( 
)FB Fitness Gym available on eBay for $397 plus shipping ($85). This is a guide to buying and assembly of the FB Gym. The Figures mentioned in the article are Figures from the instructions supplied with the purchase.
COMMENTS
I have had a couple of gyms before in this price range. One used weights that you had to select and had cables and pulleys to all of the exercise specific equipment. The other one had a big adjustable spring (in fact it had a motorized adjuster with electronic read-out) and lots of cables and pulleys. Both of these were home version imitations of equipment you see in the fitness clubs. This unit is a bit different. There are no pulleys and no weights and no cables. This means that you are not constantly clipping cables onto various exercise equipment. Everything here is ready to use instantly. And the work out is very good. There is a little drawback to the cylinders though. If you are fanatic about the weight and your progress, this might put you off. How many pounds you just pushed depends on how fast you did it. The cylinders are marked 1-12 for adjustment, which has no meaning in terms of pounds. Therefore, you have to track your progress by reps per minute and the arbitrary 1 to 12 scales on the cylinders. Also, if you stop moving, there is no resistance. At first this feels a little strange, but after getting used to it, eventually it makes more sense. If you are OK with these differences, then this gym will give you a great work out for a very good price. I have another gripe: they should have included some lubricant and instructions of where to apply it. Without this lubricant, the bench press squeaks like the bejeezus and you'll want to take it back apart and put in the lubricant. I have modified the instructions below to account for this.
It’s built of construction steel that has been heavily painted with gray metallic paint and then over coated with a few layers of clear coat. The pads are standard imitation black leather wrapped over some press-board with some foam padding in between. Grips are black molded synthetic rubber and the foot pads are generous black hard foam rubber. The cylinders are remarkably similar to automotive shock absorbers. There is hydraulic fluid inside that you will be squeezing through a small hole every time you work the cylinder. Sometimes you can hear the fluid rushing through the hole as you exercise. Overall the appearance is not too cheap-looking, but don't expect the quality and feel of a Bowflex machine for this price either. It is not designed to impress your friends and be a status symbol. It just gives you a good workout for a great price.
The way it folds up and unfolds is pretty neat. A couple of seconds in one movement and that all it takes. The previous units I had required several steps and were a lot like putting away all those vacuum cleaner attachments on the shop vac. This is much easier and was a pleasant surprise. You can move from one exercise to the next without adjusting anything, unless you are sharing this with your significant other and you both use different settings. But to change a setting only takes a second, so you’ll find this to be faster than any weight machine or bowflex.
I really like the fact that this gym goes together with nuts and bolts. Some gyms, such as a more expensive model from Sears, use hammer-on clips over straight rods which are very difficult to remove and re-use if you ever have to disassemble and move the gym. This one is 100% free of any single use fasteners.
This is an average skill assembly. If you have put something like this together before, you’ll find no problem with these directions and this assembly. This means that you are in the habit of counting parts, trying to fit things together, and you are prepared to back up when you realize you guessed wrong. It’s a little like working a puzzle: you look at the picture on the cover frequently to guide you through.
If you don’t own a set of socket wrenches, this is going to be a slight challenge. Not because of the socket wrenches, but because you probably have not done enough work with bolts and nuts. I put mine together without anything but the supplied tools and a pocket knife, just to convince myself that it can be done. If you have done enough mechanical work to own your own metric socket wrench set, you’ll find that there is nothing tricky or difficult about this assembly project. Again, if you are the type to grab a kitchen knife to use as a screwdriver, you might consider getting some help with this one. You can probably do it yourself, but you will need a lot of patience and you will need to count parts to figure out which are which. I’d recommend that you label the parts as soon as you figure out what they are. The packaging does not do that for you unfortunately. This is a real shame, because the manufacturer could have made this assembly much easier for everyone simply by printing the part identifiers on the packaging, but they did not bother.
I can tell you though, if you have a set of metric 6 point socket wrenches, go get the 21mm, 19mm, 15mm, 14mm, 13mm and 12mm sockets and a ratchet handle before you start. It’ll make the job a bit easier. The supplied tools tend to slip over the bolt heads and fall off the other side. While you are bringing your tools in, grab a rubber mallet. You will need it for the tricky bench-press assembly.
