Weider 500 Home Gym Review – Good for Novice Lifters

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The Weider 500 Home Gym – Good Starter Unit

The Weider 500 home gym is a weight bench with attachments for lat pull and a leg developer.

The Gym

This model offers stations for basic lifts including squats, bench press, military press, shoulder press, pull-up station, lat bar pull-down, preacher curl, and leg developer.

The Weider 500 home gym includes:

Front lift-off hooks & safety spotters

Flat, Incline, Decline Bench

Preacher Pad

Leg Developer

Pull-Up Station

High Pulley

Plate Weight Storage

Note: Weights and weight bar are not included.

Weider Home Gyms - WeiderFitness.com

The Buzz

The reputation of Weider gyms have been taking a beating from fitness pros the last few years for their overall lack of quality, although Weider does make some good pieces of equipment such as the VKR/Dip Tower. Experienced lifters would advise against a Weider home gym, however, for the casual weekend lifter, the Weider 500 makes a good starter unit especially when you consider that one can be bought at discount stores such as Costco and Wal-mart for around $500.

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One drawback of the Weider 500 home gym is that the FID bench is not the most comfortable or ergonomically designed. The squat and press stations will be used the most (and we hope, the pull-up station as well!), and they are adequate for the novice lifter. The leg extensions and curls (thigh and hamstring) are decent although the positioning is a bit cramped, and the unit includes two stations as standard equipment that are typically optional on other home gyms – the preacher curl station for arms and a high lat station for back exercises.

Our Take

Although the Weider 500 is a discontinued model you may be able to find it for half price online. We would caution that an avid lifter will quickly outgrow this home gym system, for example, a 150-lb lat pulley system is too light if you are already capable of that doing that weight. For the same money, we recommend you look at a better design, such as the Powertec Workbench Rack System, which can handle up to 400 lbs on the lat tower, 200 lbs on the curl, and 700 lbs on the rack system. While you may be able to pick up the Weider 500 home gym for cheap, it isn’t a bargain in the long run. Get a Powertec or a Body Solid and start your strength training off right.

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