Bells of Steel Iso Leg Press and Hack Squat Machine Review (2024): Massive Build, But Needs Some Work

The phrase “bigger is better” permeates into our thinking often, as we’re constantly on the hunt for the next big thing: A bigger house, a faster car, or the fanciest electronics. However, this way of thinking doesn’t always work with home gym essentials, where floor space can be a commodity; in those cases, the phrase “less is more” might be more adequate.

Enter the latest combo unit from Bells of Steel, the Iso Leg Press and Hack Squat Machine. For those looking for leg or glute machines, a 2-in-1 combo machine is great for saving space in your home gym by combining two bulky machines into one. Still, this leg machine is bulky compared to other combo units.

Does its isolated leg press functionality make it worth the space and price? In this Bells of Steel Iso Leg Press and Hack Squat Machine review, we had Garage Gym Reviews founder Coop Mitchell try out the leg press and hack squat, and fill us in on who this machine might work for…and the people that it may not work for. Read on to find out if this overbuilt machine is worth a gander.

Bringing You Top-Tier Fitness Reviews for a Decade

Whether it’s functional trainers, leg machines, or squat racks, we have you covered. We’ve been into product reviews of home gym equipment for 10 years now. Plus, GGR’s expert product testers have experience in the fitness industry that extends far beyond that, including certified personal trainers, CrossFit Level 1 trainers, lifting coaches, and competitive athletes.

Using the stringent guidelines outlined in our fitness equipment testing methodology, we bring honest and expert reviews of top brands and products on the market. For the Iso Leg Press from Bells of Steel, Coop used the combo unit extensively in its two functions (leg press and hack squat) and rated the machine on aspects such as:

• Construction and durability
• Footprint
• Functionality
• Materials
• Transitions
• Overall value

BoS Iso Leg Press Hack Squat

Bells of Steel 2-In-1 Iso Leg Press and Hack Squat Machine

GGR Score: 3.5

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Product Highlights

• Leg press and hack squat combo unit
• Includes iso leg press functionality
• Weight capacity of 1,500 lbs
• Powder-coated 11-gauge steel
• 108” L x 45.5” W x 65.25” H

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 2-in-1 combo unit
• Iso leg press functionality
• High weight capacity
• Supports taller athletes

Cons

• Expensive
• Powder-coated weight horns will scratch easily
• Large footprint

Bottom Line

This overbuilt leg press and hack squat combo has a high weight capacity of 1,500 pounds, and it can be used by taller, larger athletes. Additionally, the machine travels on guide rods, allowing for a smooth experience. The iso leg press functionality adds to versatility, but also adds more materials to the bulky machine, which increases its high price tag.

A Quick Look at the Bells of Steel Iso Leg Press Hack Squat Machine

Commercial gyms usually have their machines as a single unit because they have the floor space for it, and you don’t want to form a line waiting on one machine that does multiple things if you can avoid it. However, in a garage gym, you’re going to want a combo unit to save space (and money, oftentimes).

The people at Bells of Steel affectionately call the Iso Leg Press Hack Squat Machine the “Juggernaut,” as it’s an overbuilt, heavy-duty piece of equipment. Weighing in at just over 600 pounds, the 45-degree leg press machine can be used for hack squats, as well as isolated leg presses—you have the option to use a dual plate or control two single plates independently with your left or right foot.

RELATED: Leg Exercises for Your Next Leg Day

Along with the added functionality of an iso leg press, the machine also has band pegs for resistance band training, as well as weight horns for weight plate storage. The foot plates are maneuvered by linear ball bearings on a total of four guide rods, which allow for a smooth travel through each rep.

The hack squat floor plate is large enough to position your feet around to different positions to help isolate more of the quads, hamstrings, or other lower body muscles. This helps add some versatility to a rather bulky machine.

Before You Buy

• If you’re a fan of Bells of Steel but don’t have any interest in isolated leg presses, they do have a leg press hack squat machine without the iso-functionality, for more than $1,000 cheaper.
• With a weight capacity of 1,500 pounds, and suitable for people with a floor-to-shoulder height of 70 inches (to ensure full range of motion for hack squats), this leg machine might be a solid option for taller athletes. The product is even modeled on the website by a man who’s 6 feet and 5 inches tall.
• This beast of a machine comes disassembled, so make sure you have a friend (or two) to help you put this machine together, or else you can just get a workout in from the assembly.

Bells of Steel Iso Leg Press Hack Squat Video Review

Is the Bells of Steel Iso Leg Press Hack Squat Worth It?