Next, very important. Get just a bit of silicone grease, the kind plumbers use. A gram is plenty. If you don’t have any, some lithium grease will do. If you don’t have either of these, you might use a little axle grease or even petroleum jelly.
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS - CLOSELY FOLLOWS THE INSTRUCTIONS THAT COME IN THE BOX
You may want to read this as you try to asssemble the gym. It has a few comments that are not in the supplied instructions, that I hope are helpful.
1. MAIN FRAME ASSEMBLY
COMMENTS
I have had a couple of gyms before in this price range. One used weights that you had to select and had cables and pulleys to all of the exercise specific equipment. The other one had a big adjustable spring (in fact it had a motorized adjuster with electronic read-out) and lots of cables and pulleys. Both of these were home version imitations of equipment you see in the fitness clubs. This unit is a bit different. There are no pulleys and no weights and no cables. This means that you are not constantly clipping cables onto various exercise equipment. Everything here is ready to use instantly. And the work out is very good. There is a little drawback to the cylinders though. If you are fanatic about the weight and your progress, this might put you off. How many pounds you just pushed depends on how fast you did it. The cylinders are marked 1-12 for adjustment, which has no meaning in terms of pounds. Therefore, you have to track your progress by reps per minute and the arbitrary 1 to 12 scales on the cylinders. Also, if you stop moving, there is no resistance. At first this feels a little strange, but after getting used to it, eventually it makes more sense. If you are OK with these differences, then this gym will give you a great work out for a very good price. I have another gripe: they should have included some lubricant and instructions of where to apply it. Without this lubricant, the bench press squeaks like the bejeezus and you'll want to take it back apart and put in the lubricant. I have modified the instructions below to account for this.
It’s built of construction steel that has been heavily painted with gray metallic paint and then over coated with a few layers of clear coat. The pads are standard imitation black leather wrapped over some press-board with some foam padding in between. Grips are black molded synthetic rubber and the foot pads are generous black hard foam rubber. The cylinders are remarkably similar to automotive shock absorbers. There is hydraulic fluid inside that you will be squeezing through a small hole every time you work the cylinder. Sometimes you can hear the fluid rushing through the hole as you exercise. Overall the appearance is not too cheap-looking, but don't expect the quality and feel of a Bowflex machine for this price either. It is not designed to impress your friends and be a status symbol. It just gives you a good workout for a great price.
The way it folds up and unfolds is pretty neat. A couple of seconds in one movement and that all it takes. The previous units I had required several steps and were a lot like putting away all those vacuum cleaner attachments on the shop vac. This is much easier and was a pleasant surprise. You can move from one exercise to the next without adjusting anything, unless you are sharing this with your significant other and you both use different settings. But to change a setting only takes a second, so you’ll find this to be faster than any weight machine or bowflex.
I really like the fact that this gym goes together with nuts and bolts. Some gyms, such as a more expensive model from Sears, use hammer-on clips over straight rods which are very difficult to remove and re-use if you ever have to disassemble and move the gym. This one is 100% free of any single use fasteners.
This is an average skill assembly. If you have put something like this together before, you’ll find no problem with these directions and this assembly. This means that you are in the habit of counting parts, trying to fit things together, and you are prepared to back up when you realize you guessed wrong. It’s a little like working a puzzle: you look at the picture on the cover frequently to guide you through.
If you don’t own a set of socket wrenches, this is going to be a slight challenge. Not because of the socket wrenches, but because you probably have not done enough work with bolts and nuts. I put mine together without anything but the supplied tools and a pocket knife, just to convince myself that it can be done. If you have done enough mechanical work to own your own metric socket wrench set, you’ll find that there is nothing tricky or difficult about this assembly project. Again, if you are the type to grab a kitchen knife to use as a screwdriver, you might consider getting some help with this one. You can probably do it yourself, but you will need a lot of patience and you will need to count parts to figure out which are which. I’d recommend that you label the parts as soon as you figure out what they are. The packaging does not do that for you unfortunately. This is a real shame, because the manufacturer could have made this assembly much easier for everyone simply by printing the part identifiers on the packaging, but they did not bother.
I can tell you though, if you have a set of metric 6 point socket wrenches, go get the 21mm, 19mm, 15mm, 14mm, 13mm and 12mm sockets and a ratchet handle before you start. It’ll make the job a bit easier. The supplied tools tend to slip over the bolt heads and fall off the other side. While you are bringing your tools in, grab a rubber mallet. You will need it for the tricky bench-press assembly.
