Introduction

The RitFit BLP02 – AKA The Gazelle Pro - is a 3-in-1: Leg Press, Hack Squat, and Calf Raise. Of these 3 things: it does some things well, and some things not so well. However, depending upon your height, these shortcomings can be overcome.

It is important to note the current price of the product before we get started. As I am reviewing a given product, I am looking at it through the lens of: are you getting what you are paying for? So here is the bottom line: if you are looking for commercial quality features – Commercial quality pads, commercial quality bearings, commercial quality powder coat, etc…LOOK ELSEWHERE. It is not commercial quality. However, if you are looking for a great value, then the BLP02 may be exactly what you are looking for.

It is currently (as of Jan 2025) retails for $1359, but it ON SALE for $1199 - and then when you apply my PROMO CODE (RFDESIGN) - it takes more money off…..but TAXES add another $94….so at the end of the day (FREE SHIPPING) you are looking at about $1175. You are not going to get commercial quality for $1175 – unless you are buying USED. Keep that in mind.

Is $1175 a good deal? I think so. The Leg Press alone is very nice. I would pay $1175 for THIS Leg Press alone. But when you throw in the Hack Squat and Calf Raise - it’s just icing on the cake. That being said, the machine is not for everyone. If you are short, the Hack Squat is not ideal. Further, of the 3 calf raise options - I really only LOVE one of the the 3 options. I will delve into this more…so keep reading!

Dimensions

The RitFit Gazelle Pro BLP02 – is RITFIT’s newer beefier leg press. It is bigger and beefier than their more compact/cheaper leg Press - the BLP01.

The BLP02 Dimensions are :

31.25” WIDE in the FRONT
48.2” wide in the REAR
59.5” WIDE with the detachable HORNS
86.4” LONG
57.8” TALL.
Therefore, it does much more space than the BLP01.

The Lower Foot Plate is 30” by 22.5”, and it has four adjustment options. The Upper Foot Plate is approximately 16” x 25.5” and it has three adjustment angles (in addition to lying flat).

The advertised Static Load weight capacity is 2000 pounds, and the advertised Dynamic Load weight capacity is 1300 pounds.

It has 4 weight horns. The two weight horns on the sides are detachable. They are powder-coated and have 11.5” of loadable sleeve space. Since they are powder coated, bear in mind that they will get scratched up from regular use. The two lower weight horns are not detachable. These lower weight horns have a stainless steel finish, and have about 11” of loadable sleeve space. I wish all 4 weight horns were stainless steel, but if I could only have ONE set be stainless steel – I wish the detachable ones on top were stainless. This is due to the fact that they are going to get the most use – because loading these weight horns is easier than crouching down to load the lower weight horns.

It has resistance band pegs below, and up top. You can use the lower resistance band pegs to add accommodating resistance as you press upwards, and you can use the upper resistance band pegs to do “reverse banding” – where it becomes easier as the sled travels downward.

BLP01 VS. the BLP0202

Now the BLP01 is much cheaper, and regularly sells for about $700 (but is on sale for as low as about $620). While that machine is certainly not perfect, having a leg press in your home gym for less than $700 is awesome. The primary criticism of the compact BLP01 was that while the hack squat Range of Motion (ROM) was sufficient for most people, there were noted ROM limitations on the leg press for shorter people. That, however, is easily remedied by adding an additional pad, whether that’s a yoga mat, balance pad, drop pad, etc. to the provided back pad. The required thickness of this additional pad depends on how short you are. The shorter you are, the thicker the pad needs to be.

The BLP02 Gazelle Pro has the OPPOSITE issue, where the leg press will offer a very nice ROM to just about height, but the hack squat on the BLP02 has ROM issues. However, this too can also be easily remedied….but we will cover those specifics later in the article.

The foam grips on the BLP02 are slightly more durable than the rubber grips on the BLP01, but still probably will not last forever.

The BLP01 has two plate storage horns, which were for vertical loading of plates only. However, the BLP02 has 4 detachable (and horizontal) weight storage horns. This is a fantastic upgrade. This makes loading and unloading plates very convenient. The BLP02’s plate storage horns have about 7.5” of loadable space on the sleeves.

The BLP02’s back pad is much thicker and denser than the BLP01’s back pad, and the upper “shoulder” pads are also denser than the BLP01. However, the BLP02’s padding is still not “commercial quality.” The quality is, however, consistent with other budget-friendly options out there.

The adjustment of the BLP02’s upper foot plate uses a high-quality metal pop pin. However, the adjustment on the lower foot plate is kind of a pain. Instead of a pop pin (like you get with the BLP01), it is adjusted by having to “rock” the foot plate forward/backward - but also having to remove/add a band peg which is inserted through square tubing and metal brackets. It is not quick/easy to make these adjustments. Having said that, I almost never adjust the foot plate. I usually keep it in its most upright position – to address ROM issues which we will get into in a moment.

Shipping & Assembly

The BLP02 came in three boxes, and it was very easy to assemble. The instructions say it’s a two-man job, and while having two people assemble it would be easier/faster, it did it by myself in about 3.5 - 4 hours.

It was packed pretty well, but there were a few scratches here and there. Again - the powder coat is not commercial quality, but is consistent with all other budget brands. Whether it’s RitFit, Major Fitness, Mikolo, GMWD, Syedee, etc. - I have never received a product from any of these budget-friendly companies that was 100% pristine with no scratches. It’s the nature of dealing with these budget friendly options – the powder coating is never going to be “commercial quality” and they save money by shipping in as few boxes as possible. So – you should expect a few scratches.

I did run into a few issues during assembly. I cover of all them in detail in the video - so I will not waste your time going into here (i.e., safety limiter tube, broken plastic caps, wrong sized caps on the upper footplate’s square tubing, bottom seat upside down).

