IronMaster IM 2000 Review

[thedickus]

Unboxing/Assembly
Unboxing took me about 45 minutes to get everything out of the 3 boxes and remove the plastic wrapping from each individual component.  I had been watching some unboxing and assembly videos on YouTube so I knew what to expect.  I had it unboxed and fully assembled in about three hours, but that was partly due to hitting a snag installing the top piece and had to wait about 30 minutes for my stepson to come over to help me.  My assembly issue was with the length of the bolts that went into the top assembly piece, they're 4" long and I didn't have the extra 4" in ceiling height to drop the bolts in from above.  I ended up removing the top piece and putting the bolts in the top then sliding it in place with my stepson's help and had enough overhead play to get the top bolts into the threaded holes on the top of the front upright guide rails.  I followed the instructions and was careful not to over tighten the front guide rails and I had no issues with the bar not sliding evenly up and down the poles.  I was super smooth.  I'm not sure about the overall weight of the assembled unit, probably around 200 lbs, maybe less.  No individual box was over 100lbs.  It's incredibly stable and with the rear weight tree loaded it's not going anywhere.  Even the included lat pulldown bar is nice.  It's lightweight, probably an aluminum alloy, but it looks stainless, has a light knurling, and it rotates.  It's much nicer than the fixed black lat bars that come with PowerTec equipment.  I believe the bar weighs 35lbs which includes the safety catches.  So almost the weight of an oly bar, for anyone concerned with overall poundages you're lifting.  The bar has decent knurling, but no rings in the knurling to give you an idea of hand spacing.  There's plenty of room within the uprights to take a normal width grip, or even a wider one and not have your forearms hitting the guide rails.  I had this issue in my old PowerTec smith machine.  The IM2000 is extremely smooth in operation for what I consider to be an inferior design to a normal linear bearing smith machine.  It uses square guide rails yet is still smooth.  If you're going straight up and down you don't feel any resistance or friction.  If you kind of push the bar into the guide rails you'll feel a little friction, but it's still smooth.  I've used commercial linear bearing smith machines in gyms and you could press against the machine and kind of get some added leverage.  Make no mistake this is not a $4K or $5K commercial smith machine but it is good and will meet my needs.  My biggest beef with my crappy PowerTec smith machine was that the bar wouldn't rotate when I had over 2 45lb plates per side on it.  I had to kind of bounce it up and turn the handle to catch the safety stops, even after packing the holes on the guide post holders with axle grease before sliding the bar through them.  No issue like this at all with the IM2000.  I am getting used to not really being able to see where the safety hook catches the hole when locking the bar back into the machine.  I'm used to the hook being on top and seeing the safety stops on the inside of the guide rails.  The IM2000 has the hooks in front of the guide rails and on the bottom.  You can see any YouTube video and see this.  But overall just a solid functional machine.

Working Out/Performing Exercises
I've had two weeks with the IM2000 and have hit each muscle group twice during that time.  I'm on a 4 day split hitting each body part once a week and decent volume with reps between 15 and 6, usually pyramiding. 
Chest/Bis on Mon, Leg/Calves/Abs on Tue, Rest on Wed, Back/Traps/Low Back/Abs on Thu, and Delts/Tris/Abs on Fri.  Weekends off.

Chest/Bis Day
For chest I did incline presses and also decline presses on one day and neck/guillotine presses and declines on the other day, along with the crossovers.  I have the IM SuperBench Pro and love it.  Again the pressing movements were extremely smooth.  You can't correlate any weight on a smith or leverage style machine to what you'd do with free weights, but I got a fantastic pump from the workout and that's what I'm after more than anything.  I actually rarely do any barbell pressing or squatting.  I prefer doing that on a smith or a leverage machine.  I also have the PowerTec lever gym, and IM Dumbbells 5-120.  I bought the safety spotter arms for the IM2000 and am waiting on the J Hooks to come back in stock.  Once they do I'll be able to do those movements if I want.  I also configured a cable crossover ,which I included a picture of.  IM sells this setup on their site for around $60.  I went to Home Depot and bought the chains and clips for about $15.  I use the Spuds D Handles which I love.  It feels quite a lot like a regular cable crossover, I can really feel the squeeze/contraction.  For Biceps I did  cable preacher curls both days.  Here's where I noticed one oddity, when using the lower cable setup if you're pulling up at an angle I really feel added friction and it feels much heavier than I was anticipating.  No big deal, I just used less weight for my sets.  I did some upper cable curls using the top pulley just keeping my upper arms parallel to the floor and curling towards my forehead.  These also felt exceptionally smooth and I didn't notice the friction.  When I finished up with rope hammer curls using the lower pulley, I was pulling straight upwards and I didn't notice the friction, so I definitely think it has to do with pulling away from the machine from the lower pulley.  