Next, very important. Get just a bit of silicone grease, the kind plumbers use. A gram is plenty. If you don’t have any, some lithium grease will do. If you don’t have either of these, you might use a little axle grease or even petroleum jelly.
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS - CLOSELY FOLLOWS THE INSTRUCTIONS THAT COME IN THE BOX
You may want to read this as you try to asssemble the gym. It has a few comments that are not in the supplied instructions, that I hope are helpful.
1. MAIN FRAME ASSEMBLY
Place the main vertical column (A) in the upright position as shown in Figure 1. This piece is not well illustrated so, it’s not a great start. What you are looking for is a “J” shaped piece. If you grab it upside down, it might remind you of a gallows. The bottom of the “J” goes on the floor and you are going to attach the feet on both end that touch the floor. The bottom of the J that touches the floor is only a few inches long, while the vertical piece will go up more than four feet in the air. The bolts you are going to use need a 13 mm socket, and the washers are from that stack of 28 identical metal washers. You want to start out with bolts loose until all of the bolts on the same piece are in place. Once the parts are constrained, you can then tighten the bolts. The nuts are the nylon insert type. This means that they don’t spin freely. This is to keep them from working loose as you do the exercises.
Attach the main column to the front floor bar assembly (B) – this is the rear foot – using four hex head bolts (C) with four small washers (V). The tools included are in the small parts cardboard box. Repeat with the other foor assembly (G). Now you can tighten the bolts.
There is a spring loaded pin knob for quickly adjusting the height of the bench. This is part (MM) and it should be in the small parts box. This should be screwed into the place shown in the diagram on the main vertical column piece, but on the short vertical part of the J. This is sown in Figure 1.
2. INSTALL THE BENCH AND BACK REST.Attach the main column to the front floor bar assembly (B) – this is the rear foot – using four hex head bolts (C) with four small washers (V). The tools included are in the small parts cardboard box. Repeat with the other foor assembly (G). Now you can tighten the bolts.
There is a spring loaded pin knob for quickly adjusting the height of the bench. This is part (MM) and it should be in the small parts box. This should be screwed into the place shown in the diagram on the main vertical column piece, but on the short vertical part of the J. This is sown in Figure 1.
Insert the bench pipe piece (JA) --which is a few inches long and has two lugs welded to it for a bolt to go through – into the short vertical piece of the J shaped piece (JD). You’ll need to pull out on the spring loaded (MM) knob to adjust the height. When you tighten the knob, the bench will be more stable. Once you select a height, you should tighten this knob so that the bench does not twist when exercising. At this point, unfold the rear legs and let them drop to the floor at angle toward the rear of the bench (away from the J shaped piece.) You are now going to run a longer, heavier bolt (ZZ) through those two lugs to secure the bench to the JA piece. Be sure to use two metal washers (E) and a hex nut (F). You are not going to tighten this to make it completely snug, because that would bend the lugs.
Now is a good time to attach the back pad (BP) to the vertical column. You are going to use two of the narrowest bolts and washers. You can also put the locking pin (H) into the front bench bracket to park it. You won’t need it until you fold the unit for storage.
3. INSTALL THE BUTTERFLY BARNow is a good time to attach the back pad (BP) to the vertical column. You are going to use two of the narrowest bolts and washers. You can also put the locking pin (H) into the front bench bracket to park it. You won’t need it until you fold the unit for storage.
Place the butterfly bar (M) on the main vertical column as shown in Figure 3 Insert two of the hex bolts (C) that you used before along with the washers (V) that go with them. Once all four bolts have been inserted, you may tighten them securely.
4. INSTALL THE BUTTERFLY ARMS.Select a black nylon bushing. This is thin, and almost like a washer. It is not the quarter-inch thick spacer that you will use later. Using Figure 4 as a guide, slide this bushing OO over post S. Slide the butterfly arm onto post S from underneath. Attach with a non-slip nut (F) and washer (E), but only tighten until snug. The arm needs to pivot, so space is needed to allow this motion. Repeat for the other butterfly arm. Select two black plastic nut covers (OF) and place them on the bottoms of the two nuts that you just placed on the (S) posts.
