A home gym allows you to train all the muscles in your body without having to leave the house. Not everyone has room for a large machine. With one of these compact home gyms, you can get a great workout too.
There are many benefits to exercising at home instead of going to the gym. Exercising at home is faster, easier, and more convenient. And it is cheaper. Once you have your compact exercise equipment installed, you won’t have to worry about monthly fees.
If you’re short on space, you need a compact home gym solution.
That’s why I created this list of the 7 best compact home Gyms of 2020 for you.
If you live in an apartment, condo, small house, or you just don’t have room for a lot of bulky equipment, this is the list for you!
In a hurry? Here are quick links to our top 7 recommendations for the best compact home gym:
- Bowflex PR3000 Home Gym
- Total Gym XLS
- Teeter FitForm Strength Trainer
- Marcy MWM-988 Steel Home Gym
- Weider Ultimate Body Works
- BodyBoss Home Gym 2.0
- OYO Personal Gym
Comparison of the best compact home gym equipment:
Whatever your budget, here you just know you want a not-quite-premium machine, we’ll help you find the best budget home gym equipment.
Table of Contents
Detailed Review of Best Compact Home Gym
In today’s article, we take a look at the best home gyms in that market that take up surprisingly little space. Whether you live in a smaller house, an apartment, or you just don’t want fitness to dominate your entire living room.
You could solve all of this if you had the exercise equipment at home. With a modern and compact home gym, you can easily train all the muscles in your body, burn fat, and lose weight.
And you can easily fit it in a small house. But which machine should you choose? There are many options, each with its own specific benefits.
I’ve been there, and I know how difficult it can be, so I spent 3 weeks researching and testing all the best compact home gym machines.
Each option on this list is one that I would personally use. And I have very high standards when it comes to home gym equipment.
We spent a lot of time and effort in compiling this guide. We spent 68 hours searching for the treadmill on the market and have used various sources, such as reviews to bring you the information you need.
You can blindly trust us because the more research you do, the more knowledge you get. We research for our beloved treadmill as the best.
Look out for a compact home gym guide with lots of considerations and tips to help answer some of your burning questions.
The Bowflex PR3000 is a high-quality all-in-one Bowflex for the home gym.
Offering over 50 exercises, it comes with 210 pounds of resistance included with additional resistance available for purchase so you won’t beat this machine.
You only need about 8 by 6 feet of floor space to use this compact gym, and once all the extendable parts are folded down, you can tip the unit on its transport wheels and roll it against a wall.
If you’re in a rush and just want the best compact home gym, I suggest you give the Bowflex PR3000 a try.
You get a high-quality machine with an innovative pulley system that requires no shifting between more than 50 different exercises. You can smoothly transition between high and low settings and not waste time during your exercise routine.
I found the multi-purpose grips and ankles extremely comfortable during every workout. I also really appreciated the extra board that is included in the package. Allows you to adapt the machine for your convenience.
You can easily train your entire body with over 50 gym level exercises. Each one has been carefully designed to tone and strengthen every part of the body.
If you care about comfort, you will love the upholstered roll up cushions for leg extensions and curls.
The Total Gym XLS is the best compact home gym if you need to store your machine between workouts.
You can perform more than 80 different exercises in the comfort of your home. You can easily fold and store it in small spaces due to the well-designed construction.
Despite this, it has a maximum user weight capacity of up to 400 pounds. Now you may not need all of that, but it shows the solid build and manufacturer confidence.
I was very impressed with how complete the package is – you really do get everything you need to start working out right away.
If you’re like me and you hate unpacking a new product, only to find that you need to buy more stuff to use it, you’ll love the full set of accessories that comes with it.
You get flexible nylon straps, a wing attachment, leg pull straps, a wall-mounted exercise chart, nutritional guides, and more.
Another part that I think you will enjoy is the padded slide board. Your head and neck will be much more comfortable, especially during longer exercises like burning fat. Exercising is hard enough, you don’t need to add neck cramps.
The pulley and cable system has always been one of the Total Gym’s strengths and has been further improved.
If you’ve always wanted to squat more but have a problem with equipment or weights, I think you’ll love the squat option.
