TITAN smith machine vs TITAN wall mounted pulley

This is a comparison between the TITAN smith machine and the TITAN wall mounted pulley including pros, cons, and alternatives. Follow the links for more details.

Overview and review of the TITAN wall mounted pulley $179

This is an overview of the TITAN wall mounted pulley including pros, cons and alternatives. This article was originally posted in Which gym machine to get from TITAN. Follow the links for additional information.

Overview of the TITAN wall mounted pulley tower

The TITAN wall mounted pulley tower is a great solution for any home gym that wants a pulley, but is strapped for space. The only prerequisite is that you are allowed to drill into the walls and ideally it is one of the outdoor / carrying walls. Plaster walls might not be ideal to install this so check your setup before getting to business. This pulley tower is plate loadable and comes with the necessary straps included in the shipping to start training. For the price you can not really complain and turn your gym in a more complete experience. The full specification of the TITAN wall mounted pulley system are:

- Compatible with the T-3, X-2, X-3, and TITAN Series Power Racks

- Small footprint makes this Wall Mounted Pulley Tower a perfect addition for those with limited space

- Heavy-duty powder-coated steel frame

- Standard 1-inch weight posts with 7-inches of loadable sleeve length

- 18-Different adjustable positions opens up a variety of exercises to suit any size athlete

- Bottom bracket allows you to install the pulley tower into walls without disrupting your baseboard

- Includes: (2) single-hand straps

- Overall Height: 84.5-in.

- Footprint: 27-in x 26.5-in.

- Overall Depth: 25.5-in.

- Weight Capacity: 350 lb.

- Product Weight: 75 lb.

This is a great addition especially in a garage gym that is cheap, versatile, simple to use and space efficient. Nothing you can do wrong here for the price of a fancy dinner.

Pros of the TITAN wall mounted pulley tower

The pros of the TITAN wall mounted pulley are:

Price
Versatility
Space requirements

The price of this pulley system is almost impossible to beat. You still get an industrial grade machine for the price of a consumer product. IT can be used for almost any pulley exercise you might wanted to do on a bigger station without the disadvantage of the lack of stability and the need for more space. Easy solution for a great gym addition.

Cons of the TITAN wall mounted pulley tower

The cons of the TITAN wall mounted pulley tower are:

Wall installation
Plate loaded

The only real problem with this is that the tools you need to drill into the wall will probably cost more to rent or buy than the pulley station itself. It also depends on whether you are actual allowed to drill into the walls of the house or apartment you are living in.

You will also need to factor in the cost of plates,if you do not already have some. 230lbs can be gotten from TITAN for about $400.

Alternatives to the Titan wall mounted pulley tower

TITAN lat tower
TITAN plate loaded seated row
Rogue Jammer bar
Rogue lat pull

The TITAN lat tower includes a seat and a weight stack for up to 300lbs to do lat pulls and rows. The design is a clone of the Rogue lat pull which outperforms the TITAN lat tower in the finish and finer details. Apart from that it is the same machine for a considerably lower cost.

If you only want a machine to perform rows, the TITAN plate loaded seated row is a good option with a small footprint that does not need to be installed on the wall. It comes including the seat and setup to row away once it is build. The only downside is that it is a one trick pony and not very versatile compared to the wall mounted pulley.

The Rogue Jammer bar is a high quality pull up bar from Rogue that you can install over a door frame. I highly recommend to install it at the kitchen door and do pull ups whenever you go in or come out of the kitchen. An easy approach to fitness, relatively cheap and you can not do anything wring with.

The Rogue lat pull machine is the current gold standard in the market for lat pull machines. This thing is overbuilt in every way and Rogue paid close attention to the finer details in the finish. This also means that this beast comes in at a high price of around $2000. This is only an option if money is if little concern to you or you running a very professional and highly successful commercial gym.

Conclusion for the Titan wall mounted pulley tower

The TITAN wall mounted pulley tower is one of the best options to get a pulley system into your home gym. Especially if you are good with tools and know how to install something into a solid wall. If you are not a handyman you can still get someone to install it for you and not be sad, as it was so cheap to buy this thing.

Overview and review of the TITAN Smith machine $1069

This is an overview of the TITAN smith machine including pros, cons and alternatives. This article was originally posted in Which gym machine to get from TITAN. Follow the links for additional information.

Overview of the TITAN Smith machine

A smith machine can be used to train your entire body with barbell presses, squats, bench presses and other movements. The main distinguishing feature of a smith machine is that the bar path is fixed as the barbell is attached to the frame. This makes a smith machine less intimidating for beginners than a rack with free weights. The TITAN smith machine is competitively priced and has some extra features that many other Smith machines do not have. The full feature list includes:

- Knurled barbell with 13.25-in of loadable space on the sleeves.

- (6) 8-in Olympic Weight Storage Posts.

- Band pegs on either side allow for added resistance.

