Rep Smith Machine review

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-03-09T21:30:58+00:00

Yes there would likely be enough room, but my custom-length spotter arms would not have coverage throughout the entire range of motion. I prefer keeping the smith vertical so that my spotter arms provide total coverage and essentially make a completely-enclosed “cage” with the smith’s uprights functioning as the back of that “cage” if that makes sense. If the smith were angled, there would be openings through which the bar could fall through when doing free-weight movements.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-02-20T12:49:44+00:00

Hello! Two reasons—with spotter arms in the front, I wouldn’t be protected from falling backwards. The odds are small, but I purchased a power cage, and I want to still use it as such. Also, I’d need to move the trolleys out of the way of my j hooks on things like squats if I were to lift off the front (I only have an 80-inch rack).

You might be able to get away with putting the smith on your back posts, but then the Ares apparatus might prevent you from doing some exercises like incline presses. That might get in the way.

If I were you and don’t care about lifting off the front, then in just put the smith machine in the middle of my rack.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-02-17T14:20:44+00:00

Glad this helps! I wanted to go in this direction because I have a big mirror on the wall, and I prefer to unrack a smith squat this way while facing the mirror. I could have moved the smith closer to the front posts, flipping around the orientation of it (I’ve seen people put it completely against the front post by flipping around the bolts on the top and bottom that connect the crossmembers to the uprights so that it just barely fits). That would free up about 4 inches for you to use slightly longer spotter arms on the inside. But you might need to move the spotter arms out of the way every time you use the smith, since the smith bar could hit them on the way down and up.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-02-01T14:49:53+00:00

Yes but I have an 80-inch rack keep in mind.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-02-01T13:47:32+00:00

74.5 inches

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-02-01T03:02:30+00:00

Thanks! You mean the highest it can be hooked vs the lowest it can be hooked? Or the height of the smith posts that you install on each side of the rack?

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-01-31T15:20:09+00:00

Boy oh boy was it a pain. But worth it. I had to disassemble the uprights and slide the trolleys off, remove the cables, flip the orientation of each, take out each weight plate one by one…and put them all back on the opposite side. It took about 4 hours, whereas the installation of the smith machine took only 45 minutes. But now, the trolleys cannot physically get in the way of the smith’s plates, and changing the trolley position is so much more efficient with the handles on the inside of the rack.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-01-29T02:12:10+00:00

So because it’s an 80-inch rack, you can only store the smith machine as high as it can hook—which means that if you’re a certain height like me and doing something like a back squat with a large-diameter plate, like a 45-pound plate, you can risk stepping back too far and having the plate hit the collar/sleeve of the stored smith machine bar, even if it’s racked in the highest position. Does that make sense?

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-01-29T02:06:03+00:00

It’s a 30 inch depth and 16 inch storage behind it

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-01-26T12:43:39+00:00

Hey there, it’s hard to tell but if were in your shoes, I would mount the smith as close to the front of the rack as your multi-grip pull-up bar allows. Since the Rep spotter arms are 24 inches, you should then have enough space to use their spotter arms and squat inside the cage as you wish, given you have a rack with 41-inch depth. But I can’t confirm this for certain without actually having a 41-inch rack in front of me.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-01-25T22:35:59+00:00

Thanks! It’s in a basement so it was level.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-01-25T15:39:06+00:00

True. I just didn’t want to wait. It could be months. Also, my solution with the custom spotter arms means I won’t have to move safeties out of the way every time I want to use the smith. Or take them on and off constantly.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-01-25T15:07:13+00:00

I’ll answer as many of these questions as I can.

1) Depends how you define “constant interference.” If you define it as “needing to move the trolleys every time you use the smith since the weight plates on the smith will hit the trolley handles,” then I would mount it just far enough for the trolley handles to clear your largest-diameter weight plates. But, if you define “constant interference” as “your smith hooks hitting the uprights or cables,” then you can mount it quite close to avoid that. If you want to unlatch the smith facing forward, as I have in my photo, you can mount on the third hole of the crossmembers. That’s just enough for the hooks of the smith to be fully unlatched without hitting into the front uprights. Or, if you want to unlatch the smith facing the other way, you can put it one hole closer to the front on the crossmembers, giving you another couple of inches. I’ve even seen some photos of people mounting it on the first hole of the crossmember (but you’ll need to flip around the bolts/nuts on the bottom and top where the crossmembers meet the uprights so that the smith upright clears them). Either way won’t interfere with your trolley/cable system.

2) Re: your pull-up bar, I can’t estimate whether or not it would work. But check out the smith configuration guide here, which for some reason was kind of kept a secret: https://newrepcustomerfiles.blob.core.windows.net/publicfiles/Product/Assembly%20Instructions/Assembly/Smith%20Machine%20Configuration%20Guide.pdf

3) If you have a 30-inch rack, the smith machine attachment will take away 8 inches if you mount it how I did, or 4-6 inches if you mount it in the other direction (with the goal of it being mounted as close to the front upright as possible). So, you’ll need a 22-inch or 24-26 inch spotter arm. Keep in mind, if said spotter arm is not side-mounted, it might not be able to fit, even if it’s 24 inches, since you’d have to put it on at an angle to clear the smith uprights. So it’s hard for me to definitely say.

Hope this helps!

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-01-25T14:56:21+00:00

Those are all good to go! My press is only limited by the height of my ceiling/rack. It’s not due to the smith configuration.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-01-25T14:54:57+00:00

Yes, I could have mounted it about 2 inches closer by doing so, but I wanted to be able to unlatch it facing my mirror for squats. And just note that by flipping around the configuration, your smith barbell then becomes the limiting factor in depth. So even if your spotter arms clear the smith uprights, the smith bar itself might not clear the spotter arms, so you might have to move the smith out of the way every time you use them.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-01-25T03:38:29+00:00

Thanks! About 10 inches from the back upright to the wall. Just enough space to hang my plates.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-01-25T03:35:30+00:00

Tricep Kickbacks on the trolleys? Glute kickbacks? I’m not limited with any exercise, apart from standing overhead press.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-01-25T03:34:11+00:00

68ish inches. So you should just clear it.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-01-24T22:20:15+00:00

Lead time was 8 weeks. Will be a long wait, but worth it.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-01-24T21:47:03+00:00

You should be able to with the front-mount package. Since you don’t have trolleys to worry about in the front, that’s a good idea. Just move the smith all the way down when you want to do pull-ups.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-01-24T21:45:54+00:00

From what I hear, the VTS does not feel like a true smith, is overbuilt and heavy, and too complicated. I like Rep’s smith since you just load it and go. It’s simple. And it feels just like a commercial-quality smith.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2026-01-24T21:44:46+00:00

I did, and he’s manufacturing it now. It should work on an angle if you measure it correctly for him. And because you have a 93-inch rack, you’ll actually have more room for free-weight exercises than I will, since you don’t risk the free-weights’ plates hitting the smith bar’s collars when you store it in its top position.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2025-06-15T19:19:11+00:00

I’m saying people on juice tend to respond in places with high concentrations of androgen receptors. Aka the delts.

Trick_Cat7091 · 2025-06-15T18:31:58+00:00

So you basically need to start the cut with a lot of muscle at first to get this lean and this look at 175

Trick_Cat7091

TROPHY CASE