No dumbbells, no space … no problem!
Teeter FitForm is a new addition to this market, but one that is already proving popular, thanks to its innovation and versatility.
With a compact size, this unit acts as a cable machine allowing you to work for every muscle group.
Soft-grip handles allow you to perform movements such as shoulder presses, bicep curls, triceps extensions, and cable flights, while adjustable ankle straps give you a wide variety of lower-body movements.
It offers an excellent range of smooth and controlled resistance – up to 65 pounds in 1 pound increments, allowing you to target both strength and endurance. It also has a practical multimedia shelf.
One bonus is that it comes 90% pre-assembled, so it’s ready to go straight out of the box.
Marcy is constructed of heavy-duty steel with a total weight of 150 pounds.
This is a highly recommended strength building machine for burning calories and building muscle mass.
Gym lovers will attest to this darling’s performance.
The MWM 990 home gym weighs 268 pounds and measures 62 X 43 X 78 inches. If you are looking to tone your chest muscles, this machine has well-padded dual-function pressure arms that you can use for chest exercises with great comfort.
It comes with a preacher curl pad to help you tone your triceps and abs. Marcy also has a two-legged developer that is conveniently aligned with the knee joints. This helps with push-ups and leg extensions.
You do not need to continue loading and unloading weight plates. The multi-position cables and pulleys, both high and low, are conveniently connected to an adjustable 150-pound weight stack to enhance comfortable and controlled body exercises.
With all these features in a tight space, this may be the best home gym for fans of small spaces and those looking for apartment-sized exercise equipment.
If you are looking for a beginner home gym that can be easily moved and stored, I highly recommend giving Weider Ultimate Body Works a try.
And you don’t have to compromise when it comes to comfort because Weider gives you high-quality foam padding and an ergonomic design.
With the unique telescopic design, you can easily adjust it to fit any body length. When you start to get stronger, you can increase the resistance with four different resistance bands up to 50 lbs.
If you are familiar with the world of health, fitness, and bodybuilding in general, you will be familiar with the name Weider.
Weider is a brand synonymous with fitness; in fact, Joe Weider is known as the “father of bodybuilding” as he, along with his brother Ben, helped revolutionize the sport revered around the world.
Now, if you’re looking for a simple and affordable way to exercise in the comfort of your home, the Weider Ultimate Body Works Home Gym is perfect.
Body Boss Home Gym 2.0 weighs approximately 17 pounds. It measures 20 inches wide and 34 inches long when open and 20 inches wide by 17 inches long when folded.
Body Boss comes with resistance bands, folding workout bars, wrist straps, ankle handle straps, and a door anchor.
These accessories allow you to perform more than 300 varied exercises.
It is also one of the lightest pieces of equipment that I am writing about today. It weighs only 17 pounds. Therefore, it would not be difficult to store it on a shelf.
The BodyBoss 2.0 is basically a sturdy base to stand on. The base goes to the ground and then you hook a lot of giant rubber bands to it. Giant rubber bands are like bungee cords.
Attach handles and bars to the risers. Then you can simulate virtually every workout you would do at the gym. It really is a cool gadget.
Compared to the multiple other gyms and benches we’ve seen so far, OYO’s personal gym looks decidedly simple.
Don’t let that fool you though, because the OYO Personal Gym is a useful piece of space-saving home gym equipment that you can have when you’re short on space.
This portable device allows users to strengthen their bodies anywhere and anytime. It is a completely portable computer that is designed to be used on the go.
It uses NASA’s Spiraflex technology to replace the weights and has been used by NASA astronauts aboard the ISS for more than a decade.
You can even buy “flex packs” to add up to 25 pounds of extra resistance. You can perform bicep curls, vertical rows, leg extensions, triceps extensions, chest presses and shuttlecocks, and much more.
Buying guide for a compact home gym equipment
There are many options available for home gyms and there are many brands with a variety of features. It’s hard to know where to start when buying a home gym and how to know what to look for to make the best possible decision. Here are 5 important things to consider when shopping for a home gym.
Investing more money in a home gym can only bring better results. Sure, you can find some great value treadmills that perform reasonably well on the budget treadmill market.
