Best Home Gym Reviews and Tips for Your Home Gym
The Body-Solid G1S Home Gym is an updated version of its very popular predecessor, the EXM1500S, which was one of the company’s all-time best sellers. It’s almost identical to the Powerline BSG10X Home Gym that I’ve reviewed for you previously; though the G1S does take up a few extra inches of space than the BSG10X.
Who the Body-Solid G1S Home Gym is made for:
This machine isn’t a bodybuilder’s dream by any means. But that’s not who it was made for either. The G1S is designed for home-users and made to give you a great toning and conditioning workout. The 160-pound weight stack will limit people who want to build above-average strength and muscle size.
If you’re a beginner or intermediate lifter, fitness enthusiast, or someone who just wants to get a full-body workout in with one single machine, the G1S will be just perfect for you.
The Body-Solid G1S Home Gym is also an affordable addition to any pre-existing home gym if you want to add some machine and isolation exercises to your current free weight workouts, but don’t have room for a bulky heavier-duty (and more expensive) machine with a larger footprint.
Specifications:
- Footprint: 73” L x 47” W x 84” H
- Total weight of machine: 315 pounds
- 160-pound weight stack
- 2,200 tensile strength cables
Exercise Stations:
- Press Arm (with multiple hand positions, including palms facing).
- High Pulley (for lat pulldowns and tricep pushdowns).
- Mid Pulley (overhead tricep extensions, ab crunches, rear flyes).
- Low Pulley (bicep curls, rows, upright rows, delt raises, leg adduction & abduction).
- Leg Developer (leg curls and extensions).
- Body-Solid claims that 40 or more exercises are possible with the G1S.
Other Equipment Included:
- Lat pulldown bar
- Straight bar
- Ankle and wrist straps
- Total Body Workout DVD
- Exercise diagram wall poster
Pros of the Body-Solid G1S Home Gym:
- Multiple grip options on the chest press: This is great for isolating different parts of the chest, shoulders, and triceps from the same position. This feature will also help reduce boredom from one workout to the next.
- 2,200-pound tensile strength cables: No worries about the cable breaking under a 160 pound load.
- Reinforced 4.5” fiberglass and nylon pulleys with smooth ultra-quiet bearings.
- Ergonomic and adjustable seat pad: Home gyms usually have terribly uncomfortable seats with minimal adjustments possible. The G1S’s seat has received many rave reviews.
- Adjustable leg station: Leg station for extensions and ham curls are often fixed (non-adjustable) with equipment designed for home-use.
- Multiple attachments/accessories included: contoured lat bar, straight bar, ankle / ab / triceps straps, instructional DVD, water bottle and towel holder.
- Very small footprint: Perfect for small spaces.
- Price: You can pick the G1S up on Amazon for $1000 or less and free shipping.
- Lifetime warranty.
Cons of the Body-Solid G1S Home Gym:
- Limited weight for people who’re strong already or plan to increase their strength and size.
- No bodyweight stations included such as chin and dip bars.
- Assembly required, with multiple parts to sort through.
- The machine is so compact that some features will get in the way while doing certain exercises (the press arm has been criticized for getting in the way while performing pulldowns – these parts aren’t removable.)
- Optional aluminum pulleys. This isn’t related to the performance of the machine, but rather it’s an annoyance that this is offered as an “upgrade”. If it makes the machine better, you’d think they would have made this a no-charge feature, or simply included it and added a bit more on to the price.
- Doesn’t offer the 50-pound weight stack upgrade like many of the other Body-Solid G-Series Home Gyms.
Conclusion:
Even with the cons listed for the Body-Solid G1S Home Gym, it’s still well worth the investment for a $1000 or less. This is a piece of “fitness equipment” despite the fact that it offers a resistance workout.
The G1S is a great option if you’re looking for a machine to do isolation exercises or get a decent functional workout in, and its “no cables to change” design makes it super easy to do a seamless heart-pumping circuit routine for improved cardio and muscle tone.
