Bodycraft HFT Functional Trainer: An Excellent Home Gym Option

The BodyCraft HFT Functional Trainer is a solid choice for a home or garage gym. Developed by Iron Company, this dual adjustable pulley machine sells for just under $3000 and offers a high-quality build with plenty of included attachments and a decently compact profile.

While there are some things we love about the Bodycraft HFT Functional Trainer, there are also some areas where we’d love to see some improvements.

Bodycraft HFT Functional Trainer Frame

The Bodycraft HFT features a frame that is built using heavy-duty steel plates and oval tubings. Typically we want to see an 11 or 12 gauge steel listed but in this case, knowing that it’s built with an included lifetime frame warranty for residential use, we’re confident it’s going to stand up to some heavy use.

User and expert reviews have also suggested that the Bodycraft HFT Functional Trainer has been built to withstand a lot of heavy use.

The actual frame is fairly compact, coming in at a width of just 56″, a depth of 40″ and a height of 82″ which is pretty standard for these types of units.

The frame also features very large legs with rubber feet, both of which are designed to spread out the functional trainer’s weight while simultaneously protecting your flooring.

Reviewers on Amazon have been very kind to the overall build quality with one user sharing photos of the weld points and bolts that all look to be in excellent working order. You can see some excellent reviews here.

Overall, it’s a solid design that could be improved upon by taking notes from the Rep Fitness functional trainer or Titan Fitness functional trainer.

Bodycraft HFT Functional Trainer Weight Stack

With this particular functional trainer, you’re only going to receive 150 pounds per weight stack. With a 2:1 ratio that means just 75 pounds of functional pull. For many people, this is all they will ever need. For myself and other powerlifters, maxing out is going to happen very quickly for many movement types.

Given that this unit is already pushing $3000 with shipping, adding an additional $200+ for the company’s optional 50-pound weight upgrades seems a bit much for the product.

The Bodycraft HFT also relies on numbers rather than actual weights. Yes, it’s easy to count by 10 when you have 15 weights and then by 20 when you pay $200+ for the optional 50 pounds stacks, but it’s not ideal. We much prefer functional trainers that offer both KG and LBS.

Bodycraft HFT Functional Trainer Pulley And Cables

The cables on the Bodycraft HFT are nylon-covered and aircraft rated up to a tensile load of 2000 pounds. This stands in contrast to the fiberglass cables we’re starting to see on higher-end systems but it’s still a viable option that should keep your cables in good standing for years.

The pulley system runs smooth, although we do suggest a good synthetic lubricant to help avoid drag caused between the weights and their weight polls. Our go-to is the synthetic Super Lube product.

The pulley system also includes 31 Height Positions that can rotate 180 Degrees. Movement on the pulley handles is important for ensuring fluid movement between functional training exercises.

While the numbering for each position is “laser-etched” they don’t catch the eye like the laser cutouts found on some other trainers. Still, they are a completely suitable alternative.

The two independent adjustable cable columns are solidly built and we really like the rounded design that stands in contrast to many other units currently on the market.

Bodycraft HFT Functional Trainer Attachments

A bunch of attachments are included with this functional trainer and they add to the “out of the box” operation of the HFT functional trainer.

The included attachments include:

• 2 single handles
• Long bar (with ball bearing ends)
• Sport stick (with bearings)
• Triceps rope
• Pull up assist strap
• Ankle strap
• 2 chains
• Attached exercise book

The included attachments are all pretty standard in terms of both use and quality. The long and short handles feature rubber grips that work well when you’re sweaty in the middle of an exercise, and the nylon design on other components should last for a good amount of time.

With that being said, we like premium attachments for our cable machines. Handles with decent knurling that is consistent across attachments make for a better and safer experience in my opinion.

One nice addition is the exercise book which includes 70 different exercises that you can learn to love (or hate) right away.

Here’s a close-up of the attachments and the crossmember that holds the accessories and workout book in place.

The other component to the accessories is the pull-up bar. There are two options for pull-up bars on most functional trainers, either rubber or textured steel grips. For the Bodycraft HTF functional trainer, the company went with a textured steel grip.

While I usually prefer rubber grips because they are great when my hands are sweaty in the middle of HiiT routines, I actually really like the Bodycraft design for their bar. This bar, as you can see in the picture below, features the ability to use very narrow to wide grip patterns.

Assembly

The Iron Company Bodycraft HFT functional trainer is easy to put together and takes only a few hours of assembling with just two people. Much like other units on our website, it’s just a matter of making sure all of your pieces are placed properly and adding in and tightening down some bolts.

Bodycraft provides step-by-step directions for the entire process and the actual setup is mostly annoying because there are a lot of parts to put together.

Here’s a quick video for the starting process of installing the functional trainer without help from a second person.

If you simply pay attention to the included instructions there shouldn’t be any problems and you’ll be up and running in a few hours. You will need a socket wrench, several other wrenches, and a set of Allen keys to finish the project.

BodyCraft HFT Warranty Information

Typically we talk about functional trainer warranty info in our frame and cable/pulley sections, however, Iron Company offers tiered warranty options based on residential and home use.

Residential Warranty:

• Lifetime frame warranty
• Lifetime parts warranty

Light commercial warranty:

• 10-year frame
• 2-year parts

Final Thoughts

The Bodycraft HFT Functional Trainer is an excellent piece of equipment for home gym and garage gym use. While it’s not our favorite piece of equipment in terms of build and weight stack size, it’s backed by an excellent warranty that will put your mind at ease.