Home Gym For Heavy People

Heavy Duty Home Gyms

Being able to work your entire body from home using one machine is not only practical, but can also be quite the money saver. However finding the best home gym for heavy people is not as straight forward as it may seem.

For starters, there’s the bench or seat which is attached to the gym. It needs to be commercial grade in order to handle heavy weights. But not only does it need to be able to handle the heavier body weight, but it needs to be able to handle any potential weights you are using.

Much like buying a weight bench for a heavy person, the total weight capacity includes both your weight and the weight of what you’re lifting. However, when using pulley systems, the bench isn’t under as much weight strain. So you need to take this into consideration when buying a home gym.

Will it be predominately for bench pressing heavy weights, or to juggle both, the pulley workouts along with bench presses. The type of workouts you want to perform will also influence your decision as to which home gym is best for you.

As there is no such thing as one home gym suits all, deciding what workouts are best for you will help you narrow down the list of potential products. Home gyms come in all sorts of sizes and designs with varying amounts of potential exercises.

The more commercial grade and the greater number of exercises possible on the machine, the more the price will skyrocket. This can also be reflected by the units overall weight capacity. While one could assume that a commercial grade gym is suitable for a heavy person, its best not to assume. So with that said, lets take a look at the home gym options which have specified a maximum user weight.

Choose Home Gym By Weight Capacity

1500 Lbs Capacity Home Gym

The highest specified weight capacity home gym I have come across is by Xmark Fitness. This commercial grade heavy duty home gym has a massive weight capacity of 1500 pounds on the bench.

The bench doesn’t just have a higher weight capacity, it is also a larger version for us wider people. The bench measures 16 inches wide and is 3 inches of thick padding. Most benches are 12 inches wide and up to 2 inches thick. So in terms of comfort when sitting down on the home gym, I feel this bench is at the top of the list.

Xmark Fitness do sell the cable trainer separate without the bench if you already have a weigh bench suitable for your weight. However, as you’re looking for home gyms, this is the deluxe package which includes the bench.

What This Home Gym Offers

The amount of resistance you get from the cable rack system has a total of 400 pounds. There a re 2 x 200 pound stacks totaling 400 pounds. here is no evidence to suggest reduction in resistance via double cables or several pulley blocks, so what weights you select is what you get. Put on 200 pounds of weights and expect a resistance of 200 pounds.

In terms of number of exercise possible, the Xmark Fitness gym is just about unlimited. It offers almost any workout you can imagine. With the bench having 7 incline/decline positions and the seat having 3 positions, you can position yourself in multiple angles to achieve workouts to most of your body.

The gym includes a pull up bar and as the height of the gym comes in at 83 inches tall, fitting it inside a standard height ceiling room shouldn’t pose any problems. However if you’re over 6 foot tall, you may need to bend your knees when using the pull up bar.

The pulley system has 19 different positions with each position being 3.5 inches apart. This is what allows you to quickly and easily change positions and perform an array of exercises. Along with this, as part of the bundle you also get the revolving curl bar, triceps rope and much more.

While for the heavy person, this home gym makes sense. It has a high weight capacity, larger comfortable seat and ample amounts of exercises in one machine. But even if you’re not big or tall, the Xmark Fitness home gym is incredible value for such a high quality commercial grade gym.

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1000 Lbs Smith Machine Home Gym

If strength and muscle is your primary goal, using a Smith Machine Gym like this one by Body Solid is one way to achieve this. With a bench that can handle up to 1000 pounds of weight, even the heaviest of person can get on board for some strength training.

A Smith Machine like this one is not all that different from using free weights on a bench press, however there are benefits for the bigger person. With a gym like this, the weight is balanced for you, rather than losing energy from the stabilizers incorporated into barbells and dumbbells.

Basically a gym like this gives you greater growing and strength options. Allowing you to perform angle specific isometrics and benefit from partial reps. With probably the biggest benefit of a gym like this being user safety. Compared to a weight bench rack system, a Smith Machine offers far greater safety mechanisms. Which I feel is vital for the heavy person wanting to get into weights.

More About The Body Solid Series 7

The bench that comes part of this package has a 1000 pound weight capacity and is 59″ long with a bench height of 22″. The padding on the bench is quite good as well, its a dura-firm padding and measures 2.75″ thick. So its firm but has give in it when you lift weights.

The bench has incline decline with 6 possible positions to allow targeted workouts. Attached to the bench is the T-bar leg lock down which uses oversized foam rollers to keep your legs in position without hurting.

Also included in the package is the following: Pec Dec & Lat attachment, Leg developer, Preacher Curl attachment, weight bar and 400 pounds of weights. All in all, this is a pretty good package for the heavy person wanting to focus on gaining muscles and strength.

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600 Pound Capacity Heavy Duty Home Gym

The next in line is the Marcy Diamond Smith Cage Home Gym, which features linear bearing. The bench on this gym has a total capacity of 600 pounds, which is significantly less than the above 2 gyms. However, the price reflects this. But this does not take away from the overall quality of the gym. It’s been reinforced with heavy duty steel.

Part of what makes this gym a good choice is the maximum 2000 pound tensile strength. This is a result of the aircraft cables used to maximize performance and longevity. With this amount of resistance, a solid and stable frame is needed. Which is something I quite like about the off the floor base to the frame. It allows for greater grip with reduced movement.

The Marcy Diamond home gym is a multi purpose home gym which allows you to work multiple sections of your body from the one machine. It can help you achieve comprehensive routines down to the simpler arm and leg workouts. The possibility to work 100 typical gym exercises is a real thing with the Marcy Diamond.

Features Of This Home Gym

The included weight bench and Smith catches have a maximum weight capacity of 600 pounds. So probably not the ideal gym for someone that’s 400 pounds wanting to lift heavy weights.

But in terms of possible exercises, this machine does a lot. One can even use the footplates and reverse face to do seated rowing exercises, no need to spend even more money on a rowing machine.

The gym also comes with multiple attachments to allow you to perform various exercises you would normally do for sporting events and your basic day to day activities.

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Entry Level Heavy Persons Home Gym

I consider the Marcy Stack Dual Function the entry level for the big man. This is because it has a maximum user weight capacity of 300 pounds, while a maximum resistance of 200 pounds. So the resistance is not huge, but its a good starting point for the obese person wanting to get started on weight training without having to spend a fortune.

But I wouldn’t go as far as to say this home gym is cheap, more like affordable quality is how I would rate it. It has the basic exercises you expect from a home gym without going over the top which ends up cranking up the price. As a heavy person wanting to turn that fat into muscle, I know first hand how tough it can be.

Lets face it, us humans can easily lose motivation and as a larger sized person, I know how easy it is to lose motivation to lose weight when you don’t see results immediately. Which is why it makes sense to not invest to heavily into a home gym that costs $1000 or more.

Sure you can always upgrade down the track once you know its for you, which I feel is the safest way to get into this type of exercise equipment. With that said, the Marcy home gym is by no means a slouch either. So lets take a look at why I quite like this home gym.

What’s To Love

What really appeals to me is the number of inclusions on this gym. It has quite a lot of attachments and goodies considering its not one of the more expensive brands. The rowing exercise is one of those features. You can sit on the floor and use the included feet to row, or you can reverse face on the bench and use the peck deck handles. This is the better option if you’re heavier as getting onto the floor can prove quite challenging.

But do note, the reach on the handles is quite short, so tall people won’t be able to get a full row like simulation in. The other features include a removable arm curl, leg developer, multi functional arm presses and high density foam for providing a firm yet supportive bench.