Cable Machine Weight Stacks – Are 90kgs Enough?
We have been getting a few questions about cable machine weight stacks. If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll know we don’t hype things up unless they genuinely deserve it. And right now, the ATX® 600 Series All In One Trainers are absolutely flying out the door. We’re struggling to keep stock on the shelves — and there’s a good reason for it.
These units tick all the boxes: compact footprint, premium build quality, and seriously good value for what you’re getting. The moment you grab the handles and run the cables through a movement, you feel it — smooth as butter, no grinding, no wobble, just that proper ATX engineering.
But one question keeps popping up…
Are the Cable Machine Weight Stacks Heavy Enough?
The 600 Series comes standard with 2 × 90 kg cable machine weight stacks. When you’re using one side, that gives you 45 kg working weight through the pulley.
Now, this is where people start thinking: “Can I add more weight? Can I make the stack heavier?”
Before you go down that rabbit hole, there is a simple way to look at it:
Barbell vs Dumbbell vs Cable – The Real Comparison
If you can bench press 100 kg on a barbell, you’re not going to be pressing 100 kg on the dumbbells. You’d be lucky to hit 40 kg dumbbells with good form.
And cables drop off even further. You might only manage 35 kg on a cable press, even if your barbell numbers are solid.
It’s not because the machine is “light” — it’s because cables force you to control the movement through a longer range, with constant tension, and without the stability you get from a barbell locked into a fixed path.
Lee Priest Weighs In
He mentioned that at first, cable pressing can feel a bit funny — unstable, almost like the machine is fighting you. But once you settle into the groove, it becomes natural.
That instability isn’t a flaw. It’s a feature.
Stability = More Muscle Recruitment
That “unstable” feeling is actually doing you a favour. You’re forced to bring in all your stabiliser muscles, all the little bits that don’t get much attention when you’re locked into a barbell or machine bench press.
This is why cables feel lighter on paper but harder in practice. You’re doing more work — just not in the way people measure on Instagram.
Do You Really Need More Than 90 kg?
Here’s the honest truth:
If you’re worried that 90 kg per stack isn’t enough, ask yourself this:
Are you using 55 kg dumbbells for ANY exercise? Let alone isolation style movements like flyes, crossovers, or single arm presses?
For 99% of trainers — even strong, experienced lifters — the standard stacks on the ATX® 600 Series are more than enough. Most people will never max them out, and the ones who do are usually doing very specific strength based cable work, not general
Final Word on Cable Machine Weight Stacks
The ATX® 600 Series isn’t just popular because it looks good or fits neatly into a home gym. It’s popular because it performs. The cable machine weight stacks are properly matched to how cables work, and unless you’re a genetic freak or doing something very niche, you’re not going to run out of weight.
Smooth action, compact footprint, heavy-duty build — and weight stacks that suit real world training.
That’s why they’re flying out the door.
