BowFlex PR1000 Home Gym

Why it's worth it

The Bowflex PR1000 uses flexible Power Rods instead of a weight stack, delivering over 200 pounds of resistance with no clanking plates. It covers 25-plus exercises and folds the bench upright when you need the floor back.

Power Rod resistance behaves differently from weights, and for a lot of people that's the appeal. The rods flex, so tension builds smoothly through the range and there's no inertia to fight at the start of a rep. Owners recovering from shoulder, knee and back injuries repeatedly point to this as the reason they can train at all. It's also nearly silent, which matters if you're working out above someone's bedroom.

For a first home gym, it's hard to go wrong here. You get 25-plus exercises, multiple pulley positions to change the angle of resistance, a bench that adjusts from flat to incline, and a rolling seat that converts the whole thing into a rowing station. That's a complete beginner program in one purchase, and assembly is straightforward enough that owners routinely finish it alone in an afternoon.

From our review of 5 home gym systems, by Chloe Miller, Lifestyle & Trends Editor

What we like

• +Power Rod resistance behaves differently from weights, and for a lot of people that's the appeal
• +For a first home gym, it's hard to go wrong here
• +It suits smaller and shared spaces
• +Feedback skews strongly positive across a very large number of owners, and the pattern is consistent: it's easy to use, easy to…

What to know

• –The rods have a ceiling, and stronger lifters hit it
• –Rod resistance isn't linear the way a stack is
• –The footprint is bigger than the price suggests — this thing is wide and long once the bench is deployed