Best Home Gyms

Home Gyms
For Small Areas

"Best home gyms under $1000?"

Click Here If You Don't Have Time To Read The Review

I get asked the above question a lot because $1000 seems to be a popular budget limit for home gyms shoppers.

There are some very cheap home gyms on the market like Mia Finnegan's Full Circuit Trainer or Lifeline by Bodytrends, but these aren't really home gyms in the sense of a multi-functional machine for serious training (both of those home gyms are reviewed on this site).

I recently discovered a great machine, which in my opinion are not only the best home gyms for anyone with limited space, but one of the best home gyms under $1000, period.

I'm talking about the LC-518 by Lifecore Fitness. It has one of the smallest footprint of all 'real home gyms' on the market, and it has an innovative press arm design which makes it very versatile (ie. lots more exercises than standard home gyms).

Equipment

• Frame. 2"x2" powder coated, scratch and chip proof, 12 guage steel frame with lifetime warranty.
  
  
• Cables. 2200lb tested, nylon coated, high tensile Air Craft cable with lifetime warranty. (2000lbs is standard on home gyms.)
  
  
• Pulleys and bearings. Commercial grade fiberglass reinforced pulleys. Sealed, dustproof, 'maintenance free' bearing housings. Also both with lifetime warranty.
  
  
• Weight stack. Rubber coated 210 lb weight stack with stack gaurds (rubber coating is an important feature, read 'Pros' below to learn why).
  
  
• Telescoping seat pad with nylon sleeve (height adjustable).
  
  Anyone who has trained in a commercial gym long enough has experienced the frustration of an adjustable seat that won't budge. I used to use a shoulder press that practically required a dead-lift to raise the seat. It is a nice touch to include the nylon sleeves inside the telescoping system to keep the movement smooth and firm. Enough small inconveniences on any machine and you will train less often guaranteed.
  
  
• Telescoping back pad with nylon sleeve (adjust to suit leg length). Too many home gyms don't have an adjustable back pad, it is an easy feature to incorporate and very important for achieving a safe (for your back) position when seated.
  
  Seat and back pad are made from 2-1/2" high density foam and double stitched (not stapled) vinyl covering (stapled pads will peel, 100% guaranteed).
  
  
• Self aligning leg extension. Expect to see this technology featured more on the best home gyms. It is an ingenious but remarkably simply system which immediately aligns the leg pads to the best position on your shin when doing leg extensions.
  
  Poorly fitting leg pads have always been 'par-for-the-course' when it comes to leg extension because even if you get a good starting position, the pad rides up your shin as you extend your knee. That doesn't happen on this system.
  
  You can also do standing, 1-leg hamstring curls (back of thigh)
  
  
• Lat pulldown with padded lat bar. Standard on nearly all home gym machines. But the LC-518 has a thigh anchor whereas home gym machines in this class usually have no thigh anchor, meaning you can't lift heavy without lifting off the seat. Lift the whole stack on the LC-518 if you like, no problem.
  
  
• Low cable. Every gym should have a low cable and high cable (lat pulldown). Low cables are good for bicep curls (front of arm), upright rows (shoulders), cable rows (back) and many more.
  
  
• Seated row. This is one of the reasons why I call the LC-518 one of the best home gyms in their class. The press arms on this machine are very versatile (I'll get to them soon). Combined with the telescopic back pad, you can set up the machine for seated rows. Usually machine rows are done sitting on the floor with a cable, very basic and not comfortable. Rows are very important for building thickness in your back (rhomboids and mid fibers of trapezius) and developing your rear delts (shoulders), one of the most overlooked of all bodyparts.
  
  
• Multi-functional press arms. Ok, now your about to understand the main reason why the LC-518 are the best home gyms in the $501-$1000 price range in terms of versatility and size.
  
  
  • Free Motion Technology. Attached to the press arms are 2 (one each side) 'Free Motion' arms that pivot on a multi-directional joint. These free motion arms allow you to determine the press direction. For example, by simply angling the arms upward you can do incline press, down for decline press and even start from a crucifix position and do a dumbbell chest fly (for the valley between your chest muscles).
    
    One of the biggest mistakes many beginning weight trainers do is concentrate too much on flat bench press. The problem is this exercise will primarily build size in your lower-outer pec (chest muscle) but not much for your upper and inner pec. This leads to an unbalanced look, I know because for the first 2 years I did nothing but flat.
    
    Eventually I looked like my pec was sagging because all the volume was lower and outer. To compensate I dropped flat bench and did only upper and inner pec work for 18 months before I had re-balanced my proportions.
    
    With any muscle group, you must hit it from several directions to get even growth and an appealing, attractive result. Nowadays I include something for upper, lower and inner pec in every chest workout. The Free Motion press arms on the LC-518 make it the only gym in it's price range with the versatility to hit pecs from every direction.
    
    
• Preacher bench (front of arm). Not strictly a preacher bench, but the thigh anchor for lat pulldowns can be raised up high enough to go under your arms, and seated, you lean over it to do preacher curls on the low pulley.
  
  
• Accessories
  
  
  • Padded revolving lat bar. What 'revolving' means is, the bracket that the cable clips to is actually able to spin around the bar.
    
