Why compact home gyms?
Picking ourselves up and going to the gym can seem like a drag, as well as a drain on our wallets. However, having a gym at home makes it far easier to exercise as no travel is involved. Although they can be expensive, the cost of a home gym is going to be less than an accumulated gym membership. There’s no need to have a massive garage to store it in either-compact home gyms are now available! These take up far less space but are still just as effective for our exercise routines. Compact home gyms are a great solution for demotivation and laziness to get to a gym. They allow for exercising in a comfortable setting with no pressure. Here at Allforyourmind, we’d like to share the best compact home gyms available to help you boost your fitness regimen.
Most of us know that exercise has an immense amount of health benefits. It’s an essential daily activity that we need to incorporate in our lives for optimum mental and physical health. Exercising regularly helps us release the stress and tension that so easily builds up during the day. It also stimulates lymphatic flow and blood flow-aiding repair and toxin removal. Exercising also helps us to relax and improves our sleep quality massively. Here at Allforyourmind, we’d like to share the best compact home gyms available to help you boost your fitness regimen.
1. Overall best compact home gym
York Perfrom Multi-Gym
Why we feel you should invest in this compact home gym
Multi-gyms are really the best option when it comes to choosing a home gym. A multi-gym should enable you to do various exercises and train different muscle groups. Their multi-functionality allows you to put on mass, get fit, and build muscle. This compact gym comes with a height of 196 cm and a width of 115 cm. It weighs 162 kg and has a max user weight of 125 kg.
General information about this home gym
It’s the priciest home gym we’re reviewing on this page. However, we’d argue that its features make it worth the extra money. You can assemble this on your own, or pay for expert assembly. It’s suitable for those with a height of up to 6ft 2″. However, it may become less effective for those under 5ft as certain features aren’t designed for smaller heights. Its size makes it suitable for small rooms and comes with 100 kg worth of weights. This is perfect for building strength and pushing your limits. It’s particularly helpful when training the front of the legs, and allows for a good range of motion in this area. It’s not so good when it comes to strengthening the back of the legs.
Home gym features and assembly process
More features include a peck deck, 2 positions for arm curls and a vertical chest press. Further, the height of this compact home gym is also adjustable. Exercises that can be performed include leg extensions, seated rows, lateral pull downs and high and low pulleys. The assembly process is possibly the biggest disadvantage of this home gym. It’s been reported that it can take an average of around 6 hours, with a maximum of 8 hours. To speed up the assembly process we recommend getting help from at least one other person. If not, asking for the extra expert assembly feature may be the next best option.
Despite taking a long time to assemble, once it’s done, it’s done and you can enjoy your compact and versatile home gym! Not only that, but the assembly process itself isn’t very difficult, just laborious. Further, the fact that it includes 100 kg of weights with the possibility of more is impressive. This is because most multi-gyms include around 70 kg worth of weights.
Pros
- Sturdy
- Comes with 100 kg of weights and more can be ordered from the manufacturer
- Ideal for small spaces
- Comes with an exercise chart
- Clear instructions
- Allows for a range of exercises
- Option for expert assembly
- good for taller people
Cons
- Can’t do squats with it
- Non-adjustable seat
- 4-8 hrs self-assembly time
- less effective for training the back of the legs
- not great for people under 5 ft
Key Takeaways
Here are some basic things to keep in mind with this home gym. Though it is very compact, it isn’t foldable. Once assembled it can’t be flattened or folded. Another thing to note is that the weights aren’t metallic. They’re plastic and filled with sand. Further, for a ‘speedier’ assembly process, get help from at least one other person.
2. Best runner-up compact home gym
Bowflex Unisex Home Gym
Why we feel you should invest in this home gym
This home gym is certainly a close runner-up to the York perform multi-gym. This home gym is more specifically a body tower. It’s perfect for upper strength body training. Bowflex is a trusted brand with a great reputation in the home-fitness department. They have, after all, been perfecting fitness equipment for the home for over 30 years. Hence, the exercises and assembly for this body tower can be watched on youtube for added help.
