Bench height 18.5"
Seat width ~11"
Back width ~12"
Budget friendly workout bench
If I had seen the Roygym Adjustable Weight Bench in the sporting goods store, I would have bought it on a heartbeat. This is exactly what I need for rehab and to rebuild my body and lost muscle mass. The construction is solid with no defects. All the weld points look good. Cushion fabric and stitching look great. Paint finish flawless. The sides of the seat are straight whereas the back sides are slightly contoured. I really like the sturdiness of the bench in various incline positions. The benches with a ladder design that use a skinny support arm that slips into different slots don't look very secure. The Roygym uses a sliding metal cuff/sleeve secured into place with a threaded bolt push button release. The slider knob's twist and pull release makes it easy to slide the bench support arm to the desired angle and lock securely into place.
My home is small and I have limited floor space. The RobGym is perfect. When done with my workout, I just pull the locking pins and then twist and pull the adjustment knobs to release and slide the supporting arm flat. The workout bench weighs less than a bucket of kitty litter so no problems lifting and moving it around. I'm only 5'5" so I'm too short to lift it by the center strap. Instead, I place the folded workbench on its side and carry it like an ironing board.
The adjustable leg caps are hard plastic so best to protect your floor with something like a yoga mat. The bench cushioning is very firm but reasonably comfortable. The bench is just low enough to where I can sit on the bench with bare feet flat on the floor, sort of. Better to wear shoes which raises the height of my knees an inch which takes the pressure off my lower back. I did have a problem with the 3.5" gap between the seat and back board. My boney butt kept sinking into the gap onto the metal frame. Solution – a rolled up hand towel fills the gap perfectly so I can easily slide across the bench now. I tried to do hip thrusts like I've seen on YouTube but the bench is a couple of inches too high plus the back board cushion is curved where it hits my shoulders from a seated position. Lowering the back board cushion to the lowest incline position works great though. I can sit on the floor and lean back against the board and easily do hip thrusts.
I tried doing prone incline lateral raises like the guy in the video. Shouldn't have tried doing it while wearing socks. Every time I got into position, my feet would slide out from under me and I would do a face plant against the back board. Tried again wearing tennis shoes but try as I might, I was just not able to get into a comfortable position or high enough above the top of the back board. Straddling the seat also hurt my lower back. I'm just too short to get my head above the end of the back board. Solution – lower the seat so its in line with the back rest (45°), remove the cushion padding from the foot rest, plant my feet onto the foot bars, and dig my knees into the top of the seat and lean forward. Doing so allowed me to lie flat on the bench, taking the pressure off my lower back and have my neck and chin reach above the top end of the back board. I can get away with using the foot bars like this because I only weigh 110lbs. I have to be careful though because of the see saw wobble in the foot bar.
Included with the RobGym are 2 resistant bands. They are a bit long and too stretchy. Fortunately, they can be shortened to give the needed resistance.
Although the shipping box looked like it had a rough journey, the contents arrived in pristine condition thanks to the meticulous attention to detail by the manufacturer when packing. Strapping tapes were used inside and outside the box. Metal corners were capped in cardboard. Contents were individually wrapped in styrofoam sheets or bubble wrap. Everything was wrapped again in a sheet of styrofoam and secured with lots of tape.
I love my RobGym workout bench. I use it for my Physical Therapy rehab, chair yoga, and strength-building exercises.
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