TITAN smith machine vs TITAN plate loaded chest press

This is a comparison between the TITAN smith machine and the TITAN plate loaded chest press including pros, cons, and alternatives. Follow the links for more details.

Overview and review of the TITAN plate loaded chest press $464

This is an overview of the TITAN plate loaded chest press 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 plate loaded chest press machine

The TITAN plate loaded chest press machine is a chest press machine with a foldable bench which makes it unique. Again TITAN designs a machine with the spacious home gym in mind that saves money and space. The plate loadable chest press can be used with regular Olympic plates. The bench is adjustable for incline presses and has multiple grip variations. The full specifications of this TITAN machine are:

- Fits Olympic plates and features (2) 9.5-inch loadable weight posts

- Fully adjustable bench for the incline or flat reps

- (13) Bench depth positions to easily adjust to any size athlete and to accommodate hand placement for presses

- (5) Lifting arm positions to easily adjust the angle of your lift

- Bench easily stores on top of the frame when not in use to

- Minimum Footprint: 64-in. W x 63-in. L

- Maximum Footprint: 64-in. W-in. x 23-in.

- Seat Pad Dimensions: 11 - 8-in. x 12.5-in.

- Lifting Arm Length: 34-in.

- Vertical Handle Spread: 26.5-in.

- Weight Post Length: 9.5-in.

- Weight Capacity: 1,000 lb.

- Weight: 155 lb.

This is a great machine for bench presses and replacing a dumbbell rack, if you have the space for it.

Pros of the TITAN plate loaded chest press machine

The pros of the TITAN plate loaded chest press machine are:

Multiple grip variations
Foldable bench
Plate loaded
Price

Compared to a barbell, rack and bench setup this machine provides you more grip variations. This could also be done with dumbbells and a rack, but then you have to factor in the storage space for multiple dumbbells and that they are awkward to work with by yourself once it gets heavy.

The foldable bench saves some space when you want to free up the center of your gym for stretching exercises, runs or other stout ones which need space. The footprint gets smaller, but you still have the metal frame to consider.

Plate loaded machines are great for home gyms as you can use one set of plates for all the machines you own. This saves cost in getting your little park of machines together as you not pay the weight stack for each and every machine.

As with all TITAN products you will have a hard time to find something that is priced better. Especially as this machine already includes an adjustable bench which already can easily cost $500 or more by themselves.

Cons of the TITAN plate loaded chest press machine

The cons of the TITAN plate loaded chest press are:

Plate loaded
Space requirements
Bench is attached

While plate loaded designs can be great in smaller gyms it can turn into a trip hazard and bottlenecks in high frequency commercial gyms. If you have a lot of footfall with a varying level of experience combined with little supervision, than go for a chest press machine with an included weigh my stack.

If your home gym is very crammed you might not have the space to get another machine in like the Titan plate loaded chest press. In this scenario you might want to get three pairs of dumbbells (light, middle, heavy) and spotter arms for dumbbells for your rack. This makes the setup more modular.

A further disadvantage of the TITAN plate loaded chest press is that the be cj is attached. This means that you can not move things around in your and might even need to get a second bench for that purpose. Just keep that in mind based on the plans you have for your gym and the exercises you want to do.

Alternatives to the TITAN plate loaded chest press machine

Alternatives to the TITAN plate loaded chest press are:

The Titan functional and plate loaded functional trainer can also be used as bench press stations as long as you get an additional bench. With the different grips you can have more variety than with a barbell. These two machines have $1300 between them. In a home gym scenario you might want to use the plate loaded version to save considerably.

Conclusion for the TITAN plate loaded chest press machine

The TITAN plate loaded chest press machine is a serious consideration to get instead of a full rack of dumbbells. If you have the space for a full rack of dumbbells you can most likely also fit this machine. You can do all of the dumbbell exercises you need with this machine and load it with plates instead. For a home gym this is a definite alternative. In a commercial setting you can not replace a dumbbell rack with this machine as you have to cover more people at the same time. It can however be used to make the bench press more accessible toi wider community of your clients.

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.