Weight Stack Machine Workout (no matter the stack size!)

Last Updated on August 30, 2021 by MarcyPro

Congratulations on purchasing your Marcy 150lb Stack Home Gym! You have a solid piece of home gym equipment that brings the benefits of a gym membership to the comfort of your home gym! You can finally use your all-in-one home gym to get a full body workout! But, where do you start?

We can start off with some basic exercises that can be done on any of our 150 lbs stack home gyms. These 150lb stack home gyms include the following models:

• Marcy MWM-988
• Marcy MWM-990
• Marcy MWM-1005
• Marcy MWM-4965

The Marcy MWM-988, MWM-990, and MWM-1005 are essentially the same unit, but they look a bit different (color and style.) Rest assured, the weight stacks are the same size and they have the same functions / stations. The MWM-4965 has a center pulley and ab attachment for weighted seated crunches that the other models mentioned above do not have. The models above do not have the center pulley, but they have a preacher curl pad that the MWM-4965 does not include (and one cannot be added.)

Now that we have that out of the way, we can build out a full body workout for your week. If you would prefer, you can scroll down to the bottom of this blog to find the workout charts included with each model (that way, you can pick and choose which exercises you’d prefer to be in your daily exercises!)

Healthline suggests working out 4 – 5 days a week, based on their suggestion, we’ll build out a 4-day a week workout. We’ll also assume you only have a Marcy 150lb Stack gym listed above. Finally, we’ll first focus on a full body workout which would promote weight loss over building muscle.

Keep in mind, the reps / sets are just a recommendation! Build up to those reps or sets as necessary and, once these workouts feel a bit easy, amp up your workout with more reps or sets. You’ll notice we did not recommend a specific amount of weight, please choose the weight you start with based on your comfort level / ability and increase the weight when you’re ready!

• Day 1 / Day 3 (15 – 20 Reps – 3 Sets per exercise listed below)
  • Seated Bench Press / Chest Press – Pectoralis
  • Triceps Push-Down – Triceps
  • Standing Bicep Curl – Biceps
  • Wide Lat Pull-Down – Latissimus Dorsi (Back Muscles)
  • High Ab Pulley Crunch – Abs / Core
  • Leg Curl – Hamstrings
  • Leg Extension – Quads
    
• Day 2 / Day 4 (15 – 20 Reps – 3 Sets per exercise listed below)
  • Pectoral Fly – Pectoralis
  • Seated Cable Row – Back Muscles and Arm Muscles
  • High Ab Pulley Crunch – Abs / Core
  • Outer Leg Kick – Outer Thigh
  • Leg Kick Back – Glutes / Legs
  • Inner Thigh Leg Cross – Inner Thigh

The workout above aims to target weight loss and general fitness as opposed to building up muscle mass (a bit on muscle mass below.) Given the exercises included, you’ll get a full body workout. And, if you intend not to get bulkier, you’ll want to increase your reps / sets steadily, but not increase the weight.

More exercises can be done on your Marcy Stack Home Gym than those listed in this blog. This blog is intended to help you get started on your fitness journey!

On that note, keep in mind there are a couple different exercises that are unique to specific Marcy 150lb weight stack gyms. The MWM-988, MWM-990, and MWM-1005, for example, have a preacher curl pad. Though you can do curls on any Marcy 150lb machine, the preacher curl helps isolate your biceps during biceps curls.

The MWM-4965 Stack Weight Gym includes a center pulley that allows you to put a twist on some of your exercises. For example, instead of using the higher pulley and lat bar for weighted crunches, the center pulley MWM-4965 along with the ab attachment make for a more comfortable weighted crunch. In addition, the center pulley can be used for back workouts such as a standing single arm cable row.

Are you wondering how to bulk up using a Marcy Stack Home Gym? Or, is it possible to build muscle using a Marcy Stack Home Gym? It is definitely possible to bulk up!

When using a Marcy Stack Home Gym to bulk up, You would essentially use the same exercises as noted above. However, you would need to change the layout of your workout. Specifically, you’ll want to change your number of reps, sets, the amount of weight lifted during each set, and which exercises are done on each day.

In order to prevent fatigue, most would recommend working out your upper body on one day and your lower body during your next workout. You would then keep alternating between upper and lower body workouts on workout day. This is done to prevent you from overworking your muscles with the larger amount of weight.

Make sure to do a lower amount of reps / sets with a larger amount of weight. But, please make sure to start with a weight you are comfortable with, you don’t want to hurt yourself! Most recommend sets of 3 with reps of 8 – 12; start with reps of 8 and get up to the maximum weight desired (or possible on the stack weight machine,) then try increasing your reps slowly and safely.

There is one big downside to training with a stack weight gym; the stack weight gyms have a limited number of weights you can work with. As a result, if you choose a 150lb stack or a 200lb stack, you have a maximum weight you can use on that machine. Otherwise, there are a number of benefits to using a stack weight home gym.

If you find you’ll need a weight limit higher than 150 lb / 200 lb, we recommend checking out Marcy Smith Cage Machine Home Gyms. The Marcy Home Gym Smith Machines include a weight bench and smith bar; though you’ll need to purchase free weights / weight plates separately, these Marcy gym systems are perfect for strength training. Find out more about the differences between those types of heavy duty smith cage home gym machines here.

For example, circuit training can add loads of efficient workouts to your regimen. If you exercise regularly, a circuit trainer / stack home gym can add a number of exercises that would not be too time consuming. Bruce Lee used a Marcy Circuit Trainer (which is essentially the early version of the Stack Home Gyms carried by Marcy today) to quickly workout on each station before moving on to other exercises.

Given how quickly you can switch exercises, you can adjust the weight for each exercise just as quickly. Simply remove the weight selector key, choose the desired weight, and get back to your exercise plan for the day.

Using the cable machine attachments provided with each stack home gym adds to the convenience of this style of home gym. You could use the lat bar to do rows with the lower cables, switch to an ankle strap to do several different leg exercises, then attach the lat bar to the upper cable for lat pulldowns. This is just one of many examples of how using a cable machine can make your workouts quick and easy.
No matter your age, building muscle and staying healthy will increase your longevity and general comfort throughout the years. Not interested in adding a Marcy Stack Weight Gym to your garage gym? Marcy has plenty of other products that will help you on your fitness journey! The important part is to get started as soon as possible so you can reap the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.