Best Compact Home Gym in 2023

As runners, we love being out on the road or trail, our feet pounding on the ground almost hypnotically. Most of us aren’t exactly gym rats!

But adding some resistance training to your schedule could be the perfect way to improve your running performance. The more muscle you have, the faster you metabolize energy and can use it when running. Your stamina will get a boost, too!

Investing in a great compact home gym for your space and situation can make a huge difference in your fitness. We’ve chosen the Bowflex PR1000 as our number one, for its nice price, silent operation, and versatility in the range of exercises you can do with it.

Here’s our top nine.

Top 3 Best and Favorites

Best Overall

1. Bowflex PR1000 Home Gym

This silent ninja of a home gym isn’t just affordable. It offers you the chance to do more than 25 exercises at a decent resistance in the comfort of your own space.

With 210lb of resistance, the PR1000 should be suitable for beginners and advanced gym-goers alike. It features a versatile bench that can be used flat or inclined, can be removed completely to allow space for standing movements, and can even be turned into a sliding seat for rowing.

This feature is great as it adds an extra cardio element, which many home gyms don’t. Beyond that useful function, it has an adjustable media rack that fits all phones and tablets so you can have your training motivation right in front of you.

Unlike many others, it uses resistance rods instead of weights, and you can easily add more or remove a rod for less resistance. The only downside is that once you’ve hit 210lb of resistance, there’s no way to add more.

If you don’t enjoy going to the gym but don’t have a spotter at home, this gym would be a great investment. You’ll get a superb full-body workout and stay safe at the same time.

Top Value

2. Marcy MWM-990 150 lb Stack Home Gym

The Marcy MWM-990 offers almost a full gym workout in a hardy package that will last you decades if you take care of it.

Crafted from steel, this is a heavy-duty gym that offers some great weight behind it. The weight stack is only 150lb, though, which may be too light for some. It does feature a special weight stack safety lock, so nobody can change up your weights while you’re not watching.

Your upper and lower body will get a decent workout on this gym. Try some lat pul-ldowns, chest press or chest flys, preacher curls on the removable arm pad, leg extensions, or hamstring curls with the adjustable leg developer.

Considering the sturdy construction and the fact that you can do a comprehensive full-body workout with this machine, it wins our top value spot.

Best Compact Design

3. Gold’s Gym XRS 50

Sometimes you just don’t have a whole room to dedicate to a home gym. If you need something compact but still effective, consider the Gold’s Gym XRS 50 one.

It offers as comprehensive a range of exercises as others, but in a more compact design. It’s sleek and small, not bulky like some.

The machine can hold users up to 300lb in weight, and has a weight stack of 112lb, which includes up to 280lbs of resistance.

You’ll get an exercise chart when you buy, so you’ll never be lost for what to do next.

Top Resistance Band Machine

4. Teeter FitForm Total Body Strength Trainer

If you aren’t sold on the idea of weights and weight stacks, this resistance band trainer could be the right thing for you.

It packs up to 65lbs of resistance and can be adjusted in 1-pound intervals to find exactly the right workout for you.

You can perform over 100 exercises on this compact machine! As if that isn’t enough, you’ll also have access to their free personal training app where you can partake in trainer-led sequences or customize your workout as you like it.

It comes with soft handles and an ankle strap so you can be as versatile as you want.

Most Exercise Options

5. Body by Jake Tower 200

This useful little contraption can be used anywhere – at home, at the office, on vacation, or wherever else you might find yourself, as long as there’s a door nearby.

200 is the number of the day, as this setup allows for more than 200 exercises at a resistance of more than 200lbs.

It’s super easy to assemble and start exercising right away. You can select a variety of different resistance levels to challenge you at whatever fitness level you’re at.

It comes with handles and ankle straps, so you can get a decent workout from top to toe. Just be sure to only use it in the manner in which it was intended – to be placed within a door frame.

Using it against a wall could cause it to break or increase the potential for injury, as well as voiding the warranty if something goes wrong.

Best Pilates Machine

6. Weider Ultimate Body Works

Those of you who enjoy pilates, here’s a machine for you. The Weider Ultimate Body Works allows for a wide range of exercises and stretches, with the ability to add more resistance if needed.

The bench is slidable, which means you can do some great squats and pull-ups using the resistance on this machine.

If you need more space for your feet when you aren’t squatting, the footrest is removable. You can also adjust the incline until it’s comfortable for you.

It’s a great workout for both upper and lower body, and easy on the joints too!

Best Home Gym Cable Tower

7. Bowflex Blaze Home Gym

The goal of a home gym is to get a simple yet effective comprehensive workout. You should be able to easily achieve that with the Blaze. You can do 60 or more exercises using this resistance machine, and if you aren’t sure what all of those are, it comes with a handy placard filled with exercise instructions.

Adjust the pulleys and cables to suit your workout. Whether it’s chest day, abs day, or the dreaded leg day (what?! You’re a runner! Embrace the pain!), you’ll be able to get a burn from this gym.

One of the things we like most about it is that while it comes with 210lbs of resistance, you can upgrade to 410lbs if you need more. That gets a thumbs-up for being suitable for everyone!

Best Home Gym Under $1500

8. Body-Solid G1S Gym

The G1S Gym looks like something you’d see in the actual gym. It’s a solid piece of equipment, and if you use it right, you’ll become body-solid too!

We like that your purchase includes a lat bar, ankle strap, straight bar, a tricep rope, a water bottle holder, and an instructional DVD.

You can work out every muscle group with just a bit of adjustment on the machine. The 160lb weight stack unfortunately can’t be upgraded, but should be adequate for most people.

For such a comprehensive tool, it’s quite compact and easy to fit into just about any room. As an added bonus, it has a lifetime warranty on every piece of it!

Best Home Gym Under $2000

9. Bodycraft Galena Pro Strength System

Weightlifting is old school. You find something heavy, you pick it up, you put it down. Ok, that’s for sure an oversimplification. Still, a bit of sleek tech-forward design certainly makes the picking up and putting down both more enjoyable and more effective. If home gyms can be state-of-the-art, the Galena Pro fits the bill. Featuring two seating stations, you’d be hard-pressed to find an exercise you can’t do on this piece of equipment. You can even purchase a leg press to add to it!

With up to 300lb of resistance, it should be sufficient for most users and provide a good muscle-pumping workout.

Everything is adjustable, so you can get it exactly right for you, your height, and your preferences. This makes everything as comfortable as possible.

Do lat pulldowns, various chest presses, leg extensions and curls, and rows, to mention just a few.

If you and your SO are looking for a home gym that you can use as a couple, the dual-seat nature of this one makes it a great choice!

If it’s just you, it’s still worth the buy for the extra resistance, adjustability, and ability to add extras to it.

It’s not the most compact, though (which is understandable). If you’re short on space, you may struggle to fit this somewhere comfortably.