Thanks for the 1 year review. I have had my Gym Monster for about 6 months. Brought it based on GamerBody's reviews. Fantastic machine. I have used the inbuilt programs and built my own custom workouts, and have had great results. Zero issues with the machine so far.
I’ve had mine for about two months. I got the “family” so I got the adjustable bench (though I rarely use the adjustment feature) and the rower, which I use all the time. I have the machine in my office and use the rower for an aerobic warmup. People complain about the rower but I think it’s excellent. I have a Nordic Track rower at home which is great for actual rowing workouts of course, but the Speediance one is just fine for my office use. I also have a Tonal at home, the Tonal is much better in some ways - it’s smoother and the arms make many exercises much more secure. In particular, ab curls are much better on the Tonal. Also, for a given exercise, the Tonal weight number is significantly lower than what feels the same on the Speediance, I’m planning to measure actual resistance with a dynamometer, But I can’t have a Tonal at work and I work out over lunch every day with the Speediance and, for this use, it’s been an excellent investment.
Appreciate this insight! Been considering both of these options. Would you say that after an aclimation period that you can have as effective and enjoyable of a workout compared to commercial cable machines with regards to resistance style. I'm having to downsize after a decade of being spoiled with owning a Freemotion Dual Cable Cross, Inspire FT2, and Tytax M1 along the way, and I'm particularly intrigued be the convenient compromise of the Spediance.
@@Tiger1016. it's difficult for me to answer that. I haven't worked out with those types of machines, and don't expect to anytime soon. But I will say that I'm able to get the workouts that I need on the both the Speediance and the Tonal. I alternate those with dumbbell workouts (I have the Bowflex 10 - 90 pound adjustable dumbells), bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, and others so that I stimulate the muscles in a variety of ways. But I'm quite satisfied with the Gym Monster for what it is. I doubt that a hardcore body builder or power lifter would be satisfied, but I'm neither of those. I do some Deka racing, Hyrox, and rock climbing so endurance and high strength to weight ratio are what I'm after.
Ordered mine a week ago. Can’t wait for it to get here! Your videos were definitely part of my decision One thing I’d mention is to price compare with Amazon. When flash sales are on the site, Amazon will have a comparable deal. And since Amazon has free shipping if you have prime, you’ll save a couple hundred dollars and you’re likely to get it shipped to you much faster.
Thank you for your videos! I purchased a Speediance about 9 months ago based partly on your reviews and I am loving it. On getting pinned, it was a major concern of mine; for this you can use assist mode as you mentioned or if you are stuck you can tilt one side of the barbell (much like you would with weights) and the weight will deactivate.
Thank you for your review. Well prepared! Please, if you have any time, could you please respond to each of the following questions? If that is not possible, no problem!. 1. If you are using Assistance 2 and you get "stock" at any point, will the resitance drop to 0? 2. Each time you change the exercise, do you have to change the setting or only the weight? 3. Does it have a "set-up/fit test" to establish the preferred setting or does it have to be configured manually? 4. Would you replace the gym with this equipment? Againg tank you for your review.
1. Yes, well it drops to 8lbs I think (which is easy enough to get out of). 2. No, if you preset the workout itself with the weights you want, it will start there for you. You will get into position, then click the right to activate the resistance based on what the workout program has. 3. There is a fit test, and it suggests what you should start with, but doesn't put it in my workout, just suggests starting resistance. There is an "AI" builder, but you pick some base settings like how advanced you want it to be, then it builds the rest for you. I personally just used my own. 4. You could, but if it is in constant use all the time, it may wear out much faster than the 13 years shown on the FAQ page. I think they based it on 2 hours of use a day or something. If you are just training a couple people a day in the gym, it may work well though!
On the price - You need to decide what is most important (i) cheap upfront price and monthly subscription (ii) higher upfront price and no subscription. I think having a business to support the product long term is a non-negotiable and having all of the innovation and updates as well.
The Gym Pal is close, but still need an app and you can't do vertical pull exercises. It would be nice though to have the cables and some separate way to set the resistance manually.
***FYI: Mother's Day sale with some good deals (20% off, so better than the $500 off they recently had). Plus you get the weight lifting belt and extender belts free (about a $180 value - although I'm a little nervous because they didn't show up on checkout). I even used your discount code and got an additional $120 off. Thank you!
