Tips on Buying Home Gym Equipment
Read Reviews
Check out consumer and fitness magazines that rate exercise equipment to get an idea of how a product performs, and whether it’s likely to help you achieve your goal, whether it’s building strength, increasing flexibility, improving endurance, or enhancing your health. You also can check out user reviews online. Just don’t put all your trust in any one review. Try typing the product or manufacturer’s name into a search engine, along with terms like “complaint” or “problem.”
Source: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0051-tips-buying-exercise-equipment
Get Details on Warranties, Guarantees and Return Policies
A “30-day money-back guarantee” may not sound as good if you have to pay shipping on a bulky piece of equipment you want to “return to sender.”
Source: http://learnthat.com/7-tips-for-buying-exercise-equipment/
Consider Uses
You’ll need to choose gym equipment based on your facility and client base. This could include:
Free weights: Bars, plates, dumbbells and specialist items like power lifting bars, bumper plates, microplates and power racks
Weight machines: Pin loaded or plate loaded machines, both individual and multi-use
Cable machine: A multi-use cable rack is a useful feature for most types of gym
Benches: For the free weights areas, including a selection of flat and incline benches
Cardio equipment: Treadmills, cross trainers, steppers and rowing machines
Conditioning equipment: Sandbags, battle ropes, prowlers and sleds and plyometric equipment
Studio equipment: Mats, steps and risers, small dumbbells, bands and other items needed for group exercise classes
Specific equipment: For kettlebell training, Crossfit, Strongman or spinning classes
Source: http://www.new-level.co.uk/blog/purchasing-gym-equipment-need-to-know

Consider Your Available Space
Some pieces of strength training or aerobic equipment take up a lot of room. You need to make sure you have the appropriate place to position equipment in your home. For example, you might not want to place a piece of aerobic equipment on a new carpet given that you’ll be sweating; putting your strength training equipment in your garage won’t work if it’s a freezing cold space six months out of the year.
Here are some estimates for the amount of space different pieces of equipment take up; you can use painter’s tape to outline the needed floor space to better judge what will fit in your home:
- Stationary bike: 10 square feet
- Stair climber: 10 to 20 square feet
- Rowing machine: 20 square feet
- Ski machine: 25 square feet
- Treadmill: 30 square feet
- Single-station strength training system: 35 square fee
- Multi-station strength training system: 50 to 200 square feet
Also keep in mind ceiling height, as some of these pieces of equipment can be quite tall.
Source: https://www.everydayhealth.com/fitness/workouts/tips/how-to-be-a-smart-fitness-consumer.aspx
Make Sure the Equipment is Comfortable
All experienced staff should be able to demonstrate exercises on the equipment for you and should allow you to try it out should you wish to do so. You should make sure the equipment is comfortable especially since a lot of it is designed for men who are in general taller than most women; the shorter and more petite you are the more difficult it will be to find apparatus that will fit with your body. You should also try adjusting the equipment yourself to see how manageable it is.
