What’s going on guys? It’s Hai.
Today we’re in my home gym because I’m excited to show you the newest addition to my setup, the Mikolo M4 Smith Machine.
Now, when I was younger and much more of a gym bro, I wholeheartedly believed that you can get everything you needed to be done, in terms of fitness, in a power rack. Squat, bench, and deadlift. That’s all that I needed and even though that got me some major gains, now that I’m older, that approach just isn’t doing it for me anymore. I get bored.
So, I’ve been in the market for some sort of cable machine so that I can keep myself more stimulated with accessory lifts, to go along with the big 3 lifts that I still do. In comes the Mikolo M4 plated loaded Smith Machine with cable attachments.
Full disclosure, Mikolo Fitness contacted me and offered to send this unit out for review. I accepted and got this machine for free but that does not affect my opinions or the review of this product. Mikolo does not get to see this review prior to release and all thoughts are my own.
This entire machine came to me in 4 large boxes at about 100 lbs each. Shipping took about four days which is not too bad considering how much material had to be moved around. However, I do think that shipping can be improved because essentially every part that arrived had some sort of scratch or cosmetic damage. I personally feel that because this is gym equipment, it’s going to get damaged through use pretty quickly so I don’t really care about the scratches, but something that I do want to note is that pretty much every part that arrived has some form of rust on it. Everything that’s not power coated is rusting from the inside out and I’m assuming that this is because of the storage location where these machines are kept prior to shipment. Maybe it’s too humid. Who knows but that’s not a good look. Rust is not something I do not want to see on a high-dollar purchase and definitely not something possibly holding hundreds of pounds.
Upon first unboxing, the task of assembly is going to look pretty daunting but hey, if I can put this thing together, I’m sure you can too. The instruction manual is pretty straightforward and I would say largely easy to follow. I say largely because some of the images can get pretty busy with all the parts and it can take some time to decipher exactly which part is needed. It also doesn’t help that I had some minor hardware was missing from where they’re supposed to be but luckily there was a bag of loose spare parts that had what I needed.
With something like this, the more hands you got helping, the faster and easier it’s going to be. I feel that I could’ve gotten this entire machine assembled by myself but it definitely would’ve taken a lot more time. For reference, my brother stopped by to help and he was with me for only about an hour and a half and we got essentially 90% of the job done. When he left I was on the last two pages of the instructions and it was really just minor, simple things. I think the most time-consuming part of all of this was just looking for the part that was needed because they were just scattered throughout the boxes. The parts that needed to be assembled together were often in different boxes and often hidden under other parts. Some parts were also mislabeled. So again, looking for everything just wasted a lot of time. Something else that was a bit weird was the order of assembly. There were a few moments where we would assemble something, move forward a few steps, then all of a sudden go back to continue something we already left. All of these things made the entire assembly process a bit annoying but still very manageable.
Now, if you’re getting this machine around the same time as I do, you may notice the item title mentioning that this is the 2023 version. Again, I have the Mikolo M4. M4 stands for multi-function Smith Machine, 4th generation and I think that name is pretty fitting because this machine is absolutely multi-function. First and foremost, this is a Smith Machine. It has an Olympic-sized bar that rides on two rails. Now, I’m going to straight up say that I personally, don’t use a Smith Machine. I don’t think I’ve used one since middle school and that’s because it just didn’t fit into my free weight style of working out. Of course, you can essentially do any free-weight style barbell exercises with a Smith Machine but the two are not the same. With a Smith Machine, it’s like you’re lifting on the moon because the bar’s weight and its speed of movement are reduced quite a bit depending on the machine. The bar also always travels in a perfectly straight up-and-down direction because again, it’s guided along on both sides by the rails. This is unnatural because your body doesn’t travel perfectly up and down. Whether it’s a squat, bench, overhead press, or whatever, when you’re using free weights, you’re going to be moving slightly in all directions as your body works to balance the weight. This, in general, is better at building strength, and it promotes balance and more practical control of your body. The Smith Machine really reduces your ability to make these gains. All that being said, there is a time and place for the Smith Machine. To me, it’s much more user-friendly. People who aren’t as dedicated to lifting or maybe those who are intimidated by free weights have this option because again, it’s easier. You even have a built-in spotter so it’s much harder to hurt yourself. If you’re lifting too heavy and feel like the weight’s going to come down on you, all you have to do is flick your wrist, and the bar hooks onto one of the many safeties. As of right now, I can only think of using the Smith function as a modified leg press but I think that this is something that my wife and her sisters are really going to love.