I just noticed that you need to add the additional items to your cart and the discount will be applied there. I contacted the customer service, so hopefully they will add it to the order.
This seems to fit the bill for me on my main reason for looking for a machine like this which is being able to bring more exercises to a small space at home. However, the big ones I wanted to bring home like that are ones like deadlifts, squats and bench press, which may be the ones that I could max out at that 220lbs too quickly. Do you have any more details about how exercises like these really went with this type of resistance? Can you compare a normal bench press and correlate it to a weight on this that felt the same in reps/intensity? The one thing keeping me from pulling the trigger on this really is these higher weight potential exercises being maxxed out too quickly for myself and not getting enough benefit or potential for progressive overload long term.
The resistance it applies does feel "harder" than with free weights and will take a little getting used too as you can't use momentum to move the weight/resistance through space. For that reason, exercises like Bench Press (which I can do multiple reps at 225lbs) is about the same for me at 180lbs on the Speediance. Again, I think this is due to the machine constantly pulling instead of the normal force of gravity. I will say squats and deadlifts do get easier and may be the major limiting part of the machine. It works for my goals, but if you want to squat/deadlift a lot, it may not be good for you.
appreciate the followup review! did you sell your vitruvian? is there anything you prefer on that VS the speediance besides the even smaller form factor and the 400+ lb limit VS the 220lb limit?
I returned the vitruvian a while back after seeing that I would be forced into a membership to keep the features I wanted. It was good and the 400lbs is nice, but after paying a few thousand dollars to then have a membership...no thanks. I also think the Speediance Gym Monster is better in every way except that it only goes to 220lbs of resistance.
Everyone seems to be worrying about safety concerns about getting stuck. I get the fundamental practicality about this concern in every review. Just curious if there are any reports about close calls or reported injuries with this machine or other options similar to it.
I had a close call early on with bench pressing where I got stuck but couldn't click the ring to turn it off. I got into a potentially dangerous position to eventually click it. The system will auto-turn off if you drop the bar, but in my case, I slowly got into that position and couldn't move very much from the benching position. This is just 1 exercise, and most you can just drop out of so it is pretty rare.
@GamerBody Kind of scary to think about being pinned down and no way to dump the weight to the side or roll the bar down your chest when benching. Thanks for the feedback and good to know. I went ahead and ordered one. I've always been a dumbbell bench person, so that should spare me from the main safety risk that I can see, especially decline bench. Aside from the potential scares with missed ring presses in a compromised bench press position, the ring should make life so much easier when getting into some weird positions compared to a traditional cable machine. I was never able to use the cable machines that I owned to do things like seated shoulder presses or seated overhead tricep extensions. Also, this thing should be a dream for belt squats. The space saving design, no tearing up walls, relatively unobtrusive look, and easy to move aspects of this machine make it seem like an ideal compromise compared to any other option today. I'll likely still miss my Freemotion Dual Cable Cross, power rack, and Tytax M1 setup to some degree, but I'm betting I'll be happy enough with the Speediance all things considered.
Given it’s got what appears to be some pretty decent computer power in it and you say they do lots of software updates it would be nice if it had a voice interface for emergencies, or just as an alternative way to start an exercise - “Hey Speediance, help me” or “Hey Speediance, start exercise” and there’s probably other actions that could be useful too. Of course that would need a microphone that I assume the current version doesn’t have but if it’s WiFi connected then another option might be for Speediance to release an Amazon Alexa skill, and maybe also Google/Nest Home and Apple HomeKit integrations, so that people could use their smart speaker to do some voice control. I think I’d actually prefer that solution (Amazon Alexa integration).
@julianfp1952 I have had one now for a couple of months. I have trust in the machines step in safety function for the most part. I am not doing any lifts at a weight where a split second of failure could mean injury. There has been one or two times where the safty stop kicked in unnecessarily. On the other hand I did fail mid way up on a belt squat and I don't recall the safety stop triggering before the cables were all of the way back to the starting point. But these risks of failure are equal to free weight lifting, and this machine will at the very least not pin you in the wort case scenarios. And again, I do not fear it and feel just as comfortable as working with safety bars. The only thing that is even safer is the Shermworks Freespotter, which I own 3 of and no longer use since I got the Speediance.
hi buddy, great videos, btw do you think the machine can last long enough if its used on commercial gym? im thinking to add this machine to my commercial gym. great thanks!
