6 Best Home Gym Functional Trainers

If you don’t have a functional trainer, your home gym is incomplete – and these 6 best home gym functional trainers are going to offer a way to fix that!

We’ll look at the best niche picks on the market, as well as what it is that makes the best functional trainer for a home gym…

Best Home Gym Functional Trainers


Best Overall Functional Trainer: REP FITNESS FT-3000 Victory Functional Trainer

Best Overall
Rep Fitness FT-3000 Victory Functional Trainer

This is the best functional trainer for a home gym on the market, it does a ton of excellent things for your setup all at once.

The Good
  • Excellent overall quality
  • Good stack weight and a smooth, commercial quality pull experience
  • Compact without compromising on any key features
  • Excellent value for the quality and versatility
The Bad
  • Smaller weight capacity than some on the market
  • Rep Fitness FT-5000 may be better for some users

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The Rep Fitness FT-3000 Victory Functional Trainer is the best home gym functional trainer.

It offers premium, commercial quality with 180lbs dual weight stacks (90lbs each), 15 cable positions, and a versatile design and set of attachments that make it a great addition to any home gym setup.

It’s a perfect balance of premium quality and good value that we really like for any kind of home gym equipment.

The value of this is in the versatility and quality, on a relatively compact frame and footprint. It also offers excellent pull-up bars for the price, which is a nice bonus.

This offers everything you want from a functional trainer, at a good price, and with an excellent overall focus on balance.

You can upgrade to the FT-5000 if you have more cash and space, and want something heavier-duty, but this is a perfect place to start for any home gym!

Key takeaway

This is the best home gym functional trainer on the market, and it does a ton of excellent things for your setup all at once.

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Best Functional Trainer for Small Spaces:  Inspire Fitness Functional Trainer (Ft1)

Best for Small Spaces
Inspire Fitness Functional Trainer (Ft1)

With one of the smallest footprints on the market, the Inspire Functional Trainer is perfect for home gyms short on space.

The Good
  • Compact design is perfect for small spaces
  • Offers excellent quality in a smaller package
  • Excellent stack weight at 160lbs each
  • More selector options than the Rep Fitness product
The Bad
  • Considerably more expensive than other items

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The Inspire Ft1 Functional Trainer is a dual adjustable pulley system that has a very small footprint, though it does maintain the height and selector range that you need.

It has all the most important features: a weight stack, dual cables, pull-up bars, and a range of great attachments.

These attachments include an EZ curl bar option, tricep pushdown rope, a dual-pulley bar for 2-handed exercises, and standard handles. This is a good overall selection, though we would like to see a v-bar for cable rows, too!

This is a good overall choice and only really compromises on price: it’s a very small footprint which means it costs more, also offering excellent weight and 30 cable pulley heights.

It’s a good product if you’ve got a small space, but are happy to pay a lot more for the perfect fit in your home gym! 

Key takeaway

This is a good product for a smaller space but isn’t a strong competitor in a large home gym where space isn’t at a premium.

Perfect for small spaces, but a little expensive otherwise at around 50% more pricey than the Rep choice.

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Best Functional Trainer for Heavy Lifters: Titan Fitness Functional Trainer

Best for Heavy Lifters
Titan Fitness Functional Trainer

The Titan Fitness functional trainer offers 200lbs stacks, bringing you the best total weight on the market. A great choice for heavy lifters, or anyone looking to put serious weight on their cable exercises.

The Good
  • Great weight capacity
  • Excellent accessories
  • 2-handed options as standard – a huge benefit
  • Saves money by replacing alternative options!
The Bad
  • Larger than some other options on the market
  • Slightly more expensive than the Rep choice (but definitely worth the bump!)

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The Titan Fitness Functional Trainer offers heavy, 200lbs (91kg) stacks to bring you the best total weight on the market.

This makes it a great niche choice and the best for heavy lifters, or anyone looking to put serious weight on their cable exercises over the next 5-10 years.

You also get a really nice collection of accessories with the titan functional trainer:

  • Short bar
  • Long bar
  • Ankle straps
  • Stirrup handles
  • Rope handles
  • Single D-handles
  • Double D-handle (V-grip)

These are excellent options to make the most of the extra weight, especially with the two-handed options for heavier weights. This makes it a perfect choice to replace a lat pulldown machine, for example, or a standard low cable row machine.

