Hotgym the Compact Portable, Home or Travel Gym

What can I say about Hot Gym, the exceptional ingenious concept in portable home gym equipment ?

Well.. let's start with build quality. Unlike some compact gyms and commercially available home-gym equipment, Hot Gym stands on it's own. Quite frankly, it's the Porsche of portable gym equipment. Engineered as if it was the finest Colonel Colt revolver, each piece appears to have been lovingly crafted and it all fits together like a precision Swiss watch.. albeit, it's not as remotely as intricate! in fact, the secret of Hot Gyms build strength has been as a result of it's inventor's skills in automotive engineering. By maintaining strict tolerances in the manufacturing process, the gym behaves as if it has been seam welded when it's put together. Bottom line...it's stronger than a wild stallion on PCP!

Now let's turn our attention to performance. I love dips. They're not everyone's cup of Darjeeling (granted) but I, personally adore this exercise. As a dip station, Hot Gym reaches all the right places. As an individual with a keen interest in the pugilistic arts, it is refreshing to be able to train the punching muscles in a way that doesn't always involve press-ups or bench presses. Add a weighted vest, or a weighted belt, and the strength gains are limitless.

Furthermore, the built-in chin station for working the upper back, biceps and gripping muscles, the numerous abdominal exercises you can do on this machine, and the long handle that enables the user to do elevated press-ups, Hot Gym has it all. Even when packed up, Hot Gym can be used as an exceptionally wide dumbbell and strength training aid for anyone with an inventive mind

Referring to, "When it's packed up", it's time to give Hot Gym's portability a mention. Like most well considered ideas, huge attention to detail has been given to making Hot Gym portable. In fact, Hot Gym is so compact when it's packed up for transportation, one could be forgiven for thinking it can't take the heat. Believe me, it can! When pieced together for carriage, its not much bigger than my right arm - and a damn-sight more solid!

In the final analysis, had Hot Gym been available to me before I had invested thousands of pounds in home gym equipment, I would have saved myself a bucket load of cash. For useful strength, it is probably the only upper-body muscle-developing tool a strength-minded athlete will ever need. I am, indeed, one very happy, proud owner. Having been told it was more than 10 years in the making, like the finest malt whisky; it was well worth the wait!

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This is a slick piece of kit. Fact! For anyone who's into conditioning their upper body via bodyweight exercises, this setup comes highly recommended. It is a simple piece of apparatus that serves a simple purpose - to develop upper body strength. The best thing of all is that it can be set up within your home in 5 mins, used for conditioning drills and then quickly packed away for easy storage.

Some of the exercises that can be drilled - Muscle ups, lat pull ups, dips, chins, incline press ups and leg raises.

Style: Nothing fancy. Very basic looking but at the end of the day, it isn't meant to look good. 3/5

Fit: Size wise, when packed away, can be stored under a bed or in a cupboard without taking up any room at all. 5/5

Weight: Made from mild steel and aluminium weighing only 13 kg and suitable for people weighing up to 110kg. 5/5

Durability: Simplistic yet rugged design can take a real hammering. Comes with a 12 month guarantee. 5/5

Value: Priced at £169 it doesn't come cheap. However, once bought, you won't need to cough up again as this is built to last. 4/5

Overall: If you are happy to seek out specific obstacles to be able to drill the range of techs you can with this construction, fine. However, if you want to be able to practice whenever it suits you (regardless of the weather) and want to avoid paying hefty gym fees, this could be just for you. Everyone knows how much upper body strength helps with Parkour/Freerun, so if serious about your game you're onto a winner. 5/5

CIAO Review Submitted by "Mountain Goat"

http://www.ciao.co.uk/HotGym_Home_Or_Travel_Gym__6643618

HotGym - An excellent concept, well designed

Author's product rating:

Durability	Excellent
Comfort	Good
Value for money	Good

Advantages:	Portability, ease of use, functionality
Disadvantages:	Currently can't order online - phone or postal orders only

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I recently purchased a HotGym, living in a flat I have very limited space for any exercise equipment. The HotGym collapses down brilliantly for hiding under the bed or behind the sofa when not in use.

The Product

The website (http://www.hotgym.co.uk) shows just how compact this gym goes for storage and the functionality when in use. It's very easy / relatively quick to put together and take apart, the website states 5 minutes, at the moment it takes me around 6 minutes so not too far out, and you could of course leave it up space permitting.

Once assembled the gym feels extremely stable and offers a range of exercises from sit-ups / chin-ups, dips, leg raises and even elevated press ups. For me this is ideal - I much prefer doing exercises that use your own body weight for resistance.

The gym comes with full instructions on how to assemble and also well illustrated recommended exercises.

Price

I came across the HotGym from an advert in Men's Fitness magazine several months ago, the only thing that delayed my purchase was the price (£169 plus p&p), is this too much to pay for a bit of metal? My initial thoughts were yes, on reflection though this isn't actually bad value, the more I use it the more I continue to be impressed by its design and functionality and surprised that there is nothing else on the market that I've found like this. No need to join a gym and pay high membership costs if you have something like this.

Competition

I did quite a bit of research prior to buying the HotGym, similar products available in the UK include the Macy Power Station - cheaper yes but this does not have any of the flexibility of being a portable device like the HotGym. You also have the old favourite chin-up bar which goes onto a door frame, obviously a lot cheaper but not in the same league by any stretch of the imagination (I've still got one of these but don't use it as it was damaging the door frame!).
Other products which as far as I'm aware are only available from the US include TAPS (Tactical Athlete Pull-Up System) but this is more expensive ($425 when I last checked plus p&p), the TAPS gym though doesn't appear to have all the functionality the HotGym possesses.

Disadvantages

As you'll notice, the only disadvantage I can find is that you can't buy this gym online, for me this isn't a major issue but it may put some people off. In this instance I think this disadvantage is turned around in that when you phone through you get to speak to someone who knows about the product and is able to answer any questions you might have, although I didn't pay by credit card I believe you can use this option over the phone.

Summary

Clearly a lot of thought has gone into the design of this product and it does an excellent job of doing the task it was created for. At 13kgs it's probably not something you'd pack into your suitcase for your next flight abroad as it would use most of the weight allowance you get these days, however it's ideal for putting in the back of the car if going away or for the reason I purchased it - to save space.

Although I haven't taken the gym with me yet when going away I'd certainly consider this, if you're away with work or on holiday for example normally you find that exercise regimes go out the window (and are replaced by hotel food!) - having the gym with you would mean there's no longer any excuses!

Is this the gym for you? It really depends on your requirements, if you are looking for the portability it offers, either for saving space when not in use or for taking with you when away then I don't think there's anything that can beat it.

I'd recommend this without any hesitations.