XMARK Black Diamond Adjustable Weight Bench Review: Superior Stability and Compact Design!
Introduction
Arguably one of the most important staples of any home gym besides weights, a bar, and a rack, is the adjustable bench. It’s also one of those equipment categories that there are just so many different options to choose from, it really boils down to preference, price, size features, and even aesthetics to suit an individual’s needs. However, there are always going to be options in the adjustable bench space that are really great for most people, in most home gyms, and in most training situations. This one, I think is exactly that bench: this is the newly released XMARK Black Diamond Commercial adjustable weight bench. After using this for the last few months, it’s now officially dethroned my Rogue Adjustable Bench 3.0 and my original REP AB5000 ZeroGap as my two prior favorite benches for more reasons I will get into shortly. This bench is simple, beautiful, overbuilt, and it passes the incline wobble test with flying colors. Let’s check it out!
Features and Adjustments
Hey guys this is Michael with the Jungle Gym Reviews. Today we are reviewing this XMARK Black Diamond adjustable bench, it’s one of XMARK’s newest product offerings and a ladder style FI bench with technically a commercial designation, but it’s well suited for home gym use. The ladder style allows for super quick angle adjustments because unlike a pop pin system, you literally just lift the back up or down according to desired height setting. This bench has these nicely knurled knobs to help you grab and grip the seat back ladder mechanism to adjust it, which is just a nice added touch of quality. Speaking to the adjustments themselves, the back pad has seven positions: 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 85 degrees. And the seat has three: 0, 15, and 30 degrees.
The seat and back pads themselves, are a 2.5-inch-thick pads which are nicely firm and dense. After years long searching, this is actually the goldilocks pad for me. In part, due to the back pad width, which we will talk about later, but equally due to this fact that the padding feel is firm and provides a lot of support complimented with equally enough cushion to still feel comfortable. I love my Rogue Adjustable Bench 3.0 but the super firm pad tends to be a love-it-or-hate it deal which for some people feels like benching on a slab of wood, which was my initial experience the first few weeks with that bench until I got used to it. This XMARK Black Diamond pad cover or vinyl on this bench is the newer grippy and lightly dimpled style that a lot of companies are using these days, which just adds to the comfort and secure feeling you get during use when sweating or wanting to stay place during pressing. For whatever reason too the grippy vinyl here is just visually appealing, although I have found whenever companies do use this material it seems seems to show skin and sweat marks a little bit more than just a flat texture finish.
Speaking to the aesthetics, that is one thing XMARK nailed here: the nice matte black powder coat, the stainless-steel ladder system, logo plates, and laser cut numbers for the angle adjustments, the knurled knobs, the embossed logo on the back pad, even the subtle angular shaping and tapering of the seat, all of these things together just really make this bench look and feel modern, premium, and complete the nice sleek and aesthetic look this bench is going for.
One of the other features that make this bench really nice is the rubber, or similar, grippy coated front handle which feels exactly like a Hammer Strength bench at the gym. Also since it’s oriented across the face of the bench it is super easy and comfortable to grab. I know currently some companies are going with a knurled handle as a selling point feature, but to me personally I don’t care as long as I can grip it and it lasts forever, so this one looks and feels like it will do just that.
This bench also offers a spotter stand baked into the rear feet that doesn’t require a separate attachment purchase like some other companies’ offerings do. Although I would say this is less stand and more just two small diamond texture plate cutouts welded on either top side the frame, but it is still a nice gesture to acknowledge that people may want to have a spotter option. And then from a price perspective I would rather them include and you not need it, than need it and you have to go buy another $100+ attachment for.
Lastly, I again want to mention this is just an FI bench meaning it does flat and incline but technically not advertised as decline, although you can definitely do decline bench on it by using it “backwards”, it’s just not labeled a true decline bench because the seat doesn’t adjustment below 0 and there is no leg roller attachment or way to lock your legs in to be truly considered such.
