It may not look like a house health club must-have like a weight set or treadmill—however as soon as you discover the most effective weight bench to your exercise, you’ll surprise the way you ever went with out it. That’s as a result of weight benches can present further help, modify sure workouts, and allow you to simply carry out strikes like single-arm rows, hip thrusts, and extra.
They’re severely versatile, but additionally a little bit of an funding. To be sure you select the best one, we spoke to health consultants about key options and chosen the most effective fashions available on the market. Store our faves under.
Our high picks
- Finest Total: BowFlex 5.1S Adjustable Weight Bench, $349
- Sturdiest: Rep Health AB-3100 Adjustable Weight Bench, $320
- Finest Funds Choose: Reebok Deck, $250
- Finest for Small Areas: Speediance Incline Bench, $299
- Finest Splurge: Rogue Adjustable Bench 3.0, $595
On this article
Store the most effective weight benches
People, we now have carry off.
Finest Total: BowFlex 5.1S Adjustable Weight Bench
Christa Sgobba, SELF’s director of health and meals, provides this BowFlex bench her stamp of approval (and devoted SELF readers could acknowledge it from our 6 Weeks to Stronger exercise problem). Its seat is upholstered and comfortable, and its incline adjusts with the flip of a knob.
The 5.1S doesn’t simply verify the important packing containers for a weight bench—it additionally has some nice-to-have particulars that give it a slight edge over different choices. For one, it may be set on a declining angle (and also you don’t see that fairly often, Sgobba says). For an additional, it has a detachable brace that holds your legs in place. These options offer you extra place choices for strikes like Russian twists, cranium crushers, and sit-ups.
Dimensions: 28.10 x 61.30 x 18 inches | Incline choices: 90, 60, 45, 30, 0, and -20 levels | Weight capability: 600 kilos
Sturdiest: Rep Health AB-3100 Adjustable Weight Bench
This heavy-duty bench gained a SELF House Health Award final 12 months. “I like its sturdiness and stability,” Kellen Scantlebury, DPT, CSCS, a bodily therapist, founding father of Match Membership NY, and one in every of our Awards judges, mentioned. “You may carry out step-ups on it with out worrying that it’ll flip over. From a security perspective, it’s an amazing possibility!”
Its most load capability is 700 kilos (for the consumer and weights mixed), making it a superb alternative for a variety of individuals and health objectives.
Dimensions: 23 x 50.50 x 16.75 inches | Incline choices: 90, 75, 60, 45, 30, and 0 levels for the again; 20 and 0 levels for the seat | Weight capability: 700 kilos
Finest Funds Choose: Reebok Deck
One other House Health Award winner, Reebok’s Deck provides you an amazing bang to your buck. It’s the least costly possibility on our listing, however probably the most versatile—not solely does it perform as a conventional weight bench, nevertheless it additionally serves as a stepper, an anchor for resistance tube bands, and a storage container for smaller items of apparatus.
What it could lack in sturdiness (the utmost weight capability is way decrease than different choices on our listing) it makes up for in portability: The Deck clocks in below 30 kilos and folds flat.
Dimensions: 13.20 x 47.80 x 7.90 inches or 13.20 x 47.80 x 13.80 inches | Incline choices: Incline, decline, and flat | Weight capability: 350 kilos
Finest for Small Areas: Speediance Incline Bench
Technically an adjunct to Speediance’s House Health Award–profitable Gymnasium Pal, the model’s Incline Bench can be bought individually—and it makes a superb weight bench for smaller or shared exercise areas. It weighs simply 33 kilos, has a smooth-locking adjustment system, and folds flat (at lower than eight inches excessive, it may be tucked below your mattress, desk, or sofa).
Dimensions: 15.60 x 45.48 x 15.60 inches | Incline choices: 90, 75, 60, 45, 30, 20, and 0 levels for the again; 20 and 0 levels for the seat | Weight capability: N/A
Finest Splurge: Rogue Adjustable Bench 3.0
“This bench is constructed like a tank—steady, sturdy, and protected for heavy lifting,” Everett Miner, NASM-CPT, an in-person and on-line health coach, tells SELF. He notes its {smooth} adjustment system and vertical storage possibility as key options. “If I have been designing a health club from the bottom up, this could be my go-to bench,” Miner sums up.
It comes at a a lot larger value level than the opposite benches we’ve featured, so it’s greatest suited to devoted weightlifters who wish to get pleasure from difficult exercises at house regularly.
Dimensions: 24.75 x 56.50 x 17.50 inches | Incline choices: 85, 75, 67.50, 60, 52.50, 45, 37.50, 30, 15, and 0 levels for the again; 30, 15, and 0 levels for the seat | Weight capability: 1,000 kilos
What to search for when shopping for a weight bench
You don’t want a bench with one million incline settings, however the extra there are, the extra strikes you are able to do, Miner says. Take into consideration the workouts you often use a weight bench for if you’re on the health club—that may allow you to get an concept of which angles are must-haves in your house weight bench.
“The bench [should be] heavy and steady sufficient to not shift round throughout use,” Miner says. He recommends in search of fashions with a non-slip base or grippy pads below the legs. A steady bench must help the burden of your physique and your most well-liked weights, so be certain that to verify the utmost load capability earlier than making your buy.
The seat and backrest ought to really feel sturdy too—even when they’re padded for consolation. “I search for high-density foam that’s agency, not overly comfortable or soft, so you’ve gotten a stable, constant floor to carry off of,” Miner says.
As with all bigger piece of health gear, your bench’s dimensions are key. It ought to slot in your exercise space, leaving sufficient room so that you can maneuver round it. Don’t neglect to take storage choices into consideration. Some fashions retailer upright, others fold flat and may slide below furnishings, and others nonetheless don’t fold in any respect.
How we picked the most effective weight benches
We requested private trainers about their favourite fashions and referenced earlier years’ House Health Award winners to curate our listing above. When an merchandise wins a House Health Award, meaning it’s been used firsthand by no less than one in every of our testers or judges and located to be an distinctive piece of substances.
Associated:
Get extra of SELF’s nice product suggestions delivered proper to your inbox (free of charge!).
