Home Gyms

If you go to a department store you will probably see home gyms for around $200 to $300. They look nice, how come G&G doesn't sell any gyms like that? Good question. G&G is dedicated to selling only quality equipment and a lot goes into building a quality home gym. A gym, more so than almost any other piece of exercise equipment, has many factors that determine it's quality and durability including factors such as the way it's built, the way it is designed to fit your body, the amount of space it takes up, how smooth it is, and the way it allows you to perform the exercises (called biomechanics). The following is a guide to the components of a gym to get you started and to help you know what to look for as you choose your gym.

Frames

One of the keys to a quality home gym is its frame. All quality home gyms are made out of steel. The lower the gauge of steel the better (generally 11 or 12). Also, the dimension of the steel used in the frame (2" x 2" or 3" x 2" generally) is important. How the frame is painted determines how well it will hold up to corrosive elements. The best frames will be electro-statically powder coated which prevents chipping and will help prevent rust better than regular paint. On a quality frame, all of the pivot points will use brass or bronze bushings. These bushings allow for the smoothest pivot between two pieces of metal.

Weight Stacks

How much weight the gym provides for you to lift is a main consideration as well as how many individual weight stacks are available on a gym. To build or maintain any considerable muscle mass in the chest, back and legs, a male typically needs a substantial amount of weight. Although home gyms are not truly designed for serious weight trainers, some gyms offer stacks that go as high as 250 lbs. and 300 lbs.

Because of the pulley and cable system used on a home gym, a gym with only one weight stack can only accommodate one person lifting weights at any given time. Of course, multiple users can take turns using the stack however, a home gym with more than one weight stack allows the customer to have more than one person working out at the same exact time. Typically, this is an important feature for larger families.

Whether or not a protective shroud surrounds the gyms weight stack is another consideration especially for those with small children. Weight shrouds protect you and any bystanders from getting pinched by the weight plates that are moving up and down. Shrouds also give the gym a more aesthetically pleasing look.

Guide Rods

The posts that the weight stack travels up and down as it's being used are called guide rods. The quality of the guide rod is one of the critical factors in determining the smoothness of the gym. All of the top-quality guide rods are chrome-plated steel. The chrome, working with the nylon bushings in the weight plates, offers the least amount of resistance as you work out. Lubricating the chrome with pure silicone (not oil-based silicone like WD-40) will make the resistance seem non-existent. All of the gyms that G & G Fitness offers have chrome-plated guide rods.

Cables

The quality of the home gym's cables is another critical factor in determining not only how smooth the gym is, but how safe it is over all as well. You measure a cable's toughness in tensile strength. The greater the lbs. of tensile strength, the better the cable. Most quality home gyms will have 2000lbs tensile strength cables (typically called aircraft cables because they are of the same quality as those used in airplanes). Cheap cables are not going to hold up as well and, of course, if the cable wears out as you are using the gym, serious injury may occur.

What the cable is coated with helps determine the smoothness of the gym as well. Nylon coating, as opposed to plastic, allows the cable to pass more smoothly over the pulleys and typically wears better as well.

By using a longer cable routing system, some home gyms can change the ratio of the weight plates lifted so that the resistance is actually heavier than the total weight of the plates. A gym with a 2:1 ratio means that when you are lifting 20 lbs of weight on the stack you are actually feeling 40 lbs of resistance. You will most typically see this feature built into leg presses. Legs are a very strong muscle group that can push much more than the 200lb to 250lb stack limits of most gyms. By doubling the ratio of the stack you can sufficiently work the legs.

Pulleys

Along with the guide rods, the quality of the pulleys is a critical factor in determining overall smoothness of a gym. The better the bearings, the more smoothly the pulley will spin. What the pulley is made of will help determine how easily the cable will pass over it as well. Nylon pulleys are the standard, plastic pulleys are sub-standard, and fiberglass reinforced nylon pulleys are superior.

The circumference of the pulley is important in terms of the wear and tear on the cables. The greater the diameter of the pulley, the less the cable will crimp around it, and consequently, the longer the cable will last.

A deep groove on the surface of the pulley for the cable to ride in, will help keep the cable from slipping which is both a safety and durability concern (if the cable slips out of track it has a better chance of being damaged). Some pulleys are encased in steel or have a cable guard attached to them to prevent cable slippage as well.

Upholstery

The quality, composition and comfort of the seats and back supports of a home gym is a huge consideration for the buyer. The thickness of the foam, the quality of the material and how the seat is assembled are elements to be considered. Synthetic leather is the most durable material to cover a seat with. A double stitched seat is preferable to staples or any other less durable craftsmanship.

Some home gym's back supports offer lumbar support (protruding support for the lower back) that is more bio-mechanically correct than a straight, flat seat back.

Adjustability

Aside from the over-all workmanship and technical components, the biomechanics play a huge role in the quality of the machine. The gym's range of motion, meaning how deep of a stretch the gym offers the customer's muscles and at what angle or path it forces your body to follow as it's performing the exercise are the two most relevant bio-mechanics issues. A G&G Fitness consultant can help you familiarize yourself with the proper way to perform every exercise available on a home gym.

Having the ability to adjust the seats and work stations of a home gym to accommodate a wide range of users helps improve the biomechanics of the gym as well.

Accessories

Home gyms, like no other piece of fitness equipment have a large number of options that can be considered beyond the simple base unit of a gym. The following is a list of common options that can either be included with the base unit of a gym or often times are sold separately.

• Miscellaneous bars and handles
• Leg press (works glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves)
• Vertical knee Raise/Dip (works lower stomach/triceps, lower chest)
• Squat press option (allows squats to be performed off of chest press)
• Gluteus/hip machine (works inner/outer thigh, glutes, hip flexors)
• Extra weight stack (allows multiple users to exercise simultaneously)
• Extra weight (adds weight to existing stack)
• Shrouds

Expandability is a great feature, but gyms that already include many options are attractive as well. You can visit our Accessory Shop Page on this web site to purchase every conceivable home gym accessory available.

Dimensions

Always take into consideration the space that the gym is going to be placed in - Remember a gym that is seven feet long is longer when the leg extension is in use and a gym that is 4 feet wide may need another 3 feet of clearance to accommodate low-pulley exercises such as seated rows.

Also, gyms are typically close to 7 feet high to give adequate range of motion for the lat machine, but it is only 7 feet at one peak, meaning it fits nicely in between the floor joists or into one panel of a drop ceiling.

Exercises

The following are most of the exercises that can be performed using a typical high-end home gym's base unit.

Chest Station(s)

Chest press
Incline chest press
Pectoral fly
Military (shoulder) press

High Pulley

Lat pull down (front and back)
Triceps push down (one arm or two)
Reverse triceps push down (one arm or two)
One arm pectoral fly
Seated lat pullover

Mid Pulley

Triceps pull-over (one arm and two)
Abdominal crunch

Leg Station

Leg Curl (one leg or two)
Leg Extension (one leg or two)

Low pulley

Seated row
Standing arm curl (one arm or two)
Reverse standing arm curl (one arm or two)
Shoulder shrug
Upright row
Bent over row
One-handed shoulder raise (front, side, and rear)
Two-handed front shoulder raise
Oblique crunch
Rotator cuff cross over
Abductor, adductor raise
Glute kick
Laying lat pull over
Calf raise
Wrist curl (one arm and two)