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Expert Tested: RitFit Sports Power Rack REVIEW (2024)
My Experience with the M1 Multi-Functional Smith Machine 2.0 (All-in-One Home Gym!)
by Alec Enkiri | 10/18/24
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The M1 Multi-Functional Smith Machine 2.0 by RitFit Sports is a heavy duty, highly versatile, all-in-one home gym solution!
In this review we cover the assembly process of the RitFit M1 Multi-Functional Smith Machine 2.0, the build quality, the myriad of add-ons and accessories that it comes with, and some of the unique features of the machine. I hope you find the review helpful!
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of reviewing the original 1.0 version of the RitFit Sports M1 Multi-Functional Smith Machine, which I was a big fan of! The RitFit M1 rack is another one of those all-in-one, multifunctional home gym pieces that have flooded the market in recent history. They typically have a dual pulley system, a Smith Machine, a power rack, a calisthenics station, and a landmine setup as well.
With so much versatility coming out of one piece of equipment these racks truly are a game changer for us home gym and garage gym enthusiasts! I hit some big lifts on that original M1, the best of which was this massive ATG Anderson front squat with 350lbs! I'm still shocked that I'm only damn dude doing this lift. But I will hit stand up with 365lbs in this same fashion, hopefully sometime in 2025, mark my words!
But the Smith Machine on the original M1 rack was really nice, the pulley system was amazing as well, and I really enjoyed the rack overall. And now RitFit has upgraded the M1 to the 2.0 version! So let's do a deep dive on the RitFit Sports M1 2.0 and see how it holds up to the scrutiny of some of my brutal strength training and hybrid athlete sessions!
RACK ASSEMBLY
The first thing I want to note here is that this was probably the smoothest and easiest assembly process I have ever undergone when it comes to one of these pieces of multi-functional training equipment. I have lost count of how many racks I've assembled at this point, but it's quite substantial, I've done at least 4 this past year, and this one was hands down the easiest. The entire process was super smooth. I broke it up into 2 two hour chunks and knocked the whole thing out on a Saturday so I could start lifting on it on Sunday.
The manual was crystal clear here as well, and literally the only snag that I hit was actually the very last step of the entire process and that was getting the Smith Machine bar lined up correctly with the brackets from the guideposts so that the bar could be attached. It took me probably 10 or 15 minutes to figure out how to finagle all that so that everything was correctly in place. Once I got it in the right spot it was super easy, and maybe I'm just dumb, but it did take me a little bit longer than I'm proud of to get the bar attached there.
Other than that, super smooth assembly! I can't really complain at all, and the rack looks really clean and sleek in my gym.
The M1 2.0 is aesthetic
BUILD QUALITY & FEATURES
The M1 2.0 rack is made of 14 gauge steel with a 2x2 frame, and in totality it's rated to hold over 1800lbs. In spite of that, the unit is actually pretty compact considering all the different things you can do with it. It sits at 79 inches long, 68 inches wide, and 86 inches high. I've got it sitting right in the middle of my gym floor and it really doesn't feel like excessively bulky or like it's hogging up too much floor space.
One thing I want to note about this rack is that pretty much everything that attaches to it has a quick release system. So that includes the footplate for rows, the landmine attachment, the band pegs, and even the weight plate storage tubes on the backside of the rack. You don't have to fiddle with any nuts or bolts or anything, you simply slide them through the hole and give them a quick turn just as you would with a safety arm or J hook. This feature is really nice because it means you can add and remove attachments on a whim. If an attachment gets in the way of something you want to do, just pop it off, no big deal, and pop it right back on when you're done.
Another cool upgrade on this rack is, in addition to ample weight plate storage on the backside of the unit, they have also added a slot for barbell storage this time around! So now you can store 3 bars vertically on the backside of the rack, which is very, very handy. In addition to my barbell wall mount that I built when I put this garage gym together, I recently had to buy a dedicated barbell storage piece to house all my dang barbells without occupying half my home gym.
So space saving add-ons like weight storage and barbell storage coming standard with a piece like this are a very helpful addition for home and garage gym owners where space is likely going to come at a premium, and we want to be able to maximize our usable space with fun gym toys, instead of having half our gym be plates and bars scattered all over the place.
14 gauge steel with 2x2 frame
Rated for 1800lbs of total load
79 inches long, 68 inches wide, and 86 inches high
6 weight plate storage holders
3 barbell storage holders
Quick release attachments
Dual pulley system, Smith Machine, power rack
Calisthenics station, landmine, band pegs
M1 2.0 SMITH MACHINE
I really like the Smith Machine that RitFit makes. I've used several home gym quality Smith Machines at this point, as well another handful or so over the years in different commercial gym settings, and the RitFit one is definitely my favorite as far as home gym Smith machines go. It's just got a super smooth feel to it that makes it feel really nice, and not super awkward, or even resistive in a bad way, like some Smith machines have a tendency to feel. I mean, there's always going to be some level of awkwardness when using any Smith Machine because the concept is simply not congruent with the reality of how people naturally lift things....a perfectly vertical line? No. But I'll save that tangent for another day!
