Rep Fitness is one of my favorite companies when it comes to quality training equipment.
They’re very similar to Rogue, which I covered in my last article on Rogue’s best equipment.
So, is Rep Fitness a good brand and company overall?
Absolutely!
They have competitive prices while also providing incredible value with the products they have available.
If you want a more budget-friendly option, though, I would still go with Titan Fitness as suggested in my Titan buying guide.
While I think Rep Fitness is a great brand, they have positives and negatives just like anybody else.
So today, I’ll cover their pros and cons so you can decide for yourself when building your home gym!
Table Of Contents
PROS
Incredible Power Rack Configurations
If there is one piece of equipment I recommend you get from Rep Fitness, it’s a rack.
They have a ton of options for their PR-1000, 4000, 5000, and other models.
Some have access to west side hole spacing, you can add on weight horns, different pull up bars, pulley systems such as the Ares & Athena, and a whole lot more!
Basically, you can invest in a power rack from them now to fit your current home gym, and upgrade as you go along.
If you need a smaller rack footprint, you can make the rack smaller with closer crossmembers.
You can even just set it up as a half rack, a simple squat stand, or just fully built out with a 6-post rack as I did with their PR-4000 Power Rack.
Whatever setup you need can be configured for your individual space.
That’s why I invested in them and can continue upgrading as I need to.
Do you need a power rack for your garage gym? Click here to find out!
This leads me to another amazing pro for them…
Constantly Developing New Accessories
Rep Fitness has a rack for basically any home gym. That’s one of the things that they’re known for.
Between the PR-1000 to the PR-5000 series, they have something to offer everybody.
While they only had a couple of accessories for them at the start, they’ve expanded their lineup consistently.
The main pieces that I’m interested in are:
- Their ISO Lever Arms allow you to do many machine-based alternatives, which is an incredible addition that adds tons of variation to a home gym.
- Their Belt Squat and Lat Pulldown/Cable Row attachments allow you to do belt squats if you have issues squatting with a bar on your back. And obviously, having a cable stack for pulldowns and rows is essential as well.
If you’re interested in something even better than this, I highly recommend a functional trainer as they allow for even more variety!
These allow you to get a complete gym setup built right into your rack, which will allow for a variety of barbell, machine, and cable movement so you can train for any goal you might possibly have.
On top of that, they continue to improve and expand their accessory options.
This is a solid reason to invest in them. They allow for constant future upgradeability, which is a huge plus.
Especially for those of you on tight budgets as you can slowly upgrade over time.
Best Value Benches On The Market
A lot of the adjustable benches sold on Amazon have great prices. Unfortunately, the gym equipment is garbage in comparison to what Rep Fitness has to offer.
They aren’t made with high-quality steel for the most part, and they also have spotty welds, which are dangerous.
Above all else, they shake and aren’t stable to press heavyweights on whatsoever.
They provide the best value while also building benches with 11-gauge and stronger steel at a fraction of the price of Rogue.
Finding well-made adjustable benches that aren’t overpriced isn’t easy. Luckily, any of REP’s benches fit the bill.
If you’re interested in my full review of one of their top benches, check out my Rep AB-5200 Adjustable Bench Review here!
Rogue Level Quality But Cheaper
A lot of the gear that they sell is just as good as Rogues when it comes to quality. However, it tends to be much cheaper.
Like my point before, Rogues’ cheapest adjustable bench is their Adjustable Bench 2.0, which is around $545, and their MOST expensive adjustable bench, the AB-5200 Adjustable Bench, is $499.
This is around $50 cheaper with almost identical specs. The Rogue AB-3 Adjustable Bench is $935, which is a $500 difference between the two.
You could get a rack, barbell, some bumper plates, and a flat bench from Rep Fitness for the price of Rogues’ AB-3 Bench.
Definitely not a good value at all in comparison.
If you want the best gym equipment at the best value, you should absolutely go with Rep Fitness.
But if you want to get the absolute best equipment regardless of the price, you can buy Rogue products.
If you want a good budget option that offers free shipping you can go for Titan Fitness as they’re the cheapest you can get without skimping on quality.
Finally, if you want the absolute best value possible, they are the best middle ground you can get, offering incredible gym equipment similar to Rogue.
However, they provide better-priced products depending on what you’re looking for.
Rep Fitness is the real deal and will always be my go-to recommendation for the best value possible. So long as they continue what they’ve been doing, I doubt that will change.
Great Customer Service
Customer Service is always going to be a determining factor when you decide to invest in any product.
Suppose a company doesn’t try to help their customers with any problems. In that case, they will eventually move on to a company that does.
If all you have are solid products without good customer service, you’re going to lose business.
Luckily, while Rep Fitness has excellent products, their customer service is just as great!
Here’s a testimonial I found where they helped a customer out.
