Here are some of the key findings so far this year.
About 60% think the home gym community will continue to grow, 28% expect it to remain the same, and only 12% think home gyms will shrink.
Rack accessories top the list of “What products are you most looking forward to in 2026?” That said, voting was also fairly spread out among other options, including specialty machines, workbench ecosystems, and pulley systems/cable attachments.
Each of these categories obviously has its place in the home gym world.
Most people think it’s unlikely that a new home fitness technology will really capture their attention by 2026. Voting on this has been fairly unanimous over the past three years.
Two out of five believe 2026 will be a big year for magnetoresistive.
Thirty-seven percent said it was at least somewhat important that fitness equipment was made in their country, 41% said it was not important, and 22% were neutral.
When it comes to buying domestic equipment, the results are broadly consistent with what we’ve seen since we first started asking the question in 2021.
37% think it is important that a product was created by an original inventor or creator, 47% think it is not important, and 16% are neutral.
For inventor/creator support, we see a slight decrease in importance compared to the previous two years.
In head-to-head matchups, 63% believe REP will be better than Rogue this year.
In the question below, four companies are listed that offer a variety of specialty machines. All of these focus primarily on the home gym community and come at different price points. The voting for ATX, RitFit, Temple of Gainz, and Prime was pretty spread out. Prime’s narrow victory over Temple of Ganz shows that many are willing to invest in such a device.
When it comes to home gym dumbbells, the adjustable option leads the way—receiving 45% more votes than the traditional dumbbell set and accounting for 55% of the total votes.
The number of adjustable dumbbells is similar to last year, but it’s a definite shift from what we’ve typically seen over the past five years. Here are the trends from 2024 to 2026.
Home gym spending forecasts are fairly scattered. About 44% believe they will spend at least $1,000 on a home gym by 2026. However, the most common single answer was the $300 to $1,000 range, which attracted 37% of the votes.
Community involvement or “domestic manufacturing” – which is more important? In this case, 61% voted for community involvement.
Community participation votes increased from last year.
The purpose of this question is to examine the overall quality versus cost balance that people care about, especially with brands that can outfit an entire home gym. When cost is considered, REP becomes the top choice for filling out a complete home gym.
Here are the trends over the past five years. Although the “Titan / Bells of Steel / Fringe / Get RXd” group only accounted for 20% of the votes, the number of votes in this section increased by more than 3 times, taking away the share of REP and Rogue.
*Please note that 2021-2024 is only “Titan” vs. “Titan/Bells/Fringe/Get RXd”
For 89% of people who answered these questions, a home gym is the primary or only exercise option.
41% chose “Full Rack Connected” (add-on) Smith machines.
Rack accessories replace dedicated machines when people are asked, “What type of fitness equipment are you most interested in adding right now?”
Compared to last year, the overall picture is very close, but both specialty equipment and cardio equipment are up slightly.
77% of people would place a dedicated machine in their home gym.
73% of people would place a piece of commercial fitness equipment in their home gym.
In an ideal world, nearly two-thirds said they would add at least two dedicated machines to their home gym, even given their current space.
Relevant