Smith BTN Press is solid
This Smith machine is nice though. I've said it before and I'll say it again, hip thrusts and behind the neck presses are basically the bread and butter for me when it comes to Smith usage because those movements actually do lend themselves somewhat decently to perfectly vertical bar paths, and the added stability boosts the SFR of the movements a bit too.
Overall, it's a solid Smith setup. The bar capacity is a hefty 575lbs, so if a good home gym Smith Machine is something you're looking for you'll enjoy the M1 2.0 for sure!
575lbs max load capacity
Smooth and stable Smith Machine
POWER RACK
As far as the rack setup goes, it's nice and solid and stable, and you feel comfortable and secure working on it because of that. I do a lot of pin work in my training, both with squats and with different pressing movements, so I really appreciate the top protective layer they have on their safety bars. It's some kind of really durable plastic that blunts the impact against the pins and makes deloading the bar feel super gentle, which is a nice plus.
Both the safety pins and the J hooks have a max weight capacity of 575lbs, which is pretty hefty overall, but there are definitely some guys out there who will be too strong for this rack and will need something a little bit more heavy duty with a higher overall weight tolerance. I ain't one of them, but they do exist!
Presses off pins
Javelin press
Personally, my only real complaint here is with the length of the safety arms. I know I mentioned this point in my review of the original M1 rack where I was complaining that the safety arms were a little too short for my liking, and I think they were just about a foot long on that original rack.
And RitFit actually listened to me and made them a little bit longer for the upgraded M1 2.0 rack, but they still aren't quite long enough for me just yet. The current length is 400mm, which is right around 16 inches. So while that is definitely a nice improvement, they could still benefit greatly from a few more inches of length, and if we could get that up to at least 24 inches then I would just be ecstatic.
J hooks: 575lbs max load capacity
Safety arms: 575lbs max load capacity
Solid, stable, and comfortable power rack
Safety arms would benefit from more length
CALISTHENICS STATION (PULLUP BAR)
I like the variety that the pullup bar provides. You can go wide neutral on the outside, which has a really nice feel to it. It's definitely not my strongest pulling grip by any stretch of the imagination, but I really enjoy the feel of the pullup pattern when performed this way. Most neutral grip handles tend to be medium width or narrow width, so getting access to wide neutral is a nice bonus and a good way to get in smooth and easily recoverable volume work. You can also go super wide with the pronated grip on the front of the bar if you're feeling frisky. Now this grip is UBER WEAK, but if you can get a few strict reps in like this then you've got a pretty strong pull, man!
The bar also gives you access to a straight handle, which allows you to go supinated or pronated and use whatever grip width you choose, anything between narrow and wide. Lastly, there is a semi-supinated bar (or semi-neutral depending on how you look at it) on there as well, which is always a nice option to have. A medium width grip with semi-supinated handle tends to be the strongest way to pull, so it's nice to have that option for when you want to move some big weights.
Wide neutral feels great
The pullup bar has a max load capacity of 575lbs, which is going to be way more than enough for most people. Most people will never even clear 300lbs of total system weight on a chin-up so 575lbs is more than plenty. My personal best is 150lbs external weight at 170lbs body weight for a total system weight of 320lbs, and my lifetime goal is to hit a 4 plate chin-up which would be a total system weight of just 350lbs! So I don't think I will ever have to worry about being too strong for this pullup bar.
My only real complaint with it is the lack of knurling on the bar. The grip is nice and it's all metal without any of those stupid rubber coated handles that I dislike and usually just end up pulling off anyway, but there's no knurl. So that smoothness can get a bit slippery if your hands get any sweat moisture on them at all. A little bit of knurling goes a very long way, guys! It's like tread on the tires of a car. No tread is super grippy on a dry road, but incredibly slippery on a wet road. So I'd like to see a light knurl added to this bar if possible.
575lbs max load capacity
Very solid variety of handles for different types of pullups
The bar would benefit from a light knurl
CALISTHENICS STATION (DIP HANDLES)
The thing I really love about the dip setup here is that the handles are adjustable by width. Instead of attaching to the vertical uprights like pretty much every other dip handle attachment in existence, RitFit got a bit more creative and came up with a design where the handles attach to the horizontal support post on the backside of the unit. The cool thing about this is that this means we can adjust the width of the handles to whatever we choose for them to be or feel like doing that day.
Width adjustment
A unique feature!
The only downside to this is that now the height of the handles is fixed. When the handles attach to a vertical upright you can make them however high or low that you want them to be, but in this case with the handles attached to a horizontal post you have no say in how high they sit off the ground, they simply sit as high as the horizontal post.
