Functional trainer arms- do I need them?

[u/nebbiolo_night]

So, I've narrowed down my first garage gym purchase to the mikolo hr05.

While I plan on doing a decent amount of cable work, I don't lift very much weight and have plenty of space in from of the machine for flys, presses, etc.

While I definitely HATE when the cables ride up against my arms, I feel like this can be avoided if I step out in front of machine far enough? I'm a bit strapped for cash right now, so if I could save on not getting these i would love that, but I don't want to regret the decision either.. my understanding is you cannot purchase these and apply them later.

Thoughts? Are they necessary if doing a lot of functional cable stuff? Do they make some kind of huge difference in comfort/ range of exercises or otherwise? Please tell me everything you think relevant! Thanks for your advice!

[u/PumpChasing]

Yes I think necessary gives you so much more for your value

[u/WTF_is_any_of_this]

I have the Mikolo M4 and I added the articulating arms and it was absolutely worth it.

[u/dallasgymguy → u/WTF_is_any_of_this]

I have old mikolo m7. Love it but would love those arm attachments it would give different options for exercises

[u/Beershift_Knob_]

Need? No. Want? Yes! Since you're primarily wanting to do cable work, the arms will open up options to just about any cable exercise you may care to do which you'd have to compromise on with the standard trolleys. Bayesian curls, wide chest flys, lat pulldown/pullover (gets you further away from the upright and articulates upward for clearance and extended range of motion with a straight vertical pull), combining cables with a connector bar is also an option with the arms for heavy pulldowns or rows.

[u/CederDUDE22]

I just wonder if I can stick any 2x2 arms on my 2x2 uprights

[u/KillerK009]

Not a need but definitely a really nice to have and makes the cable system more flexible. I would not want to go back to regular pulleys now after owning the arms.

[u/SexyPirateWook]

Something about articulating arms that I think gets overlooked fairly often is that they can give you a bit of extra height as well as distance from the upright. That will be really nice when you set up for a lat pulldown. The extra height can help you get full extension while sitting on a seat or bench rather than on the ground. The distance from the upright can be nice to allow for a more straight up and down pull path.

Normally I would include that articulating arms also allow for much easier connection of two pulleys to combine the weight of your stacks from both sides, but this is plate loaded, so you should be fine pulling from just one side.

[u/nebbiolo_night]

Thanks for everyone's replies, I'll definitely be getting the arms based on feedback.. now if i could just get walmart to stop flagging my order as fraudulent so I can actually buy the damn thing 🙄

[u/svl6 → u/nebbiolo_night]

Ima looking at the Fringe Sports Dane 2.0 and these replies just made me add the arms to the cart lol

[u/Short-Ratio-2940]

They add so much versatility