Body-Solid (GVKR60) Vertical Knee Raise with Dip Station for Abdominal and Core Training, Home and Commercial Gym

This product isn't cheap to buy. But if you're serious about adding knee raises to your workout, this thing is a no nonsense, high quality piece of equipment. Most of the L ow priced alternatives are not worth the bother In my opinion. The Body Solid is just that, SOLID. And it's not too tall for any room in my house, even with me on it. I am almost six feet tall. My kids are much shorter, at ages 11 and 13. All three of us are able to use it comfortably. We love it. I chose it because of the small footprint. It takes up such little space. That's what makes it so unique amongst the field of competitors. The quality is the reason I decided to write a review, which is something I don't normally take the time to do. In fact, this is my very first Amazon review. The only complaint I have is the foot treads don't stay in place. They are a stick-on piece of some sort of rubber, meant to keep your feet from slipping. They slide around. I don't care. They aren't necessary in the first place. I peeled mine off and tossed them in the trash. You can't go wrong with the Body Solid. It's very well designed, made of quality material and simple to assemble.

Before purchasing this knee raise with dip station, I must have had about 15 windows open on Amazon comparing them all - looking at the specs, the images and the reviews. What I found most often was the difficulty in assembly, the damaged parts or - most often - the instability of the item (not solid). For those worried about any of the above, you can end your search and purchase the Body Solid. Unlike most (all?) of the others, this has side “arms” that are all one piece. In total, there are just 8 screws holding it together, excluding cushions for the back and arms and the grips for the dips, which adds 8 more. But the stability of the machine is handled by attaching 8 screws to two supporting ‘beams’. That’s it - the rest of it is all large pieces. Less screws means less shake and chance of anything coming apart. It is also extremely simple to put together - I think I had it fully assembled in roughly 20-minutes and it only took that long as the instructions are non-existent. (Just look at the image showing a cut-away of the final product, and you should be all set). Delivery from BIGFLY was also very good - the box was admittedly damaged upon arrival, but everything inside was perfectly packaged and absolutely no damage. In all, I highly recommend this solid piece of equipment that will last a very long time. It looks great like a commercial machine, feels very solid, is simple to put together and has a reasonable price.

While relatively easy to assemble and sturdy, this equipment is intended for shorter people. You'll notice all the promotional materials feature a woman using it. I've used vertical leg knee/leg raise towers with success and they're great for working your core and abs, but after several uses of this it threw my lower back out, which took a few weeks to recover from. The problems are that the overall height of the station is not very tall so, if you're over 5' 8", the dimensions in terms of the relation between the arms to the backrest require you to push yourself up in an awkward position to do leg raises, the arms are not angled causing you put too much stress on your lower back, and the handles are too close to the arm pads. You should also note that the vendor does not pay for return shipping so if you decide to do so you'll have a $170 shipping charge that Amazon won't reimburse.

I spent a good deal of time researching this product, reading lots of reviews and looking at comparable pieces of equipment. Before receiving the item what I liked about what I read were: 1) Industrial product for the home; and 2) easy to put together "20 minutes". The cons I read were consistent and that is the price, I agree the price tag is steep and that is why I hesitated to purchase. When I compared to others less expensive they did not receive the consistent favorable reviews and picture to picture other pieces of equipment had TONS more nuts and bolts to them. I thought two things about that, 1) not easy put together; and 2) probably has more potential of not being as sturdy. SO I bit the bullet (err price tag) and ordered. It came a day early which was cool. There was very little directions and I am used to having directions step by step and with this product you just received a sheet for pieces and then a page with images of where the pieces go. With that being said I overcame my initial anxiety about how I was going to do this and it was reasonably simple. Not 20 minutes reasonably simple but in about an hour I had it done. I had to make a couple trips to the garage to get the right tools. Overall I love it! It is sturdy and it looks great in my home gym. It isn't monstrous looking in size but perfect for me (5'7") and I think any grown man too. I am happy with it. I give it four stars only because of price.

Some reviewers said it wasn't stable. There are 3 things to check that could cause this: 1) assemble it on a flat surface, THEN tighten the bolts, 2) make sure it is on a hard surface... if on carpet, the carpet can give non-uniformly causing rocking, 3) make sure all the bolts are TIGHT. This will ensure a solid workout. This is definitely gym quality gear. and the footprint is small and it's easy to transport. The back pad is in the right position for knee raises and dips with and without a weighted dip belt are no problem. Couldn't be happier with my purchase. And even though it looks like it was a lot of parts it is simple to assemble because you can start anywhere. There is a minor mistake in the instructions: c3 and c2 labels are reversed on the back assembly. Just go by the pictures.

Excellent product