What is the Best Home Workout Machine?

Are you looking for home workout machines but unsure which one is the best? Do you want to know, once and for all, what the best machine is to get fit without going to the gym? Read on to see which machine we think is the ultimate home workout machine.

Working out at home has grown in popularity.

High fees, overcrowded gyms, and spending more time waiting for a machine than you actually do using it has lead to more and more people ditching the gym in favor of staying and working out at home, and it’s easy to see why.

Flexible workout times, doing the exact routine that you want, and not having to worry about anything other than what time of the day you’ll do your session, home workouts have many benefits, and often, the main problem you will have is actually deciding what equipment to buy.

Treadmills, bikes, rowers, and more, the options for home workout equipment have dramatically increased but unless you have the space available of an actual gym, you will often struggle to fit in more than a few pieces of equipment.

In this article, we’re going to break it down and once and for all, decide on the best home workout machine that you need for working out at home.

Treadmill

Favored by runners, although used by people that like to jog (or walk) a treadmill is a fitness icon that needs no introduction. It’s widely accepted that running is one of the best ways to burn calories and one of the most natural movements you can do when it comes to fitness training and whether it’s done outside, or inside on a treadmill, running is a great workout.

However, as with everything, there are pros and cons of using a treadmill for your home workouts.

Pros

Whether walking or running, using a treadmill (which has a smooth belt and cushioning) is easier on the joints than running outdoors, this can help to prevent injuries and can provide a lighter alternative to hitting the pavement outside.
The treadmill can be just as difficult as outdoor running, ensuring the same level of workout consistently and maintaining the same benefits as if running outside, and with digital displays built into the machines, users can also see in real-time the amount of calories that have been burned and assess all of their vital stats.
A treadmill is known to be a great calorie burner, giving you a convenient option for working out and burning calories at home.
Treadmill running makes managing your pace and running to a target pace, much easier.

Cons

Although a 1% incline is enough to simulate outside running the way a treadmill works means you don’t get all of the same benefits as If you were running outside and the posterior chain, mainly the hamstrings and glutes, are the ones to suffer, not quite getting the same level of workout as if you were running outside.
For many people, running on a treadmill is boring and although you can listen to music or watch something on TV, it can still be pretty mind-numbing.
Some treadmills can be big and bulky pieces of kit that take up a lot of space and are hard to store when not in use.
Although better than outside running, treadmills can still be hard to use for people with joint problems.

Conclusion:

Treadmills are fantastic calorie-burning machines that can help anyone to improve their fitness and make overall improvements to their aerobic endurance levels.

Although they can be big, many now come with space-saving features allowing the treadmills to fold, and in some of the higher-end models, you can also get access to fitness classes that use the treadmill or other equipment to train you, although this is only at the higher end of the market.

A better option than running outside on the ground, treadmills can still be difficult to use for people with joint or mobility problems and in some cases, larger users can also struggle with using a treadmill and its impact on their body.

See Our Top Rated Treadmills Here

Stationary Bike

When we talk about a stationary exercise bike there are three main options, an upright bike, a recumbent bike, and a spin bike. All three offer very similar benefits and are similar in their design and how they can be used. When we say stationary bike here, we mean all of the varieties.

Pros

Stationary bikes are much more accessible to larger users or to those that suffer from muscle and joint pain as it is a low impact exercise that doesn’t stress the joints. It can be a great option for people that are new to exercise or recovering from injury.
Exercise bikes can offer extremely high-calorie burning sessions, helping people to burn calories and lose weight faster than if using another form of exercise.
If a user is suffering from back pain or joint issues the position of the bike can be much more accessible, making it more comfortable when in use.

Cons

Exercise bikes work the lower body meaning the upper body does not get much of a workout.
Although exercising on a bike can benefit all of the lower body it can also be very quad dominant, leaving the posterior chain (back of the body such as hamstrings and glutes) feeling weaker.

Conclusion:

Exercise bikes can be beneficial for people that need low impact exercise, making them great for people that are new to exercise or those that are recovering from an injury. They also provide good calorie-burning potential, helping users to burn a high amount of calories in a short space of time. With different variations such as recumbent or indoor cycling (spin) bikes, most users will find something for their level and there is always going to be an option even when a more advanced or challenging level is required.

See Our Top Rated Spin Bikes Here

Elliptical

Elliptical machines have become an exercise favorite with people all over the globe due to their low impact and easy to use nature. For the very same reasons many people also look o the elliptical when building out their home gym, here are the pros and cons of using an elliptical machine.

