Strongway 100kg Multi Gym Review: A Stack Machine Without the Smith Bar

Strongway's 100kg multigym is a selectorised home station: a 100kg weight stack, a high and low pulley, a chest press that converts to a pec deck, a preacher pad and an adjustable padded seat, on a 158kg steel frame. At £999 on Amazon UK (4 October 2026), it's aimed at someone who wants gym-style machines at home without loading plates or learning barbell technique.

We give it 3.9 out of 5. The station list is sensible and 100kg is a genuinely usable stack, but there's no leg station worth the name, no published pulley ratio or warranty term on the listing, and the cheaper 72kg version shares the same frame.

Who it suits

Beginners and returners will get the most from it. A pin-select stack takes the guesswork out of loading, the movement paths are fixed, and nobody needs a spotter for a chest press. If you've been put off free weights by the setup and the technique learning, this is a reasonable way to train every upper body muscle at home.

It's a weaker choice for anyone serious about legs. The listing doesn't mention a leg developer, so quads and hamstrings will need dumbbells, a goblet squat or a separate machine. And if you want to squat or deadlift heavy, a rack and barbell does more for less.

Check the Strongway 100kg multi gym price on Amazon£999.00

Weight stack and pulleys

A 100kg stack sounds like plenty, and for chest press, pec deck and curls it is. The lat pulldown and the seated row are where a stack runs out first, because the back is strong and both movements tend to run heavy. Trained men often pull well over their bodyweight on a commercial pulldown, though a home machine's pulley ratio changes what the number on the pin means, and Strongway doesn't state the ratio. You'll know within a fortnight whether the top of the stack feels heavy enough.

Strongway mentions micro cable adjustment and a double pulley system. In practice that means you can tune cable length so each station starts at the right point, which matters more than it sounds on a lat pulldown, where a cable that's too long cuts off the top of the range.

Chest station and preacher pad

The dual-action chest station is the most useful part of the machine for most buyers. Press arms give you a machine chest press, and the same station flips to a pec deck fly, so you get a compound and an isolation movement for the chest without changing equipment. The butterfly press listed separately looks to be the same mechanism used for fly-style work.

The preacher pad is a small but welcome touch. Preacher curls on the low pulley keep tension on the biceps at the bottom, where a dumbbell curl goes slack. Add triceps pushdowns on the high pulley and face pulls with a rope (bought separately if it isn't in the box) and you've covered arms and rear delts properly.

Machines vs free weights

Is a stack machine a compromise? Less than people assume. A 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis found no meaningful difference in hypertrophy between free weight and machine-based training, with strength gains tending to follow whichever mode people trained and tested in. A direct 8-week comparison of Smith machine and free weight squats and bench press found much the same thing. What you lose is the balance and stabiliser work a barbell demands, plus any heavy lower body loading, since this machine doesn't offer it.

How it compares

Strongway's own 177kg multi gym costs about the same and adds a leg developer, pull-up bar and dip handles, so if you have the room it's the more complete machine. Marcy's MWM-990 is cheaper and smaller but has a lighter stack. If you'd rather load plates, a Smith cage such as the Marcy MD9010 gives you squats and presses the Strongway can't. Our best multi gym UK guide covers the wider field.

See today's Strongway 100kg multi gym price

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