Complete FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine Review 2026

The FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine is a complete rings, weights, and pulley system designed to help you master both basic and advanced gymnastic techniques. Once you digest that lengthy single-sentence description, the appeal becomes clear. The FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine helps you learn exercises like the front lever, planche and even the Maltese. These are among the hardest Calisthenics exercises, typically requiring years of preparation to master. The FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine can shave off a lot of time for those techniques. We’ll review the complete FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine and what it can mean for you.

You can also watch my FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine Review on YouTube:

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About FitnessKit

FitnessKit is a German company that produces high-end (and we mean really high-end) Calisthenics equipment. Almost all of their products are modular and can be connected, creating complete Calisthenics parks. We are big fans of FitnessKit products for their stability, quality and durability. In this article, though, we’ll look at a separate product of theirs that doesn’t belong to their modular line. That means whatever qualities that modular line has, do not necessarily or automatically apply to the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine.

First Look at the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine

The FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine consists of several parts:

• 6x carabiners
• 4x half-meter ropes
• 2x 1.6-meter ropes with pulleys
• 2x 32mm Gymnastic Rings
• 2x straps for the gymnastic rings
• A chest rig

Once we had it in place, the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine reminded me a little of those stunt performance harnesses. A missing but crucial component would be Ceiling Hooks, although you can also use the half-meter ropes looped around a Pull-Up Bar as an anchor point. The FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine works best with Ceiling Hooks and ample space around the exercise area.

You can hang the Gymnastic Rings with the shorter ropes at the end of the longer pulley ropes. The rings also come with standard numbered straps, so you can use them completely separately from the Dream Machine setup. Another option is to combine the rings with their normal straps and hang weights on the pulley system. Then you can train your ring exercises, while the pulley system takes away some of your bodyweight.

The rings have the 32mm CrossFit standard grips, which are ideal for push and lever exercises, which is what the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine is primarily meant for. The wooden surface feels nice and helps retain a good grip on things, even when it gets sweaty.

The components of the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine itself look heavy-duty and sturdy. The ropes are of good quality and a tight weave, and the belt also looks sturdy. The carabiners and the wheels and bearings of the pulleys are also of sufficient gauge. The ends of the ropes have a rubber cover over them that might help prevent fraying. I do wonder if the ropes won’t wear out after some time being run through the pulleys time and time again. That said, you can find similar rope at the hardware store, and it wouldn’t cost much to replace worn-out ropes. 

The belt and chest rig have some good padding on the inside, and the front is closed with double carabiners for added security. They also seem to be of an even higher standard, so they are unlikely to ever come loose. The leg straps are also padded to prevent cutting into your thighs. A small elastic band connects the two leg straps. I wasn’t sure why they connected them like this at first, but maybe this is a way to keep the straps better in place and prevent them from creeping up or down your leg. 

Putting the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine On

Open the chest rig and step through the leg-strap loops. Make sure you’re facing the right way, with the backside of the chest rig on your back. Pull the belt up to around your natural waist (not your hips). Close the buckle on your left side. Then you can pull the belt as tight as you want it with the strap that comes out of the buckle you just closed.

Now fasten the buckle on your right side and tighten any slack in your belt and leg straps as needed. Go for a snug fit, but prevent cutting off your circulation. With a snug fit, the system will settle around you on its own once you put your weight on it.

Testing the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine

With no weight added, the pulley system will take away half your bodyweight through the mechanics of physics alone. A small disclaimer here: we are not gymnasts. As Calisthenics practitioners, we are used to the Gymnastic Rings, but we focus more on strength-building exercises and not so much on showcasing techniques.

We invited our friend and Calisthenics athlete, Valdas, who has a lot more experience with these advanced techniques. However, he does not have much experience with these techniques on Gymnastic Rings. That makes his opinion on the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine very valuable.

During our tests, we found out a few things. First, it’s very easy to come to the end of your rope (literally) with many exercises. You’ll quickly start to see the rubber ends being fed into the pulleys. This can and will damage the rubber caps. While testing out the basics, we also found that the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine forces you into an unnatural position.

Dips, for instance, become a completely different exercise as the harness pulls your hips up and makes you lean forward too much. For pull-ups, the rings are too close to the floor, and the pulley ropes tend to chafe over your shoulders when you’re doing muscle-ups.

Where the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine shines is with lever-based exercises. There, it can shave off valuable exercise time to master these techniques. Specifically, if you are already an advanced athlete but don’t have much experience with the rings, the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine can help you adjust much more quickly than when you have to start over with reps or time under tension. 

Even then, the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine has some limitations. Individual exercises like front levers and even the Maltese work fine. But if you want to practice transitions, the pulley ropes do often get in the way of a clean execution. This is only for specific transitions where you have to squeeze your body through the pulley ropes, but for other transitions (for instance, an iron cross into a Maltese), there is no such complication.

Adding Weight to Your Exercise

The opposite option you have with the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine is to add weight rather than remove it. For this, you use the normal straps on the gymnastic rings, and you add weight plates to the pulley ropes instead. 

This makes the exercises a lot harder, but also makes progression easier. The pulley takes half the weight away from both you and the weights you add. Depending on the difference between the two ends, this either still takes weight away from you or makes the exercise harder. This makes the whole system noticeably less stable, though. Once either end (you or the weight) is moving in its direction, you are also fighting that momentum.

Another thing to keep in mind is to hang the weights far enough away from your body. This means a second set of Ceiling Hooks at a minimum. If the weights are too close to your body, you will hit them with your hands with exercises where you push out to your sides (like an iron cross or Maltese).

You can also practice your Parallettes exercise with added weights. In that case, the weights act as a counterbalance, making push exercises like handstand push-ups a lot easier to practice.

Pricing Overview of the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine

Here is the pricing for the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine, along with our CWW10 discount. 

	Regular Price	CWW10 Discount Price (est.)
FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine	€198,00	€178,20

We believe that most people interested in the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine would already own a set of Gymnastic Rings. Unfortunately, FitnessKit only offers the Lift Dream Machine with the rings and straps included. It would be nice if they offered a variant without rings and straps, which would save a little on the price.

Conclusions About the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine

Overall, this is a high-quality product, as we have come to expect from FitnessKit. The FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine is a useful tool for mastering more advanced gymnastics exercises and some forms of competitive Callisthenics. Specifically, advanced lever-based techniques such as the Maltese and iron cross are areas where the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine can help. For the already advanced athlete who already knows the technique but not on Gymnastic Rings, this is certainly a great tool.

If you only use your bodyweight, your progression is very limited. The pulley system takes nearly half of your bodyweight away, and you’ll never build up the strength to graduate to just the rings. For that, you will eventually need to add weight plates to the system and use the rings with straps instead. Part of that is included in the package (the rings and straps), but the weight plates you will have to buy separately. Don’t forget to buy a pair (two pairs if you want to use the weights) of Ceiling Hooks as well, though.

All in all, this is a specific tool for a specific goal. We can recommend the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine if you want to get used to advanced exercises using the Gymnastic Rings or Parallettes. We also recommend this product for the advanced athlete who already knows the techniques, just not on the rings. In both cases, the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine can shave months off preparatory workouts.

If you’d like your own FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine, make sure to use our discount code CWW10 for 10% off the checkout price.

Frequently Asked Questions About the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine

Here are a few more frequently asked questions about the FitnessKit Lift Dream Machine: