The Pros and Cons of a Weider Home Gym

Weider home gyms are some of the most popular home gyms on the market. How do they measure up against other home gyms on the market? Here's a quick overview of Weider home gyms to help you decide if one is right for you.

Weider makes both weight stack home gyms and crossbar (or crossbow) home gyms (these are similar to the Bowflex Power Rod gyms).

Weider is a subsidiary of ICON Health and Fitness, one of the largest producers of fitness equipment in the world. Icon also manufactures brands like Proform, Golds Gym, Free Motion, Nordic Track, Epic and Reebok.

Most Weider home gyms use bendable bars (crossbow or crossbars) to create resistance.

The advantage to this (vs. using a weight stack with pulleys) is a more affordable, space efficient home gym that still gives you a wide variety of exercises to work your entire body including abs, back, legs and arms.

Weider has several crossbow home gym models, the most popular are the:

Weider Platinum - Offers resistance of up to 340 lbs. and 75 exercises

Weider Advantage - Offers resistance of up to 240 lbs (upgradable to 440 pounds) and 65 exercises

Weider Max - Offers resistance of up to 240 lbs. and 65 exercises

Another unique feature found on the Weider Platinum (and Platinum Plus) model is the Digital Resistance Control. This means you can change your resistance with the touch of a button - there are no manual adjustments needed.

Advantages of Weider home gyms are that they are space efficient, more affordable than weight stack gyms, and can give you an overall total body workout. They offer lots of exercises (65+) to work your major muscle groups. They can also be a viable (and more affordable) alternative to the more expensive Bowflex Power Rod home gyms.

It's also important to note that while the warranties on the machines themselves tend to be short, there is a lifetime warranty on the crossbars.

Disadvantages to Weider machines are that, for the most part, these are economy machines (especially the Weider Max and Weider Crossbow Advantage).

They are not built with the same high degree of construction as other home gym brands and as such may not hold up over the long run as well as other brands.

Also, some people do not like the type of resistance that the Crossbow models give you, claiming that a weight stack machine with pulleys, give you a better range of motion and a more sophisticated type of resistance.

Because of this, a Weider Crossbow home gym might not be the best choice if your goal is to get 'ripped' or 'huge'. (You might want to consider free weights or a leverage home gym for that).

A Crossbow home gym would be more suitable for toning and strengthening your muscles.

Bottom Line:

If you're on a tight budget but still want a decent home gym that will give you a wide range of exercises to work your entire body, Weider home gyms give you good value.

They're affordable, space efficient and can be more lightweight than a standard home gym. The Weider Advantage and the Weider Max have fairly positive user reviews behind them and they give you a large range of exercises, making these models a good value for the money.

The disadvantage is that these are economy gyms. They may not hold up as well over the long term as other gym brands - a fact seen in generally shorter warranties.

However, considering what you get for the price tag, most Weider home gyms - especially the Crossbow models - offer good value.