Adjustable Hyper Extension Bench

For reference I'll start by mentioning that I'm a 5'10" male weighing about 215 pounds. The foam rollers are right behind my ankles when I'm in the hyper-extension excercise position. A 2" difference from my height would only move your ankles about 1" in either direction so this should fit most folks just fine. If you're very short or tall then here's a simple and obvious way to move the post with the thigh pad on it about 4" fore or aft by drilling one more set of holes for one of the two 'mounting bolts'. But this is NOT recommended by the manufacturer so I won't detail that adjustment option any further. The 'bench' arrived in an undamaged box which was very adequately packed and well strapped on the exterior. All of the parts inside were in perfect condition and the various fasteners were shrink-wrapped to a card. Assembly was about 30 minutes and was fairly simple. The bench is sturdy, stable with my weight and functions just as expected. I see no reason to "lengthen" the two handles as some reviewers have suggested. A shorter person may have a harder time mounting the aparatus but a cheap plastic "step" from the hardware store will solve the problem. The fit and finish of the bench is perfect with every screw/bolt hole in perfect position and alignment. The paint job is perfect and unblemished. The reviewers who found fault with some shortcomings of this bench should consider that one can not even PAINT a bench like this for the price that is being asked! If one were to buy only the raw steel stock necessary to build this bench (in the USA)one would pay far more than this model costs (from Amazon). Get a grip! Yes, I too would rather have one of the "nicer" ones that have an ergonomic pivoting thigh rest so that you can just roll forward into an inverted position, etc.. But, guess what? They cost about 5 times the price that this one is going for. In this case, you are getting FAR more than what you are paying for. An unbelieveable bargain for a good basic piece of excercise equipment.

Real Good Quality and Build. Quality steel believe it of not (for import). Went together easily. Instructions were very clear with an exploded diagram. Really pleased with that aspect. Box looked used and/or resealed but no missing parts so don't care much. ALWAYS turn bolts a few threads by fingers first then use a power tool if desired. This was one of the only ones that you cannot basically tip over due to design. Bought this instead of a Teeter for the back but it does so much more for less money! Let's Go!

While most of the images for this item show the model performing "back extension" style exercises (and that's inferred in the title of the item), I bought this for its potential to enable traditional "Roman Chair" forward facing style ab exercises. Happy to report it does both equally well, very sturdy with only minor wiggles...mainly attributable to the carpeted floor I have in the home gym. The coatings are very thick and the frame material is hefty without being overly heavy. I think they nailed the balance of weight/cost/stiffness for home use. Assembly is pretty straightforward despite the lack of "directions." The package includes a thorough "READ THIS" booklet...but it's all about safety. There are no written "Step 1...find part A and attach to part B using bolt C" kind of instructions. There are only a couple exploded views, labeled with part numbers and you're left to visualize what part goes where, and you kinda-hafta guess what to do first. Do the first page first, then move on to the second page. With only six parts total it's not daunting, but you do have to use your imagination a bit to translate the image to the real thing. The bolt package includes a handy allen wrench that works well on four of the 20 or so fasteners (which is important since this is made in the metric standard and metric allen wrenches are not a common item in your average home tool bag), the others you need a real tool of your own. The pict-o-gram recommends an adjustable/crescent wrench for the bolts, but that's not an ideal solution. I used a 3/8" ratchet teamed with a 17mm socket for the larger bolts, and a 14mm socket for the smaller ones, and that made assembly a breeze. Since this doesn't appear to be made in the USA, metric tools are called for, but if you only have SAE tools handy, 9/16 and 11/16 work (I checked) since nothing has to be super tight. Only two of the bolts use nuts on the far end, the rest screw into the stampings with a few threads cut into the sidewalls, so you don't want to be cranking these down terribly hard or you will strip the three or four threads that exist. Completely possible to do this with a crescent wrench, just not my preference. Could have earned all "5's" with real assembly instructions and tool list that included bolt head sizes, and why there are allen, 17mm, and 14mm fasteners vs all the same size remains a mystery, but for the price, it's a great deal and does exactly what I bought it for. My abs thank you Marcy!!