This is all available at a really good price, with free shipping through Titan’s native site.

This is a fantastic all-rounder if you’re a serious lifter and have enough space to for this slightly larger product into your home gym.

Key takeaway

This is a fantastic all-rounder that makes one of the best long-term investments on the market.

It has a little larger frame than some, and is around 10-20% more expensive than Rep’s offering, but is definitely a competitor for the best functional trainer by value, as well as weight!

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Best Smart Functional Trainer: Nordic Track Fusion CST

Best Smart Functional Trainer
NordicTrack Fusion CST

A great strength-endurance option for the upper body with 20 resistance settings, and access to “on-demand worldwide workouts” – a system for work-along video workout tutorials.

The Good
  • Great strength-endurance training
  • Compact and quiet for home gym use
  • Includes follow-along workout guidance
  • Perfect for training for many sports
The Bad
  • May not be useful if you don’t need additional features

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NordicTrack is well known for its treadmills, but the Fusion CST is a magnet-resistance functional trainer with a very small footprint.

It uses high-quality, well-built magnetic resistance instead of stack weight and thus offers an experience similar to flywheel training.

The price is comparable to the Rep Fitness product due to the added “smart” features like a screen and deep customization options. It offers 2 cable pulley arms for each side, with a high and medium height design.

This compact product has some specific benefits if you’re looking to track your workouts or are using a functional trainer to support endurance sport training.

This is a great strength-endurance option for the upper body, has 20 resistance settings, and provides access to “on-demand worldwide workouts” – a system for work-along video workout tutorials.

Key takeaway

It’s a niche option but can be a huge benefit if you’re working in endurance or fat-burning focus. This might not be the best choice for heavy lifters but could be the perfect, compact, smart training choice for your home gym.

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Best Functional Trainer for an Apartment: Tonal

Best for an Apartment
Tonal Functional Trainer

The compact design and wall-mounted focus makes it easier to fit in smaller spaces. This makes it best for an apartment, as long as you’re able to mount it on your walls.

The Good
  • Smallest product on our list
  • Includes guidance if you’re not sure what you’re doing
  • Looks nice in an apartment
  • Includes installation costs
The Bad
  • Pricey relative to weight and versatility
  • More dependent on membership value than actual equipment benefits
  • Expensive “smart accessories” are just normal, as-standard attachments on other items
  • Higher dependence on sustained support than any other item on this list

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Tonal is a system of smart training devices that incorporate a follow-along workout scheme, which is typically financed and includes a monthly membership.

This is a two-part model: a tonal wall-mounted, magnetic resistance functional trainer, and then the accessories (the attachments).

It’s a tech-heavy investment that includes the cost of the ongoing exercise and workout library.

As with the Fusion CST, it has a relatively low resistance setting and is more focused on the strength-endurance aspect of training. 

The compact design and wall-mounted focus makes it easier to fit in smaller spaces. This makes it best for an apartment, as long as you’re able to mount it on your walls. 

Key takeaway

This is a very niche pick – if you’re incredibly tight on space but you’re flush with cash then it’s a good choice.

Otherwise, this could be a little over-techy for relatively little resistance – it’s definitely selling strength-endurance-focused health and fitness for the inexperienced young professional!

It looks sleek and it will fit into your interior décor, but it’s not as valuable to training as something bigger, more mechanical, and old-fashioned.

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Best Budget Functional Trainer: Body-Solid BFFT10R Functional Trainer

Best Budget Functional Trainer
Body-Solid BFFT10R Functional Trainer

The Body Solid model is an excellent choice if you’re a beginner, if you’re not too worried about top-end weight capacity, or if you’re just using a functional trainer to get in shape. 

The Good
  • Cheap and compact, perfect for beginners
  • Good weight stack for the cost
  • Small frame is much more maneuverable than others on this list
  • 3-year warranty on frame, 1-year warranty for parts
The Bad
  • Smaller and less stable than some options
  • Very few attachments as standard
  • Not as versatile as the Titan functional trainer

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This is a super simple, streamlined take on the functional trainer and uses a small, single-weight stack with dual pulleys.

This reduces the cost of the product massively and is perfect for beginners looking to add a functional trainer to a burgeoning home gym setup.

