One of the most essential items every home gym should have is an adjustable workout bench. An adjustable bench enables you to do a full body workout, whether you’re a weight lifter or simply doing core exercises. It can be challenging finding the right bench for your needs as the price and features can vary quite a bit. With home-gym setup being a necessity these days, our search for an affordable, well built, and stowable bench led us to the Flybird Incline/Decline workout bench (model #FB-17YLD002). Flybird offers a variety of workout benches on Amazon, and the one we choose is currently one of their best sellers. With a claimed 620lb capacity, 1 year warranty and steel construction the bench offers a lot of value at a sale price of only $189.79 while the retail price is listed as $309.99 with free shipping.
The Flybird bench is quite competitive at the listed price especially when you compare it to more popular brands like Bowflex and Rep Fitness. One of the primary reasons we chose this bench over the lower cost benches from Flybird and other brands is the sliding collar design for the front and rear adjustment points of the bench. This design is closer to what you’ll find in most gyms and has more stability than the lower cost notch/hook variations. However, the photoshopped baby elephant in the listing plus the lack of direct website or contact information for Flybird may make you hesitant to pick this up for yourself. Let’s see if this is another cheap imported bench or something worth investing in.
The Flybird adjustable weight bench offers both incline and decline positions at an affordable price point
| Category | Fitness > Workout Bench |
| Rating | Design: A- Stability: A- Comfort: B+ Value: A |
| Retail Price | $309.99 (available for $189.79 at time of review) |
| Likes | + Stowable design + Multiple incline and decline positions + Well constructed |
| Dislikes | – Leg design could be improved – No wheels for easy movement – Wide bottom bench pad |
| Where to Buy (US) | Walmart |
UNBOXING
The Flybird adjustable bench arrives at your door nearly fully assembled and well packaged. Note the cardboard box has the model number FB-17YLD002 listed on it, which a quick googling brings up the Amazon as well as Alibaba listings. Inside the box you’ll find:
- Locking pin (with this removed, the bench can be folded into the storage position)
- Leg attachment
- Instruction manual
Note the instruction manual is fairly easy to follow as you only need to fold the bench flat and insert the pin. After you put the leg attachment on with the simple threaded bolt, the bench is ready to go. The instructions in the manual are particularly hilarious as they are poorly translated to English. One such instance is the sentence “The children and old people don’t use or touch this product, thi will occur accident.”
It’s also worth noting the label on our box says ‘NEW 2019 version” despite being listed on Amazon as “2020 version.” Based on the photos, the benches look identical which makes us think perhaps Flybird simply changes the Amazon listing title without changing the product.
FIT & FINISH
One of the main reasons we chose this Flybird model over other benches is the structural design of the bench. Constructed from rectangular steel, the structure of the bench has been designed well and has clean welds and a nice black gloss finish. The seat and backrest connect to the structure through a sliding collar design with a simple pin to hold it in place. This means there is less play at the connection points, giving the bench more stability than benches with a simple notch/hook design. The front and rear legs of the bench are simply round tubes with a cheap looking rubber cover at the ends. There are no mounting holes with this bench so you can’t bolt it down into place. Although we’d prefer a more robust leg design, these worked well enough even on slightly uneven ground.
Between the seat and seatpost, there is a large hinge point which allows the seat and backrest to be pivoted independently of one another. It also allows the bench to be folded for a more compact storage position. We highly recommend not holding that portion of the bench, especially when folding or pivoting the seat or backrest as it’s easy to cut yourself (guess how we found out). Otherwise, we found it easy to adjust the positions of the seat and backrest by removing and inserting the pin. The bench has the ability to accommodate 7 backrest positions: flat, 2 decline and 4 incline positions. Additionally the seat has 3 positions which is useful when doing exercises in the decline position. We really like this multi-function design as it allows the bench to function as a flat bench, incline bench, as well as a decline bench with a few quick adjustments.
This model of the Flybird adjustable bench is also stowable which is nice as it allows you to tuck the bench away when not being used. If you don’t have a dedicated home gym area, this is an invaluable feature. To fold the bench, you simply need to pull the center pin out, which allows the bench to fold in half at the connection point between the seat and backrest. Unlike other benches which have small wheels, the Flybird needs to be carried around which makes it a bit awkward to move around. However, the bench is quite light as well, so it’s easy to carry around and move. We found the stowed position to be very useful and allowed us to tuck the bench away when not in use.
STABILITY
Whether your bench pressing a few hundred pounds or just doing low-weight and high-rep exercises, the last thing you want to happen is fall off the bench or have the bench itself collapse. Should you believe the photoshopped baby elephant on the Amazon listing and the claimed 620lb weight capacity, the Flybird bench should be sufficient for everyone except maybe bodybuilders. While we can’t confirm the weight capacity, the steel construction and design of the bench makes us willing to believe it. Although the bench has some slight flex, especially if you are on an uneven surface during workouts we found it felt stable even in incline/decline positions. The bench is 21” off the ground which is taller than the typical 18” bench. This makes it feel like you are really far off the ground, and results in a larger drop if you want to drop your weights when doing exercises.
COMFORT
Flybird lists the bench as using 2” of soft foam padding with leather coverings on both the backrest and seat. Although we doubt its real leather, the coverings have a familiar leather grain and feel soft and well designed. We found that the padding feels supportive without being overly soft. The thick foam on the leg extension also works well when bracing yourself for core exercises or using the decline position. Unlike benches with narrow-tip seats, this one is quite wide. This makes it harder to stabilize yourself with your legs or do certain workouts. Otherwise, it’s easy to adjust both the seat and backrest for incline or decline positions which is enough to accommodate most workouts.
THE VERDICT
Overall, we found the Flybird adjustable workout bench to be well designed that provides a lot of value. The available 7 backrest positions and 3 seat positions make it easy to do a wide variety of exercises without the need for more equipment. With the folding design, it’s also easy to stow the bench away if you don’t have a dedicated workout area. Although the steel structure and sliding collar adjustment design feels well built, we do wish the leg design was improved and that the bench was a bit shorter than the 21” height. The lack of boxed in welds at some of the structural points means we wouldn’t recommend this bench for those doing heavier weights (near the 620lb listed capacity). Nevertheless, we think this model of the Flybird offers a more professional build quality and stability that is hard to beat at the current price point.
Disclaimer: The views expressed on this website are solely those of the authors and are here to help people make an informed choice before a purchase. The authors or the blog itself does not get any monetary compensation from the product manufacturer or third-party websites/vendor links that are posted here.