Leg Day
I did regular back squats on one day and had 2 45s on each side.  It was very smooth and I was still able to easily rack it.  One the other leg day I did Brignole/cable squats.  I hooked up my Spuds D handles to the lower pulley, stepped back and leaned back, Keeping your back straight and holding the D handles in front of you, you just squat down and get back up.  Fantastic quad dominant movement.  I've tried them before on my Body Solid pulldown/low row machine, but since it's not bolted down it was a pain to secure by placing 100lb dumbbells over the rear feet of the machine plus I couldn't use very heavy of a weight.  On the IM 2000 not stability issues at all, I had to use straps since I had much heavier poundages on it.  I also did lunges on the smith, more like a split squat, but again very smooth.  For calves I did standing calf raises and it felt great.

Back Day
I did reverse grip bent over rows one day and regular bent over rows the next day.  Both were smooth and I didn't encounter any friction, I was able to pull straight up, I love both of these movements on a smith.  The plates don't sit on the floor at the bottom of the movement, they're maybe 6" off the floor, but plenty of ROM for me, you can always stand on a block if it's an issue.  I also did front pulldowns one day.  I honestly never planned to do these since I have the dedicated pulldown/low cable machine, but I tried it.  As with everything else it felt very smooth.  It's just a pain getting down into position, the unit has a bottom pulley that swings out and locks into place and a padded support to put your thighs under, plenty of room for me.  It's just a pain to get out of position with a lighter weight.  If this was my only option, I'd make it work.  I did seated cable rows on both back days.  I bought the IM hybrid bench pad mainly just for this.  I also stacked a few 2x4s on the foot plate for extra ROM.  It worked great and I'm going to wear out this word but it was very smooth.  No friction at all and I went fairly heavy on this.  I have a picture of the low row setup also.  IM makes a low row foot plate that's out of stock.  I'm going to grab it once it comes back in stock.  I also did stiff arm pull-ins using the top pulley on both days.  Felt really good, I liked it better than using my Body Solid pulldown, just more stable.  I also did behind the back shrugs and regular shrugs on it.  I prefer the behind the back in a smith, kind of indifferent when doing them to the front on smith vs barbell.

Delts/Tris Day
For delts I did behind the neck presses on day and regular military presses the other day.  Both were fine and the unit was smooth with no friction at all.  I prefer behind the neck presses on a smith, but I don't do many overhead presses these days for delts, I've been preferring laterals for the side, front, and rear heads.  I also did face pulls both days and prefer these on the IM over the Body Solid pulldown for the same stability reason.  I also did front raises with the low pulley.  I basically hook a curl bar up to the low pulley, straddle the cable and face away from the machine and lift up.  This felt very heavy, like the cable preacher curls.  Again, I have no proof but I just think that pulling from the bottom cable at an upwards angle away from the machine somehow causes friction and added resistance.  Probably going to stick with dumbbells for this. For triceps I did pushdowns on both days and it felt great, I used a V-Bar for the session and rope for the second.  I also did close grip benches both days and loved doing this.  I really prefer doing these with a normal length EZ curl bar, just feel like I can control it better and it's much easier on my wrists, I just don't have any way to get a heavy enough curl bar in position and I have no desire to use a rackable EZ curl bar.  Doing them on the smith machine is my second favorite way of doing them and they'll be a mainstay.  I also did an overhead tricep extension using a rope both days.  I just stepped forward and leaned away from the machine the first session and I attached the rope to a chain and knelt down with my elbows supported on my bench the second session, again very smooth.
My takes on the IM2000, it isn't as good as a commercial smith machine but for $1400 pretty darn close.  Plus with the upper and lower pulleys it brings in a wealth of other exercises.  Couple that with all of the attachments that IM makes and if you're in a real pinch for space this could be the best all in one machine on the market when combined with the IM SuperBench.  I have no plans to ever do leg presses on this, I just don't like inverted leg presses, plus I have a 45 degree leg press/hack squat.  I doubt I'll do pulldowns on it again.  You can look on YouTube and see plenty of exercises being performed.  Lee Priest has some excellent videos demoing the IM2000 and its capabilities.  He was even doing seated calf raises on it with leg press foot plate attachment.  I probably won't do back squats much on it either, I just don't like back squats and all that compression on my spine. 