Dimensions, Weight, Capacities
As I mentioned earlier, a large part of the consideration when buying any bench is going to be your individual preferences. With this bench, I have found many of the design components fit perfectly in my gym, for me, especially from a weight, stability, maneuverability, and durability standpoint compared to some of the previous benches I have owned.
The bench itself weights 113 pounds which is right on par for all the heavy-duty benches in this high end, mostly welded frame, adjustable bench category. The overall footprint of the bench is what I really appreciate as it’s a compact 46 inches long by 28 inches wide. For a home gym this has been the perfect size bench for me. My last two benches were the Rogue Adjustable bench 3.0 and the Rep AB5000 Zero Gap (now replaced by the Blackwing) and those were similar overall weight but about 10 inches longer length’s, which made them feel about 20 pounds heavier and more awkward to move comparatively. While I never had a problem fitting those into my gym or thinking they were too long at the time, when I started using this XMARK Black Diamond bench, I instantly noticed how much lighter it felt and more maneuverable it was simply because of the shorter wheelbase and overall length. Even though the weight is technically the same, this bench feels significantly lighter and is just so much easier to move with the handle than the others.
The other dimensions to note is that this bench is using an 11 inch width pad since commercial benches tend to use a narrower pad width than the home gym oriented ones do currently. The common bench pad trend I have seen over the last few years is at least 12 inches width and everyone from Rep, to Griffin, Titan, Vulcan, Force USA, etc. seems to offer a 12inch width pad as the standard on their higher end adjustable benches. This is one of those things where you may have to experience what works for you. After a few prior benches, I personally went to a 12 inch REP pad, upgraded to their 14 inch wide later and neither felt quite right until I tried to the 11 inch width on the Rogue bench, which was perfect, and ultimately is what piqued my interest in trying this XMARK one here. To me personally, in this Team Full ROM and science based fitness era, an 11 inch pad width is just the perfect width to allow appropriate support and maintain the most comfortable full range of motion for really deep dumbbells benching, chest supported rows, shoulder pressing, etc.
The full back pad dimensions on this XMARK Black Diamond bench are 11 inch wide by 35.5 in length, and the seat is 12.75 inch long tapering from the 11 inches to 4 inches. The height of the pads from the floor is also exactly on par with it’s competitors at 17.75 inches from the floor to the top of the pad while in the flat setting.
The last major spec this XMARK bench boasts, which probably has to do something with it’s commercial name and rating, is the whopping 2000LBS weight capacity. For every single person who ever uses this and is simply just a mere mortal, we likely aren’t ever concerned with the weight capacity of any reputable brand using adequate engineering materials, hardware, or thickness of steel, and my guess here is they might but have beefed up some of those specific areas for that commercial rating. Which to my knowledge is in part due to insurance purposes requiring a higher threshold than for personal use, but if you buy this for your home gym, it’s good to know your whole family, car, and house can be supported by this bench together at any given time.
Wobble Test
So typically, I like to have a section in my videos where I essentially answer the question “how well does it work in real life”, and if I haven’t made it clear already, this bench works awesome. Unfortunately for things like barbells and benches and weight, it’s harder to be a little more nuanced in saying it works, as I always hope the answer is that it does so as intended. Fortunately, the XMARK bench here has treated me better than my Concept 2 rowing machine clone that snapped in half on me, and I will even say XMARK actually did even one step better and maybe unknowingly to them.
Hopefully everybody knows the best way to determine the stability of your bench is by doing the incline bench wobble test, which is where you put your bench on some moderate incline and see how much it wiggles and wobbles with your hands. A few years ago, I would have told you my REP AB5000 was great, then with the Rogue bench, I thought it couldn’t get any better. So now obviously I wanted to see how the XMARK stacked up and lo and behold to my complete surprise it blew the already great Rogue bench out of the water. THIS BENCH DOES NOT MOVE IN AN INCLINE WOBBLE TEST AT ALL. Period, none, zero. It is by far the most stable bench I have owned and has literally had me questioning how on earth they did that? If I put my engineering hat on, it means they probably had thick enough materials, tighter manufacturing and connecting point tolerances, good center of gravity and weight distribution, etc. but even considering , I can’t visually see a real difference between this and the other two I mentioned side by side by side, but trust me when I am telling you, you will be impressed.
