To estimate how Marcy Home Gym was likely to hold up over the years, I made a point to be not-gentle with it one day. Not really abusive, I wasn’t looking to actually damage it, I just wanted to see how it would hold up to the sorts of people that are “hard on things”. I dropped dumbbells (up to a pair of 45s) on it from an inch or so away, I slid them around instead of picking them straight up, etc. It stayed solid throughout, and I couldn’t spot any damage to the finish. Since I’m normally pretty careful with things I own, I expect this will still be in great shape when people are passing it around on at garage sales after I’m dead.
Do the assembly on a flat, level surface and start all of the bolts before tightening any of them. Square it up before tightening. Other comments talk about putting the bolts in upside down to make assembly easier. I don’t recommend that – if you put the carriage head at the top, you can drop them in to the holes to act as pins to hold everything in place while you set up the other joints. Reaching under with the wrench is not hard. If you want to do it upside down, the good news is that the included nuts are not shiny chromed hardware store nuts, so it will look fine either way you do it.
I used the alternative bar placement, with the front bars all facing down. Mine would not go together like this until after I pried the plastic caps out (front only). I have a set of olympic dumbbell handles (they are like a mini barbell) and they fit easily onto the bottom and middle shelves without hitting the wall behind the shelf (assuming you put it against a wall).
