Testing home gym equipment is part of my job as a fitness writer and personal trainer, but many of the viral gadgets fall short of expectations and in my honest opinion aren’t worth the money.
That said, I had high hopes when the Gymproluxe Band and Bar 2.0 set landed on my desk.
Compact, portable and lightweight, it is essentially a belt with handles and three detachable resistance bands at each end, along with a bar. Attach all the resistance bands to the handles and the resistance tops out at 200lb (90kg).
It comes with an app that shows you how the Gymproluxe can be used to execute more than 100 different exercises, as well as follow-along workouts.
I spent a month trying it out and this is what I discovered.
My experience using Gymproluxe for 30 days
It offers more than enough resistance
Whenever I bring bands to sessions with my personal training clients, they often think the bands won’t pose much of a challenge, but believe me, they change their tune after using them!
The belt has six adjustable belt tubes, the two white bands have a resistance of 10kg, the green 15kg and the black 20kg, which add up to 90kg (200lbs)—a significant weight for most people to work with.
It’s lightweight and portable
One thing I love about the Gymproluxe is that it weighs just 4kg—more than light enough to pick up—and the bar unscrews into two parts to fit in the included carry bag.
I always feel better when I exercise outdoors, so I enjoyed taking the kit with me to train in my local park.
It’s versatile
The Gymproluxe bar can be threaded through the bands belt to do a bench press, seated rows and deadlifts. I don’t have a barbell at home so I really enjoyed being able to perform moves I normally have to go to a gym for.
The bar can also double as a mobility stick, which is preferable to the garden broom I had been using! I loved working on my shoulder flexibility and used the bar as part of my mobility training.
The only thing I’d say is, because the bands are attached to the belt, I couldn't pull them far enough apart to do certain exercises such as the pec flye, but there were so many other moves to do that I didn’t mind too much.
The app is easy to use and helpful
The app is easy to navigate and the trainers are really good at explaining set-up and technique, which is ideal for beginners and people returning to exercise after a break.
As well as traditional strength exercises, the app includes advice on stretching too, which is a great addition.
There is a range of workouts to follow, from a quick 15-minute chest annihilator (video below) to longer HIIT classes, which were my favorite.
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