From elastic-resistance rigs to bodyweight-resistance glideboard gyms and the more conventional multistation setup, all home gyms are, at their core, designed to duplicate the same strength-training exercises you'd do at the gym. But because compactness is prized for most home gym designs, you may have to swap attachments or make other mechanical adjustments between exercises.
Leg Extension and Curl
Almost all home gyms come with a leg developer attachment: two foam bars fixed to a vertical column. The leg developer usually attaches to the front of the bench seat. If you use it sitting down, you work your quads; with many home gyms, you must stand up and face the seat to work your hamstrings with leg curls.
Chest Press and Rows
You'll find a chest-press arm on almost all home gyms, usually situated so that you sit down on the bench, facing out, then press the handles forward. A few gyms will position you face up and have you press straight up. On some of the seated-press machines, you can face toward the machine and use the same handles to perform rows, working your back muscle.
Lat Pulldowns and High Pulley Exercises
Almost every home gym has a lat tower. Cables run up along the tower to a high pulley directly over the gym seat. You can clip a long handle to the pulley cable for lat pulldowns, or attach other handles to perform a variety of exercises such as triceps pushdowns and high rows.
Pec Flyes, Shoulder Press and Squats
A pec fly setup, also known as butterfly handles, and shoulder-press arm are both common on home gyms, although not as ubiquitous as chest press handles. On some setups, you must insert or remove a locking pin at the upper end of the machine frame to switch between doing chest presses and pec flyes, as both exercises may share certain components of the machine frame. Most shoulder-press arms are situated so you can sit on the bench seat and press straight up, but they may occasionally be positioned to the side of the machine so you can use the same attachment for doing squats.
Leg Press, Curls, Dips, Pullups and Knee Raises
Occasionally, you'll find a leg press or preacher curl attachment on a home gym. The curl attachment is the more common of the two, and must often be removed to allow you to perform other exercises.
Some home gyms also feature a VKR, or vertical knee raise, station that offers the appropriate handles and bars for doing pullups, dips and hanging knee raises. You also can purchase a stand-alone VKR station -- a rudimentary home gym in its own right.
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