Every Home Gym’s Noble Work Horse: The Adjustable Bench
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A sturdy, supportive adjustable weight bench is the ultimate workout partner. It subtly coaches optimal form, doesn’t take up all the space in the room, and can be adjusted when needed. A cheap, flimsy bench, however, is a nightmare waiting to happen, almost guaranteed to do more harm than good.
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So where to begin when choosing an adjustable bench? The most important piece of advice SPY’s crack team of experts offered is not to skimp. Sure, there’s leeway with other pieces of fitness equipment like kettlebells and resistance bands, but an adjustable bench often supports the entire body and then some, so there’s little room for error.
Chris Howell, CEO of spxfit, a premium New York City-based luxury gym design group cautions against opting for the top pick on Amazon. Howell said to look at the bench as an investment.
“Many people default to going to Amazon when making their home gyms and I think that is a little scary,” Howell said. “The price is great but the structural capacity is not that great. Imagine if you are bench pressing underneath a rack — you can imagine what the worst case scenario would be.”
Sturdy benches are also all made with super thick steel (think ½” thick and above) and all follow a similar triangular support design underneath the padding itself. If a bench doesn’t align with or go beyond these metrics, run.
As for the actual investment, the absolute minimum for a good bench is $300, although you should expect to pay around $500 and $700, or as much as $1,000 for top-of-the-line models.
But there will certainly be returns. The number of exercises one can do in a home gym, and the efficiency of those workouts, increase tenfold with the right bench. The intensity of the humble bicep curl, shoulder press, and tricep kickback is ramped up with a bench’s decline angles and the versatility of a bench means it can serve athletes of all kinds. The question goes from “if” to “when” fast, and becomes about choosing the right one.
Adjustable weight benches aren’t all muscle talk — the best ones look sexy in a home gym. Hyper premium brands offer ostrich leather and “Bently stitching” on the pads. Even the more utilitarian brands look brawny, matte, and beautiful. They pair well with a solid rack or rig and are the just right foil to the perfect barbell.
What the Experts Say
The stakes are just too high to save a few hundred dollars on a super-cheap bench. LA-based celebrity trainer and owner of Athletic Body Designs Benjamin Stone said he’s visited clients with cheap benches and witnessed the instability firsthand. “Suddenly they fall out of position or are unstable,” he said. “If you’re on a bench, most likely you’re on your back, and most likely there’s weight above your head so the last thing you want is an unstable bench.”
Thankfully, poorly built benches aren’t hard to spot. “If you take an Amazon bench and compare it to a quality bench from a brand like Rogue, they might look like they were built similarly but if you look closely you will see structural deviation,” said Howell.
Higher quality options from brands like Rogue often have wider, thicker supportive beams underneath the bench that can hold up more weight. Heavier benches can support more weight, so expect moving the bench from place to place to be a workout of its own.
“You can assume that the reputable brands are building things in the same way for a reason,” Howell said. This also applies to the thickness of the steel used to build the bench itself. “It’s terrifying to think of what a ¼ inch of steel will do when placed under heavy weight,” Howell said. “I’ve read Amazon reviews where people wrote ‘Yeah, it bent.’ To me, that’s just insane. It’s like benching on an ironing board,” he said.
The ability to position oneself at an angle, whether at an incline or decline, is another reason to buy a weight bench. According to Stone, not every bench comes equipped with the same angles. “You want to make sure they have the right angles for you.” Things like the size of your torso can make a big difference in how your body interacts with different angles. “A 15-degree angle can make a huge difference. You’ll feel an exercise in the top of your chest versus completely in your shoulders,” Stone said. Stone suggests trying out a bench if one can to make sure the angles are right.
BEST OVERALL
Rogue Manta Ray Adjustable Bench
Buy Now $995.00
The Manta adeptly supplies everything a home gym user could want and then some. Howell specifically noted the decline option on this premium bench from the American manufacturer Rogue because of its sturdiness and ability to accommodate challenging movements like decline presses and nordic curls. The Manta Ray can not only offer everything a regular weight bench does, but can serve as a glute ham developer (GHD) as well. Howell also appreciated the slip-mitigating extra wide 12-inch width pad.
When not in use, the Manta has an excellent handle and wheel system for vertical storage. “Having the ability to just lift your bench up and push it against the wall makes so much sense, especially when square footage is an issue,” Howell said. While Stone feels that this bench might be overkill for a lot of home gym owners, he agrees that the brand makes super burly products known for their durability. “Rogue benches are like tanks,” Stone said.
BEST DEAL
Rep Fitness AB-3100 Adjustable Weight Bench
Buy Now $269.99
Who It’s For:: Smart, price-conscious shoppers
The Heavy: “For a value option, I would suggest REP Fitness,” said Howell. “They’re well made. They’re not too heavy. They’re fairly priced and you’re getting a good bench, a good pad, and a good adjustable range as well. The AB-3100 sits right in a sweet spot of a solid build with a 700-pound weight capacity and a weight fifty pounds below the Stray Dog Alpha Bench below.
The Hot Take: A really reasonable price without the scaries of a cheaply built bench.
MOST FASCINATING DESIGN
Stray Dog Strength Alpha Bench
Buy Now $775.00 - $875.00
Who It’s For: Folks with a hefty list of demands for their adjustable bench
The Heavy: Howell mentioned the design ingenuity of this hearty bench from Stray Dog Strength. “It is pretty cool to see all of these guys try to innovate. There was room for it to be done.” This bench would survive a bomb with its extremely burly 3X3-inch 11-gauge metal tubing. The only downside is that it is super heavy at 125 pounds, and more difficult to move around.
The Hot Take: Smart accessory management in a design that will last three lifetimes.
MOST REASONABLE FID BENCH
Force USA Pro Series FID Bench
Buy Now $499.99
Who It’s For:: A budget-conscious shopper who needs a decline option
The Heavy: This bench from Force USA offers a wide range of angles from -10 to 85 degrees. FID stands for “flat, incline, decline” and any bench named with this designation can accommodate all three of those positions. Its backrest adjusts to eight positions and the seat adjusts to six, giving the user plenty of opportunity to identify an exact position for their target exercise. It has an impressive 992-pound weight capacity and comes in at close to half the price of other reputable FID benches.
The Hot Take: A good price for an FID option.
Frequently Asked Questions About Adjustable Benches
Should I get an adjustable bench instead of a flat one?
Both experts interviewed for this story agreed that an adjustable bench is worth the extra investment over a flat bench because of the wider variety of exercises they afford. “I would always go for the adjustable bench,” Stone said. The only scenario in which Stone would suggest a client purchase a flat bench is if they already owned an adjustable bench and wanted two benches in their gym to accommodate a workout partner.
“The adjustable bench is something we always push our clients to,” Howell said. “Even if today you’re sure you want a flat bench, next month you could see something like a chest-supported dumbbell row that you want to put into your programming and regret not being able to prop your bench up.”
Do I need a bench that has a decline option?
The short answer? Probably. “If I was buying a bench for myself, I definitely would want a decline option,” Stone said. While a bench that can decline does open up a great deal more exercises to the end user, it’s wise to think about which of those exercises are appealing. “I have a lot of people ask me if a bench can decline. I ask them what exercises they want to do with the decline and it is often just the decline presses, that’s it,” Howell said. Howell said there are a lot of other ways to hit those muscle groups without spending the extra money on a bench that can decline.
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