In this part of the guide, we will focus on the features that are frequently seen in this category and what you should be aware of:
Design
As you examine our table above, you’ll notice that compact home gyms come in all shapes and sizes, all suitable for different fitness goals and spaces. These designs have found a way to solve the footprint problem without reducing functionality.
You’ll find multiple traditional gyms with familiar cable and pulley systems that have simply been built to smaller specifications. Some of these will feature a removable bench or collapsible rail that will allow you to reduce the footprint of the multi gym when you are done exercising.
There are also Total Gym-style machines, which feature a sliding seat on rails to use your own bodyweight for resistance. These units may still take up a bit of space when in use, but they fold up after your workout, generally allowing you to store them in a closet or under the bed.
If you’re short on space, the so-called “gym in a box” options are a great solution. As mentioned, the BodyBoss model above offers more than 200 exercises, using a variety of brands and accessories.
These are certainly limited in some way compared to multiple traditional gyms, however, the fact that you can store them, or even carry them in your suitcase when on the go, is a huge plus.
The design you choose will depend on your goals. Obviously, if you’re looking to build muscle and strength, something that allows you to add your own Olympic plates will be ideal.
Alternatively, if you just want to stay in shape and value your space more than shifting weight, then a gym in a box-style unit will be more convenient for you.
Features
The characteristics of a compact multi gym will generally be determined by its design. For example, if you’re shopping for a gym in a box-style unit, you know that most of the features will be resistance bands and accessories.
On the other hand, larger, and often more expensive, multi-gyms usually feature a bench, frame, cable/pulley system, and whatever resistance they use (see below).
The frames won’t be particularly bulky on these compact units. Also, to keep your footprint to a minimum, these gyms may have a removable bench or a means to fold the bench vertically, thus saving space after you’ve finished your session.
The pulley system offered by a unit will define the movements it can perform. High pulleys allow you to do things as lat pulls and tricep pulls, while low pulleys are what is required for shoulder presses, vertical rows, and bicep curls.
Some multi-gyms will feature an intermediate pulley system, which is great for doing chest presses, rows, and basic exercises like weighted sit-ups and trunk rotations.
If your multi-gym has a bench, it likely has a leg builder as well. These devices are equipped with cushioned rollers that allow you to perform leg extensions and curls, targeting the quadriceps and hamstrings.
Move away from traditional home gyms and opt for Total Gym style units and the feature set changes. With a basic cable and pulley system, you can still perform presses, curls, pulls, and more, but the way you do them is different.
These models will also be equipped with various accessories and accessories, including the most important handles, as well as ankle straps, wing accessory, and a dip bar.
Regardless of which multi-gym style you choose, expect at least some kind of exercise guide to go along with it. Sometimes this can be as simple as a movement sheet, while others will offer you a complete package of exercise cards, DVDs, wall charts, and even nutrition guides.
Adjustability
These elements incorporate adjustability in their design, where you can easily convert the incline levels according to your preference.
Some models include a telescopic design that helps you extend or contract the height. You want equipment that you can easily adjust to match your training requirements and help you add dimension to your exercises.
All of the best compact home gyms come with an adjustable pulley system to accommodate different body sizes and fitness levels.
Just be sure to choose a model with enough adjustability so that you can start with your current fitness level and have room to grow. That way, you will have a lasting contribution to your home gym setup.
Weight capacity
This is another crucial consideration to keep in mind when looking for your shiny new multi-gym for a small space. Home gyms are not commercial grade.
I wish they were, but if they were, they would be much bigger and heavier and cost considerably more. Because they are smaller and lighter, they can only support a certain amount of weight, so the weight capacity of these machines should also be a big consideration when shopping for your home gym.
If you weigh more than 300 pounds, for example, and you come across a home gym with a maximum user weight capacity of only 250 pounds, the home gym will be of no use to you unless you decide to cut below 250.
The maximum user weight capacity is there for a reason, and that reason is to keep you safe.
If it is too heavy for the home gym, there is a risk of it breaking or collapsing, which would be extremely dangerous. When looking for a space-saving home gym, be sure to look at the maximum user weight of the machine before even considering purchasing it.
