Titan Fitness Plate-Loaded Seated Calf Raise Machine, Rated 550 LB, Lower Body Specialty Machine, Strength Training Equipment

I've always been a weightlifter and now I'm 70 years old. I ordered this seated calf machine and used it for a month 3-5 times per week. My calves are larger but to my surprise all the spider veins around my ankles totally disappeared.

If you don’t purchase one of these to train calves, you’re a weenie. Train calves.

Solid gear only problem came with a few scratches down to the bare steel.

The individual metal components are quite sturdy but the bolts and components for the hinge portion are worthless and need to be replaced for the whole thing not to be a floppy useless mess!!! ( I edited this review to include a photo of the components that I had to buy from Fastenal in order to make the hinge work appropriately. The nylon washers required 50 of them in order to make a 3" bushing that I could insert into the inside portion of the hinge cylinder to stop it from wobbling. The bolt that you need is a 4 inch long 1/2 inch shaft bolt.) You will also need to replace the knee pads with better quality foam rollers if you don't want to experience quite a bit of discomfort when loading the machine with heavy weights.

This product is like a cake without the frosting. The manufacturer cheaps out on a variety of things on what might be a halfway decent product.As others have mentioned, the leg pads are completely unusable. They slide right out from your quads. I replaced those with foam rollers as recommended by other reviewers, in addition, I held them in place with washers and press nuts.The foot step also comes with a cheap foam material which rolls around on the frame. Again, completely unusable. I replaced that with skateboard grip tape.If you use Olympic weights, you are given cheap mount sleeves which are supposed to be held on with small spring clamps. Only problem is, if you want to remove the weights, you have to remove the clamps, and the sleeves slide off with the weights, ANNOYING! I held those in place with press nuts and foil duct tape.Lastly, the manufacturer provided dry bearings for the seat hinge, but curiously used a bolt with way too much clearance. So the machine ends up flopping left and right like a cheap rickety piece of junk. I fixed this by purchasing new dry bearings and a half inch shaft bolt.See pictures for their lame hinge setup and all of my fixes.The roller pads and skateboard grip tape can be picked up on Amazon. The precision hardware can be picked up at McMaster.All told I spent about 75 bucks on upgrades for parts the manufacturer could have sourced for way cheaper. Then there's the wasted time.I do not recommend this product. Spend an extra 100 bucks and get something halfway decent.

This calf machine is much better than I expected based on the price!It is constructed of thick steel and is very well made. I have looked at others and the prices were ridiculous.This is a great price for a great product!I have to agree with others - that you will need the round knee pads. I tried to make the original knee pads work, but the problem is that the padding is very cheap and soft, plus the padding slips inside the vinyl when you use it - so I’m sure they would fail very quickly. I purchased the round pads that were “recommended” at the time of purchase - and they are great!Honestly, I could not be happier with this purchase and I would definitely recommend it if you are looking for a home calf machine.

A very good machine for the price and well work your calfs out

Based on price I say it's worth every penny. Now it's no commercial grade equipment by any means but for someone starting a little home gym it is great. some things to note though the seat is made of cheap material as well as the pads i feel like the plywood will break some day in the not so far future the knee pads are comfortable but they are held by cheap brackets that I do not have much faith in. The pads for the foot rest will come off easily no grip but I was gonna replace them with friction/grip tape regardless. Overall these are some of the major cons but the machine works great used 2 45 Olympic plates on it and it's holding great.