It’s a great choice if you’re a beginner, if you’re not too worried about top-end weight capacity, or if you’re just using a functional trainer to get in shape.

For all of these purposes, the cost and size are perfect, while still offering a versatile training experience.

All the key features are here: adjustable cable pulley heights, an integrated pull-up bar, and 190lbs of stack weight.

For those keeping track, that’s more than Rep’s combined weight by 10lbs. This makes the lightweight frame and simple construction of the Body Solid functional trainer a great choice.

Key takeaway

This is a perfect choice for budget limitations, beginners, and anyone looking to get a cheap functional trainer that offers great training effects.

It’s not the most feature-rich option, but it does everything you need at a great price!

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How We Chose the Best Home Gym Functional Trainers

There are a lot of functional trainers on the market nowadays. Trust us – we know, we looked at them all to pick our best list.

Narrowing it down was no easy feat. To help us rank the options, we used the criteria in the Buying Guide section below – including:

  • Cable length
  • Weight capacity
  • Versatility
  • Attachments
  • Footprint
  • Price

Why You Should Trust Us

At Home Gym Boss we pride ourselves on being impartial and only recommend products we would use ourselves.

Sometimes it is not possible to try all the different products, so we do our research by talking to athletes, strength coaches & personal trainers, reading user reviews, checking product manuals, assessing overall brand quality and reputation, and checking the current prices.


Functional Trainer Buying Guide

best home gym functional trainer

What is a Functional Trainer?

A functional trainer is a single piece of home gym equipment that uses a dual cable pulley system to let you train all kinds of muscle groups.

Functional trainers are great for training the upper body, in particular, with all kinds of bicep exercises, tricep training, and amazing lat movements.

These make a functional trainer one of the best value choices around. It’s a single, expensive item but it takes up the role of many others:

  • A cable pulley system
  • A lat pulldown machine
  • Pull up and chin up bar

Some even offer a squat rack or similar, which is pretty nutty when it comes to value.

The Functional Trainer is a great item for versatility – so we want to look at all kinds of extra training options and attachments that come with it!


Benefits of a Functional Trainer

best home gym functional trainer

The main benefit of a functional trainer is getting access to a wide range of training options in one place at home.

For a home gym, it perfectly rounds out what you need, especially in combination with free weights (i.e. a barbell and squat rack).

Functional trainers also offer a huge amount of extra benefit for small muscles. The cable resistance is isotonic, constant tension across the whole movement.

These are huge benefits for the joints, building more strength across the full range of a movement, and staying healthy.

Finally, the functional trainer is one of the best ways to get into some of the harder exercises for other workouts.

Abduction and adduction of the hip-thigh are key, training the rear delts and rotator cuff keeps your shoulders healthy, and you can hit all kinds of niche core workouts.


Types of Functional Trainers

home gym functional trainer

There are two major types of functional trainers: weight stack and magnetic resistance. Which one suits your gym is going to depend on your budget and goals.

Weight stack

Weight stacks are the classic choice for the functional trainer, as they provide a lot of weight capacity. This also makes them heavier and more expensive but does provide a more commercial experience, since the weight and cable tension are configured very closely.

You can feel the calibration of a weight stack, which is a huge benefit. It also has a clear and easy mechanical build which has fewer moving parts, and it’s easier to fix locally.

Magnetic resistance

Magnetic resistance is smooth, easy, and cheaper than weight stacks most of the time. It requires fewer kilos to be built into your item and also has a much lower shipping cost due to the weight of those stacks.

This is a value difference as you go up in weight, where magnetic resistance is not as well calibrated but doesn’t require 100s of pounds of stack weight.


What to Look for When Buying a Functional Trainer

best home gym functional trainer

Cable length

Cable length determines how much range of motion you get from your functional trainer – so it’s an important consideration when buying. Especially if you’re a very big person with long limbs.

You want to get a cable length that basically allows you to pull the handle of the machine to the floor at as high an angle as possible. A longer cable length is almost always better: you want as much effective range as possible – just as long as the line is never slack.

This is equally important for both low and high cable pulley stations. Exercises like overhead tricep extensions and face pulls, for example, both require long ranges and tension throughout the whole exercise. This is why longer cables are important.

Weight capacity

Being able to lift more weight is what this kind of item is for. With both stack and magnetic items, higher resistance levels are going to be crucially important, letting you progress all your exercises to build more strength and muscle mass.

