Essential Home Gym Features

Things you need and some you don’t

With all the different types of home gyms on the market, offering a variety of resistance methods and strength training attachments, there are still some features that are universally important, no matter where the machine in question gets its resistance from.

Don’t worry, a home gym without these features will still get you in shape, but it’s something to consider if you have the option of adding any of these features or choosing between a gym that has them and one that doesn’t.

Essential home gym features

• Pulley stations - When it comes to performing functional exercises that mimic real-life movements, pulley systems are among the best. With a pulley that allows you a full range of motion your body will move as it’s supposed to. A pulley station that can be moved to different heights so you can more easily do upper and lower body work is even better.
• Adjustable bench - Look for a home gym with a bench that can at the very least convert from flat to incline. One that will go a few steps further and offer a decline position might be necessary if you’re all about ab exercises.
• Lat tower - The lat pulldown is one exercise that can be done better with machines than free weights alone, unless you’re already strong enough to do chin-ups, in which case you should look for a chin-up bar on your home gym as well. A home gym with a lat tower will have you working your largest back muscles more than you thought possible.
• Power cage/squat rack - Most home gyms don’t come with power cages as a part of the system, but the ones that do will offer you a big benefit if you enjoy doing powerful lower body compound exercises like weighted lunges and squats.
• Cardio feature - Some home gyms, like Bowflex and Total Gym, have a built-in rowing feature to provide a cardio warm-up, cool down or even a complete aerobic workout.

• Preacher curl attachment - It seems everyone loves to work their biceps. But it’s easy to work them without a specific attachment, by doing compound upper body exercises and isolated free weight exercises. Don’t pay extra money for an attachment that only works your biceps, because you’ll be more likely to overwork them than anything else.
• Ab crunch attachment - If you don’t already know how I feel about ab machines, I’ll tell you. You don’t need them. There are a lot of ab exercises that give you better results and don’t require any equipment.