Bodyweight Home Gyms

Home gyms that fit any user

If you’ve ever been into strength training you’ll know that body weight exercises are some of the most beneficial you can perform. Not only do weight bearing exercises help you build stronger muscles and increase bone density, they do so without the need for extra equipment.

What’s so good about body weight home gyms?

Exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, planks, squats and dips don’t require weights to get your body working, just the force of gravity. That principle is the essence of home gyms that use body weight as resistance. Instead of designing a system that requires heavy weight plates or cumbersome bows or bands, they’ve created a simple pulley machine that uses the weight of the user’s own body for resistance.

One notable gym in this category is the Total Gym, one of few infomercial fitness products that reviewers respond positively to. Users can work against a very small percentage of their body weight to start, increasing the machine’s incline when they need more challenge.

• Pros - Since there is no extra resistance method needed, body weight home gyms have the potential to take up less space than other gyms. With no heavy weight stacks they are also a lot lighter. Once you’ve worked up to a resistance level of half your body weight, just add on some weight plates for more.
• Cons - There are many beneficial exercises you can do with body weight gyms like the Total Gym, but when it comes to accommodating traditional weight bench exercises with free weights, they can be limiting. Sometimes people just want to do good old-fashioned triceps kickbacks.
  

Why women can benefit from body weight home gyms

Most home gyms, use traditional resistance methods such as weighted plates or the increasingly popular flexible bows. These gyms can accommodate big users and large amounts of weight, which is perfectly fine, except for the fact that most women won’t need to take advantage of all the resistance their home gym has to offer.

If that sounds like you it might be a good idea to look at gyms with alternative resistance methods like body weight or dumbbells. These gyms take lighter machines, less weight and put it all together in one easy-to-use, space-saving package.