Home Gym Buying Guide

Selecting the correct gym equipment is important as it is a big investment. If you make the right selection you will get years of satisfying training with great results, all in the convenience and comfort of your own home. Make the wrong selection and you will end up with an expensive clothes hanger.

The following items need to be considered when procuring a gym:

1) Functionality - does it offer good quality exercises that deliver results?

2) Quality - is it manufactured with the necessary quality and durability to withstand hard and consistent training?

3) Space - work out your footprint for your gym

4) Budget

Functionality for Home Gym Equipment.

In my opinion the key aspect of procuring a gym is that if you hit the weights hard, eat right and take care of yourself, you will get results. If your gym does not allow you to do the major compound exercises like squats, bench press, lat pulldowns, rows etc then you are not only wasting your money you are also wasting the time you have spent training. Isolation exercises are great for shaping existing muscle. But if you don't have enough existing muscle you need to focus on doing compound exercises to build your base strength and muscle mass.

You now have to work out whether you want to go the free weight or machine home gym route. When I refer to free weights I mean training the old fashioned way with a power rack, barbells and dumbbells. In regards to home fitness gyms, you will have to decide between a traditional cable style gym and a leverage multi gym.

Before you decide on whether to go free weight or a machine, you will need to think about what you are trying to get out of your weight training. If you just want to be fit and healthy and are not too fussed with greatly improving your size and strength a home gym will be the best option. Alternatively if you want to build strength or bulk up then a power rack will be the best bet. If you want to build strength and add muscle mass but can't stand free weight exercises then a leverage home gym is the go.

In recent years there has been an avalanche of cheap cable home gyms hitting the market out of China. While some exercises like lat pulldowns or seated rows are great in cable format the majority of the exercises, and in some cases all the exercises on these cheaper gym are just rubbish. Many times these gyms are just replicated from photographs by factories where the people building them don't have any interest in weight training. So it looks like a home gym, but the exercises feel weird and can sometimes been downright dangerous. Give cheap gyms the swerve!

There are very good quality cable home gyms on the market but they are nearly always restricted to the weight stack that is on the gym. Some gyms only have 200lb or 90kg stacks. Many gyms have a mechanical advantage - the arrangement of the pulleys mean that you can lift 90kgs of weight with only 60kg of force. That might amaze your friends when you show them how strong you are but sooner or later you will get on some proper gym equipment and look like a turkey!

Another factor with good quality cable gyms is that they often don't have quality compound exercises. In particular a flat bench press or squat. Seated presses, pec decs, leg extensions and leg curls are good but are no substitute for bench press and squats. They are great for convenience, just put the pin in the weight stack and away you go. You need to work out whether you want to do weight training or not.

Home Gym Quality

Gym equipment needs to be robust. If you are a committed weight trainer you will be training up to 5 times a week and lifting serious weight. Your gym equipment needs to reflect your commitment. A cheaper home gym simply does not have the feel and quality required for serious weight training.

I have seen it so many times; people try and cut corners when buying gym equipment and the following happens:

1) You lose the passion for training as you don’t warm to the cheap feel of an inferior gym.

2) Their training is not adequate. They won't train key body parts like legs because they don't have the tools to do it.

3) The gym dies and collects dust in the garage

4) End up selling the cheap gym and buying a quality gym - losing coin in the process.

Although quality gym equipment seems expensive it is actually a smart investment. Buy the right gym and it will give you a lifetime of training plus great results. Plus you will save a fortune on gym fees.

A good quality Leverage gym like the Powertec Leverage Gym or Powertec Multi System allows you to perform many exercises with safety like cable home gyms.

Space

This is an issue for most people. There are two factors that you need to consider when selecting your gym equipment.

Firstly you have to work out how much space you are willing to set aside for your home gym. Once again you will have to determine how dedicated you are to your training. Remember that you will be training regularly so it might worth sacrificing your collection of crap in your garage/spare room that has not been used in years.

Parking the car in the driveway may also be considered.

But in reality for most the amount of space will be determined by the missus.

With your home gym area worked out, now comes the fun part selecting the gym equipment to fill the space. Don't make the common mistake of getting carried away and trying to cram in as much as possible. Training in an overcrowded gym is no fun.

I always advise that you go with a little less than try and fit too much in your home gym. Take into consideration that you need to focus on your compound movements to get results and Sam's Fitness has several different packages that can achieve this result without taking up much space at all. The Ironmaster range is perfect for when space is at a premium.

Budget

I mentioned previously the investment aspect of buying a home gym. I hate using terms like that because everyone seems to use it these days. But as I have said many times before if you train with weights consistently you will get benefits. Training at home is much more convenient for most people so it will help with your consistency.

You need to take into consideration how much you will be spending on gym memberships over the coming years.

As above you will most probably need approval from the wife or girlfriend - good luck. 

Hopefully this article has given you some ideas on your home gym. Feel free to contact us directly if you need a hand with planning. We get a lot our business through referrals from previous customers so we know we are doing something right.