00:00You know, I was expecting the rows on the McColo linear row machine to feel good, and they do.
00:07My hips are supported back here so I can protect my lower back. The weights are moving in a linear
00:12path so I can really focus on isolating my back muscles. The art deals that are advertised,
00:17not so much. There's room for improvement there. But a third exercise is what actually surprised
00:22me and what makes this an all-around back builder. So in today's video, I'm going to give you what I
00:26like, what I don't like, and then some suggestions as to what I think and make this machine much
00:31better. So even though this is considered a compact machine, it's still going to require a little bit
00:35of space in your home gym. So I'm going to give you the dimensions so that you can see if it's
00:39something that'll work for your home gym space. Now from front to back, as far as the depth goes,
00:43we're looking at four feet and then side to side, the width is five feet. So you're going to require
00:48four feet by five feet of space. As far as the build quality on the machine goes, the frame is
00:53two by two, 14 gauge steel. The weight horns here in the front are going to be a combined 440 pounds
00:59of weight capacity. The ones on the back, each one can hold 250 pounds. And then the foot plate here
01:04is going to be 22 inches wide. So you have plenty of space there to work with your feet. The handlebar
01:09here, you have different grip options. It has mild knurling on there. And then the seat pad,
01:14it's adjustable up and down. So as far as the dimensions go, compact machine, but it does require a
01:20little bit of space. Now, as far as the handlebar goes, the knurling here is passive. I prefer more
01:25of a medium knurling. And with that being said, I haven't had any issues with my hand slipping off
01:29of this. So it does work. I do like having the options to have multiple grips in one bar. So we
01:34have the ones here that are semi-pronated on top, semi-pronated on the bottom. With this one here,
01:39I feel it hits more of my upper back and my rear delts because my elbows are going to sit a little
01:44bit higher. So it looks like this. This one right below it, I feel it hits more of my middle back
01:50area. Now, semi-semi-pronated here, close grip. Again, I feel it more in my middle back. This one's
02:01going to involve a little bit more biceps just because of the supination. And then right here
02:05on the sides, we have the wide grip pronated. That one I feel in the lats and also middle back area.
02:11Yeah. Now, even though it has a lot of options, I like it. I think there is a little bit of room
02:15for improvement here, especially with a neutral grip. Now, here's something that I think will make
02:20this whole entire handle better. And that's adding this type of design to it so that you can get more
02:25grips out of it. So you're basically adding a neutral grip here and then just flipping this upside
02:30down, the same curve here, so that you get this right here. This gives you everything you need right
02:35here. You have supinated close grip, pronated wide grip, neutral grip, pronated close grip,
02:43and then supinated wide grip. So this, in my opinion, is a better design that they should mimic
02:49or incorporate into this rowing machine. The range of motion on the rows feels really good. I get a good
02:54stretch at the bottom, full contraction at the top. But when it comes to the RDLs, it falls short on the
02:59bottom on the stretch of the exercise. And I'll show you why. So right here, the handlebar is sitting
03:04right below my kneecap. So that's as far as it's going to get. I can't go any further. So I can't
03:09get a good stretch on my hamstring. So I'll show you in real time. So if I go up, that's fine. But
03:14on the way down, right there's where I stop. And I feel like I should be able to go a little bit
03:19further to at least the middle of my shins. So the range of motion is falling short. And I'll show you
03:23why. Now, here's the reason the RDLs fall short on range of motion. And it's because of the spring
03:28right here. The carriage here is moving up and down on the rod. And then it hits the spring here at the
03:33bottom. The spring is about three inches in height. So that cuts off a lot of the range of motion at
03:38the bottom. Maybe cutting this in half or even removing it altogether and just putting a rubber
03:43stopper there would help. Another way to improve the range of motion would be to just make the rod
03:48longer. If you look down here, there's a lot of space here. There's a lot of room here for
03:52elongating that rod. Of course, the rod would have to be stronger in order for it to support the weight.
03:59And also, there should be plenty of room down here between the plates and the floor. There's
04:04probably eight or nine inches there in height that are lost as far as the range of motion goes.
