Functional trainers and cable exercise machines

When building your home gym, you need to make sure you are able to perform a range of exercises capable of working the whole body. In addition to free weights such as dumbbells, it is also beneficial to add the ability to do the type of resistance training offered by cable machines.

Functional trainers work by having cables that feed through pulleys and attach to weights. As you pull on these cables, the weights provide resistance to the movement and help to promote muscle growth.

Due to the different ways that the cables can be used, these pieces of equipment are very versatile and able to be used for a variety of exercises. Whether you want to work your back muscles with lat pulldowns or build arm muscles with bicep curls, there is a machine to suit. Cable machines are available as stand-alone units, wall mounted or as an accessory to your existing power rack. What you choose will depend on the space you have available and what equipment you already own.

Rack attached cable machines are usually plate loaded, meaning you add weight plates to the sleeves in equal pairs until you get to the weight you want. The plates are then held in place with collars. Stand-alone functional trainers are also available with weight stacks, this is where the weights are built into the machine and the required resistance is selected by placing a pin in the weight stack. For this reason these machines are often referred to as selectorised cable machines. Generally, the lower you place the pin, the more of the weights that are attached to the pulley system.

Workout with a lat pull down machine

Many lat pull down machines come with both high and low pulleys meaning they can be used for a range of other exercises such as seated rows and arm exercises. Some even have built in foot plates to assist when rowing.

Cable crossover machines have two separate handles, allowing you to work each side of your body independently or using both handles at once for exercises such as cable chest flyes. These are generally more popular in gyms and commercial environments as they offer a great range of workout exercises but have a larger footprint.