Thoughts
Overall I'd highly recommend it, especially when you can get the J Hook and spotter arms and still do all of the free weight movements with it, with decent safety.  My old PowerTec had J Hooks on the front but no spotter arms.  The PowerTec wouldn't really let me squat off the front with a barbell, I couldn't get the fixed bar up high enough to get the barbell loaded with 45s at a high enough starting position on the J Hooks.  I had to set it lower than I felt comfortable with.  Not at all the case on the IM2000, it's much higher and I can comfortably squat off the front of it using a barbell.  Last night I saw that the IM calf block and land mine both came in stock.  I ordered those along with the standing attachment for the preacher curl attachment.  The only bad thing about all the attachments that fit the bench is that only one person at a time can actually do anything.  It's usually just me in the gym,  but occasionally my wife works out with me.  

[urbanlifter]

[grumpytude]

congrats on the new toy.
looks nice. looks very compact not taking up alot of space either, which is a plus.
I like the fact you can set it up with some add ons-for free weights as well.

[Deep-Voiced-One]

dickus, nice piece and good detailed review! If I read the above correctly, there's a piece you can get to make it a cable crossover too? If so, that's awesome! There's really nothing that piece can't do.

[thedickus]

dickus, nice piece and good detailed review! If I read the above correctly, there's a piece you can get to make it a cable crossover too? If so, that's awesome! There's really nothing that piece can't do.

Yes IM sells this "kit" that connects to their Ultimate Row Handle. https://www.ironmaster.com/products/chain-fly-kit/ I already had Spud D Handles and bought about $10-$15 worth of chain and clips and attached it to a pulldown handle I had and it works just fine. Not perfectly like a cable crossover but it feels close and I get a nice contraction from it. I much prefer it to one arm cable crossovers, just never had that good of feeling to me.

[thedickus]

I've been buying the attachments for this machine as they come back in stock. So far I've bought the Calf Block, Dockable Curl Support, the Low Row Foot Plate, the Landmine Attachment, and the Ultimate Row Handle which I've done a separate review on.

Here's Landmine attachment with the Ultimate Row Handle set up for parallel grip TBar rows. I have the Rogue parallel parallel landmine handle and actually prefer the way this feels. The Rogue one just seems like the weight is much further out in front of me than I'm used to. This feels more like putting a V-Grip under the bar like I've always used in the past. The Landmine attachment easily attached after the unit was already put together with just one bolt.


I also bought the Low Row Foot Plate. I really like this. Nice and stable and gives me more stretch/ROM. The footplate is nice and large and my feet don't stick up over the top of it. Much more comfortable than the round footplate on my old Body Solid pulldown/low row. Looks much nicer than the 2x4 scraps I had been using. I'm using the Ultimate Row Handle here too with it set to the parallel grip.


I got the Dockable Curl Support and really love this. I'm 6' and it puts me at a very good standing height, plus I'm able to rest the curl bar attachment on the hooks. I much prefer it to attaching the preacher curl to my IM Super Bench Pro and doing the movement seated. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure I can use it with my EZ Curl Bar and free weights.


The Calf Block is also nice, I always wanted to a metal one. I've been using a 4x4 attached to 2x4 base for the last 20 years.

With the IM2000 having the built in weight storage my vertical olympic plate holder has turned into an ad-hoc storage device for my IM attachments.


The only thing I'm waiting on is the Bar Holder/J-Hooks which are supposed to be in the middle of this month. I already have the spotter arms.

[MajorTendonitis]

Really nice looking setup . I have their bench , but not the updated version like yours . I believe they lowered it a bit .
Happy lifting

[X1Y2Z3]

Excellent review of the IM2000. I'm considering getting one and have two questions. 1) what size are the uprights? are they 2 x 2? 2) what is the hole size, diameter, in the uprights? The reason I ask is Black Widow Training Gear makes custom dumbbell holders and I'd like to see if they can make them for the IM2000. Thank you!

[saheimlifts]

sick equipment bro

[Skidmarx]

What do they recommend lubing the square tube rails with?

[thedickus]

Excellent review of the IM2000. I'm considering getting one and have two questions. 1) what size are the uprights? are they 2 x 2? 2) what is the hole size, diameter, in the uprights? The reason I ask is Black Widow Training Gear makes custom dumbbell holders and I'd like to see if they can make them for the IM2000. Thank you!

I tried to answer your PM, but it doesn't appear that it's going through. The uprights are 2x2 and the holes are 1". I'd be leary about any attachments though that go on the uprights unless they have some type of protection against the uprights. The tolerances for the sliding guides against the uprights are pretty tight. Anything that could dent or scratch the uprights could affect the smoothness of the movement.

[thedickus]

What do they recommend lubing the square tube rails with?

They recommend a silicone spray lubricant. It ships with a can of Foster silicon spray. They recommend about once a month dependent on usage.

[Converge46]

Does it allow you to easily take the olympic bar off the smith machine for unguided lifting? Or do you need a separate bar for that?