04:10And then the other option would be to just bring the footplate higher, but it would need more
04:15additional support down here at the bottom. So that is the reason why the RDL does not get full range
04:20of motion. I'll show you what I had to do in order to get a bigger stretch at the bottom of the RDL. So
04:24I'm standing on a five-inch platform here that I sit on top of the footplate. If I stand up here,
04:29the handlebars now sit at the level of the middle of my shin. So that's already a better start.
04:35And when I do the RDL,
04:37I'm getting a bigger stretch here. I can probably get away with it right where it is, but I feel like
04:45I can still go a few inches down more to get a bigger stretch on my hamstrings. And that's where the
04:50spring, removing the spring, I think would come into play. So a few options there for a Mercolo.
04:56I think they can improve this a lot just by adding more room at the bottom, bringing the footplate up,
05:02removing some of the height on that spring, and then you'll be able to do a good RDL.
05:06The other exercise I found out when playing around with a machine that feels really good is shoulder
05:10shrugs to round out the upper back. And I feel this is better than doing them with a barbell just
05:15because this protects my lower back because of the seat pad. So when I come up, I'm leaning against
05:21the seat pad here. And now I can just focus on shrugging my shoulders and not worrying about having
05:25to lean forward to avoid the barbell there. So as far as my low back goes, it feels protected.
05:31And then this feels really good on my traps.
05:37So for Rose, this machine feels really good. You have all those different grip options you can go for.
05:42RDL is not so much as because you're lacking on the depth as far as the bottom of the movement goes.
05:47And then for shoulder shrugs, that helps to round out the upper back.
05:51I think this feels really good on those two exercises. RDL needs a little bit more help.
05:56So the seat pad has a two inch thick padding. It's comfortable. And then it's adjustable here in
05:59the back. And it has three holes. There's two that you can see there in the third one is where the
06:04pop pin is. I keep it in this position all the time. I don't have to change it. That's what feels more
06:08comfortable for my body. But you do have the option to adjust it just to see what fits your
06:12body best. Now I'll give you my pros and cons. I'll start with the cons. So even though the
06:16multi-grip handle has a lot of options there, for me, the most important one is the neutral grip
06:21handle. Just because I'm 47, I suffer from chronic elbow pain. And whenever I go heavy on pulling
06:26exercises, I have to do them with a neutral grip. Otherwise, my elbow flares up. So that's one con for me.
06:32Another con would be that I can't get enough range of motion on the RDL. So for that reason,
06:37I had to modify it using a platform that lifted me higher so that I can get a little bit more range
06:42of motion at the bottom. Now, as far as the pros go, I like that the machine is compact. Even though
06:46it requires four feet by five feet of space, it's compact for what it is. Something like this in a
06:51commercial gym would eat up a ton of space. So for the home gym, this is a good option.
06:55Another pro is that it moves really well. It works on the rod and bearing system. It goes up and down
07:00smoothly. I don't feel any jerkiness. Everything just flows really well. And then the third pro
07:05for me would be that even though the handlebar doesn't have a neutral grip option, I still like
07:10that it has plenty of options to choose from. I can go semi-pronated at the top, semi-pronated at the
07:15bottom, close grip, semi-supinated, and then the wide grip. So it gives me a lot of options for the
07:21neutral grip. What I've had to do is just use something like Angles 90 grips that I throw on the
07:25handlebar there, and I've had to do them that way. But other than that, I think it's a very good
07:29machine that if you're somebody looking for a dedicated machine for a back workout, this is
07:34something that really hits the muscles real well. It doesn't work so well for the RDL, but when it
07:39comes to back rows and also the shrugs, it does a really, really good job. There you have it. That's
07:44my review on the McColo linear row machine. If you want to learn more about it, I'll leave a link below
07:48this video. That link is shreddeddad.com forward slash row machine. If you like the information in this
07:54video, make sure you give it a thumbs up. Leave me your comments and questions down below. Don't forget to
07:58subscribe to the channel so you don't miss the latest uploads. For more home gym equipment reviews
08:02and discounts, make sure you visit my website, shreddeddad.com. Thanks for watching. Have a great day.
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