Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This item came promptly, the box was only marginally beat up, and the assembly instructions - though sparse - were straightforward and easy to follow. These are the only good points I can mention about this horrible buying experience, and none of them have anything to do with the ridiculously dangerous product itself. Performing back hyperextensions or (even worse) GHD situps and crunches on a machine that is several feet tall puts the body in a compromised position, the safety of which is almost entirely contingent upon the stability of the leg braces. Imagine performing a situp on this machine, reaching full extension, and watching helplessly as the entire leg-brace apparatus simply slips entirely off of the machine itself. This is what happened to me, on the second repetition of the first set of crunches I tried on this ridiculous piece of equipment. If one is lucky, and is able to level the torso during the resultant fall, then instead of a broken neck, one merely has to deal with landing forcefully on the lower back upon the angry metal corners of the machine's base. This (thank God), is - again - what happened to me. Here is the problem. Please inspect the attached photo of the spin-locking bolt that secures the leg apparatus in place, in one of several adjustable positions. Notice especially the thin, smooth metal portion of the device, below the threaded portion. This smooth metal portion - which is approximately 1/4 of an inch long, is ALL that actually secures the leg-brace apparatus to the machine itself. The threaded portion merely secures the spin-locking bolt to the sliding leg apparatus -- the complete, sliding apparatus itself is only secured to the machine by the asinine 1/4" sliver of metal at the end. While this may not result in catastrophe if one is very light and/or does not apply much upward force to the leg apparatus during exercise, I certainly wouldn't risk my life on it. For those of us weighing in at 200lbs or more? Stay far, far away from this criminally unsafe piece of equipment. For my troubles (and desire to save a couple hundred dollars), I received only a painful fall and nasty bruise covering my lower back. Will you be so lucky? Extreme caution advised.