Function Trainers - Good idea?

[kelt_22]

Torque F2 is 2k new and the Hoist V6 should be $2500 ish not 3k on sale. Not sure where you are buying it but great value on those. The LF is overpriced for what you get.

V6 is by far my most popular gym and all around best FT I think. The F2 is really nice and a great value.

[matrix563]

I personally feel, and you will get this in this forum ad naseum, that you're best bet is a rack and an olympic barbell weight set.

Clearly you understand the effectiveness of weight training to lose weight, just because it's a barbell doesn't mean that you'll be building a bodybuilder physique. In fact, some may argue that a functional trainer is more useful for bodybuilding than weight training.

Congrats on your successes though - repped.

i have to agree with this. i've watched some pumping iron movies and all of them had lots of sets using cable crossovers/functional trainers. you can really see how it can target it specifically.

[GrussGott]

V6 is by far my most popular gym and all around best FT I think. The F2 is really nice and a great value.

6 years ago I was in a similar position to the OP ... at the time I had a large house so I bought a Hoist half cage and a hip sled. These were great ... in retrospect I would've probably just gotten a full cage ... I never mastered the olympic lifts but - and take this with a grain of salt - if you start slow, use only the bar, and watch lots of videos they're pretty easy to learn over time. Of course at the same time you can also master the big multi-joint exercises.

Anyway, last year we moved to a new state, to a city, and to an apartment. After all was said and done I had a "half bedroom" to set up as my new gym. bummer. I got rid of most of my big olympic stuff and bought a hoist V6 and an Iron master bench/dumbbell set with all of the attachments.

This has turned out to be a pretty great set-up with the exception of making big benches and squats impossible ... although using heavy dumbbells, bulgarian split squats, etc has been mostly ok as a replacement.

I'll say that I really miss a cage and am lightly looking for a "mini cage" and maybe a short bar ... but I digress.

The point is, the V6 in combo with an Ironmaster set with attachments allows me to do almost everything in a very small space with few compromises.

If you're lifting to get in shape and look good, I would think it's about all you need ... at least for me it's been.

[MEDPILOT]

I think functional trainers are an excellent way to workout. I'm currently looking at buying one myself. Looking at the Hoist V6 Life Fitness G7 or the Cybex Bravo. And this is coming from someone who already owns a squat rack. They are versatile and do not take up a lot of space. I'm always surprised to see all the negative responses regarding functional trainers on this board.

[Detrus]

If the choice is between a functional trainer and a power rack with freeweights as the sole piece of equipment, then people will hate on the trainer.

With what I see most people do with cable machines at a gym, their needs may be served by resistance bands and rings. If you're worried about injuries of freeweights vs cable machines, don't race to add weight to freeweights. If people added plates to cable machines are readily as they do on bench press they'd have the same exposure to injury.

6 years ago I was in a similar position to the OP ... at the time I had a large house so I bought a Hoist half cage and a hip sled. These were great ... in retrospect I would've probably just gotten a full cage ... I never mastered the olympic lifts but - and take this with a grain of salt - if you start slow, use only the bar, and watch lots of videos they're pretty easy to learn over time. Of course at the same time you can also master the big multi-joint exercises.

Better take that with a lot of salt. The main compound lifts, deadlift, bench, overhead press, squat are not easy to master. They're surprisingly technical. Working on technique only with the bar alone is a bad idea too, you may look right but your muscle balance and instincts will be off. I've seen a guy in the gym practice power cleans in the mirror with only the bar. He wasn't even close. But the catch at the top looked realistic.

Learning the techniques will take some mental effort. Probably months of deloaded workouts dedicated to technique. And olympic lifts have even more technique.

That said, learning the compound lifts thoroughly is well worth it. You'll see a big difference between focusing on them vs focusing on cable exercises as a novice.

[ichthis]

i think part of what happens on these boards is that there are loads of people who aren't into the lifting culture are mislead in all sorts of ways (like i myself once was), and so focusing attention on a rack and an oly set is a quick way to sort of do away with folks' delusions and misconceptions in one fell swoop. in general, not a bad idea. the problem is that this is a kind of 'one size fits all' approach, and so then it becomes almost a reflex to want to sort of shut down talk of smiths, functional trainers, crossovers, half racks, etc. Of course, almost all of the 'seasoned' members realize that there is a place for this other stuff, but sometimes it can get lost in the smoke and heat, thus losing a little light.

[KBKB]

i think part of what happens on these boards is that there are loads of people who aren't into the lifting culture are mislead in all sorts of ways (like i myself once was), and so focusing attention on a rack and an oly set is a quick way to sort of do away with folks' delusions and misconceptions in one fell swoop. in general, not a bad idea. the problem is that this is a kind of 'one size fits all' approach, and so then it becomes almost a reflex to want to sort of shut down talk of smiths, functional trainers, crossovers, half racks, etc. Of course, almost all of the 'seasoned' members realize that there is a place for this other stuff, but sometimes it can get lost in the smoke and heat, thus losing a little light.

That does happen. It often turns out better when the OP states his goals and describes the equipment that he already has. Some folks really do need guidance while others have a very good reason for asking advice on a particular piece of equipment.