Is an All-In-One Weight Bench Worth It? I Tested the Technogym Bench To Find Out
The Technogym Bench is as much a storage box as it is home gym equipment. Doubling up as a flat weight bench, it houses a bunch of hexagonal dumbbells, weighted knuckles, elastic resistance bands and an exercise mat. I've had it tucked by the back door at home for the past month, wheeling it out into my living room – or, weather permitting, the patch of artificial grass in my garden – whenever I've done a home workout.
Bench
Despite what the name suggests, the Technogym Bench is not a true weight bench. It isn't adjustable in any way, offering no incline or decline back rest or alternative seat positions. If that's what you're looking for, you'd be better off reading our adjustable weight bench guide, or indeed shopping for one of Technogym's own workout benches.
It is, however, a flat bench. It unlocks the titans of chest-building exercises, the bench press and dumbbell chest fly, which give you a fuller range of motion and therefore better muscle activation than their floor-based alternatives. It's also useful for seated exercises, things like dips, rows and any other exercise at home that requires a raised, flat surface.
It's convenient, tidy and it also looks pretty smart, as far as home gym equipment goes. As with anything Technogym, it doesn't come cheap, retailing at just under a premium £1,500. Yet, despite the cost, it's still a tempting purchase for working out at home. The question is, is it worth it?
What's Included in the Technogym Bench?
The Technogym Bench comes with five sets of dumbbells (2.5kg, 3.5kg, 5kg, 7.5kg, and 10kg), three sets of weighted knuckles (0.45kg, 0.8 kg, and 1.2kg), three resistance bands of varying resistance levels, and an exercise mat – all of which are housed inside the bench itself. For the uninitiated, weighted knuckles are essentially just mini dumbbells or weight plates with space in the middle to grip onto them; you might use them for things like weighted shadow boxing.
If the basic set of dumbbells is too light for you, there's an option to buy an 'Extra Weights' package that includes three additional pairs of hexagon dumbbells (12.5kg, 15kg, and 17.5 kg).
The Technogym Bench also comes with two-month's complimentary access to the Technogym Plus app, where you can find workouts personalised to your specific goals, over 1,000 trainer-led workouts covering HIIT, boxing, Pilates and more, plus guided meditation sessions and classes spanning sleep health, personal growth, stress and more.
How Much is the Technogym Bench?
The Technogym Bench is priced at £1,450 and is available exclusively on the Technogym website. It can be bought outright, or you can spread the cost and pay £36.25 a month for 40 months (subject to a credit check). The additional weight package costs an extra £500. Full access to the Technogym Plus is £8.99 per month, which you can cancel at any time, or £89.99 if you pay for the full year upfront.
How I Tested the Technogym Bench
I tested the Technogym Bench for 30 days, mainly using it for fully-body, circuit-style workouts. These comprised of plenty of high-rep, compound dumbbell movements designed to raise my heart rate and get a sweat on. I also used it for a quick muscle pump in the evenings.
During each workout, I considered how easy it was to interchange between weights, the quality of each of the components and how comfortable each were to use. I also assessed how practical it was having the Technogym Bench in my home, how easy it was to wheel it around my space, how it looked, and how much space it took up.
Technogym Bench Review
Straight off the bat, this thing is heavy. 98.8kg fully loaded, to be exact. This made it difficult to manoeuvre the bench around my space, unless I removed the heavier weights from inside. That's fairly superficial in the grand scheme of things, though it did make for extra admin around each workout. Once unloaded, the wheels at the base of bench also made for easy relocating.
The Technogym Bench arrives ready-to-use, with no assembly required, which removes the chance of a dodgy home assembly affecting its performance. However, straight from delivery, I did notice another problem with the bench's manoeuvrability, which is that when I lifted up one end to wheel the bench into position, the dumbbells and knuckles fell out on account of there being nothing to hold them in place. Not a huge problem, but hardly ideal from a product that costs £1,450.
As expected from Technogym, the hexagonal dumbbells, knuckles and bands are excellent quality. Made of chrome-plated structural steel to reduce wear and minimise rust on the handles, each dumbbell also has a 5mm rubber coating to help protect your flooring. If you're not using adjustable dumbbells, hex dumbbells are definitely the move for home workouts, as they give you far better stability when performing floor exercises, like dumbbell press-ups.
The dumbbells are definitely on the light side, ranging from 2.5kg to just 10kg. That leaves many muscle-building workouts out of range unless you either ramp up the intensity and reps or opt for the heavier weights package – so it's definitely worth considering this before buying.
I personally didn't find the knuckles that useful, but you may if what you're mostly doing is high-intensity workouts. When I did use them, I found doubling up on each hand upped the difficult. The resistance bands are also a nice addition; they added some variety to my home training, allowing me to focus more on things like flexibility and mobility. I found that they were of good quality and attach to the bottom of the bench easily thanks to two anchor points either side of bench. However, not having the ability to anchor them up high for things like seated rows does limit the number of exercises you can use them for.
As a weight bench, it's perfectly fine, if not a little rigid. I personally found it sturdy and big enough to support my body shape and height. It's not the most comfortable. With just the exercise mat between my body and the bench, I could definitely feel the difference between the Technogym Bench and the padded adjustable benches you find in gyms. Not having adjustable back rest positions also limited the exercises I could perform – like the incline chest press, for example.
In terms of space, the Technogym Bench has dedicated compartments for each component. There's no denying that it is a very aesthetically pleasing and compact all-in-one weight bench, and it looked great in my living room. I found the resistance band pocket slightly too small to fit all the bands in at once without them spilling out. But otherwise, the dumbbells and knuckles both lined-up neatly in the main interior of the bench.
Technogym Bench – Verdict
So is the Technogym Bench worth it? Yes – but only if what you're looking for aligns with the following: you prefer high-intensity, studio-style home workouts as opposed to out-and-out muscle building workouts; you prefer the look, convenience and tidiness over adjustable weights; and, crucially, you have money to splash.
That final point is what is really boils down to. The Technogym Bench is ultimately fine at what it is intended to be used as. It stores a decent amount of weights for a varied home workout with lots of reps, and the overall build is very high-end – bar the issue with the weights falling out when you lift it upright.
But it's hard to escape the fact that you could pick up, say, a pair of adjustable dumbbells, a pull-up bar, a couple of kettlebells, an adjustable bench, resistance bands, and a standard home storage bench to house it all in for the same price, if not less. I do like it, it's convenient, it looks great and it's certainly tempting. But, ultimately, its an indulgence I'd personally struggle to justify.
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