Home Fitness Equipment - Multi Gyms

Multi gyms provide a huge range of excercices that target different areas of the body. They are great if you are the sort of person to get bored of general excercise as there is such a variety of different exercises to work on, from between 15 to 25 exercises on a single machine! Multi gyms are ideal for toning and strengthening your body as well as building muscle mass.

Spending 45 minutes on a multi-gym for three to five days a week will help increase your fitness levels and physical appearance, as well as releasing natural endorphins and strengthening your immune system.

The key points to consider when buying a multi-gym for use as home fitness equipment are:

1) Which exercises will you perform? - Generally speaking, the more money you spend on a multi-gym, the more exercises you will be able to perform. The first thing to assess is whether all ranges of motion are covered by the gym equipment that you are looking to buy. At a minimum this should include: vertical pull (chin up/pull up bar), vertical push (for military press motion), horizontal pull (rowing motion), horizontal push (bench press motion). Some more expensive machines will also give you the facility to train legs via a smith machine, pecs with a 'pec deck', bicep isolation with a 'preacher curl' and even extra arm/shoulder work with resistance cables.
2) Building and toning muscle - Strength training is absolutely key to developing a toned physique. Muscle takes more calories to sustain it compared to fat (1lb of muscle burns 50-100 calories a day), so building muscle will ensure that the body burn extra calories even when at rest. Trainers who want a safe way to build muscle at home would be well advised to consider a multi-gym for installation in their home. More expensive machines will be better padded, more robust and cover more exercises but the machines from the leading brands such as York, Marcy and Reebok will normally cover the key exercises needed to build and tone muscle mass in the arms, back and chest.
3) Who will be using the machine? Multi-gyms are ideal for people are are going to be strength training alone as there is no need to have someone spot you for safety. If multiple people are going to be using the machine, then it is important to assess if the equipment can be adjusted to comfortably seat all who will be training on it. Most multi-gyms offer a wide range of weights that can be set up so that all members of the family can use the same machine.
4)Bio-mechanics Multi-gym machines have a big advantage over free weights as they ensure your motion under stress (pull/push) is delivered in one plane of motion which helps to reduce the chance of injury. This makes multi-gyms particularly userful for those who are just starting out with strength training as proper form will be ensured throughout the range of motion of the exercise.
5) Assembly - Multi-gyms will usually require about half a day to assemble. If you are not too keen on DIY then get a friend to help you as they are quite large machines and assistance will make the job easier. Alternatively there are local odd job workers who can assist you with your multi-gym set up.
6) Size - Do bear in mind the dimensions of the equipment that you are buying. In order to allow you to perform a range of exercises in sitting, standing and lying positions, multi-gyms tend to take up quite a lot of floor space. In particular, unlike most other home fitness equipment, multi-gyms do tend to be quite tall, so be sure that your ceilings are high enough to comfortably accomodate a multi-gym.

Please view Home Fitness Equipment's recommended multi gyms: