By Jack Atkins, Home Gym Equipment Specialist · Updated 23 August 2026
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Buying a power rack and a cable machine separately means finding floor space for both and spending well past £800. This Modern Fitness cage puts them in one frame for £499.99, which is the sort of price that makes you check the spec sheet twice. The frame is rated to 1000kg, the pulleys to 250kg, and it arrives as 103kg of steel with a lat pulldown bar, a tricep bar, a row footplate and a landmine holder included.
What follows is what that money actually gets you, and the two things that catch people out.
How we review
This review draws on the manufacturer's published specifications, the Amazon UK listing and patterns in owner feedback for this cage and closely comparable all-in-one racks. We have not assembled and trained on this exact unit, so measurements and load ratings are reported as claimed rather than tested, and we flag where independent evidence is thin.
The garage lifter who wants one machine to cover everything. If your training is squats, presses, rows and pulldowns rather than specialist strongman work, this replaces a rack, a cable stack and a pulldown machine in a footprint of roughly 1.46m by 1.63m. It also suits anyone training alone, because a cage with proper uprights lets you fail a squat safely in a way that a half rack or a pair of stands does not.
It's the wrong buy if your ceiling is under 2.2m, if you already own a cable crossover machine, or if you want commercial-gym cable smoothness. At this price the pulleys are good, not silky.
Check the Modern Fitness rack price on Amazon103kg spread across a 1.46m by 1.63m base is the number that tells you most about this rack. Cheap cages weigh 60kg or so and shift when you rack a heavy bar; this one has enough steel in it to behave, especially once you hang plates on the storage pegs. The powder-coated finish looks tidier than the usual matte black, though colour is the least important thing about a rack you will scuff within a month.
Height is where you need a tape measure before you need a credit card. At 2170mm, the frame clears a standard 2.4m UK ceiling with about 230mm to spare, which is enough for pull-ups if you are not tall and not enough if you are. Garages with exposed joists usually work. Anything under 2.2m does not.
| Frame dimensions | 1460mm W x 1630mm D x 2170mm H |
|---|---|
| Unit weight | 103 kg |
| Max frame capacity | 1000 kg (claimed) |
| Max pulley capacity | 250 kg (claimed) |
| Cable system | Dual pulley crossover, nylon-coated cables |
| Plate compatibility | 2 inch Olympic and 1 inch standard on the loading pins |
| Included attachments | J-hooks, lat pulldown bar, tricep bar, row footplate, landmine holder |
| Pull-up bar | Integrated, multi-grip |
| Material | Alloy steel, powder coated |
| Warranty | 12 months |
This is the part that justifies the extra £250 over a plain cage. Two adjustable pulleys mean crossovers, face pulls, triceps pushdowns, cable curls, wood chops and pull-throughs all come off the same frame, and the dedicated footplate turns the lower pulley into a proper seated row rather than a compromise. Nylon-coated cable is the right choice at this money; it runs quieter than bare wire and it does not shred the pulley grooves.
The unknown is the ratio. Home cages usually run 2:1, so 100kg on the pin gives you 50kg at the handle, and Modern Fitness does not publish the figure. If you're moving from a commercial stack, expect to hang more plates than the number in your head. That's a labelling annoyance rather than a defect, but it explains most of the "the cables feel light" reviews you'll see on cages like this one.
Where the pulldown really earns its place is training frequency. The evidence on building muscle points at total weekly volume and spreading it across at least two sessions rather than any particular exercise or load: a 2023 British Journal of Sports Medicine network meta-analysis found higher-load, multi-set, twice-weekly training ranked best for hypertrophy, with volume the driver (BJSM systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis). A rack that lets you train pulls without a training partner or a spare bar makes hitting that volume much easier. The NHS asks for strengthening work covering all major muscle groups on at least two days a week (NHS physical activity guidelines for adults), which one cage in a garage covers comfortably.
See today's Modern Fitness rack priceThe Gym Master GM1 is the established budget cage with an optional pulley system, and the Strongway MultiGym power cage sits at a similar price with dual pulleys already fitted. Spend less and you are into rack-only territory, which our best power cage UK guide covers; spend more and a dedicated functional trainer gives you smoother cables but no squat safeties. Whatever you buy, the first movement to learn properly in it is the back squat, and the home gym section has the bench, bar and flooring decisions that come next.
The frame stands 2170mm tall, so 2.2m of clear height gets the rack in but leaves nothing above the pull-up bar. A standard UK ceiling is around 2.4m, which works for most people, and a garage with exposed joists usually gives you more. Measure before you order, because a rack you cannot stand a bar on is an expensive coat rail, and remember to allow for the height of your own head when hanging.
No. You get the cage, the dual pulley system, J-hooks, a lat pulldown bar, a tricep bar, the row footplate and the landmine holder. A barbell and plates are separate, and so is a bench. Budget roughly £150 to £400 more depending on how much weight you want and whether you buy Olympic or standard plates.
Modern Fitness rates the pulleys at 250kg and the frame itself at 1000kg. The pulley figure is the one that matters day to day, and 250kg is far more than any home lat pulldown or cable row will need. Note that most home cages use a 2:1 pulley ratio, meaning the weight you hang moves at half the load you feel, so check the ratio before comparing it with a commercial machine.
Expect a long afternoon. This is 103kg of steel in flat-pack form with a cable system to thread, and owners of similar cages consistently report four to six hours with two people. Cable routing is the fiddly part; the frame itself is bolt-together and straightforward. Do not build it alone if you can avoid it, and leave the bolts finger-tight until the whole frame is square.
At 103kg empty, plus whatever you store on the weight pegs, it stays put for normal lifting. Loading the plate storage horns is the single best thing you can do for stability. If you plan to do explosive work or dump a heavy bar on the safeties regularly, bolting the base to a wooden platform is the sensible upgrade.
Anyone who wants pressing, pulling and cable work in one footprint. A bare cage of similar quality costs about half as much, so the extra money buys the crossover, the pulldown and the row station. If you already own a functional trainer or you only ever squat, bench and deadlift, buy the plain rack and spend the difference on plates.
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