RitFit Hack Squat and Leg Press Machine Review: Worth It for a Bigger Lifter?

I finally pulled the trigger on a hack squat and leg press machine for the garage, and the one I landed on was the RitFit. I’d been putting this purchase off for a while because most of the machines I liked were commercial-gym pieces with commercial-gym prices. This one is not that — and after living with it, assembling it solo, and putting real weight on it at 6’3″ and 270 lbs, I’ve got a pretty clear read on who it’s for and what I’d change.

In This Review

• The Short Version
• 1,200 lb Capacity and What Actually Limits It
• Using It as a Hack Squat
• Switching Over to Leg Press
• Build Quality and Footprint
• Assembly: Better Than I Expected
• Two Things I’d Change
• Who This Machine Is For
• Where to Get It

The Short Version

A combo hack squat and leg press machine with a 1,200 lb weight capacity, an adjustable foot platform, an adjustable backrest, and an all-steel frame. You convert between the two movements by pulling one pin and moving the backrest. It’s loud out of the box, it has a big footprint, and there’s no easy way to move it once it’s placed. It’s also smooth, deep, and stable enough that I use it constantly. If you want to grow some tree trunks without paying commercial-gym money, this is a legitimate option.

1,200 lb Capacity and What Actually Limits It

The rated capacity is 1,200 lbs, which sounds like plenty — and it is. But here’s the part nobody tells you: the number that actually limits you isn’t the rating, it’s the weight posts.

At a commercial gym, a hack squat sled usually has four posts: two up high and two a little lower, so you can spread your plates across all of them. The RitFit has two posts, and they hang down below the sled. That’s not a dealbreaker, but it does mean your plate thickness becomes the real constraint. I run bumper plates, which are fat. If you’re loading thin iron plates instead, you’re going to fit a lot more weight on those posts before you run out of room.

So if you’re a heavy leg presser and you’re shopping with bumpers in your garage, plan on picking up some thinner steel plates at some point.

Using It as a Hack Squat

I’ll be straight with you: I’m a big dude. Six foot three, 270 lbs. Getting into a hack squat machine is genuinely awkward for me on most units — either the shoulder pads sit wrong or the platform is too small to get a stance I can actually drive out of.

The thing that saves this one is that the foot platform is adjustable. That gave me enough play to get into a position that works. I can set my feet fairly wide, sink down deep, and drive up without feeling like I’m folded into the machine. The sides fold up and down like any hack squat, the safety releases the way you’d expect, and once you’re moving it’s genuinely smooth.

The honest gripe: it’s noisy. The sled runs up and down on rods and you can hear it. RitFit does include oil for exactly this, and it may quiet down over time with use, but out of the box you’re going to notice it. It doesn’t affect how the movement feels — it’s just louder than I’d like if you train early in the morning next to a sleeping house.

Switching Over to Leg Press

This is the part I like most about the machine. The conversion is genuinely quick: there’s a small pin at the back of the backrest, you pop it out, pull the backrest off, slide it through the lower mount, and pin it back in. That’s it. You now have a leg press.

A couple of details that matter more than they sound:

• The backrest angle is adjustable. You can run it closer to 90 degrees if that’s your preference. I go with a more relaxed, laid-back angle for leg pressing, and having the choice is nice.
• The foot platform is adjustable here too. You pull a pin, push the platform up flat, and you’re pressing. If you want a different angle than the default, you can set that.
• Calf work is excellent on it. Because I can dial in the platform angle, I can get a comfortable position that’s still challenging through a full range. Calf raises on this thing are one of my favorite parts of the whole setup.

Build Quality and Footprint

The frame is entirely metal. Not “metal with plastic joints” — I went looking and I couldn’t find plastic anywhere structural. The only non-metal parts are the foam cushions with their leather-style covering and the grips on the handles. For a machine that’s supposed to hold four figures of weight, that’s what you want to hear.

The footprint is large. I want to set the right expectation there: this is not a RitFit problem, it’s a hack squat and leg press problem. Any machine designed to move heavy weight through that path needs length and a wide base to stay planted. Measure your space before you order, and measure it with a little margin so you can actually walk around the thing.

Assembly: Better Than I Expected

When three or four boxes showed up, I’ll admit I got a little nervous. I’ve assembled a lot of home gym equipment and I’ve been burned by bad hardware organization more than once — one giant bag of bolts and a prayer.

RitFit did this right. The hardware is packaged by step. When you’re on step one of the instruction booklet, step one’s nuts and bolts are in their own labeled package. You always know exactly what you’re supposed to be grabbing. That one decision took a huge amount of friction out of the build, and I wish more companies would copy it.

Now, the real talk: I did this by myself, and you shouldn’t. Some of these pieces are heavy and awkward, and having a second set of hands will make it faster and a lot safer. Grab a friend, buy them lunch, get it done in an afternoon.

Two Things I’d Change

No piece of home gym equipment is perfect, and I’d rather tell you the annoyances up front than pretend they don’t exist.

• There’s no way to move it. No wheels, no tilt-and-roll setup. If I need to reposition it, I’m dragging a heavy metal machine across the floor. On a machine with this big of a footprint, some transport wheels on one end would be a real quality-of-life upgrade.
• I want wider platforms. Both of them — the hack squat platform and the leg press platform. I take a wide stance and I’ve got big feet, and while I can get comfortable, another couple inches of width on each would make this a non-issue for bigger lifters. If you’re average-sized, you’ll probably never think about this.

Who This Machine Is For

Buy this if you want serious leg work at home, you have the floor space, and you don’t want to spend commercial-gym money to get two machines in one. The hack squat and leg press combination covers a lot of ground, and being able to swap between them in under a minute means you’ll actually use both instead of defaulting to whichever one is set up.

Skip it if your space is tight, if you’re going to need to move it around regularly, or if noise is a real constraint in your training environment.

For me? I love this machine. It’s earned its spot. If you’re in the same boat and you want to grow some tree trunks, it belongs on your list.

Where to Get It

You can see the RitFit hack squat and leg press machine on Amazon here: check current pricing. As an Amazon Affiliate, I may earn a commission on sales made through that link, at no extra cost to you.

Want to see it in action before you commit? Here’s the full video walkthrough:

For more honest home gym equipment reviews, weight loss content, and fitness-over-40 training that actually works for regular people, head over to fizznessshizzness.com. And if this helped you make a decision, subscribe to the channel — I test this stuff so you don’t have to gamble on it.