Why are most cable pulley machines limited in weight stack to around 72kg?

[OK1984]

Hey all

Lurker turned member.

I was hoping to shed some light on this-

Why are most cable pulley machines limited in weight stack to around 72kg?

I noticed that weight stacks in the early 70’s seem to be the most common. With the exception of the high end commercial ones, why do this usually max out at this and not higher?

Thanks!

[gym62richard]

Hey all

Lurker turned member.

I was hoping to shed some light on this-

Why are most cable pulley machines limited in weight stack to around 72kg?

I noticed that weight stacks in the early 70’s seem to be the most common. With the exception of the high end commercial ones, why do this usually max out at this and not higher?

Thanks!

Why do you assume most cable machines are limited to a 72kg weight stack?, I've owned many stack machines, most have been fitted with stacks between 100kg and 150kg.

Stack machines come in many configurations, whilst a 80kg stack may be perfectly adequate for a dual adjustable pulley unit, even with a 2.1 pulley ratio, (40kg of resistance, a 100kg stack, 1.1 pulley ratio may not be enough on a lat/low row machine.

There's no hard and fast rule, if the weight stack provides sufficient resistance for the intended movement for a particular group of trainees, then a manufacturer is unlikely to furnish a machine with superfluous weight plates, it just adds cost to the machine.

[OK1984]

Why do you assume most cable machines are limited to a 72kg weight stack?, I've owned many stack machines, most have been fitted with stacks between 100kg and 150kg.

Stack machines come in many configurations, whilst a 80kg stack may be perfectly adequate for a dual adjustable pulley unit, even with a 2.1 pulley ratio, (40kg of resistance, a 100kg stack, 1.1 pulley ratio may not be enough on a lat/low row machine.

There's no hard and fast rule, if the weight stack provides sufficient resistance for the intended movement for a particular group of trainees, then a manufacturer is unlikely to furnish a machine with superfluous weight plates, it just adds cost to the machine.

Thanks Richard.

Most of the cable machines I see being sold in the UK, seem to max out around 72-75. I know that many high end commercial units have more, but just noticed that most of the units under £2000 seemed to be around 72kg. These are units without leg braces for lat pulldowns, or fixed benches for lat rows.

So from what you’re saying, am I right in thinking that machines dedicated to lat work are the ones that’ll likely have heavier weight stacks?

[Garage Rat]

Probably oriented more for the average home trainer.
I have free weight plate loaded cable machines,pull down and cross over cables, and can load them up way more than that.

[gym62richard]

Thanks Richard.

Most of the cable machines I see being sold in the UK, seem to max out around 72-75. I know that many high end commercial units have more, but just noticed that most of the units under £2000 seemed to be around 72kg. These are units without leg braces for lat pulldowns, or fixed benches for lat rows.

So from what you’re saying, am I right in thinking that machines dedicated to lat work are the ones that’ll likely have heavier weight stacks?

Obviously heavier weight stacks are generally fitted to units for compound work, lat/low row machines, chest press etc, however isolation movements such as leg extension also come with heavy stacks as many people can move a lot of weight on this exercise.

I also live in the UK, my cable machines are all commercial quality from the likes of Watson and Cybex, units of this quality can be picked up used for around £1,000-£1500.

The Body Solid equipment while not being commercial grade is pretty decent, with 210lb weight stacks, (95kg). Also Gymgear which is commercial grade, many of their cable units can be purchased for well under £2,000 if you purchase directly from the UK distributer.

When you look at the lower end of the market the generic Chinese manufactured cable machines may well come with lighter stacks.

[OK1984]

Probably oriented more for the average home trainer.
I have free weight plate loaded cable machines,pull down and cross over cables, and can load them up way more than that.

Oh that’s makes sense. Cheers bud!

[OK1984]

Obviously heavier weight stacks are generally fitted to units for compound work, lat/low row machines, chest press etc, however isolation movements such as leg extension also come with heavy stacks as many people can move a lot of weight on this exercise.

I also live in the UK, my cable machines are all commercial quality from the likes of Watson and Cybex, units of this quality can be picked up used for around £1,000-£1500.

The Body Solid equipment while not being commercial grade is pretty decent, with 210lb weight stacks, (95kg). Also Gymgear which is commercial grade, many of their cable units can be purchased for well under £2,000 if you purchase directly from the UK distributer.

When you look at the lower end of the market the generic Chinese manufactured cable machines may well come with lighter stacks.

Cheers Richard - that makes a whole lot of sense now. It’s generally been the non commercial units I’ve been looking at that were shipped with the smaller stacks.

My machine is a basic Bodymax CF810. It’s a single pulley system, except it has two cables together. Using one provides a 2:1 ratio, while using both together gives 1:1. They do a dual pulley machine called the CF820. Incidentally, the CF820 has a weight stack upgrade option (2 x 22.5kg). Though I’m not sure whether that would be compatible with my CF810, as they don’t state it as being so. Not sure if the frame size won’t take it, or if it’s not strong enough to take the additional weight..

[gym62richard]

Cheers Richard - that makes a whole lot of sense now. It’s generally been the non commercial units I’ve been looking at that were shipped with the smaller stacks.