General information on this home gym
Bowflex’s body tower allows for over 18 different exercises to be performed on it. This is due to the 7 adjustment levels that it allows you to change as you see fit. Also, it has adjustable horizontal bars so you can change the intensity of your workouts. The frame is made of steel for added strength and stability. This home gym has a height of 196 cm, and a width of 127 cm. This makes it less compact than the York Perform multi-gym. However, the maximum user weight is 136 kg which is more than the previous multi-gym.
It comes with dip bars and other extra accessories which makes it even more functional. It works for people up to 6 ft 2″ in height, and is very good for low ceilings. You can comfortably do a chin-up with this body tower in a room that’s 7 ft high. This means that it will definitely fit in most rooms. As mentioned before, this home gym deals primarily with increasing upper body strength. While it allows for the exercise of almost all the muscle groups, it particularly helps build upper body strength. This can help you to gradually be able to do a pull-up/chin-up using the body tower itself
Home gym features
Ideal to use as a pull-up bar and to build the upper-body strength to be able to do a pull-up. The assembly process is relatively quick and straightforward. On average, it takes from 45 mins to 2 hours to mount. It comes with adjustable arms that open up which allows you to do various exercises. Also, the heavy gauge steel adds to the quality of the product. Although the overall quality is good, it can be shaky when in use. The materials are strong and durable, but when in use it seems to lose some of its sturdiness. This is particularly true when doing dips. One way to amend this would be to bolt or screw it to the floor or add weight to the base to keep it still.
Pros
- easy and relatively quick to assemble
- perfect for rooms with low ceilings
- wide base, so won’t tip over when in use
- very versatile, 18+ exercises
- comfortable dip bars
- back pad with cushioned foam (non-absorbent
Cons
- wobbles when doing dips
- height cannot be adjusted
- heavy
- chin-up bar may not be wide enough for people with large shoulders
- the back pad could do with being slightly larger for added support
Key takeaways
The main takeaways from this home gym feature would be that it’s most effective for building upper body strength. Also, the exercises it allows for aren’t ideal for beginners, it’s best if you already have some upper body strength. It’s perfect for those with low ceilings and is a fairly compact piece of equipment. The only issue with it seems to be that it shakes when doing certain exercises.
3. Best Budget Home Gym
Body Boss 2.0
Why we feel you should invest in this home gym
If you’re on a tighter budget but still want the benefits of a home gym, we recommend the Body Boss 2.0. For under £200, this gym is extremely compact and light, yet still allows for a full range of exercises. It helps with strength training, as well as cardio and fat burning.
General information on this home gym
This gym aims to simulate all the equipment you’d find in a regular gym and is suitable for any fitness level. It’s light and portable, meaning that you can even take this gym on the go! It fits nicely under a bed when folded away but altogether allows for around 300 exercises to be practised on it. This gym can help to build lean muscle, strength train, and even allows for Tabata and boxing workouts. Essentially, this little gym can help you to work every muscle group.
Home gym features
The gym is very lightweight compared to all the other home gyms reviewed-it only weighs 7.3 kg. It has a weight limit of 500 lbs, meaning that the vast majority of people can use it. Body Boss videos are available on Facebook live and YouTube to help users find exercises they can do with the gym equipment. Features of the gym include a collapsable workout bar to simulate a squat rack and handles to simulate dumbells. It also comes with resistance bands to help you adapt the workout level, and limb straps for resistance boxing and cardio workouts. All the parts come with a 12-month warranty.
Pros
- online videos for support on exercises are available
- the gym comes assembled-no assembly process required
- light, portable and easily stored away
- full 30-day money-back guarantee
- allows for a full-body workout
Cons
- quality of free videos isn’t great
- live videos only available to members
- most will require extra resistance bands for a harder workout, especially men (however these are available to purchase too)
- claims to allow for over 300 exercises, but these aren’t specified or outlined in a video or manual
- may need to re-loop resistance bands if you’re under 5 ft 4 inches.
Key takeaways
When looking at this gym is important to remember that its the lightest and most portable home gym out of the 3 reviewed. It works for every muscle group but isn’t as effective as the other home gyms when it comes to strength training. However, it’s extremely versatile and suitable for all fitness levels, making it a very appealing option especially when on a budget. This is one of the best compact home gyms for those on a budget.