Install the resistance cylinder (packed in its own cardboard box and marked “Butterfly Cylinder.” Place the piston rod on the post NA and the cylinder portion over post Q, while keeping the arrow on the cylinder facing the bench portion of the gym. When sitting on the bench you should be able to see the arrow on the resistance cylinder. Repeat for the other cylinder. Now place one of those black spacers (P) on each post NA and post Q. You will push each one of these firmly into place to hold the cylinders.
5. ATTACH THE BENCH PRESS CYLINDER BRACKETS AND ARMS.Install the resistance cylinder (packed in its own cardboard box and marked “Butterfly Cylinder.” Place the piston rod on the post NA and the cylinder portion over post Q, while keeping the arrow on the cylinder facing the bench portion of the gym. When sitting on the bench you should be able to see the arrow on the resistance cylinder. Repeat for the other cylinder. Now place one of those black spacers (P) on each post NA and post Q. You will push each one of these firmly into place to hold the cylinders.
You will note on each arm (X) shown in Figure 5, that there are gray two plastic inserts. Carefully place a small amount of silicone grease as described earlier on the flat portion of these inserts, but enough to cover the flat portion with a very thin layer.
This next part of the assembly is a little tricky and may require someone to help hold the weight of the arms (X) during the assembly so that you can straighten them and insert the required bolts.
Start by inserting a threaded axle (U) through the lugs on the main column (AA) and through the cylinder bracket assembly (AD) as shown in Figure 5. We will tighten this later. Now, insert the other threaded axle through the other end of the cylinder bracket (AD). These will give you a place to mount both arms (X) using (C) bolts and (V) washers. Due to the length and weight of these arms, it may be a little difficult to line up the axles and bolts. You will need to shift the position of the arms, perhaps with help from a friend, to get them lined up to insert the bolts. When all bolts are in place, tighten them, but do not over tighten, because bracket AA has to pivot. This is aided by the silicone grease.
The chrome handles (HR) are designed to be installed either facing in or out according to your preference. They are held in place with the rubber grip (HG). This has to be pushed and worked until it goes all the way up the handle and the handle is no longer loose. Install four of these as shown in Figure 5.
Note in Figure 6 the configuration of the bench press hydraulic cylinders Install these as shown using the large bolts, washers, and nuts as shown. You will need a 19mm wrench for the nuts and a 21mm wrench for the bolt heads. Tighten only enough to be slightly snug. Further tightening will only bend the mounting lugs and cause binding of the cylinder mounts. Note that the piston rod goes down and in this case the arrows face away from the bench.
6. ATTACH THE LEG EXTENSION UNITThis next part of the assembly is a little tricky and may require someone to help hold the weight of the arms (X) during the assembly so that you can straighten them and insert the required bolts.
Start by inserting a threaded axle (U) through the lugs on the main column (AA) and through the cylinder bracket assembly (AD) as shown in Figure 5. We will tighten this later. Now, insert the other threaded axle through the other end of the cylinder bracket (AD). These will give you a place to mount both arms (X) using (C) bolts and (V) washers. Due to the length and weight of these arms, it may be a little difficult to line up the axles and bolts. You will need to shift the position of the arms, perhaps with help from a friend, to get them lined up to insert the bolts. When all bolts are in place, tighten them, but do not over tighten, because bracket AA has to pivot. This is aided by the silicone grease.
The chrome handles (HR) are designed to be installed either facing in or out according to your preference. They are held in place with the rubber grip (HG). This has to be pushed and worked until it goes all the way up the handle and the handle is no longer loose. Install four of these as shown in Figure 5.
Note in Figure 6 the configuration of the bench press hydraulic cylinders Install these as shown using the large bolts, washers, and nuts as shown. You will need a 19mm wrench for the nuts and a 21mm wrench for the bolt heads. Tighten only enough to be slightly snug. Further tightening will only bend the mounting lugs and cause binding of the cylinder mounts. Note that the piston rod goes down and in this case the arrows face away from the bench.
We getting close to the end now, and things will be easier because there are fewer parts left and because you should have a good idea how this unit goes together by now. You are going to use the pivot bolt BB, two washers (E) and a nut (F) to attach the leg extension unit (FF) as in Figure 7 to the lugs on the end of the bench. This is another one of those cases where if you try to tighten too much you will bend the lugs. Place a nut cover over the nut and bolt head that you used for this attachment.
Guide created: 05/10/07 (updated 05/26/08)
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