However much weight you think you need, consider that you’ll need to add 10 years’ worth of gains on top. If you’re buying a functional trainer, this is the lifespan you expect for such a big and important piece of equipment.

You need the “headroom” to improve for longer and get more from your items. If you make the most of a functional trainer, you should aim to max out the whole stack – and heavier stacks are going to offer more possible future progress!

Versatility

More options are always better for a functional trainer. That’s the main value offering of the item and it should also be emphasized when you’re buying. The more it does, the more value it offers – and these items tend to be in similar cost ranges even with this taken into account!

More versatility is better because it means:

  1. Being able to do more exercises with your functional trainer
  2. Better value for money on a big purchase
  3. It may save you from buying other expensive items in future
  4. It lets you get training with different options earlier for more strength

These are huge – so look for more options before you start deciding on the best functional trainer for a home gym.

Attachments

Attachments are some of the smaller versatility bonuses that your functional trainer offers. More ropes, handles, cuffs, and other attachments all change the ways you can use this piece of equipment.

For a home gym, more attachments is a great way to save on shipping costs in the future and improve your total versatility.

Attachments aren’t the most important option, but they do offer you some of the best niche training options, and you can get into the absolute best variations of exercises.

Things like using cuff flyes on a functional trainer offer some of the best bodybuilding exercises around with reduced joint stress:

Footprint

As with other items, the size and footprint of a functional trainer for a home gym are very important. You need to make sure it will fit in your home gym space, whatever that is!

Larger footprints take up more space that could either make a functional trainer too big for your space or take up space needed for other items. This is an often-overlooked factor, and you should double-check your space and the dimensions of a functional trainer before buying.

There’s nothing worse than spending $$$$ on an item only to find it won’t fit in your basement or garage gym!

Price

Obviously, you have to consider the price. A functional trainer for a home gym is a huge investment. While it’s a great choice and pays you back in the home training utility, you do need to have the money in the first place – and get the best for your cash.

You want to get the best price, but spending a little more to get a noticeably better product – or one that better serves your needs – is a good choice.

Consider price, but also consider just how much benefit per dollar your functional trainer will offer.

Focus on these simple factors and you should get the best product for your budget, space, and training goals.


Functional Trainer FAQs

home gym functional trainer

Is a functional trainer worth the money?

For most people, a functional trainer is worth it – the cost is high, but the utility is massive.

These products are also incredibly long-lasting with a huge amount of versatility, letting you train all kinds of exercises for years or decades to come.

This makes the functional trainer worth it for most people; it’s going to offer many of the best exercises from a full gym membership but works out much cheaper over the life of the equipment.

What Exercises can you do using a functional trainer?

You can perform all kinds of exercises with a functional trainer like the cable chest flye, standing hip adduction and abduction, single arm lat pulldowns, cable rows, and more. The sheer versatility is what makes it a great choice.

Most home gyms can pair a functional trainer, barbell, and squat rack to cover every possible need. This provides different types of resistance, as well as hitting both the upper and lower body perfectly. 

The functional trainer also lets you perform a range of core exercises, like the cable crunch, which are really valuable. It’s like doing 10 sit-ups at once and without the tedium.

Functional trainer vs cable crossover machine

The functional trainer is probably better than the cable crossover machine, on average, for most people.

It has more versatility than the crossover machine due to the angle of the stacks and their cable pulleys. This makes it easier to perform a wide range of exercises.

The functional trainer is simply better for the average person’s needs, and this makes it better overall – since you’re probably in that group.

Still not sure? Then check out our list of Best Power Racks With Cable Crossover Attachments.

What is the best functional trainer for a home gym?

The Rep Fitness FT-3000 Victory Functional Trainer is the best home gym functional trainer.

It offers premium, commercial quality with 180lbs dual weight stacks (90lbs each), 15 cable positions, and a versatile design and set of attachments that make it a great addition to any home gym setup.


Best Full-Body Functional Trainer Workout


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Concluding remarks

Functional trainers are an excellent addition to any home gym.

We think the best home gym functional trainer is the REP FITNESS FT-3000 Victory Functional Trainer but depending on your space, needs and budget you can’t go wrong with any of the products on our list.

Happy lifting!

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