    With many exercises the orientation of your hands will change as you move through the range of motion of the exercise (for example at the beginning your palms were facing away but by the end they are facing toward you). Problem is, with cable exercises the handle won't rotate with your hands because it's anchored to a cable, so your hands rotate around it. If it has textured grip its like gripping a blunt cheese grater while it rotates in your hand. A revolving bar however will move with your hands.
    
  • Revolving curl bar. A shorter straight bar with same revolving feature I just explained above.
    
    
  • 2 single hand straps. It is basically a single handle, but a strap rather than steel. Use them for one arm cable curls, one arm concentration curls (both on low cable), kneeling crunches, kneeling tricep extensions (on lat pulldown cable).
    
    But the best exercise you can do with these (and only these) is tricep pushdowns with full contraction. Triceps (back of arm) straighten the arm but also partially pronate your forearm (rotate thumbs in). Therefore a full contraction involves straightening the arm and pronating your forearm.
    
    Tricep pushdowns with straps (or rope) are the ONLY exercise that allow you to do this and the best exercise for bringing out the 'horseshoe' and striations. I used to take my own straps to the commercial-gym on triceps day because they didn't have any.
    
    Let me let you in on a secret
    • You cannot have big arms without BIG triceps, period. You know why? Because 2/3 of your upper arm volume is triceps, not biceps (which everybody thinks is the secret to big arms) but triceps.
      
      
  • Ankle strap. Use the ankle strap on the low cable for hip ab/adduction exercises (toning outer and inner thigh, very popular exercise with women)
    
    
  • 1 x 5lb weight plate and 1 x 2.5lb weight plate. This is a very clever approach to increasing the appeal and user friendliness of this gym.
    
    Each plate in the weight stack is 10lbs but for some people, this increment is too large. For example, if you are lifting 10 lbs but want to increase the load, the only choice you have is to add another 10lb plate from the stack, doubling the weight. But, with these 2 small plates you can increase the load by 2.5lbs at a time by simply adding them to the top of the stack (they are specially designed to fit).
    
    This is perfect for anyone who doesn't lift heavy and also for heavy lifters who want to lift the absolute maximum they can (you should always work to increase your lifts if you want to grow - even if it is only by 2.5lbs).
    
    
  • Exercise chart with 16 exercise illustrations
    
    
  • Free exercise video for training on the LC-518
    
    
  • Assembly manual.

Size

As I mentioned earlier, it is our opinion that the LC-518 are the best home gyms for anyone with limited space. Their footprint is tiny for a home gym with so much versatility.

Width - 33"
Length - 62"
Height - 82"
Weight - 400lbs (including weight stack)

Warranty

Lifetime warranty on everything. Yes I said everything, so that includes frame, cables, pulleys, bearings, upholstery - everything.

Pros

There are 4 stand out features on the LC-518 that make it a very attractive prospect for a home gym shopper.

1. Quality parts. They have to be if you want to offer a lifetime warranty on everything.
   
   
2. Lifetime warranty on everything. Only the manufacturers of the best home gyms are prepared to offer such a bold warranty with confidence.
   
   
3. Very small footprint. I'm often asked for advice about home gyms with a small footprint. In the past my favorite pick was the EXM-1500s by Body Solid (read my review to learn more).
   
   But, until I see somthing better, my recommendation will be for the LC-518 by Lifecore Fitness. In size these 2 home gyms are very similar, LC-518 is a little longer and the EXM-1500s is a little wider.
   
   But the the LC-518 has several advantages over the EXM-1500s including the size of its weight stack (210lbs vs. 160lbs) and its versatility thanks to the Free Motion press arms.
   
4. 'Free Motion' press arms. One of the most important considerations of any home gym is training options. You need to hit muscle groups from several different angles to develop an evenly proportioned physique.
   
   But perhaps even more importantly, you need a safeguard against boredom. Boredom will set in early if you don't have flexibilty in your training options. The Free Motion arms increase the potential of this gym by 30%.
   

Additional 'Pros' worthy of a mention are

• Seated row. Not usually seen on home gyms in this class. Usually the best you can hope for is a cable row while sitting on the floor, which you can do on this gym if you want anyway.
  
  
• Preacher bench. Not quite a preacher bench but gyms in this class usually only have straight cable curls (also available on this gym).
  
  
• Rubber coated weight plates. Machines with weight stacks are notoriously loud. If you have close neighbours or children trying to sleep it can cause problems. The rubber coating is a nice touch.

Cons

• I would like to see a set of steel D-handles, for exercises like cable concentration curls, included as free accessories. You can, however, pick them up cheap at a sports store.

Overall

LC-518 by Lifecore Fitness is well made, has the most exercises of any home gym in its class and a very small footprint for an equally small price.

Combine this with a life time warranty on everything and they are hard to beat.

They are my pick for best home gyms in this price range.

Sellers

Lifecore Fitness is one of the rare manufacturers that will sell direct from their warehouse.

Lifecore Fitness

- $999 ($300 below retail, lowest price anywhere)
- Free shipping and handling for 1st 100 customers (at time of writing this review)
- Free $50 training video for 1st 100 customers (at time of writing this review)