All-In-One System: Marcy Diamond Elite Review MD-9010G
The Marcy Diamond Elite is a sophisticated home gym system, but is it the right choice for your needs? Here’s what you should know about buying any Marcy Smith machine, as well as a brief look at the Marcy Diamond Elite 9010g and what you can expect from it.
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Marcy All-In-One
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Marcy All-In-One
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Diamond Elite 9010g
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What Is A Home Gym System?
There are countless home gym setups, but most of them don’t qualify as home gym systems. In this context, home gyms like the Marcy Smith Cage System MD 9010g are fitness centers that include multiple workout options in one large device.
Their primary value is saving space because you don’t need nearly as much room when you’re using a complete system.
What Are The Benefits Of All-In-One Workout System?
All-in-one workout systems have several benefits aside from the ability to save space in your house or garage. Here are the other main reasons to consider getting one.
Cost-Effectiveness
Gym systems may have a dozen tools (or more) on one unit, each of which may support several types of exercises. While any home gym is moderately expensive alone, they’re usually cheaper than buying and installing all of their components separately. That isn’t considering the cost in space, either.
Customizability
Most home gyms are customizable, which means that you can attach extra systems to them. They also make it easier to customize your entire gym space and add shelves, drink holders, or anything else you may want or need.
Customization takes some planning, but designing the rig exactly how you like it will make your workout far more comfortable than an out-of-the-box product.
Workout Variety
Workout systems have excellent variety – that is, different home gyms have different types of equipment on them, which means you can usually find something that matches your fitness needs and goals.
Some work well for casual users, while other fitness stations are ideal for competitive athletes.
Time Savings
By having everything in one place, a home gym system minimizes the amount of time you need to spend setting things up and let you quickly switch to your next exercise.
For serious users, this makes it easier to optimize your pacing and get the most out of every exercise session.
What Types Of Exercises Can I Do On the Marcy Diamond Elite?
The Marcy Diamond Elite offers many different exercise options. You should be able to work nearly every muscle group. The MD-9010G offers the following features:
- Preacher Curl Pad And Leg Developer: Target your biceps and do leg curls and extensions with the curl pad and handle
- Squat Rack: Bar and safety catches on the front of the cage can be used with an olympic bar to work quadriceps and glues.
- Dual Upper and Lower Pulley Cables: Complete cable crossovers, pec decks, and kneeling pull lat downs using the pulley trolly system.
- Weight Racks And Weight Plate Storage: Six storage pegs can house a variety of weight plates including olympic lifting plates.
- Adjustable Bench Back And Seat Pad: The workout bench in a home gym is usually a folding chair that you can also use for other exercises. It may allow easy access to weights or other options in different positions.
- Incline Bench Press & Smith Bar: Safety arms on the Macy Elite allow you to use the bench and smith bar without a spotter.
- Additional Accessories: Triceps rope, pulley cable handles, lat bar, shiver bar, v-bar, ankle strap
What Kind Of Flooring Should I Put Beneath My Marcy Diamond?
There are many different flooring options that you can put beneath a home gym, but the choice does matter. Rubber Flooring Inc., a retailer, has an in-depth guide on this subject. If you don’t want to read the full guide, here’s a summary of the most popular options and how they stand out from each other.
Carpet Tiles
Carpet tiles are squares of carpet available in different sizes and styles, which means there’s some variation in how plush and supportive they are. However, they don’t have anywhere near the same durability or shock absorption as rubber or foam options. They’re also moderately hard to install and clean. We don’t recommend them for home gyms.
Foam Tiles
Foam tiles are the cheaper version of rubber titles. They aren’t nearly as durable, which is bad if you want to put a heavy home gym system on top of them, and they don’t offer quite as much shock absorption as the best options. That said, they’re easy to install and easy to clean, so they’re a good budget option. Foam tiles can be quite colorful, too.
PVC Vinyl
PVC vinyl is among the most expensive options for home gyms, but it offers outstanding durability as its main selling point. This makes it a popular choice for garage gyms, where you can do all sorts of things without worrying about hurting it. PVC is also easy to clean and install. However, the main drawback here is that it offers almost no shock absorbency.
Rubber Rolls
Rubber rolls have the same durability and shock absorption as tiles (see below), but they’re available in much larger sizes. These are a great option if you’re building a larger home gym in your garage, but they’re a little much for smaller workout rooms.
These rolls also hold up well under the weight of home gym systems. You can expect the rubber to compact over time, but this won’t ruin its overall performance.