Why You Should Choose This One
So besides some of the already enticing features, comfort, stability, and aesthetics, I want to touch on why someone would buy this bench versus any other, and who should this bench be for.
The price of the bench is $699 with free shipping which is definitely at the high end of the home gym oriented price range. Again, this is actually geared towards commercial use, but I think for us home gym owners we hear commercial and think “great that will last me forever” which it should with this overall build quality. One thing to note on pricing is that XMARK also often runs sales and promotions fairly often so you should be able to snag this at 10% email signup or similar discount, depending on the time of year. I know at the end of November through early December 2024 for their Black Friday promotion they will be running 15% off $350+ purchases, so that would bring this price down to under $600 which is an incredible value in my opinion.
Other reasons you should choose this bench is over it’s competitors are if you want something compact, still built like a tank, and still able to comfortable accommodate any height users simply because the frame footprint is smaller and the difference in the back pad length is minimal. You also choose this bench if you specifically want an 11inch back pad, which was a huge sell for me personally. The other main reason you would want this is you want one of, if not the most stable bench adjustable benches on the market, that is super easy to move around in tight spaces.
I also want to point out, that bench gap has been a big topic in the last few years, and this XMARK Black Diamond also features just a minimal pad gap of 1 inch or less when in the flat position and once you have the back pad and seat pad in an incline position this gap moves closer to and eventually zero. I will say they did a really good job on this as well, because coming from a ZeroGap to this was essentially non-noticeable.
Quick Assembly
One last cool feature that I wanted to mention was the quick assembly. I saw that the website advertised that the bench came pre-assembled and could be fully setup in 10 mins. I thought for sure this was one of those marketing gimmicks where it was 10 minutes asterisk, meaning someone had a Nascar pit crew with wrenches and sockets all ready to go. So I decided to time it and to my surprise, it literally took me 9 minutes from the time I opened the box, to read the assembly instructions, and fully put it together which was pretty impressive. Since the frame was pre-assembled there were only 3 frame bolt needed and just a handful pad bolts that had to be tightened with standards tools. So just know that’s a nice plus, especially when you want to get this thing out of the box and setup as soon as possible without having to dial it in to make it perfectly setup and stable.
Overall
Functionality: 9
Features/Design: 8.5
Fit/Finish: 8.5
Value: 8
Overall: 8.5
So overall the XMARK Black Diamond Commercial Weight Bench is an awesome adjustable weight bench and will be my exclusive primary choice weight bench moving forward in my gym till another can dethrone it. It is an absolute tank of a bench, is perfectly comfortable and designed to fit my particular needs and the needs of a majority of home gym users out there. At $699 I am not sure it does enough to exclusively stick out from the rest of the pack unless like me you really want the specific features this offers like the overall shorter profile, 11inch pad width, lighter perceived and easier to move bench weight, and insane stability.
Improvements
Now the only real improvement that would take this bench to the next level would be either a built in or add on dedicated upright storage stand like the other comparable benches in this category. Again, maybe this was intentional since this is geared for a commercial setting where people A.) don’t stand up their benches and B.) it could technically be considered some sort of insurance risk or liability if it fell over. For what it’s worth though, you can 100% and I definitely do stand it up when it’s not in use, just resting on the back pad, because the gravitational weight of the bench holds it from going anywhere, and because of the weight distribution I am not worried about it tipping over unless you really forcefully pushed it. Just know that this one just doesn’t have a dedicated stand built in.
Signoff:
So guys that’s it for this review on the XMARK Black Diamond thank you for checking out this review and as always if you have any questions please comment down below and I will be happy to answer or at least try. Please subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already and stay tuned for some more great reviews coming soon along with some cool athletic and comfortable clothing merch. If you are interested in purchasing the bench, please use the link in the YouTube video description to support the channel. Thank you for tuning into The Jungle Gym Reviews, we will see you next time, take it easy, peace.
-Michael @The Jungle Gym Reviews
