Tuesday, 18 February 2025

Leg Press, Multi Gym

French Fitness X8 XL Multi Station Gym Review

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Featured image for French Fitness X8 XL Multi Station Home Gym

French Fitness’s original X8 Multi Station Gym System has evolved with the addition of the X8 XL Multi Station Gym to their equipment range. The X8 XL has bulked up the original’s offerings with built-in butterfly and leg press attachments.

With a dual weight stack, multi-user functionality, and a huge variety of exercise options, the French Fitness X8 XL Multi Station Gym has brought the big guns to the party.

We take a look at this home gym product’s features, exercise options, attachments, and customer reviews below.

Design features

X8 XL Multi Station Home Gym

A multi-station gym system is a piece of strength training equipment that allows a user to perform different exercises on the same machine. Or, allows two or more people to use it at once if it’s a multi-user model.

The benefits of having one machine for various exercises are obvious. Less moving equipment around and quicker transitions between sets. And, if you have a roomie or life partner you gym with, a multi-station, multi-user home gym makes even more sense.

That said, there are design features you need to take into account before you purchase this type of gym system.

Weight stack

For most weight training home equipment, the weight stack is a priority. You want to get a space efficient gym system with the optimum weight load so it can cater for your steadily increasing muscle growth.

If you’re just starting, weight stacks between 130 lbs and 155 lbs are a good fit. More advanced lifters should aim for above 175 lbs.

French Fitness’s multi station gym system comes with two 165 lb weight stacks, making it a good choice for dedicated beginners as well as intermediate users.

Workout stations

Don’t bother with a machine that doesn’t have the stations you want for your workouts. The right variety of exercises (exercises you like and will feel pumped to do) makes the difference between a good and bad workout.

Most multigym systems offer the following exercises:

  • Chest press
  • Pec exercises
  • Leg extensions

The French Fitness X8 XL Multi Station Gym ticks these boxes and more. This product includes main, leg press, and butterfly stations.

If you purchase the extra ab bench attachment and power tower, you can perform an even larger range of upper body, lower body, and core exercises.

We give a list of the available exercise options further down in this post.

If you already have a leg press machine or butterfly machine at home, you can always get the original French Fitness X8, which features the main station only.

French Fitness X8 Home Gym System
Original French Fitness X8 Home Gym System

 

The original allows you to add the attachments and stations you want. For instance, you can just add the butterfly station and an ab bench instead of going for the entire XL system.

Adjustability

All bodies are different. No matter what shape or size you are, proper alignment of your body is crucial to prevent injuries and unnecessary strain.

Man with back injury

With a multi-station setup, the equipment and attachments must be secured at the proper level. Otherwise, you risk injuries or hitting the wrong muscles and even muscle groups. Finding a machine that offers seat adjustability features is your best bet.

French Fitness’s X8 XL multi station system provides a back pad with 6 adjustable positions to suit different users’ heights. You can do both chest and back exercises with 6 adjustable chest press arm positions.

The built-in X8-BF Butterfly offers 5 different positions with numerous training options. The butterfly station’s seat has 5 height adjustments. A round knob allows the user to move it up and down. And, the back pad offers 8 different positions.

Cables and pulley systems

Cheap multi-station gym systems use inexpensive plastic nylons with cables that end up adding extra resistance to the weight. This is because of the friction, which makes the load feel heavier than it really is.

Poor quality cables and pulleys can create a grinding motion that isn’t comfortable for training at all. From a safety and cable point of view, the X8 XL uses a 5mm tensile, wear-resistant cable. It has also passed through a 1760 lb tension test. A good indicator of long-lasting use.

French Fitness X8 Multi Station Gym (XL) – features summary

  • Dimensions: 111″ W x 92″ Depth x 84″ H (without ab bench and pull up bar attachments)
  • Two 165 lb weight stacks
  • Max user weight: 300 lb

Main station

  • HDR grip
  • Arc butterfly arm
  • Adjustable backrest & arm curl pads
  • Comfortable leather foam
  • Flexible PP pulley
  • Non-slip metal footplate and T-design stable base
  • Canvas shield for additional machine stability and protection
  • 1:1 pulley ratio (165 lbs feels like 165 lbs)

Butterfly station

  • Adjustable backrest pad
  • Backrest pad frame
  • Adjustable cushion
  • Cushion frame
  • Zinc plated lock pin
  • Has aluminum alloy end cap

Leg press station

  • Non-slip metal footplate
  • Ergonomical 5mm cable with lentil pattern for added friction
  • Footplate support frame
  • Canvas shield increases protection and stability
  • Adjustable backrest pad
  • 165 lb weight stack
  • 2:1 Ratio – meaning 165 lbs actually feels like 330 lbs
  • Weight stack increments: 11 lb (5 kg) plates (15)
  • Maximum user weight: 300 lb (136 kg)

French Fitness X8 Multi Station Gym (XL) – available attachments

Hand clutching cable handle

Asides from the built-in butterfly station and leg press machine, this product also offers some extras, upgrades, and attachments, for an additional cost.

