Review of the Body Solid GLPH 1100 leg Press/hack squat machine

Squats are king of the leg exercises. No other exercise even comes close to matching the effectiveness of squats. But, if you have back issues or just want a change of pace, the leg press machine is a good alternative.

I researched machines for quite a while before choosing the Body Solid leg press. I found a few different models on craigslist but they were sold before I could try them out. I finally found the GLPH110 in a fitness store showroom. The sled went up and down smoothly; it had a good-sized footplate; and I liked the way the back pad just flipped up out of the way for hack squats.

The fitness store wanted $1199 plus tax for it. I knew from my research I could find one on eBay for $979, with no sales tax or shipping, but I found an even better deal. I ended up paying $629 for a brand new model, with no tax or shipping!

At the time I was looking for a leg press, Jesupgym an eBay seller, advertised the Body Solid GLPH 1100 leg Press/hack squat machine for $629 plus another $300 for shipping. I ended up calling them and they suggested buying it through their gym in Iowa, then picking it up at the Body Solid headquarters in Forest Park, Illinois, saving money by avoiding any sales tax or shipping. Forest Park was just over a one-hour drive for me, so this was a done deal.

The Body Solid leg press came in five different sized boxes of varying weights and lengths. They barely fit into my SUV truck, and I could see why every seller was charging at least $299 for shipping.

Assembly was somewhat of a challenge. The owner’s manual/assembly instructions aren’t the greatest and the illustrations were hard to follow. You can download the manual here. I ended up finding a photo on the internet that helped me with assembly.

The first thing to do is to make sure you have all of the parts and hardware needed for assembly. The hardware came in plastic containers and was easily identifiable. It’s always best to use the correct metric wrench; however a standard 3/4" wrench will fit the nuts and bolt heads.

Most of the hardware was correct, except I received two 1/2" x 3 1/4" long bolts instead of two 1/2" x 3 1/2" bolts, so I just left off the two 1/2” flat washers and then the shorter bolts worked. You also needed two different sized Allen wrenches and I received two that were of the same size. I have plenty of Allen wrenches so this wasn’t a big deal, but for someone that doesn’t have a well-stocked tool box this could have been a problem.

In step two of the assembly manual, it shows you how to assemble the sled, but the sled came fully assembled. This is a really easy step, huh?

Step three was the hardest part of the assembly process: you have to lift up the two side pieces of the leg press with the sled lying loose inside, while at the same time attaching the main support of the leg press. Easy to do with two people, but I had no help at the time.

In step four, make sure you slide the handle into the welded ring before bolting the support ring onto the side channel.

The rest of the assembly steps were somewhat confusing, so I took some close up photos to help you out:

The whole assembly process took about 5-6 hours. The sled assembly does have a little up and down play inside the side channels, but you notice this more doing hack squats rather than using the leg press option. Speaking of the hack squat, my feet tend to slip on the diamond foot plate. This plate has to be at a ninety degree angle when doing hack squats and even then there’s some slippage. Wear shoes with good traction when doing hack squats.

The leg press works like a dream. The quad track roller system operates smoothly, the diamond footplate is big enough, there is easy access to load plates, there are three lockout positions for safety, it’s solidly built, and the footprint is only 56"H x 83"L x 34"W, making this unit compact enough to fit inside most home gyms. AND, the back pad/footrest has a quick flip and lock mechanism that can be set to do calf raises. This feature isn’t even mentioned on the Body Solid web site!

Foot plate in calf press postion

Five different positions can be selected.

Body Solid claims this unit has a capacity of 1000 pounds, which I don’t doubt. However, what they fail to mention is that you’ll need to buy 100-pound Olympic plates to reach this capacity.

The Olympic plate holders under the sled are 12” long. My Olympic plates are 1 1/2” thick, meaning I can only put eight on each side, for a total of 16 plates. Sixteen 45-pound Olympic plates equal 720 pounds and Body Solid tells me the sled weighs 108 pounds, so if you’re doing the math you can only put 828 pounds on this machine…unless you buy 100-pound plates.

Now, if you are doing the leg press correctly with a FULL range of motion, you won’t be able to do 828 pounds for quite a while unless you’re Tom Platz.

Final word: Buy the Body Solid leg press machine GLPH 1100. You won’t regret it.

Using the Body Solid leg press machine

The leg press machine works the quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes. Placing the feet low against the foot plate isolates the quadriceps; placing the feet higher on the foot plate calls on the gluteal muscles and the hamstrings.

Going deep is very important when doing leg presses. There’s a guy at every gym who loads up a leg press machine with 1000 pounds, then moves the load a whopping six inches. For maximum muscle gains, a full range of motion must be used.

Make sure your back is flat against the backrest. Inhale and release the safety bars, then bend the knees completely so that the thighs touch or nearly touch the torso. Drive the weight up with force and exhale at the top of the movement. Don’t lock out your knees at the top. This will keep constant tension on the muscles.

Repeat for reps.