Speediance Home Gym: An Honest Review

Most smart home gym equipment lately comes with two costs: the value of the machine itself, after which a monthly or annual membership fee so as to get access to the workouts.

As someone on a budget, I can sometimes get together the funds to buy a premium piece of exercise equipment that I’ll actually use, but I can’t at all times guarantee that I’ll have the funds to shell out a further $30 or more per thirty days for so long as I would like to make use of that machine.

So once I learned that the brand new Speediance home gym, an all-in-one system for strength training and a few cardio (it will possibly even be used as a rowing machine), comes with a lifetime subscription for the app and workouts, I used to be intrigued. Unlike most smart home gyms, there are never any ongoing subscription or membership fees.

Truthfully, in my view, it is a game changer. But in fact, it only changes the sport if the equipment you’re figuring out on is actually value it. So I got a unit to check out at home and see what it’s actually wish to use.

What’s Speediance?

Speediance is an all-in-one, compact smart home gym that may be used for strength training in addition to some cardio, plyometrics, and stretching/yoga. It’s a freestanding unit with a big touchscreen display where you’ll be able to stream workouts, control the resistance, and monitor your workout stats.

It comes with multiple accessories, including a weight bench, barbell attachment, a yoga mat, and more. The barbell and handle attachments are Bluetooth-enabled in order that they’ll count the variety of reps you perform to aid you keep track of your total workout volume.

You may pick from a whole lot of accessible guided workouts, or do a “free lift” workout for a self-led session. The unit captures your entire workout metrics and provides video guidance showing what you need to be doing for every exercise (whenever you’re following a guided workout).

The unboxing experience

The Speediance comes nearly fully assembled within the box. All I needed to do was add batteries to the handles and barbell (because they’re smart accessories that track your reps), and screw the legs into the load bench. As someone who has struggled to place together countless pieces of exercise equipment alone, this was a welcomed perk.

I also love that it’s a freestanding home gym. I live in an old home with odd spacing for studs, so I wouldn’t give you the chance to make use of a system that requires wall mounting.

The platform is on wheels and it will possibly fold up whenever you’re not using it, making it extremely compact and fairly portable. I’m quite petite and even I can fold up and move the unit around alone.

What the workouts are like

Within the weeks I’ve been testing it out, I’ve been primarily using the Speediance for strength training workouts. If you select a workout, you’ll be able to filter the library of workout videos by the body parts that you would like to train and the way long you will have to work out. Before you start, the display will show you all the accessories that you simply’ll need.

Regardless that there isn’t a two-way mirror or a 3-D sensor like a number of the home gym competitors, the smart accessories do track your range of motion to aid you visualize whether you’re performing the exercise properly.

Plus, in the event you are using the barbell attachment or each handle individually but at the identical time, the range of motion graph will compare your movement pattern on the best and left side of your body. This may be super informative for helping you discover muscle imbalances or technique errors in your lifts. Regardless that I’ve been a private trainer for over 13 years and have plenty of familiarity with a lot of the exercises I even have done with the Speediance, I discovered loads of areas by which I assumed that my form was flawless but actually there have been deviations—I feel this ingenious feature will help me improve my movement mechanics.

Speediance feel and performance

The Speediance cable pulleys function identical to a cable machine or a functional trainer at your gym. They’re smooth and you’ll be able to raise and lower the pulleys with only one hand. Normally, I’ve found that using the handles individually for exercises like biceps curls, chest fly, and triceps push-downs are a little bit more smooth and natural than once I’ve used the barbell attachment for squats and bench press.

The challenge is attempting to lift evenly from each side of your body at a smooth and regular rate and titrating your force output out of your right and left sides to maintain the barbell balanced. While this feels a bit awkward, I do know that it is going to actually make me stronger and more efficient at lifting weights. Reasonably than allowing my dominant side to take the brunt of the workload, I even have to actually give attention to pressing, pushing, or lifting evenly between each side of my body.

Speediance rowing machine

After using the Speediance for several weeks, I made a decision to upgrade with the rowing machine attachment. It requires a bit more assembly than the Speediance home gym base unit, however it truthfully only took me 10 minutes. You mainly need to attach the sliding seat and the foot together with a few pieces for the rail.

I even have to say, I used to be really skeptical about this because I’ve grow to be somewhat of an avid recreational rower previously couple of years, and own the premium Hydrow rowing machine. I imagined that the Speediance rower can be akin to the tiny screwdriver or bottle opener on a Swiss Army knife—functional, but rudimentary.

Although the Speediance rower isn’t as much as par when it comes to performance specs or “real feel” rowing on water, I used to be pleasantly surprised with how smooth the rowing stroke felt despite the compact design. And I enjoyed the rowing workouts that come free within the workout library.

I’d say that if getting the best at-home rowing machine is your goal, it’s best to consider purchasing a standalone rowing machine. However the Speediance is value, and it actually has a smaller footprint than a full-sized rowing machine.

The resistance is impressive

For such a compact smart home gym, the performance of Speediance is impressive. You need to use the touchscreen to digitally adjust the electromagnetic resistance as much as 220 kilos, which is good enough for me, and must be plenty for many recreational athletes and residential gym users.

Each individual cable pulley provides 110 kilos of resistance with a 1:1 pulley ratio. Because of this in the event you dial in 20 kilos on the touchscreen, you’ll actually be lifting 20 kilos. (Some budget home gyms have a 2:1 pulley ratio, so you will have to crank up the resistance to 40 kilos to effectively lift 20 kilos.)

Is the Speediance value it?

Overall, I highly recommend the unit to anyone who wants a compact, user-friendly smart home gym. Although the unit cost of Speediance is analogous to a number of the other best home gyms, after just a few months, you’re saving money due to free lifetime membership.

Even in the event you are a beginner, the guided workouts and clear video demonstrations will provide you with the direction you could perform exercises properly. Plus, you’ll be able to keep track of your progress over time to observe your improvements add up to higher strength and fitness—a confidence boost that may keep you coming back to work out time and again.