“Another thing I forgot to mention is that their customer service is great I bought the FB-5000 when it was sold out, I sent them an email asking when they would be back in stock, and gave me an exact date of when they would be back in stock, but they also gave me an option to pre-order, so I wouldn’t have to worry about them being sold out again, all I had to do was give them a call which is what I did. Now that I think about it, I think I got the bench like a week before they were back in stock.”
This is awesome as keeping products in stock is something most companies have had issues with in 2020 and beyond.
Hoping and waiting for in-stock notifications can be a pain, so having the option to pre-order is a fantastic way to help customers.
Here’s one more review that I’ve found that’s a little longer but shows how Rip Fitness goes above and beyond.
“I’ve got their flat bench (awesome), a few pairs of bumpers, and their farmer’s handles. I never had any issue aside from a bit of shipping damage, and it’s not even their fault. The farmer’s handles shipped with a pair of collars for each implement. When I got the package, one of the collars was broken. They were shipped on the bars, and one of the release clasps was broken. I contacted them to just let them know that it might be a better idea to ship the collars in a little box inside the box instead because the freight guys beat up the package pretty bad. They responded in less than a day, saying that a new pair of collars was already on the way, and thanks for the suggestion. I didn’t NEED the collars, so I hadn’t even asked for a new one, and they went ahead and hooked me up. Great products, prices, and top-notch customer service.”
As you can see, even though this individual didn’t even request it, they still replaced the collars with no questions asked.
I’ve heard stories of companies making a big deal out of something so cheap and trivial to replace.
Here’s another testimonial from TrustPilot.
But as you can see, Rep Fitness takes care of its customers while also offering incredible products.
Definitely, a good brand if you ask me!
CONS
Out Of Stock and In-Stock Notifications Are Kind Of A Mess
This past year has been hard for everybody, including gym equipment companies selling out like crazy and always being out of stock.
This isn’t really their fault, as this pandemic has thrown everybody for a loop, and they’re no exception.
They’re doing their best and working as hard as they can to get stuff in stock that people are desperately in need of.
Namely, home gym equipment, of course!
Many complaints have flooded their Instagram page. This comment below is just an example of how harshly people judge them when they get impatient.
“I’ve been planning to drop a good chunk of money to equip my home gym with some high-quality gear. After months of research, I decided to go with REP Fitness for a high-quality/affordable rack, a bench, bumper plates, etc. Almost everything worth buying from their site is out of stock, which is sort of understandable due to COVID.
However, we’ve been dealing with COVID in the U.S.A. since March-ish (approx 9 months). They still haven’t provided any official in-stock notifications or pre-purchase options. I’ve been trying to buy a rack and adjustable bench from their site for 5+ months now, and it doesn’t seem to matter how early in the day I check; I can’t lock any purchases down.
At the end of the day, I don’t care if I need to wait for a quality product, but I’m not going to put in work every day for a small chance of buying a product that I can get elsewhere, especially when the leadership at this company clearly hasn’t prioritized getting business from new customers. They must see stock selling out and think they are winning, but many new customers are turning to other options…”
This comment goes on for a while, and I definitely understand their frustration, as I’m sure many of you do.
Stuff is out of stock, you keep checking in, and signing up for in-stock notifications, and you just can’t buy anything for months on end.
While this sucks, this isn’t going to be permanent. The world will recover eventually, and companies like Rep Fitness are doing their best to weather it with us.
If you don’t want to wait for Reps’ products, that’s totally fine, and I get it. I’m sure they do too.
So while it does suck not being able to buy any equipment from them, there’s not much we can do but be patient. If that’s not an option, just buy from Rogue, Titan, or any of their competitors.
Rep Fitness will continue making money regardless.
After all, tons of people are just waiting to get their hands on Reps’ excellent equipment.
More Reports Of Things Being In Stock While Ordering & Then They Don’t Ship
I haven’t had this personally happen to me, but there are countless reports of people complaining about not getting their orders.
Usually it goes something like this, you’re told things are in stock and order.
Then you receive your order but only some of it.
When you finally call to see what’s up, you find out they were actually out of stock and you’ll receive them later on.
Here’s the review in particular from Trustpilot.
This is a huge headache and just goes to show that even the best company with solid equipment can be plagued with issues.
Like I said earlier, I haven’t had any issues at all with any of my orders but it sounds like I’m in the minority.
Just realize all companies have issues, not just Titan Fitness, but Rep and Rogue as well.
Conclusion
That’s it!
I hope this article helped you decide if you want to invest in Rep Fitness for your home, garage, or own personal facility.
I know you won’t be disappointed in the incredible value they deliver at solid prices.
If you want more budget options, you can check out my Titan Fitness Buying Guide.
Regardless of what you decide to get, they are one of the best companies you can possibly get equipment from.
So definitely check them out to see what they’re all about!
Until next time,
-Dante