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The Marcy MD-9010G Diamond Elite Smith System combines a squat rack, smith machine, weights bench, and cable machine. Everything you need to build muscle and strength in your own home gym.
This review takes an in-depth look at the workout options, customer feedback, and design features. We’ve also included comparisons with similar home gym systems, to help you decide if the MD-9010G smith machine is your best option.
Design and safety features
If you are fortunate enough to have the space for a smith machine system, it’s important to find a design that offers as many exercises as possible.
This will not only help to speed up your workouts by not having to switch between workout stations and load up separate barbells, but also help to make the best use of the space.
Although the Marcy MD-9010G is described as a smith system, you actually get far more for your money.
This includes the pec dec station, high cable crossovers, free weight squat rack, low cable pulley system, and even a separate weight bench.
Between the rack and the smith machine, you can perform just about all of the major compound exercises, such as squats and bench press.
These are exercises that will not only promote the greatest increases in strength and muscle gains, but may also require a large collection of weight plates.
To prevent you having to spend more money on a separate weight plate tree, the Marcy MD-9010G includes 6 weight plate pegs built into the frame, with 3 on each side.
This helps keep your plates organized and within easy reach of the smith machine, rack, bench, and cable station at all times.
In terms of the frame design itself, this has been set at a 7 degree angle to create a more natural range of motion when performing exercises such as squats. This also makes it easier to clear the bar from the rack and still be supported by the safety rails during free weight squats and bench presses.
Marcy MD-9010G Elite Smith System – Features Summary
- Leather upholstery
- Off the floor base frame design provides increased stability
- Dual action leg developer with 6 oversized roller pads and row/curl bar.
- Proper pivot point on leg developer for proper muscle isolation.
- Adjustable bar catches and safety stoppers
- Diamond plated non-slip foot brace for seated row exercises
Upper body workouts
A good quality set of dumbbells and weight plate set are the foundation of an effective upper body workout routine.
But what if you want to target specific muscles? Isolation exercises are often the only option, and for this, free weights have their limits.
The Marcy MD-9010G smith machine has everything you need to strengthen and grow your chest, arms, back, shoulders, and abs.
With the bench press forming an important part of any chest workout, you can choose to either perform this exercise using the smith machine or free weight rack.
The addition of the safety rails means you can challenge yourself in complete safety, whichever option you choose. This is important for home gyms, where you probably won’t have a spotter to assist you.
Having the 9 racking points for the barbell supports on the front of the frame also means you can position the barbell higher for squats and overhead presses.
How strong is the weights bench?
With the bench being free-standing, this means you can easily roll it out of the way if you need the extra space. Positions range from decline through to upright, but it only has a weight capacity of 300 lbs.
This is lower than many of the freestanding weights benches from XMark, which typically offer a weight capacity of 1000 lbs, with certain benches supporting up to 1500 lbs. With weight limits like these they’re clearly designed for heavy barbell presses in power racks or smith machines, with transport wheels making it quick and easy to move them around.
The MD-9010G weight bench will be sufficient for supporting most exercises. But if you want to take full advantage of the 600 lb rack capacity, there are stronger benches worth buying. XMark and Body Solid both have designs that support 1000 lbs, which you can read about more in our weight bench reviews guide.
Frame strength and exercise options
The high level of frame strength and lateral stability sets the MD-9010G apart from the PowerLine PSM144X and Valor Athletics BE-11 (500 lb limit), proving itself as one of the strongest smith machines you can buy for a home gym.
Aside from its strength, the pec fly / low cable pulley at the back of the frame is another of the reasons why the Marcy MD-9010G has proved so popular. This allows you to isolate your chest, back, biceps, and even shoulders, using various cable attachments.
The following list covers some of the most effective and popular exercise options:
- Cable crossovers
- Preacher curls
- Close grip bench press
- Incline bench press
- Pec fly
- Tricep pushdown
- Bicep curls
- Overhead press
- Bicep curls
- Seated rows
Lower body workouts
As part of any resistance training program, it’s important to train your lower body with the same intensity as your upper body.
This usually means putting together a workout that includes the larger ‘mass-building’ exercises such as stiff-legged deadlifts and squats, as well as isolation movements such as leg extensions.
But as well as working your quads and hamstrings, your calves, glutes, and hip flexors may also need their own specific exercises.
This is where the bench that’s provided with the Marcy MD-9010G proves so useful. The leg developer at the front has two sets of padded rollers which can be used for both lying leg curls and leg extensions.
For the compound exercises you can choose to either squat in the smith machine or use the free weight rack, depending on your training experience and personal preference.
For isolating hip flexors or working your quads from a different angle, the low cable pulley proves extremely useful.
With just a simple ankle attachment (provided) you can perform lunges, hip adductions, hip extensions, and single leg kickbacks.
The following list provides some examples of the lower body exercises that are possible with the Marcy MD-9010G:
- Single leg kickbacks
- Lunges
- Front squats
- Back squats
- Stiff legged deadlifts
- Hip adductions
- Leg extensions
- Leg curls
- Standing calf raises
- Cable hip abductions
What do the Marcy MD-9010G reviews say?
Something that’s particularly important before buying a smith machine is to find out as much as possible about the overall build quality. One of the best ways to do this if you can’t actually use the machine in person is to read through a collection of customer reviews.
Online marketplaces such as Amazon are usually the best place to start looking, as they also have questions that have been answered by people who have already bought and used the machine.
Due to its popularity, the Marcy MD-9010G currently has dozens of highly rated, in-depth reviews. For convenience, the following lists of pros and cons are the summarised points that were mentioned most frequently.
Pros:
- Sturdy frame design keeps everything stable, even when lifting heavier weights
- Smooth action in both the cables and the bearings for the smith bar
- High quality upholstery and contoured padding in the bench keeps you comfortable during workouts
- Versatility of having the free weights, smith machine, and cable exercises gives you much more choice when planning workouts
- High weight capacity
- Convenient storage for weight plates
Cons:
- Instructions for assembling the cable pulleys aren’t particularly clear
- Assembly time tends to vary from 3 to 9 hours depending on experience and how comprehensive you find the instructions
Review Overview
Overall Review Rating
4 / 5
With the ultra smooth linear bearings and ergonomically designed angle of the steel guide rails, the Marcy MD-9010G provides a safe and effective way of performing compound barbell exercises from your own home gym.
The cable system, smith machine bar, and leg developer / preacher curl all gain their resistance from weight plates, meaning there's no need for any heavy weight plate towers.
The free standing weight bench also gives you all the freedom you need to perform dumbbell workouts away from the rack if you want to extend the range of exercises further.
Often available for around $1000, this is a system that gives you everything you could ever want from a complete home gym, while still costing less than a year's membership at many commercial gyms.
Product dimensions: 95" (H) x 79" (W) x 86" (L) Warranty: 2 years on limited parts
USA Home Gym gives in-depth insights into gym equipment, supplements, and fitness training methods. The motivation behind USA Home Gym is to provide you with information that goes beyond what you can find in any user manual, customer review, or other online review sites.
We go to great lengths to ensure that our reviews are completely comprehensive, usually covering everything from the design features to the warranty coverage and exercise options. This is all to help guide you towards the home gym equipment that’s best suited to your goals and budget, whilst also being the highest quality option in your chosen price range.