The big problem with this is that the horizontal post on the M1 2.0 is quite low to the ground. I like dipping with straight legs, but I can't do that with the dip handles at this height as my legs just hit the ground. So I have to bend my knees instead. Further, the plates on my dip belt run into the ground from this height, which means I can't load this movement with a dipping belt on this rack.
But the handles are too low
Can still use vertical uprights though
Unfortunately, this makes the dip setup a bit less than ideal for someone like me. I would need access to a higher set of handles in order to be able to make the most out of my dip work.
560lbs max load capacity
Dip handles can be adjusted by width (very awesome!)
They would benefit from being a good bit higher off the ground
PULLEY SYSTEM
There's not too much to say about the pulley system on the M1 2.0 other than it's pretty much perfect! The pulleys on this rack have been upgraded from plastic, which is what most of the economy racks use for this piece, to aluminum. So they look really sharp and they're going to be far more durable overall.
The pulley system has a 420lbs weight capacity per side with a 2:1 cable pulley ratio. Both pulleys are adjustable from floor height all the way up to the top of the rack, and the pulleys are super smooth during use. Rows feel amazing (especially with the mag grip style handles that RitFit sent me a few months ago); hip flexion felt strong and clean; and I got a sick pump from crushing some pushdowns on it. You can do literally any cable exercise you can think of or rig up here and it will feel solid and strong and smooth.
420lbs max load capacity per side
2:1 cable pulley ratio
Adjustable from floor height to the top of the rack
Works well for pretty much any cable exercise you can think to rig up
Super smooth and solid pulley system
Feels great!
IMPROVEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS
After thoroughly testing out the rack I do have a few recommendations that I would like to see RitFit Sports make that I think will help them improve future models of this product, both in terms of versatility as well overall safety profile. So I hope they take me up on making some of these small tweaks!
Increase the length of the safety arms. The safety arms are about 16 inches long, which is a bit shorter than I would like for them to be. Without the protection of a full cage you could potentially move outside the safety zone without realizing it since after unracking the bar you have to move far enough away from the rack so that you don't risk clipping the pins while you're working.
This means that with these short safety arms the margin for error when dealing with heavy weights is pretty small. That's not what you want when working hard and heavy. You want wide margins to minimize the risk of a dangerous accident occurring. So my hope is to see the length of these safety arms increased to at least 24 inches to greatly improve the overall safety profile of the rack.
Add a light knurl onto the pullup bar I love the options and the variety that this pullup bar provides. Wide pronated, wide neutral, a range from close grip to medium grip semi-supinated, and then a straight bar for good measure as well.
A light knurl added onto the bar would go a very long way towards increasing the intensity and efficiency of pullup workouts done on this rack. The more secure your grip is the stronger the contraction of your muscles will be due to the irradiation effect. So a knurled bar will literally give you more gains, i.e. a bigger, stronger back in the long run.
Increase the height of the dip handles. The concept of adjusting the dip handles by width is awesome. The handles just need to be able to sit a little bit higher off the ground to remove some of the limitations I discussed above.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I really like the M1 2.0 rack and overall there is a lot of good stuff here! I greatly appreciate the multi-functional nature of the rack that allows you to seamlessly transition between different types of movements and training modalities.
These racks really are a game changer for home and garage gym owners as they basically allow us train like we still have a gym membership! This type of thing was not really available all that long ago, at least not at any type of reasonable price point, so it has been very cool to watch this market evolve and improve so much in recent years.
It's clean and sleek and looks really aesthetic in my garage gym
The unit is really solid and stable during use
It's compact overall and the footprint is minimal considering the 5-in-1 nature of the rack
The dual pulley system is pretty much perfect
The Smith Machine is very well engineered
The pullup station is awesome and provides great variety
OVERALL RATING
All things considered, I'm really happy with the RitFit M1 Multi-Functional Smith Machine 2.0 & All-in-One Home Gym! It's well designed, it's sleek, it's heavy duty, and the Smith and pulley systems are both fantastic. Overall, I give it 4 out of 5 stars!
If they can figure out a way to sort out the issue with the height of the dip handles then I would bump this rating up to a 4.5, and if they added some additional length to the safety arms and a light knurl onto the pullup then I would give it a perfect 5 out of 5!
So if you're in the market for a new and high quality power rack or Smith machine, or you're just looking for an all-in-one piece of multi-functional equipment that reduces your overall home gym footprint then be sure to check out RitFit Sports! Discount code RFENKIRI will get you 12% off all RitFit Sports products.
I hope you found this review helpful. If you did and you want to support the production of more content like this please consider purchasing one of my training programs! Super code HYBRIDATHLETE will get you 30% off of my Conjugate Manual! As always keep training hard, and I will catch you guys next time.
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