Price
The price will be a deciding factor for many of you, and that’s perfectly understandable. We know that money is not a luxury to be taken for granted, and we know that you will want to get the best value for money you can get when buying a multi gym.
However, the thing to remember is that you get what you pay for when you buy fitness equipment. If you base your search solely on finding the cheapest home gym possible, don’t be surprised if it breaks, arrives damaged, or is pretty useless when it appears.
Avoid looking for affordable budget models or Chinese imports as they will likely suck and could even be potentially dangerous. That said, you don’t need to spend an absolute fortune either.
There are many home gyms that are available at affordable yet competitive prices that cover all the bases when buying the perfect setup.
If you can’t afford to go first, see how much an average multi-gym costs, compare prices with other rival makes and models, and see what comes to mind.
How to Choose the Best Compact Home Gym For You?
Are you feeling overwhelmed or confused about the different options and how to choose the best one? You’re not alone. I have helped many people purchase their first, second, or even third compact home gym. And I always ask them the following three questions.
By asking yourself these questions, you will undoubtedly discover the perfect configuration for you.
- How much space do you have for your compact home gym? – Most compact home gyms take up very little space and are easy to integrate into almost any home setup. Still, you want to see how much space is available. Need to save your home gym between each workout? Or do you just need a setup with a small footprint on the floor to fit your small home or living room?
- What fitness goals do you set out to achieve with your compact home gym? – Are you trying to lose weight or are you preparing for a specific competition? Or maybe you want to do a general workout and prevent injuries? Understanding your fitness goals will help you understand which muscle groups you want to train. Then it will be easy to choose the best compact home gym, whether you are a beginner or an athlete.
- What is your budget? – Ah, budget! Why don’t we have unlimited funds available to us? I agree; life would be better if everything was filthy rich. But until then, we have to consider the budget. So get real and decide how much you can and want to spend on your health and fitness. All the machines we choose offer incredible value for money. And each of them is a solid investment in your well-being. When you are considering the budget, also look at any accessories you need to buy. You may need to purchase additional weight or you may have to allow for an additional set of handles.
If you take a look at each of the questions above, I’m sure you can find a great gym setup.
Don’t worry if you can’t accommodate or afford the top of the line home gym right now. Equipment is only part of your training success. The rest depends on how it is used.
Many people have achieved incredible results with simple equipment. Many other people have also achieved little or no results with some of the most advanced equipment.
In the end, you need solid and reliable fitness equipment so you can train and become your strongest self. Rarely is training equipment the limiting factor in someone’s fitness success?
So, which is the best compact home gym equipment for right now?
So now that you know what to look for in a home gym, which ones are the best of the best? Here are a roundup and review of the 7 best home gym equipment for small spaces.
We go through each model in detail, and once we’re done we’ll walk you through a detailed buying guide to make sure you find exactly the machine that best suits you and your needs.
| Preview | Product | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bowflex PR3000 Home Gym | 688 Reviews | Buy on Amazon |
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Total Gym XLS Men/Women Universal Total Body Training Foldable... | 1,513 Reviews | Buy on Amazon |
|
FitForm Home Gym (Blemished) | 92 Reviews | Buy on Amazon |
|
Marcy MWM-988 Multifunction Steel Home Gym 150lb Weight Stack... | 1,719 Reviews | Buy on Amazon |
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Weider Ultimate Body Works Adjustable Incline Exercise Bench | 375 Reviews | Buy on Amazon |
|
BodyBoss Home Gym 2.0 by 1loop - Portable Gym Workout Package +... | 573 Reviews | Buy on Amazon |
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OYO Personal Gym - Full Body Portable Gym: Home, Office or Travel... | 2,563 Reviews | Buy on Amazon |
Final Word
I hope this article helps you set up your compact gym with the equipment that meets your needs and fits your budget.
Whether you live in a tiny home, apartment, log cabin, mobile home, or boat, with so many compact home gyms on the market, there’s no reason not to get a decent workout!
By now you will understand the limitations of some of these compact units, but you will also understand how useful they can be.
Hopefully, you will make fitness a priority in your life. You will exercise regularly, look better, and feel better. I hope this article has helped you and I wish you all the best on your fitness journey.