Not sure. I think in testing the Speediance team mentioned it can last 13 years, but im not sure if that is with constant use, or if it is limited in some way. It might be best to ask support how long they would expect it to last with constant use in a gym setting.
One thing to note. Speediance says the lifetime of the cables is about 5 million lbs. I do 3x1hr workouts a week and am on track to replace the cables about every 2yrs. The cost of the cables isn't bad ($59 for a pair), but if you put this in a commercial gym you may be replacing the cables frequently.
@@edchow Good to know. I also don't want to be changing out the cables at all, so every 2 years may be a bit much. I hope they can last a bit longer than that. Thanks for the post!
The real price should be 1500 euros. Anything above that is too much. For the price of that device, you can buy a top Smith machine that offers countless more exercises and better quality options
The main issue with the Smith Machine is you need a lot more space. I agree the price is high (and getting higher) but it does take up a lot less space and you don't need a separate garage for it. I still think it is great, but I'd love to see it drop to around $2000 USD and no membership.
What happens if you do an exercise where you're not standing on the platform for whatever reason? Like a very wide squat, or maybe some kind of lateral raise off to the side. Will the machine lift or tip? Or is it still pretty stable?
It will lift up - depending on the resistance you choose. The platform does have locks, but even so, if you are trying to lift up a lot of resistance and you are not standing on the platform, it will lift off the ground.
Would i be able to do different exercises without having to open a workout in the Free mode? I use a different fitness app that tells me which exeecises to do so I only would need this machine to help me do the exercises I want to do. I don't want to waste too much time inputting a set in the machine persay.
I think most of what I have seen are shipping related, but that seems to have improved over the last few months. Other than that, I haven't seen too many issues, just some features users want in the app. I have seen constant updates on my device as of late with new programs and such, so they are working on making improvements which is a good sign.
I get a small commission on anyone who uses the link/discount code for sure - greatly appreciated to help me try out new equipment and more reviews on products I think are great for minimalist home gyms. Speediance has come up a lot since I had a few upgrades come my way, so I want to show others my thoughts on it good and bad. I don't get paid to make the review itself though, but they do send me the items to review for free. Also I noticed you commented 2 times on this video. I added some extras in the other comment as well :)
@@GamerBody Its a reality tho on the main Speediance facebook group there are many posts of people having issues here and there, considering the price and the limited warranty I don't know
Not sure I will get these, but I do like the knurled handles. I'm not a fan of how these lock and changing the weights, but if you do, they look decent.
They do provide connectors you can use to use your own items. I personally have not, but many in the Facebook group have switched over to their own from talking with them.
This channel has become a Speediance ad lol it started good with affordable equipment, stuff, tricks etc for people who rent apartments, don’t have a full home or garage. Now every video is about Speediance which contradicts the purpose of this channel at $2700+ is probably out of most of your viewers budgets. There are countless of Speediance videos on RU-vid who do a much better job at explaining and showcasing the device imo I realize maybe you have ran out of ideas and products to recommend etc as there is only so much can do with limited space
I have made quite a few as I have received accessories and/or found an enhancement to make it better in the last few months. Many people who watch this channel have the Speediance, and it is a great product. As mentioned by you and me in every single video, it is very pricey. However, it does meet one of my top criteria - it is minimalist as it takes up very little space, and will easily fit in an apartment and/or home. In counting, 4 of my last 10 videos have something with the Speediance, but the rest are resistance bands or dumbbell/bodyweight - this isn't counting shorts which don't tend to hit speediance gear much. I try to cover multiple areas where people may want to workout, and I built the free online program to be resistance bands, dumbbells & bodyweight and/or machine (Speediance) ready. I'll continue to keep making videos as I can. Just because you may see Speediance come up a lot does not mean I am not making videos on other topics each week. I hope you get those suggested to you more often on RU-vid.
he's being paid obviously from speediance. There is so many people who just sell out for money its kinda sad because in the end i feel like i can't trust 90% of reviews on youtube now.
@@TankMAIN877 I get a small commission, sure, doesn't change the fact that I like this product, and told them I would not accept the review if they had any say in what I post. Also, I don't even use it much now as I tend to go towards resistance bands or dumbbells + body weight since that is more affordable. I do think it is a cool product, but it is VERY expensive for most people so I find it pretty niche.
