Crank up your workouts with the versatility of a cable crossover machine. Here are the best ones for every kind of home and garage gym.
Cable crossover machines are a powerful tool for your home gym.
You can target just about every body part imaginable, from your upper body (chest with flys, biceps with curls, for example) to your lower body (kickbacks with ankle straps, cable RDLs, and so on).
While some exercises on cable machines can be recreated with resistance bands or suspension trainers (aka TRX straps), the constant time under tension and versatility make cable crossover machines a killer add-on to your home gym.
While cable machines can be an expensive addition to your home workouts, they are remarkably durable and well-built.
Below are the best reviewed cable crossover machines for your home gym, including key features, price points, and more.
Let’s get into it.
XMark Functional Trainer Cable Machine XM-7626
XMark makes commercial-grade fitness equipment at prices that is in the neighborhood of home gym gear pricing. I’ve had a chance to review their decline sit-up bench and dip stations, and the XMark cable machine follows in the tradition of heavy-duty, quality stuff.
Definitely not made for the casual gymgoer, the XM-7626 features a ton of bells and whistles. The weight stacks are 200lbs each. The cable pulley bar has 19 different settings. And the pulley system rolls smoothly between settings with a 180-degree handle and swivel.
A sturdy 2” by 3” steel frame houses the weight stacks and the machine has storage pegs for all of your cable attachments (included with the machine are long strap handles, a tricep rope, short bar, leg extension strap and an ankle strap).
This thing is a beast and users consistently rave about it, with over 90% of people reviewing it on Amazon giving it five-stars. The heavy-duty construction and smoothness of the pulleys are a frequent theme with reviews. (Some reviewers did note, however, that the installation instructions for the cables themselves weren’t accurate in the set-up manual.)
The XMark cable machine is a commercial-grade set-up that is accessible in price and size for the home or garage gym enthusiast (check Amazon for current pricing and availability).
Valor Fitness BD-62 Wall Mount Cable Station
Working out at home presents a TON of pluses—short commute to the gym, 24/7 hours, and you can blast your tunes of choice while working out. One of the main drawbacks is that for many of us, we are working with small spaces.
The Valor Fitness Wall Mount Cable Station intelligently tackles this problem with a pulley and cable machine that can be attached to your wall. Total footprint? About two feet by two feet. Pretty awesome for a cable machine.
Instead of the traditional weight stacks, the 16-position pulley system attaches to two sturdy pegs with which you load weight plates onto. The drawback to this, obviously, is that weight plates need to be purchased separately.
Users rave about the small footprint, quality construction, and versatility of the machine. You can add a lat pulldown bar to the machine for building up those lats or hit your triceps with a rope (which Valor Fitness includes with the machine, as well as a V-shaped handle, and a chest pull attachment).
Working out at home means we are often prioritizing what types of equipment we can use and invest in. The Valor Fitness Wall Mount Cable Station is kickass machine that takes up almost no space, is built to last, and is extremely affordable (check Amazon for current pricing and availability).
Body-Solid Powerline PFT100 Functional Cable Machine
With 160lb stacks, handles that swivel to 180 degrees, and 20 different pulley positions, the PFT100 is an excellent starting point for your home gym.
Add some ab straps (that you can hang from the straight pull-up bar combining the two stacks) and an adjustable weight bench and you’ve got a ton of options for building muscle and getting stronger.
If 160lbs per stack isn’t enough, more experienced lifters can upgrade the PFT100 to dual 210lb stacks.
The footprint of the machine is ideal for smaller garage/home gyms, at just 42” by 63”. Assemble in a corner of your gym and you are in business.
The Body-Solid Cable Crossover Machine is extremely well-reviewed on Amazon. The only downside is that the machine is frequently sold-out (like a lot of fitness gear since Covid hit the world in 2020). Check here for current stock availability and pricing at Amazon.
Rogue CT-1 Cable Tower
I won’t make any qualms about it—I’m a Rogue fanboy. You don’t need to be a CrossFitt athlete to appreciate the durability and intelligent design of Rogue fitness gear, which is almost all made in the United States.
Whether it’s Olympic barbells, bumper plates, or flat weight benches, Rogue makes awesome stuff.
The Rogue CT-1 Cable Tower is an independent tower that measures nine feet in height and is made of basically bombproof 3” by 3” steel construction at Rogue’s factory in Ohio.
Although you won’t be able to do crossovers with this bad boy (unless you pick up two of them), the cable tower is a savage piece of machinery, with a 250-pound weight stack, diamond-treaded footplate (for doing rows), and a pulley with 180-degree swivel that slides easily and smoothly on a 2” by 2” rail with 16 different height settings.
Accessories that Rogue ships the CT-1 with include a leather tricep rope and plastic band attachment pegs.
Rogue’s stuff is typically not cheap, and the CT-1’s price reflects its heavy-duty design, costing around $2,400 (check Rogue’s website for current pricing and availability). Also, the machine will have to be bolted to the floor, which Rogue does not include the hardware to do.
But if you are looking for a heavy-duty cable machine that can take your toughest workouts, and you don’t mind an extra trip down to the hardware store, the Rogue CT-1 is a killer cable machine that will juice up your workouts.
HulkFit Cable Crossover Attachment
Over the past couple of years we have seen an incredible increase of competitively-priced squat racks. Where pre-pandemic squat racks were generally over-built and over-priced, you can now purchase quality, durable squat racks for well less than $1,000 that fit well into your home or garage gym.
HulkFit is one of the leading “cheap” squat rack builders, and they sell a variety of attachments and add-ons for their racks, including a robust cable crossover set-up that can handle up to 1000-lbs (!!!).
The pulleys slide easily up and down with steel handles and the weight pegs can handle all the Olympic weight plates you can handle. The attachment does end up taking up quite a bit of room, which is a necessity because you want to still be able to step out of the rack with a 7-foot barbell on not worry about boinking into the attachments.
Built to last, and built to go with your HulkFit squat rack, upgrade your rack with the versatility and durability of their crossover cable attachment. Pricing is around $600 for the unit (again, power rack sold separately), and you can check here for current availability and pricing at Amazon.
Pretty legit when you consider that you can get a power cage and a cable crossover machine for about half the price as some of the standalone units in this round-up.
