And......bring patience! We took our time and worked on it in the evenings for a few hours till it was done. 100% worth it and I find it helps me understand the machine better and the possibilities for workouts.

First off…I love this home gym. It’s solid, well built heavy duty and the heavy steel frame makes for such a quality gym. I was familiar with body solid products because I owned a smaller unit without the leg press a few years ago so I had no hesitation in buying another one. Once the gym is all put together it’s a fantastic machine. It looks it too!! Now the downside…assembling this is painfully slow and tedious! There are lots and lots of parts you need to figure out where they go and what bolt you need for that part. It took me 4 days to assemble. Now I’m not wylie coyote super genius but I’m not Elmer Fudd either!! I had a difficult time following the blow up diagrams. There are no directions at all. There is nothing that says take part xyz and attach to part abc using 3 inch bolts. Noting at all like that. It’s all blow up diagrams and you need to study them constantly!!! It got annoying and somewhat frustrating very quickly. The build directions are just detailed schematics and it’s very easy to get confused with looking at a small detailed diagram. Just read the other reviews. Many people complain about the assembly. With that said…it’s a great machine. It’ll probably outlast me and it’s still worth the money and time to build.

This is a great gym, and shipping was fast. It comes in several boxes so it's easier to move to where it's going to live in your house. It's very sturdy and allows 2 people to work out at the same time. The machine allows for good range of motion and the stacked weights offer resistance through the entire excersize. You won't get this in a Bowflex machine. Two things to know if you consider buying this product. 1) I read reviews before I decided to buy, and it is true the directions are lacking. I found that laying out the pieces in an open area (in the same layout found in the directions) made it easier for me to put everything together. I was able to assemble it in about 6 hours. 2) The pull-up/ab add-on is not worth the price. You can save $150 to get a stand alone that offers tricep dips too. If you need a serious machine, and don't like messing with the gym, then this is the one. You can go cheaper...but you'll also get what you paid for. Specifically, you won't get the many different excersizes offered in this machine.

This gym is made of outstanding materials and it really feels like a quality piece of equipment. That being said, what the company provides as instructions is an insult. When somebody spends two and a half grand for something, you really shouldn't be incredibly cheap on the instructions. What happens when you do? Parts D28 and D27 are listed at the wrong place so about 5 hours into the installation one of the stinking pieces won't fit. What do you do? You grab whatever tools you have around to try to pry out D27 from the D28 hole and it won't budge, so you try harder. When you try harder, your screwdriver you were using to pry with slips and your thumb slams into the metal harder than Princess Diana did into that concrete post in the tunnel. How does a thumb withstand over 70 G's of sudden impact? Not well. When the blood starts running fast, and the cursing stops, the assembly stops too, and you get a bandaid to put over the thumb. Does it help? Not at all. It stings and it thumps with every beat of your heart. "Thumps" is a really poor description because it's really more like the thundering bass you get from a white kid who has tricked out his little rice burner with 30 inch sub-woofers so he can pretend he is all Gangsta jammin in the hood when he pulls up four cars behind you at a red light in the middle of suburbia, and it rattles the windows in your car out of their seal. When you start thinking of idiots like that it makes you even more mad. What's the only thing that might help? A drumstick icecream treat, that's what. Do you have any in the freezer? Of course NOT! Now the assembly is sliding to tomorrow, AND you have to get in the car to go buy some drumsticks. Why do you have to pay for drumsticks after spending two and a half grand? Because the swell guys at Body Solid are too cheap to make decent assembly instructions. Honestly, they don't even try. The images are crappy and there is no information other than pictures. Are the individual parts labeled? Nope. Is that stupid? YES! Is there even a list of steps for assembly? Does Hillary tell the truth? NOPE! Did those guys spend as even half as much time on them as Trump does flipping his comb-over to the bald side? NOPE! If you want to buy this gym, just know the guys at Body Solid are going to be laughing like crazy for at least two days after it's delivered to you, because they will know you are going to waste a lot of time, endure severe pain, surprise the neighbors with cursing that can be heard five houses down, AND you are going to get fat eating drumsticks to try to numb the pain and quell the intense anger that is flooding through your mind while you type a review. Shame on them. SERIOUSLY, shame on them for making the user experience so horribly, terribly, agonizingly bad, all so they can save maybe 50 cents on printing decent instructions. Gyms aren't supposed to make you fat. Nom, nom, nom, nom.

This is a great unit. Before ordering I read other reviews that complained about poor instructions and difficulty assembling the product. They are 100% correct. Luckily I ordered assembly service when I purchased this and it was the best money we ever spent. It took 4 experienced gym assembly professionals a whole day to get the unit together. They said they thought it was a really well made unit but the directions were no help. Definitely invest in help with assembly if you are going for this unit. As for the unit, it is really nice. It has even more options for exercises than I realized when we ordered it on-line. The pulleys and cables move smoothly. There is a lifetime warranty on all parts if you are using this in your home. The leg press was hard to adjust but that was fixed immediately with a little elbow grease. You can do a real whole body workout on this (actually multiple people can at the same time) with all of the options for exercises with the cable attachments. We are so happy we purchased this gym.

I have had this now for over three years and use it around 3 times a week along with free weights. This bad boy has been an awesome machine to work out on. Gives a great workout and I love the dip bar/leg raise that I purchased separately for this machine. As people have said putting it together was an accomplishment. I took it extremely slow making sure of each and every part before installing. It took me by myself the better part of 10 hours but as I said I took it very very slow. I called Body Solid for some parts that were missing and they sent me another set of hardware believe it or not. Also received extra touch up paint as the boxes that came in the tractor trailer were all smashed up. I utilized this machine and also have an elliptical, treadmill, bike plus weight bench and free weights in my home gym. Love em all but this bad boy gets me pumped along with my free weights....Best purchase ever!! The only problem I had was when I was finished putting it together the wife wanted it moved someplace else!! Arrrrghhhhhh!!!!!

I got the EXM3000LPS, and am very happy with the purchase. It is well built, solid, and works great. While fairly expensive, it has a lifetime warranty, and is cheaper and more convenient than a gym membership. It does take up space, so make sure you have room for it. Also, it takes a while to assemble, and the instructions could be better. Don't attach the pulleys before you run the cables through them, or you will have to take them apart and reattach them. Overall, a great purchase.