Wall Mounted Pulley Systems

In the next month we are going to be talking about all of the different kinds of cable machines. We will focus on a different style each week, and then at the end we will do a post comparing all of them and providing guidance on which one to choose. This week we will only talk about the wall mounted pulleys systems (not if you should choose this over a lat pulldown machine, for example)

What is a wall mounted pulley system? This unit is a single pulley system that mounts to your wall to enable its stability. It generally has two handles which are on one post. These handles can go up and down the full height of the post.

Before getting into which one to get, let’s talk about which one to NOT get. The third picture shows one that does not have a base and only uses the wall for stability. I see very few, if any reasons to get one of these

There are four main considerations (in my opinion) for which one of the others on the market you should go with. They are:

1) How do you want to change the resistance? These machines can be either plate loaded or selectorized (meaning there is a weight stack with a pin that you can use to select the amount of resistance). Simply put, selectorized is much more efficient and easier to work with, however, it is MUCH more expensive. My opinion: if this is a machine you plan to use a lot and you have a high budget, there is no reason to buy a plate loaded one. That being said, for ~90% of home gyms, the plate loaded is generally a good option as you can use your barbell plates for it, and you can go up in as small of increments as you’d like.

2) The weight ratio. Depending on the way the pulleys are configured, there is a different ratio. E.g., if it has a 2:1 ratio, that means that for each pound you load on the machine you will only feel 0.5 pounds of resistance. There is not really one better than the other, just something to keep in mind

3) How much resistance do you want to be able to have? To point #2 above, weight and resistance are not always the same on these. So, see what the max resistance of the machine is. Will that be enough for you and your strength goals? Something to keep in mind

4) “upgrade ability”. Not quite a word, but in this case I mean the ability to upgrade the system later on. For example, the titan version of these can actually be bolted right to a T-3 squat rack, whereas some of the others may not be able to do that. Most likely, you’re getting this system and sticking with it, but if you want to ensure you have options as you upgrade your gym, this is something to keep in mind

All that being said, what would JEV do? If this is going the be the only pulley system you get, I would strongly consider going for a plate loaded one that has a high weight capacity. That way you never have to upgrade due to lack of resistance. If you might also get a lat pulldown, functional trainer, etc. I’d definitely lean towards a selectorized (plate stack) one.