Choosing the right commercial gym equipment

Both commercial and home gym equipment can be a complicated market for customers looking to buy gym kit. When you’re looking for a personal trainer you look for his accomplishments or qualifications, when your buying your protein you look at the reviews, taste and the quality so you must ensure you look at the quality of gym equipment you buy. Like anything in the market there are poor quality items and high quality items. 

Differences in quality and finishing touches are reasons why the likes of Aston Martin, Apple and Louis Vitton exist and why they certainly won’t compromise in order to satisfy customers who are looking to buy a Hyundai, use a Mortorola or wear clothes from Matalan. Now I’m not saying there is anything wrong with buying from those places but what I am saying is that there is a distinct difference in quality, features or benefits between the brands which is reflected in the price. This article has been written in order to guide a customer looking to purchase gym equipment in to making the correct decision and not get sucked into marketing tactics which see celebrities or well known industry figures endorse products which they don’t use or have been given for free to promote.

Review your gym equipment
When purchasing gym equipment what you must understand is that in most cases the old analogy ‘You get what you pay for’ is, on the whole, true. Sure there are some companies creating huge profit margins while providing no real benefit to the customer. Let us explain what you need to be looking at when purchasing equipment and what sets cheap gym equipment apart from high quality luxury gym equipment. When you buy your gym equipment you need to look at the following

• Plating- Moving parts such as uprights on squat racks, rollers and bar holders should ideally be produced from a corrosion resistant material such as stainless steel or be plated using nickel or alloy. It can be sometimes very hard to see the differences from pictures but look at some of the equipment on the internet and refer to the colour, zinc plating is usually silver or black whilst nickel will have a bright silver effect. If any moving parts are any other colour chances are the parts have been powder coated or painted which will chip and rust the moment its used.

Why do they not plate the items? In one simple word ‘Price’ plating is an expensive process used to add corrosion resistance to products. It’s not cheap and isn’t generally used by the cheaper gym equipment manufacturers.
• Are there are exceptions?- Watch out for some companies as they will plate the products then powder coat them. This is perfectly fine and will provide you with an aesthetically pleasing finishing which, once compromised, will still be corrosion resistant and not rust.

Engraving – Multiple adjustment levels should be numbered ensuring you can quickly and easily set up the gym equipment without having to count holes which is frustrating and time consuming.

• Is engraving really needed? Engraving is usually only found on luxury gym equipment where special attention to detail has been taken. Although not critical to the strength we believe it has a strong impact on the functionality of the equipment and helps to provide a better workout. Reduced costs can be achieved by leaving holes blank

Poor welding – Structural integrity of welds is paramount to creating strong and durable equipment, although this runs in line with thequality of steel that is used it is important you can tell the difference between a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ weld.

Bad Gym Equipment Weld

Bad Weld

A bad weld is fairly easy to spot. It has little structural penetration and is a disaster waiting to happen. Often the weld bead has an unequal pattern usually caused by a poor operator and/or poor welder. Spotting in the welds (as seen in the above picture) should not occur and reduce weld strength .

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Welding on our gym equipment

Good weld

A good weld on your gym equipment will have a fairly even width, no gaps within the actual weld bead and limited splatter (molten steel which sticks around the weld).
Although there are exceptions generally the weld should be clean and tidy and have no holes in the weld bead. Weld splatter is avoidable and there should be limited amounts, if any, stuck around the weld bead. Take a look at the gym equipment on your next set and see what it looks like
• Poor Quality Steel
All of our structural based equipment uses a minimum of 3mm steel section with some of the higher end products using 5mm steel box section. The quality of the steel has a large impact on your product. Welds usually form the strongest part of the steel and should be stronger than the metal itself due to the heat that has been introduced to bond the two materials together.
How do I check the quality? Check the product description or ask the manufacturer. An easy way to tell is by the weight of the product. Light products as a general rule equal thinner materials.

Contact us for more information and to commission custom gym equipment