IRON COMPANY BodyCraft Flat- Incline- Decline Bench

Title says it all. I'm a light guy, but this is built like a tank and would withstand several times my weight without a problem.I got this to be able to use in a power rack. It is the only Incline/Decline bench that you can incline yet still use at the back of a power rack, due to the sliding mechanism. This lets you fit it all the way in there, saving space in your workout area. Especially helpful if your rack is near or against a wall - other benches need to be put through the rack and stick out the back. Otherwise, you incline bench off the front of the rack - I don't want this, because I want to squat off the front! I can have a dedicated squat bar and a bench bar and not have to change them every workout.Instructions seemed incorrect at times - it seems like this product was revised at some point with some slightly different parts but the instructions were not updated to match. Still, it isn't rocket science to figure it out.

I have used this bench daily since purchase and I have grown to enjoy it, previous foibles and all. Does it have a separation in an awkward place? Yes. Does it really matter? No. Does it slide on concrete? Yes. Should I be lifting heavy on concrete? No.This bench is a joy. The variable slant is perfect. The preacher attachment and leg attachment fit and work perfectly. It feels solid under me no matter how much weight I have in the air. The build is robust. The pad and covering is better than most at my club. I will continue to purchase other items from BodyCraft and recommend them to my friends. Chalk up the review below to a learning curve and being spoiled by the Parrillo Gym.I changed to a rack and needed a bench to accomplish my chest workouts. Most benches (Body Solid) with a preacher option have a u-shaped front brace that extends outward right where I plant my feet. This is unacceptable when I've got 315# over my body. That set my options to only a few benches.I chose this bench mostly because it is close to the ground so is easier to work dumb bells with. It also appeared to be substantially built. It is built well, is very tight and feels solid under me. No problems with quality or materials used, all top shelf. Easy enough to put together, too.One flaw comes in the design of the pads. In order to achieve their specialized non-moving incline gimmick the butt pad and the back pad become separated when the bench is set completely flat, like when you want to do a regular bench press. This gap is 3 1/2 inches across so it is difficult to do a bench press unless you either leave a lower portion of your back unsupported (bad idea) or utilize only the back part of the bench. This might be ok for smaller guys but at 6 foot my head hangs over the back of the bench.1 week later.....So now I have adjusted the bench and my style so that the aforementioned flaw ain't so bad. A new problem has surfaced and has me perplexed. Look at the photo and draw an imaginary line where the force of the weight against the pad goes while lifting on incline. It goes back alot instead of down. The bench has a tendency to scoot back during incline lifts. YIKES! I'm going to try a cushy mat to try to stop it but if I can't this baby goes to Goodwill. I need my bench to Sit! Stay! This one is not so well-behaved.

Just as the description indicates, this bench can be used in any configuration inside a power rack or smith machine. Conventional flat-incline-decline benches have to straddle the back lower bar of the rack to be able to lift off the rear supports. That's not an option if you have a lat attachment. Because the front of the Bodycraft bench slides backwards, there are no such clearance issues even at full incline.Quality is excellent in my opinion, far superior to my Marcy (Impex) AB4050 FID bench and at least as good as the Bowflex 5.1.Only negatives to note:Full incline isn't as inclined as other benches I've seen, probably only +80 degrees, not a problem for some (If you want to be fully upright what do you need the bench for) but if you insist on this feature, you should know it's not available.Assembly instructions differ slightly from actual product. The assembly is still obvious and foolproof, and the engineering on what you actually have is superior to what is shown. Must have been redesigned with making a correction to the manual.

[I use this with the bodycraft f430 rack]The bench itself is very comfortable and easily adjustable to most positions in your workout and the wheels on the backend are great for moving the bench in and out of the rack you likely have to go with this. This bench is very stable and built to last.The leg attachment that goes with this is good and I have put about 130lbs on it without it tipping over so it is stable.The arm-curl attachment is not well thought out and you should skip it, though I encourage you to read my review about it which is posted here on amazon as there is a problem with its' design that makes the whole bench tip forward slowly.The default roller pad attachment kind of had me confused for a while as you dont use them during normal pressing if the bench is all the way in the rack but could easily be case if you only went partially into the rack and pressed from the front OR if you used the bench standalone for a number of exercises. Most of the time however I leave it off.I thought to myself it would have been cool if they put wheels on the front of the system as well so you could move the rack by tipping from both ends but it is likely that this was left out intentionally to prevent the user damaging the wheels or themselves by accidentally hitting them.This bench is intentionally smaller than most to be compatible with racks and I think that's a plus rather than a minus, I am 6' and I fit comfortably on it. I recommend this bench.