When we were deciding between home gyms or benches we went to specialty fitness stores where you can find Life Fitness equipment. I had my husband convinced that spending $1400 on the best would be an alright thing to do. (You can find home gyms for 1/3 of that but they won't the quality or stability of Life Fitness.)

The specifications and more

The Life Fitness G2 Home Gym is 71 inches long by 83 inches high by 48 inches wide. With the optional leg press you are looking at a width of 81 inches. The fact it has an optional leg press and calf raise was a real plus. We saw a home gym that had one but it was by itself off to the side connected to the machine wasting a whole lot of room.

One of our problems is that our ceiling is 84 inches. Some home gyms you will see have lat bars that do not have to be raised to get it off the bar. In other words it sits down far enough on the pole rather than at the top of the pole.

That is not the case with the G2 so you will need an extra couple of inches to get the lat bar off its holder.

The warranty is lifetime on the frame and parts and three years on the pads and cables. This is a decent warranty in my opinion.

The G2's features

The weight stack is 160 pounds. The G2 works with a stack in which you put a pin in the weight you want. Attachments such as a bar for lat pulldowns (back) go on a clip attached to a cable.

You'll get a lat bar, low row bar, ankle strap, exercise cards and two pairs of different sized handles. These are nice features to get which would cost you quite a bit if bought separately.

You can add 50 more pounds to the weight stack which will cost you extra money.

My experiences

Let me say that of all the home gyms I tried the G2 felt the most stable and the most like a commercial quality gym. It didn't feel wobbly and the leg extension part for example had rollers that didn't wiggle around.

I loved the fact it had a low cable which I am missing on the weight machine we bought.

The low cable allows seated rows (back), biceps and shoulder work, and leg work.

When I used the chest press on other gyms they too felt wobbly and uneven. I was really impressed with the stability and smoothness of the chest press and pec dec on the G2 (chest work).

I found it very easy to go from exercise to exercise. The back is contoured and very comfortable as is the seat.

My one complaint would be that the seat does not move so you won't be able to do your own exercises using a bench such as triceps extensions. Still with the G2 you don't need it because this machine gives you all you need. There are many times I wish that I had gone for a home gym rather than a bench. When we were all done with the bench it probably cost about the same as this machine and I would have taken a panel out of the ceiling. I love it! (Posted on 12/3/10)