Rubber Tiles
Rubber tiles, which usually have interlocking edges so you can link them together, have outstanding durability and shock absorption. They’re easy to install and easy to clean, making them a top choice for most buyers. However, they’re a little more expensive than most other flooring options.
What Should I Look For In A Home Gym System?
Every workout system is different, so knowing what separates these machines from each other is the key to making an informed purchase. Here are the main things to look for.
Adjustability
Adjustability covers how much variation you can get in each exercise. This includes things like changing the resistance of pulleys or the amount of weight for a press system. Even relatively small adjustments can provide a lot of extra versatility when you’re exercising.
Unfortunately, most manufacturers don’t provide much information on the adjustability of their systems. They may list the number of angles you can recline a seat at, but otherwise, you may need to contact the manufacturer directly or look closely at product pictures to gain more information.
Equipment Materials
Materials determine the overall durability of your equipment. Cheap systems may use plastic, which will break down – sometimes literally – much faster than other options. Better units are made entirely of durable materials like steel or aluminum.
The critical thing to remember about materials in a home gym is that you’re not evaluating it solely by your weight. Instead, you may end up putting a lot of pressure or force on small parts of the machine, so its ability to withstand all of that force over time is the real measure of its durability.
Strong materials are fundamentally better for your equipment.
Weight
Weight comes into play in two points for products like the Marcy MD-9010g. First, the weight determines how easy it is to set up your gym and move it into place. Most people construct their gyms on-site, with only a little extra pushing to get it into place. For construction, lighter is better.
However, weight also plays a role after you set your gym up. Heavier gyms are more stable than lightweight ones, which means they’re less likely to tip over and hurt you if you make a strange or unexpected movement. The best gyms are usually heavy enough to absorb all of your force without budging unless you’re specifically trying to move them.
Remember that most gyms do not include the weight of extra parts or accessories you might have, such as barbells. Those types of accessories can provide additional stability to a machine, so you don’t necessarily have to buy the heaviest machines to get stability.
Variety of Exercise Options
The last of the main things to look for in a home gym system is the number and variety of exercise options. More is usually better here, especially if you can configure the system to allow different exercises with the same equipment.
As explained above, the primary purpose of getting a home gym system is to have a lot of exercise machines in the smallest possible space. If your machine doesn’t reduce the amount of space you need for your home gym, it’s missing the point. We prefer systems with at least eight exercise options and preferably many more.
How Many Home Gym Systems Have Electronics?
Electronics are rare in these products. The main problem with installing screens for listing exercise plans or watching entertainment is that home gyms typically involve facing many different ways over the course of a full-body workout. Because of this, manufacturers can’t place screens in places that will be consistently accessible.
That said, you can add custom screens to some setups. Adding screens costs a lot, but you can rig several different television screens to show the same information and place them all around your home gym. They’ll be safe as long as they’re far enough away from your workout area.
For a more affordable solution, you can put a screen on an extension arm and move it around as needed. It isn’t quite as effective as having multiple screens, but it’s more practical for most users.
The Marcy gym system is basic, so it does not include a screen.
Our Top All-In-One Workout System: The Marcy Diamond Elite
The Marcy Diamond Elite (also sold under other names, including Marcy Smith Cage Workout Machine) is a practical, sensible choice for a home gym system. It includes an impressive variety of exercise options, including pulleys, bars, pressers, leg devices, and weight racks.
The unit itself is made from 14-gauge steel, with a powder-coated finish for aesthetics. The aircraft cables on the pulleys support a tensile strength of 2,000 lbs, which is more than enough for most buyers.
The Marcy Diamond isn’t the largest or most expensive option on the market, but it strikes a good balance for most buyers between its size, affordability, and versatility.
We particularly like how it supports an Olympic free-weight rack, which is surprisingly rare for total gym systems. Keep in mind that this product doesn’t come with weights.
Features:
- Durable steel frame
- The detached chair offers mobility and flexibility
- Multiple weight storage posts
- Six backrest adjustments for different exercises
That’s A Wrap!
The Marcy Diamond Elite is an excellent system because it meets most of the criteria we look for in a good home gym system. It’s durable, it has a reasonable number of exercise options, and it’s heavy enough to stay put (especially if you add exercise weights to it, which we recommend).
The one thing to keep in mind if you buy the Marcy Diamond Elite is the complexity of its assembly. It’s not hard as long as you follow the instructions, but the cables can be a little tricky to separate and attach correctly.
This system isn’t quite up to commercial gym standards for an all-in-one unit, but it’s more than enough for home users who want to get decent amounts of exercise without spending a fortune on it.