Pros

Elliptical machines are low impact, making them perfect for people that are new to exercise and those that suffer from aches, pains, or injuries. Some people also can’t handle the stress and pressure on their joints, making the elliptical a perfect machine for home use.
Despite being low impact, elliptical machines have great calorie-burning potential and if anything, the low impact nature of using an elliptical can enhance the calorie-burning potential as many users won't fatigue as quickly, helping them to exercise for longer and therefore burn more calories overall.
Unlike when using a bike or running on the treadmill, elliptical users can enjoy a full-body workout as the upper body is worked together with the lower body. This provides users with a unique full-body cardio workout that works multiple muscles at once, including the legs, arms, back, and chest.

Cons

Elliptical machines can take the user through an unusual movement pattern. Whereas a treadmill can replicate natural human movement, the elliptical cannot. Overuse, especially in an unnatural position, can lead to some users injuring their hips or lower backs and putting extra pressure on their body from an exercise that should be less stressful on the body.
Much like running on a treadmill for a long time, the elliptical machine can be boring, that’s just the unfortunate truth.
Elliptical machines have a standard height setting which means they could be difficult to use by people outside of this height range. Trying to use the elliptical, especially when it isn’t set up correctly, can lead to injuries and further aches and pains.
They can be very big and take up a lot of space, making it difficult to store in smaller spaces.

Conclusion:

A good option for low impact exercise machines that still burn calories, the elliptical machine is a very strong option for home exercise. With good calorie-burning potential and an easy to use system that provides a good full-body workout, an elliptical machine is a good option for any home gym. However, users should be aware that elliptical machines can be very big, making it difficult to store if space is limited and due to the standard height setting that most machines have, it could also be problematic for people to use.

See Our Top Rated Ellipticals Here

Rowing Machine

Providing a very intense workout whilst still being low impact, the rowing machine is a long-time favorite for gym goers that want to improve their performance fast. A rowing machine can provide a very intense workout and it also has the benefit of providing a full-body workout.

Pros

A rowing machine will provide a full-body workout, working most of the major muscle groups in the body in addition to the core.
Users will also benefit from a low-impact exercise that doesn’t put undue stress and pressure on the joints, making it a good option for anyone that suffers from knee or hip pain.
It doesn’t take long to realize just how effective the rowing machine can be as it has great calorie-burning potential. In as short as 60 seconds the indoor rowing machine will increase the heart rate and get the blood pumping.

Cons

Although not very wide, rowing machines are long and can take up a lot of space, making them harder to fit into smaller rooms. Although some can be folded up to make storage easier, they can still be difficult to move and store.
They can be very noisy, making them difficult to use with other people around.
Used incorrectly, rowing machines could put pressure in the wrong places of the users body, leading to injury and muscle pain.

Conclusion:

Rowing machines can provide a very intense workout and will test the user more than most machines will, making it difficult for some people to effectively use a rower for longer than 20 minutes. Although this can be good for faster, high-intensity workouts, it can also lead to some people fatiguing faster and therefore leave them unable to complete a full workout and burn as many calories as some other pieces of equipment.

See the Top Rated Rowing Machine Here

What are Your Goals?

Before buying any piece of home exercise equipment it is worth analyzing what your actual goals are and if you need to make any special considerations.

Is space an issue? Does the machine need to be quiet? Are you ok with higher impact machines? And are you training for something specific?

If you’re a rower and you need a suitable indoor training option then the decision is simple, you need a rowing machine.

But if you’re just looking for a good machine with high-calorie burning potential, the decision could be much harder.

Whether you know what you want or not, it’s always worth looking at all the possibilities before you purchase your first piece of home gym equipment.

Final Verdict

We’ve looked at the different options, now it’s time to pick a winner, and unfortunately, there can only be one.

All of the machines named in this list are fantastic options for home exercise and all will do a great job, helping you to burn calories, get fitter and improve your health, but they also have their drawbacks. These drawbacks are only small, but when trying to decide on only one, we have to take into account what we’re faced with to pick a winner and for us, that winner is the stationary bike.

In a perfect world, we’d have them all, but it’s like the desert island conundrum and we can only take one.

We felt that with the mix of stationary bike options available there is a far greater range out there to appeal to different people and with more intense workouts available and a moving scale of resistance that can promote muscle growth all across the lower body, there were more options to meet for all fitness levels.

A big complaint of many machines is the boredom factor, but we felt that using a stationary bike, we could go much further, for much longer, before boredom set in, and the low-impact nature of cycling also helped.

It’s now possible to find online workouts to go with most machines and some high-end machines even come with built-in screens to follow along with, but again, here we feel the options available are superior when purchasing a bike.

With indoor cycling spin classes or virtual follow along cycle routes that users can follow from their own home, we felt that the options available for the stationary bike were a cut above the rest.

With all that together our minds were made up and the decision was made that the best piece of home workout machine you can buy, is the stationary bike.