As I also extensively cover in the video, the major issue with the sled’s rollers. 4 of the 8 rollers that allow the sled to travel up/down the guide rods were the wrong size. This lead to a scraping sound, and too much play on the sled, HOWEVER, I reached out to RitFit and they sent me 4 new rollers. I swapped out the lower 4 rollers with these new larger rollers, and this remedied the situation. Now the machine is super smooth. In the video, I also detail how to determine if you have the wrong-sized rollers, and if you do - how to replace them with the correct rollers.

Leg Press

For context I am 5’11”. When I was in the Army I was measured very often – for every Physical Fitness Test I was either measured at 6’1” or 6 foot even. However, I just had a doctor’s appointment – and I was just measured (twice) at 5’11”. I have now shrunk and I am out of the 6 foot tall club. I bring this up so that we can talk about ROM.

With the lower foot plate at its most forward setting and the upper foot plate at its most forward setting….there is only a 12.5” gap from the top of the back pad to the upper foot plate (with 36” left to spade on the guide rods). Therefore, unless you are a toddler OR a LITERAL GIANT– you will not have any ROM issues on the Leg Press. Great ROM. No Issues.

Hack Squat

The Hack squat on the other hand, is where we do have some issues.

Front-Facing Hack Squats

For Front facing hack squats, I do have a ROM issue. At 5’11” and I am too short to get a full ROM. Even with the lower foot plate at its most-forward position, I bottoming out. I still need 1.5” inches before I get a full ROM. I fixed this by adding two layers of ¾” horse stall mats…Problem solved. You could also fix this by adding bumper plates, building a wooden platform to sit on top of the foot plate….or just rolling up a yoga mat.

So with this fix (5’11” plus 1.5” of mat), I do get a full ROM and I still have 9.5” left on the guide rods. So If I am extrapolating here: These heights require no modifications and you still have the noted amount of space on the guide rods.

Therefore, you have to be at least 6-foot ½” to get a full ROM with no modifications needed. At that height you would still have 9.5” left on the guide rods….so unfortunately since most people are well under 6-foot ½” most people will need to make modifications to get a FULL ROM.

Since not all people of the same height will have the same ROM (due to length of legs/torso ratio….and general flexibility) I am merely extrapolating here. So - GENERALLY SPEAKING- this is what you would have to add to the THICKEN footplate (when it is at its most forward setting) to get a full ROM:

SO BOTTOM LINE: If you are taller, then this machine may work for you -- with slight modification. However, if you are on the shorter side, the hack squat is probably not for you. If you are 5’2” you could build something approximately 10.5” thick (probably out of wood)…but do you really want to have to do that when you are paying over $1000? Probably not.

Rear-Facing Hack Squats

Now let’s talk about rear facing hack squats. To do this you will leverage the upper shoulder pads. Since these pads are roughly since 6” higher than the lower shoulder pads — this means that you will hit the bottom 6” sooner. In other words, the ROM here is EVEN WORSE than the front-facing Hack Squat.

You would have to be 6’ 6.5” or taller to get a full ROM with this exercise. Therefore, the rear-facing hack squat is not going to work for 99.9”% of the population.

Calf Raises

To set up for the calf raise - there are multiple ways to do this: 1) Front- facing, 2) Rear facing and 3) Lying-Seated… …..Let’s start with Front facing….

Front-Facing Calf Raises

To execute the Front-facing Standing Calf Raise, put your shoulders on the lower shoulder pads (like we did for the Front-Facing Hack Squat) - and exercise! Without a calf block, you will not get a full stretch. Unfortunately, this unit does not come with one. So you will need to buy one or make one. Even if you have already have one - it will probably slip around on the lower all-metal foot plate. Therefore, I recommend putting down some horse stall mat on top of the lower foot plate. This will prevent your calf block from slipping around.

Rear-Facing Calf Raises

To execute the Rear-facing Standing Calf Raise, put your shoulders on the upper shoulder pads (like we did for the Rear-Facing Hack Squat) - and exercise! You can put your feet on the back edge of the foot plate (heels dangling off the edge) to get a full stretch.

However, this is not as smooth as the Front-Facing Calf Raise. With the Rear-Facing Calf Raise, I feel that the sled’s 8 rollers are not all being engaged uniformly. Since you are applying upwards pressure against the upper shoulder pads, you are also applying leverage against the sled. Therefore, perhaps the top two sets (especially the rollers on TOP of the Guide Rods) are more engaged than the bottom sets of rollers (Note: This is merely a theory based on how it feels).

Lying-Seated Calf Raises

My favorite! To execute the Lying-Seated Standing Calf Raise, set up just like you are doing a leg press, and exercise! Place your feet against the bottom of the upper foot plate. This works great. You get a full stretch, and all 8 rollers are being uniformly engaged.

Conclusion

All right so let’s sum up:

Leg press: Great! NO worries about ROM. Foot plates are large. Great Value. This alone makes this a great purchase!
Front-Facing Hack Squat: If you are short, this probably will not work for you. If you are somewhat tall – if will still work (like it does for me) for you as long as you build up the foot plate with wood, mats, bumper plates, etc. And if you are really tall, it will work great for you with no modifications .
Rear-Facing Hack Squat: For 99.9% of us, this will not work.
Front Facing Calf Raise: Good., but a calf block makes it better.
Rear Facing Calf Raise: Not Smooth, but it works.
Lying Calf Raise: Works great. No calf Block Required.

If you think the BLP02 is right for you, please consider making that purchase via my shopping link HERE: https://bit.ly/DBL-BLP02 and save 10% with my unique promo code: RFDESIGN. When you shop via that link it costs you nothing extra and it helps support the channel. MUCH APPRECIATED!

RITFIT Gazelle Pro (BLP02)