Important features to look for in home exercise equipment

While you are looking at the product on this site or other products around the web there are certain features that are "must haves" when it comes to home exercise equipment. Here are the most important features in order of importance:

1. Quality Of Construction - Listen, I have had many home gyms over the years and I have always paid the extra for quality. You may have all of the features that you need with a piece of home exercise equipment, but if it is not well built, you will not be able to get the true benefit and may actually get injured. For compact affordable gyms like Bodylastics you can always just send it back if the quality does not meet your standards (although this will never happen since it is of the highest quality). For Large home gyms / home exercise equipment I really suggest that you go and try the product. I have tried both the Weider Crossbow and the Bowflex and in my opinion they were both a big disappointment. I know that both companies are trying to make more money per unit sold but the motion for the cable systems on both gyms was not even close to being fluid.

2. Scale ability - This really refers to the ability to add or subtract resistance (tension). If you are going to buy one set of dumbbells or one elastic to work all of your muscles, you are wasting your time and money. Each of the muscle groups in your body are a different size and a different strength. For example your legs are a bigger muscle group than your arms (don't believe me? Just look at them) Since your legs are a larger muscle group than your arms you will need more resistance to challenge them, which will force them to change.

3. Versatility - After about 20 years of working out and using almost every gym machine possible I can tell you that there are about 20 exercises that are simply the best. These top 20 exercises cover all of the major muscle groups in the body. Why are they the best? These exercises follow the natural function of the joint and the muscle so that the intended muscle gets worked without placing unnecessary stress on the rest of the body. it is very important to have the ability to recreate or mimic the best of the gym exercises. Home exercise equipment manufacturers who claim to have 60, 70, 100 exercises that can be performed with their equipment are just driven by marketing. Trust me that they know that 70 percent of those "extra" exercises are useless.

4. Price - If you are a workout fanatic have been in the gym for years and have decided on a piece of home exercise equipment that you like - great! However, if you have made a resolution (new years or not) to get in shape - Please Please Please start off with something small and then build up. In other words try the $50 home gym and see if you stick with it. It breaks my heart to see people with the best intentions pay thousands of dollars for a piece of home exercise equipment that ends up being a coat rack.