I have been wanting one of these for my home gym for quite a while. Black Friday deal was too good to pass up. Here's my review: Pros 1. Pretty easy to assemble. 2. Great workout, both hyper extensions and ab work. 3. The angle of the bench is great. It allows one to be at a 90 degree angle when hanging down to get the most out of the exercise for experienced gym rats. 4. It has nice padded legs. 5. It's not to heavy to move around. 6. All in all for the price it is pretty solid. Cons 1. It took a long time to arrive... about 3 weeks, which is half what Amazon estimated. 2. It is a bit challenging to get on to it. At 5'6" it requires jumping up onto it or using a small stool tucked on one side. That's a bit of a challenge as there is not much space between the pad and the foot holder to swing forward. I might be a bit gun shy leaning on the handles as I saw some reviews saying the handles broke. My handles look welded well. Over time I am sure I will adapt to it. 3. While it was easy to assemble, it requires two wrenches that were not included. It would have been nice if they included those little hand wrench tools that come with a lot of things that need assembly. I will have to borrow one from a neighbor as I only have one to finish tightening the bolts on the bottom. They require one to hold the bolt in place while the other one is turning the nut. When tight, the unit is stable. If the bolts are not tight enough it wobbles a little. All in all, I am happy and look forward to using it every day! It's solid for home gym equipment and well padded. Worth it!

Easy to assemble and quality

Ok, I'll admit it. I bought this because it was the cheapest by far of anything else like it. I wanted to do back extensions and GHD/roman chair style situps but I really didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on what would be just accessory exercises for me. You can spend $800 for a commercial quality GHD to do these exercises but I'm not running a gym and just want to throw in a few sets after my deadlifts each week. I think it's important to mention this because this thing is literally a tenth the price of some of the high-end alternatives. My opinion is that, for a home gym, it is absolutely worth it for the price. For a commercial gym, this thing would be a joke. For a home gym, it is a great budget alternative. Often when you cheap out, you pay the price and end up with a piece of junk that is useless or breaks after a few uses but this thing has been great for working these exercises into my programming. For reference, I'm a 200 lbs guy. As a word of caution, please spend some time researching this piece of equipment and the exercises you can do on it. The bench itself doesn't come with any sort of exercise description. Doing these exercises with bad form could seriously mess you up. Roman chair situps are particularly potent and if you do these, start off with only a few reps and work your way up slowly over time. You might find yourself having a really hard time getting out of bed the next morning after only doing 10 reps. People have ended up in the hospital from doing too much too soon. Know what you are doing and you will benefit greatly from these exercises. One important note for guys -- you have to get your hips far up off the bench. Otherwise uncomfortable things will happen with your anatomy. For these exercises, you are best off getting your hips off the bench but many people will not do this because it starts feeling unstable at that point. If you feel weirdness, and you will understand what I mean by this, you just need to scootch up a bit and you will be fine. I lay some weight plates on the base of the bench just to give myself a little more confidence in the stability. You could also pay a few more bucks for a roman bench with a split pad but this one is fine as long as you get up high enough on the pad.

I ordered the Apex Roman Chair because it looks the most like a piece of equipment I used to use regularly at a gym. Roman Chairs are a great way to stretch out/relax your spine and strengthen the back muscles, plus you can really work your glutes and, to a lesser extent, your abs. The Apex Roman/Hyperextension Bench arrived in a banged up box with tears. The blister pack for all the small bits had disintigrated somewhere during its long journey from China(?), thus allowing assorted metal bolts and washers to mingle freely with everything else. I'm somewhat amazed that none of the little parts managed to escape the damaged box. Not surprisingly, one of the handle arms was dented and the paint had been scraped off that place. After locating all the parts, assembly proceeded in a straightforward manner (according to my boyfriend). The Apex Roman Chair is reasonably sturdy (but not extremely so) and functions as expected. I like the main pad for its smooth shape-- benchs with split pads, like the Roman Chair at my current gym, tend to cause me unreasonable groin pain by compressing my femoral arteries. =:o The ankle pads that came with the Apex Chair could be better-- they're simple cheesy foam and one arrived all conmpressed & misshapen from being at the bottom of the box under very heavy parts. I'm not sure these pads will last long at all. I'm giving this product three stars-- I took a couple stars off for packing damage, parts spew and poor foam ankle pads. Overall this chair is a decent value for the price and I do intend to keep mine because it suits my budget. If I can figure out a way to improve or replace the ankle pads, I will. Is this a professional, high quality piece of top-notch gym equipment? Unfortunately, no.

Another great piece of equipment form Marcy. Easy to assemble with clear instructions, strong handles and welds, and best of all, it's a true flat Roman Chair. Not the angled, one. BUT, assemble it with LOOSE fasteners, set it in place, then tighten the fasteners. That'll level it to the floor and it won't wobble. Works on everything. Great chair for back exercises, Hips and thighs.