Already, a leg press hack squat combo machine is a later purchase for strength training, once you have an Olympic barbell and other essentials in your home gym. When asked if the Iso Leg Press and Hack Squat Machine was worth it, Coop bluntly said in his full video review, “Definitely not.” At least not right now. 

At $3,000, the piece is already very expensive and has a few construction issues that Coop noticed in his testing—namely that the back pad could shift a little during use, and the footplate pop-pin adjustments were blocked by a welded band peg, making those adjustments difficult with the machine tightened fully.

RELATED: DIY Leg Press For Under $60

Compared to other leg press hack squat combos, the Iso Leg Press and Hack Squat is easily one of the more expensive options. The Titan Fitness Leg Press Hack Squat Machine is $1,900 with free shipping, and is a bit more compact. Force USA has their own machine priced at $1,900, which is still on the larger side, but includes a calf block for calf raises. Even Bells of Steel has a cheaper leg press hack squat machine for $1,900, although it lacks the iso leg press.

“I don’t think the gimmick of the iso leg press is going to be enough to make the machine worth it for most people,” Coop concludes. Still, this machine might interest those who want the iso movement on the leg press. It also caters to taller athletes. Still, with the current build, it might be wise to wait for a later iteration of this machine that fixes issues and improves upon its strengths. 

Bells of Steel Iso Leg Press Hack Squat Machine Specs

Using the Bells of Steel Iso Leg Press Hack Squat 

GGR founder Coop Mitchell used the Bells of Steel Iso Leg Press and Hack Squat Machine through an extensive leg workout where he tested out both the leg press and hack squat, along with the added functionality of the iso leg press and band pegs. Overall, the guide rods made the travel smooth in both modes. “Just make sure you keep the guide rods lubed up to keep that nice and smooth movement,” Coop adds.

Transitioning from the hack squat to the leg press is fairly simple, as you simply remove the back pad and reattach it to the hack squat diamond-plated foot plate. The back pad inserts and “locks” into keyholes in both positions, although the angle of the keyholes allows the back pad to shift a bit while in use, unfortunately. “I like that it’s inserted, but you could’ve just flipped the keyholes around to really secure it,” Coop remarks.

RELATED: How To Do a Leg Press At Home

Along with this, the foot plates can be adjusted for leg press through a pop-pin adjustment. There are three adjustment angles for the foot plates, but getting past the first adjustment is difficult since there’s a welded band peg in the way. If you have everything properly tightened and fastened, making the adjustment is nearly impossible.

To adjust into the iso leg press, you can simply remove a metal bar from behind the leg press plates, which is stored on the back of the machine. There are four height positions to account for varying heights of users, which is a nice touch.

The guide rods allow for full range of motion on both hack squats and leg presses, which Coop mentions is overlooked by some brands. With its smooth travel and great range of motion, this is a solid piece of equipment, but some issues in its build left us wanting a bit more.

Construction and Durability

The Iso Leg Press and Hack Squat Machine uses solid materials—powder-coated 11-gauge steel for the frame, and guide rods with 35-millimeter ball bearings to allow for smooth movement. Still, some aspects of the machine are a bit lacking. For one, the keyholes and foot plate adjustments, as previously mentioned, cause issues while in use.

Another issue Coop encountered during his test is that the weight horns are also powder-coated black. “When you slide weight plates onto the weight horns, the powder coating just starts to look crappy. You can tell it’s rubbing and scraping the coating, so over time it’ll completely flake off.” We’d love to see a chrome or stainless steel finish in a later iteration.

“The vinyl is just OK,” Coop remarks on the back pad. Coop has worries about its long-term durability, and with solid materials for its frame and movement, we would’ve liked to have seen that level of quality with the vinyl. Overall, Coop rates the construction and durability a 3.5 out of 5.

Footprint

Leg machines can be bulky and take up a lot of space (unless you go with a vertical leg press). Even for a leg press and hack squat combo unit, the Bells of Steel Iso Leg Press and Hack Squat takes up a lot of space. At 108-inches long and 45.5-inches wide, this machine will take up a lot of real estate in your home gym.

While it does save space by being a 2-in-1 machine, the Bells of Steel Iso Leg Press and Hack Squat is still large, earning it a score of 3 out of 5 for its footprint. If you have a small home gym with minimal floor space, this may not be the machine to add to your gym.

