Has anyone here actually achieved meaningful long-term progress using just a Marcy stack home gym (like the MWM-988 or similar)? I constantly see advice that if you’re “serious,” you must have a barbell, a rack, and piles of plates, but I’m skeptical this is always true for strength or hypertrophy-especially for people training at home with limited space.
I’m not talking about total beginners or people just recovering from injuries. I mean people pushing beyond novice levels. Has anyone got past the “newbie gains” or kept making strength or size progress after a year or more using only a Marcy or similar stack machine? What workarounds did you use for their resistance limits, fixed movement paths, or awkward exercise setups?
Most feedback online seems to come from either people selling these machines, or from powerlifting purists who dismiss anything without a barbell. Let’s see some real, non-novice, long-term experiences-good or bad-about outgrowing (or not) these types of home gyms. Did anyone figure out creative ways to make progress when the stack wasn’t heavy enough, or does everyone eventually regret not just buying free weights?