What makes me really excited about this Mikolo Smith Machine is actually everything else. All of its other functions. With the Mikolo Smith Machine, you’ll get a multi-grip position pull-up bar, a landmine attachment, dip attachments, and even J-hooks and safeties for the outer uprights which will allow you to use this rack as a standard barbell rack if you want to use free weights. So you can get the best of both words.
But on top of all this and what really gets me going is the cable attachments. On this M4 Smith Machine, you’ll get a pulley system on both the left and right sides of the rack. My Smith Machine came packaged with various bars and attachments and this is opens me up to so many possibilities in terms of accessory lifts. I can attach this longer bar and do lat pulldowns. Which is made even easier with the included leg hold-down attachment. This is something that I don’t often see with functional trainers or rack cable systems so this inclusion is nice. With this shorter straight bar, I can sit on the floor with my feet against the footboard pads and do rows. With these grips, I can do flys. Then, of course, you are not limited to just the accessories that come with the M4, you can buy your own attachments and get even more out of this machine. I cannot tell you how many exercises that can be done with just this pully system alone. Not to mention that the pulleys are adjustable in height so you can change up positions and get even more variations in exercises.
Then just when you think that this rack already has so much, there’s more. There are little additions that help to elevate this machine even higher. Things like the band peg, so you can change the resistance in some lifts. Or the battle rope attachment to add a form of cardio. Or the plate storage pins and barbell holder. This is something that I really appreciate as someone who’s had to buy a weight tree as an add-on for my other power rack.
Overall, the setup is great, but there are a few things that I think could be better. First, from the product page, something that Mikolo seems to like to highlight is the addition of the storage hooks that are meant to be used as a way to organize and store attachments and anything else that fits. However, I think that this is a pretty lazy addition and kind of a waste of space. You have this entire back section of the rack that’s empty and all you can think of in terms of storage is four hooks. Granted this is an area where many manufacturers fall short on. They often forget this back section and leave it blank and that’s understandable in terms of cost savings but it is something that can be improved upon. I mean, if this is the route that you want to go with, can you give at least one of two more rows of hooks? This will allow users to store more accessories while adding cross-members which will make this whole thing even sturdier.
Speaking of sturdiness, the maximum capacity of the whole machine is supposedly up to 2200 lbs, and it’s constructed from 80mm x 40mm “commercial thickness steel tube”. Take that as you will. I personally don’t even have 2200lbs of weight plates so can’t test that out but I will say that I think this machine can take as much weight as a logical person would consider using with it. With the Smith function, I wouldn’t doubt being able to throw like 400 hundred pounds on there. With the cable system, most people won’t logically load more than one or two hundred pounds because that’s really heavy for most cable exercises. The biggest lifts done with a cable system are likely lat pulldowns or rows and I think this machine can handle what most people will be able to pull. The only function that is somewhat questionable for heavy weights is if you want to use this rack for free weights with a barbell. Again, the uprights are 80mm x 40mm which equates to about 3”x1.5”. This is noticeably smaller than the more standard 3”x3” steel tubing of a decent power rack. So, I don’t know if I would want to squat four, let alone five hundred pounds in this thing. I’m not going to test the limits because I have a dedicated power rack that I lift heavier in and I don’t want to possibly die doing something stupid.
Overall, this Mikolo M4 Smith Machine offers so much that, to be honest, I wish that I didn’t buy my standard cage and had just gone with a multi-function trainer like this in the first place because this machine offers unbelievable value for the money. It is one machine that fulfills so many needs and wants, all while taking up about the same amount of space as just my power rack. Again, there are a few changes that I would like to see but for the $1200-$1500 price depending on the package that you go with, I think this thing is hard to beat. For someone looking for an all-in-one weightlifting station, someone looking for a Smith Machine, a cable machine, and a barbell rack, the Mikolo M4 is something to strongly consider.