Bells of Steel Iso Leg Press Hack Squat vs Titan Fitness Leg Press Hack Squat

Titan Leg Press Hack Squat

Titan Fitness Leg Press Hack Squat Machine

GGR Score: 4.1

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Product Highlights

• 2-in-1 machine functions as a leg press and hack squat
• Constructed from durable steel
• Features large diamond-plated footplates, supportive padding for lower back and shoulders, undercarriage dual weight sleeves, commercial linear bearings, adjustable backpad, and adjustable footplate angle
• 1,000-lb weight limit
• Designed to provide a full lower body strength workout
• 3 lockout positions

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Sturdy
• Decent weight limit
• Non-slip feet
• Smooth
• Relatively compact

Cons

• Footplate for leg press may be small for some
• Reports of unclear instructions for assembly

Bottom Line

The Titan Fitness Leg Press Hack Squat Machine is a high-quality multifunctional machine designed for beginners and experienced athletes alike.

Comparing this to Titan’s Leg Press Hack Squat, you can tell that the biggest drawbacks of the Bells of Steel machine are its price and footprint. It provides a smooth travel and the iso function on leg presses, but we’re not sure it justifies the more than $1,000 price increase compared to other combo units.

“You really have to decide if the iso function is worth the extra cost,” Coop adds in his leg press review; although, in our opinion, this machine isn’t quite there yet. Check out our in-depth Titan Leg Press Hack review for more information on this alternative to the iso leg press.

Customer Experience

Bells of Steel provides a 30-day money-back guarantee for all customers, although the product should be in its original packaging. If the item isn’t, or it’s missing hardware, you may be charged a restocking fee.

The warranty on the Iso Leg Press and Hack Squat Machine is pretty standard for leg machines, as the pads are covered for one year, the moving parts for three years, and the frame has a limited lifetime warranty. Actually, the pads may have a slightly longer warranty than other competitors.

Bells of Steel is well known for great customer service and getting back to customers within a few hours—during their service hours. Plenty of customer reviews on products remark them being helped out with shipping issues, defective products, and more. They can be contacted through email, phone, and a contact form on the website.

Ordering and Assembling the Bells of Steel Iso Leg Press Hack Squat

Financing is available on Bells of Steel products through Affirm. You’ll have to pre-qualify first, but you can get payments starting at 0% interest.

Coop—and Bells of Steel—warns that this machine is hefty, and comes completely disassembled. While that’s nice because it won’t be delivered on a giant pallet preassembled, it still puts a lot of the assembly in your hands. Because of its sheer size and weight, assembly will be a doozy. Save yourself some trouble and make sure to have a friend available to help out with the assembly.

Customer Reviews

As of this writing, there are only two reviews on the Bells of Steel product page: a 5-star review and a 2-star review. The 5-star review had some woes and issues during the assembly process, and then realized he had to lubricate the guide rails to get the machine moving smoothly. Although there were some initial headaches, he still recommends the product.

The 2-star review, however, had issues with the consistency of the machine’s build. He liked the concept but had issues with weight plates hitting the safety bars. Also, he felt welds and the overall construction was inconsistent.

Final Verdict of Our Bells of Steel Iso Leg Press and Hack Squat Machine Review

Is the Bells of Steel Iso Leg Press and Hack Squat Machine the next level of combo units? Not quite yet. The iso leg press on this feels more like a gimmick, and with its current build, Coop just doesn’t think it warrants the extra money.

If you’re a larger athlete, or if you love the iso feature of the leg press, this machine might be worth a look, but issues in the build make me want to see what a next-gen version of this machine will look like. Until then, there are leg press and hack squat machines available (even from Bells of Steel) that provide smaller footprints and more value. 

Full Rating

Bells of Steel 2-in-1 Iso Leg Press and Hack Squat Machine

This overbuilt leg press and hack squat combo has a high weight capacity of 1,500 pounds, and it can be used by taller, larger athletes. Additionally, the machine travels on guide rods, allowing for a smooth experience. The iso leg press functionality adds to versatility, but also adds more materials to the bulky machine, which increases its high price tag.

Product Brand: Bells of Steel

Product Currency: $

Product Price: 2999.99

Product In-Stock: InStock

Editor's Rating:
3.5

Bells of Steel Iso Leg Press Hack Squat Machine: FAQs

Caine Wilkes, OLY, USAW-L1

Caine Wilkes is an Olympian, placing 9th in weightlifting at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. A former gym owner, he also has more than 15 years of experience coaching other athletes in weightlifting, CrossFit, and functional fitness.

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