My machine is a basic Bodymax CF810. It’s a single pulley system, except it has two cables together. Using one provides a 2:1 ratio, while using both together gives 1:1. They do a dual pulley machine called the CF820. Incidentally, the CF820 has a weight stack upgrade option (2 x 22.5kg). Though I’m not sure whether that would be compatible with my CF810, as they don’t state it as being so. Not sure if the frame size won’t take it, or if it’s not strong enough to take the additional weight..

Damn I've had a 410 pulley system, or at least most of the components lying around in my garage for about 8 years. I was given it for free when I bought some used Body Solid equipment.

If you ever need spare parts, or if you're prepared to pick it up from West Wales you can have it.

[TheShadowMan]

I would imagine weight stacks are limited by the cable that the pulley uses. I use a cable pulley system at home, and I can't imagine going higher than 200, cause I don't want the cable to snap on me. I have a towing rope with hooks that'll fit in my carabiners, but it's a bit too long for it unfortunately. If I could get my hands on a shorter rope of that design, there'd be no worries because i'm using mountaineering rope and carabiners with a heavy U-bolt(tough enough to pull large vehicles with) for the setup. Real strong stuff, you could pack well over 1000lbs on em and no problem at all aside from my superbench tipping over haha. The weak link is that cable, and the loading pin I used from a cheap wrist roller I got from Wal-Mart. When I need more weight i'll look for more supportive solutions for the plates, but it works real well for my needs.

[OK1984]

Damn I've had a 410 pulley system, or at least most of the components lying around in my garage for about 8 years. I was given it for free when I bought some used Body Solid equipment.

If you ever need spare parts, or if you're prepared to pick it up from West Wales you can have it.

Hey thanks man! That’s really kind of you bud!

If I ever head down to Wales (from West Yorkshire), I’ll give you a shout.

What’s the 410 pulley system?

Cheers

[OK1984]

I would imagine weight stacks are limited by the cable that the pulley uses. I use a cable pulley system at home, and I can't imagine going higher than 200, cause I don't want the cable to snap on me. I have a towing rope with hooks that'll fit in my carabiners, but it's a bit too long for it unfortunately. If I could get my hands on a shorter rope of that design, there'd be no worries because i'm using mountaineering rope and carabiners with a heavy U-bolt(tough enough to pull large vehicles with) for the setup. Real strong stuff, you could pack well over 1000lbs on em and no problem at all aside from my superbench tipping over haha. The weak link is that cable, and the loading pin I used from a cheap wrist roller I got from Wal-Mart. When I need more weight i'll look for more supportive solutions for the plates, but it works real well for my needs.

Cheers! I guess that makes sense. Would the actual pulleys also be a weak link?

[TheShadowMan]

Cheers! I guess that makes sense. Would the actual pulleys also be a weak link?

Depends what kind of strength rating you're dealing with. When I was making mine I shopped around a number of hardware stores in town, and most all had the same models of pulleys, carabiners, and cables. I found mountaineering equipment to be way stronger, not to mention easier to use vs throwing my towing rope over the pullup bar and hooking it onto weight plates at one end and cable attachments at the other. Plus it was starting to tip my bench over unless counterbalanced with a weight plate on the other side, so a strong pulley really helped alleviate that problem. I was originally using the pulleys from lowe's and ace hardware, but they didn't hold up very well - they broke and had to toss em. It's surprisingly inexpensive to build your own pulley system(I paid around $80 for mine), it's stronger, but you will experience plates swinging around a bit - but I think not having to worry "what if it snaps, there's a lot of weight loaded" really makes the investment worth it. But yes, pulleys can be a weak link if they aren't very strong. As I painfully learned, haha.

[ripper238]

Thanks Richard.

Most of the cable machines I see being sold in the UK, seem to max out around 72-75. I know that many high end commercial units have more, but just noticed that most of the units under £2000 seemed to be around 72kg. These are units without leg braces for lat pulldowns, or fixed benches for lat rows.

So from what you’re saying, am I right in thinking that machines dedicated to lat work are the ones that’ll likely have heavier weight stacks?

Maybe people from the UK just cant lift much weight? lol jk

Cheap home products tend to come with fairly light weight stacks to keep there price down. But even some mid home brands do this to keep there price down and offer the ability to add more for more $$$. Generally the cables and pulleys can handle many many times what they are moving (~2000lb test cables).

[sera310]

It's surprisingly inexpensive to build your own pulley system(I paid around $80 for mine), it's stronger, but you will experience plates swinging around a bit - but I think not having to worry "what if it snaps, there's a lot of weight loaded" really makes the investment worth it. But yes, pulleys can be a weak link if they aren't very strong. As I painfully learned, haha.

I built a low row & a high row, also very inexpensive. On the swaying: I've found that the more you keep everything in line, especially using pulleys with adequate capacity, and the more strict the form on the lift, the less swaying there is. And if you just can't get it to go away and it really bothers you, fasten a couple of skinny resistance bands or tubes to something solid and run them thru the carabiner on the weight pin in a cross pattern, and that will stop it.