These include:

  • X8-PT Power Tower
  • X8-B Ab Bench
  • Two styles of gym mats
  • Body-Solid Weight Adapter Plates (2.5 lbs or 5 lbs)
  • Aluminum pulley upgrade
  • Multi-purpose bar
  • Revolving straight bar
  • Stirrup handle
  • Triceps rope

French Fitness Multi Station Gym exercise options

As we mentioned before, you will be able to perform a full range of upper body, lower body, and core exercises. With the added butterfly and leg press stations, you can concentrate on lower body and chest.

Muscular man with water bottle in hand

Here are some of the many exercise options you can look forward to with this machine.

  • Bench press
  • Seated row
  • Lat pull-down
  • Wide-grip pull down
  • Abdominal crunch
  • Tricep push down
  • Upright row
  • Single bicep curl
  • Double bicep curl
  • Bent-over lateral shoulder raise
  • Lateral chest cable cross
  • Lateral raise
  • Shoulder shrug
  • Tricep kickback
  • Leg kick back
  • Hip flexion
  • Hip adduction
  • Leg kick-outer
  • Leg extension
  • Standing leg curl
  • Sitting hack squat

Warranty

In the usual French Fitness style, you can expect a 1-year labor and 10-year-parts warranty.

Customer reviews

French Fitness is still an up-and-coming brand so, at the time of writing this, there are few reviews out there about this product.

Often, weightlifting equipment doesn’t receive as many customer reviews as cardio equipment, so that’s also something to keep in mind.

While reading about the French Fitness multi-station can help you to get a grip on its features, it’s equally useful to read reviews of people who have bought and used it. Check out Reddit and other forums to find out more about this model.

Here’s a list of commonly reported pros and cons:

Pros

Gym partners smiling together

Here are two pros of this product.

Cost-effective

Multi station home gym equipment can range in price from $250 to $4000. You can get a semi-decent multi gym for about $750.

But, the higher up the price range you go, the better the quality, resistance, weight stacks, upgrade options, and support.

This product sits comfortably in the mid-range of the $250 – $4000 bracket. Since it offers three stations, a great variety of exercises, good support and design, adjustability, and upgrades, we believe it’s a good price for what you get.

Multi-user & multi-function

This equipment gives you the best of the gym but at home. One of the best parts of a gym membership is being able to do circuit training, where you can hit multiple muscle groups with different machines.

This multi-station setup allows you to target multiple muscle groups with a whole ton of different exercises. You will be able to easily design upper body, lower body, and core workouts for yourself. As well as engage in split sessions or full-body training.

It’s also more hygienic as it’s only you using the machine in comparison to using shared machines at a gym.

This type of machine also means that you and a gym partner can exercise at the same time. So whether it’s your roommate, your spotter, or your life partner, you can both enjoy a workout and break a sweat together.

Men shaking hands

Cons

Here are two of the cons.

Weight stack

When it comes to weight lifting, it’s a journey where we continually want to better ourselves. We want to see our strength, power, mobility, and muscles grow and change. Our mind gets fitter and more disciplined as we can take more and more weight.

Although this model does have two decent weight stacks at 165 lbs, if you’re looking to join the ranks of higher weight classes, you might want to look somewhere else.

One color

So, despite some of the images and videos showing a blue version of the gym, red is the only available color. For us, that’s a negative because why show us another option if we can’t have it?

Final thoughts on the French Fitness X8 XL Multi Station Gym

Full profile of French Fitness X8 XL Multi Station Gym

All in all, we like the French Fitness X8 Multi-Station Gym (XL). The three stations, multi-user nature, decent weight stacks, and adjustability make it a good choice for beginners and intermediate weight lifters. Especially if you’re a fan of the leg press and butterfly exercises.

This multi station gym system won’t break the bank and will look good in any home gym. This piece of equipment is big so it will take up a large footprint. But, since it offers so many workout options, it’s pretty much 3+ pieces of gym equipment in one, so it’s worth it.

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