- Two J-hooks attached to the bar takes a quick flick of the wrist to lock into 8 safe positions when finished with the exercise.

- Two safety catches can be adjusted to set before a lift to prevent injuries in the case of failed reps.

- Counter-balance function included!

- Four rubber pads on the feet of the Smith Machine protect flooring from unwanted scuffing and provide stability.

- Overall Height: 86-in.

- Overall Width: 66.5-in.

- Overall Depth: 54-in.

- Weight Capacity: 600 lb.

- Weight: 261 lb.

This is a solid machine for any commercial gym that wants to add a smith machine in their line up. Home gym owners will be better off getting a rack with a barbell instead.

Pros of the TITAN Smith machine

The pros of the TITAN smith machine are:

Plate storage on rack
Pins for band work
Price

Compared to other Smith machines in the market TITAN has done a good job to maximize the use of the frame of the rack for this Smith machine. You will have multiple pins to store plates on included in your shipment. This makes storing plates easy. Some other Smith machines in the market have massive frames and only eat up space without providing storage options.

Another great addition to this particular Smith machine are the pins for bands. Taken from the west side method approach of training you can attach bands to the TITAN smith machine which are provided at the bottom of the structure. Just make sure to bolt the machine to the ground of you do this as band work is one of the top reasons to topple racks that have it been bolted to the ground.

Keeping the price of this massive Smith machine around $1000 ja TITAN written all over it. It is their specialty to offer big fitness equipment at roughly half of the price of the competition and this Smith machine is no exception.

Cons of the TITAN Smith machine

The cons for the TITAN smith machine are:

Awkward racking mechanism
Space requirements
Attached barbell
Instructions / customer service

The mechanism to lock or unlock a barbell on a smith machine is in my opinion one of the biggest design flaws you can find in a commercial gym. Why smith machines have gotten so popular is beyond me. The mechanism provides a false sense of security to the user. If you fail a rep you still have to twist your wrists under strain to lock the bar back into position. While this is ok but not great for the bench press, for the squat it is near impossible. Combined with the fact that the bar is attached to the frame this can lead to some nasty accidents where you are folded like lawn chair under the weight. With a free weight you can at least just dump it off your back as a last resort. In my opinion smith machines provide little advantage for the risks they pose, especially to inexperienced trainees.

Everything you can do with a smith machine you can do with a rack and a barbell. Probably even better. This is why this machine eats up to much space for any home gym. Unless you are the Rock and have a whole crew of people carrying an entire commercial gym around for you. There is something to be said for quad development out of high rep smith machine squats. You do get a different pump out of the smith machine as there is less room to work with the supporting muscles from the back. Still, this is only interesting for full time bodybuilders and does not justify to give up valuable home gym space where you could place a rack instead.

The fact that the barbell is attached makes it less versatile than a rack. The barbell an get in the way of exercises, especially if you need to use the space inside the smith machine because you are short on space. Again a barbell and rack is the better choice and you can get this for the same budget from TITAN.

TITAN needs to cut some corners to offer you consistent competitive pricing on all of their product range. This is why across the board their customer service and manuals or not as good as the ones of their competitors Rogue and Eleiko. You are also more likely to have parts missing on your shipment or that they do not fit smoothly. This can happen with other, higher priced products, too, but the likelihood is lower. Quality management and consistency in production are good ways to cut cost. These processes are expensive is they are Labour intensive and also assume that some of the production gets discarded due to lack of quality. You can not do that of your strategy is to be the cheapest in the narbet which is exactly what TITAN prides themselves one. Got for your wallet, but expect some minor issues, especially with products that have a lot of moving parts like a smith machine.

Alternatives to the TITAN smith machine

If you have $1000 to spent on equipment I think you are better off to shell it out on a rack and barbell than a smith machine. A good rack from TITAN can be had at $500. A decent one would even start at $200. The Atlas bar comes in at around $200 and a set of 230lbs bumper plates is $375 from TITAN.

If you want to get a machine for training your legs it think the TITAN leg press is the better option than the smith machine. It comes in at roughly the same price. This machine can be heavily loaded, provides security to people who do not want to use a barbell, and you can work the ranges of motion that are hard to stay in for long in a barbell squat. If I wanted to blow up my legs and had space and key to add to my gym above and beyond a rack, a leg press would be high up my list.

The Titan belt squat machine is another way of getting more squat volume in your training without trashing your wer back. Belt squat machines are popular for quad development with powerlifters and weightlifters. The big advantage is here that the movement pattern is not predefined and you have less compression on your spine.

Conclusion for the TITAN Smith machine

The TITAN smith machine has a great price and some little extra features which make it an excellent Smith machine to get. The only problem for me is that I think that all Smith machines are a waste of space and should be replaced with a belt squat, extra rack or leg press, depending on what you already have. If you have the space and money to collect all different types of machines, do it. Still, a smith machine would only enter my gym to complete a collection for the sale of it, rather than because I think it is a good idea for my clients.