Types of Home Gyms

Avoid Buying the Wrong Home Gym by Understanding the 3 Main Home Gym Choices

There are quite a few different types of home gyms. We at Home Gym Review offer the following classification of home gyms to help make it a little clearer.

We have divided home gyms into 3 categories

1. Free weight home gyms

• traditional

• power rack

• power cage

2. Machine home gyms

• traditional
• gliding gravity as resistance type
• power rod/bungee cord
• miscellaneous

3. Plate loaded machine home gyms

• smith machine
• combination smith machines
• machine home gyms without weight stacks

1. Free weight home gyms

Free weight home gyms are several pieces of unattached equipment used together when training. The weight that you lift is changed by manual removing or adding weight to the bar you are using. Following are the different subcategories

Traditional Free Weight Home Gyms

These are the most common. They usually consist of at least the following

• barbell - a long bar for 2 handed exercises
• 2 dumbbells - short bars for single handed exercises
• weight plates - circular discs with a central hole for loading onto the barbell or dumbbells
• collars - to stop the weight plates from falling of the barbell or dumbbells
• bench - for lying or sitting on during exercises
• rack - a stand on either side of the bench for resting the barbell on between exercises

Power Rack Free Weight Home Gyms

A power rack is a free standing rack used to rest a barbell on between lifts. It is usually used for heavy exercises such as squats or dead lifts. For example, when squatting the lifter stands upright under the barbell with their legs slightly bent. The centre of the barbell is resting along the top of their back. They then straighten their legs to lift the barbell of the rack, step back and then squat. When finished the lifter steps forward and places the barbell back onto the rack.

Power Cage

A power cage is used the same as a power rack. However the shape is different. The sides of a power cage are rectangular such that the ends of the barbell extend through the rectangle on either side. This means the lifter is limited in how far they can move forward or backward.

2. Machine home gyms

Machine home gyms are usually several different pieces of training equipment which are all part of a single steel framed structure. Following are the different subcategories

Traditional

These are the most common. They usually consist of at least the following

• bench - now days usually upright

• press - press arms for doing pressing/pushing exercises

• lat pulldown - overhead cable and pulley system attached to wide bar

• low row - ground level cable and pulley system usually attached to shorter bar of handle

• leg extension - usually located at front of bench

• leg curl - also usually located at front of bench

• weight stack - composed of several plates of metal stacked on top of each other. The amount you lift is changed by moving a steel pin to include or exclude more plates from your load

Gliding, Gravity as Resistance Type

These type of gyms don't really have a consistent name that Home Gym Review could find. So we have given them a description rather than a name. Probably the easiest way to describe them is to say "Total Gym". Everyone must have seen the Chuck Norris and Christy Brinkley infomercial by now.

If you haven't Home Gym Review will explain. These gyms are a gliding board on an incline adjustable steel frame. You sit/lye on the gliding board and pull on cables which are attached to the board via pulleys. As you pull the board glides up the steel frame, carrying your body weight as the load. They are light and can be folded away.

Power Rod/Bungee Cord

"Bowflex". Does that explain it?

Instead of using a metal weight stack as the load it uses power rods. As you push of pull on the bar, power rods which are connected to the bar via cables bend. The rigid rod of course resists being bent and thereby creates resistance.

Cheaper models such as the "Bandflex" use the same principle except that instead of bending power rods you are stretching bungee cords.

Miscellaneous

There are lots of different devices calling themselves gyms that don't really deserve their own sub-category.

For example wall gyms, door gyms, elastic rope sets and aqua bells. Not to mention the many many ab machines.

3. Plate Loaded Machine Home Gyms

The gyms in this category are a combination of free weights and machines. They are machines without weights stacks. Therefore these machines must be loaded and unloaded manually using weight plates like those used on free weight gyms

Smith Machine

Smith machines are similar to power racks or power cages but in machine form. The load is placed on a barbell which follows 2 vertical guide rods. The guide rods prevent movement in any direction except up and down

Combination Smith Machine

Combination smith machines are smith machines that include some of the features of a traditional machine home gym. For example a lat pulldown, pec dec and low row. Some even include a power rack or power cage.

Machines Home Gyms without Weight Stacks

These are a machine home gym except they have no weight stack. Instead weight plates are added or subtracted from the machine manually

OK, now you are ready to ask yourself the 4 most important questions you must ask yourself before deciding Which Gym to buy