The Weider name is synonymous with fitness and exercise. Manufacturers of sports supplements and exercise equipment, and publishers of several magazines, they also have close ties to the world of bodybuilding. Weider is especially well-known for its range of affordable and often innovative home workout equipment.
Of all the products in the Weider Home Gym range, the Weider Flex CTS Home Gym is especially exciting.
Most home gyms use selectorized weight stacks for resistance, and that can be a problem. For starters, it makes this type of exercise machine very heavy and bulky. That’s a real disadvantage if you live in an apartment or need to move your home gym. They also take up a lot of space and are often very noisy during use – all those weights clanking together are bound to disturb your housemates and even your neighbors. Finally, the more material it takes to manufacture a home gym, the more expensive it’s likely to be.
The Weider Flex CTS Home Gym is light, quiet to use, well-priced, and uses interchangeable resistance bands instead of weights. Its intelligent design means you can exercise every muscle in your body without lifting a single weight plate, and it is easy to set up. Learn how to properly set up your home gym here.
Weider Home Gym Review
Features
- Features. Upper- and Lower-Body Strengthening. Quick and Simple Storage.
- Included Exercise Chart. 4-Foam Leg Developer. Model Number: WESY20318.
- Made in China.
Key Features
The heart of the Weider Flex CTS Home Gym is its unique resistance band system. Using 14 different bands, you can vary the difficulty of your workouts from as little as ten pounds all the way up to 200 pounds. This extensive range of resistance makes this home gym ideal for beginners and intermediate exercisers. However, it might not be challenging enough for advanced users.
Additional features include:
- Bench press station
- Butterfly station
- Pulldown station
- Shoulder press station
- 4-way leg developer station
- Non-slip grip handles
- Padded bench for comfort
- Padded leg pads
- Folding, space-saving design
- Supplied with two 2.5-pound, two 5-pound, two 10-pound, four 20-pound, two 25-pound, and two 50-pound interchangeable and stackable resistance bands.
Dimensions
The Weider Flex CTS Home Gym is a great workout machine for exercisers with limited space.
Its compact, lightweight design means it won’t take up too much space in your home or garage, and you can also fold it away when not in use. Because there are no heavy weights, you can also move this home gym from room to room if necessary. The bands take up next to no storage space, making this machine ideal for small workout spaces.
The dimensions of the Weider Flex CTS Home Gym are:
- Height – 67 inches
- Width – 36 inches
- Length/depth – 52 inches
- Weight – 52 pounds
- User weight capacity – 250 pounds
Workout Options
Despite being so compact, the Weider Flex CTS Home Gym offers a wide range of exercise options so you can work all of your major muscles with ease. 
This home gym is supplied with an exercise chart to follow, and exercises available include:
- Bench presses
- Chest flyes
- Lat pull-downs
- Shoulder presses
- Seated rows
- Leg extensions
- Leg curls
- Hip extensions
- Biceps curls
- Triceps push-ups
Ease of Use
As home gyms go, the Weider Flex CTS Home Gym is particularly easy to use. To change weights, you simply add or remove the appropriate resistance bands.
Moving from one exercise to the next is also a straightforward process. Just remove the bands, adjust the height of the handles, refit the bands, and get to work.
The bench, which is the largest part of the machine, folds up and out the way for storage and significantly reduces the footprint of this machine. If you set your Weider Flex CTS Home Gym up close to a wall, once the bench is folded up and away, you’ll barely notice it’s there.
The Weider Flex CTS Home Gym makes working out at home a very easy undertaking. While this machine is light and compact, it still manages to provide enough exercise options that your workouts will always be fun and productive.
Assembly
The Weider Flex CTS Home Gym is supplied flat-packed and requires some self-assembly. Full assembly instructions are provided, and all of the parts fit and bolt together very easily. 
You will need an adjustable spanner (not supplied) to put this machine together, but it’s an easy job, and you should be able to do it in an hour or less. Assembly can be done by one person but will go more smoothly with two. With relatively few working parts, this machine does not require much ongoing maintenance. Still, it’s a good idea to check it from time to time to see if any bolts need retightening.
Warranty
The Weider Flex CTS Home Gym has very little to go wrong with it. The only thing that may break is the resistance bands, but they are made from heavy-duty rubber, and they are easily and cheaply replaced.
That said, the Weider Flex CTS Home Gym is covered by a 1-year frame warranty and 90-days parts warranty so you can buy with confidence.
Pros and cons
The Weider Flex CTS Home Gym is an excellent workout machine that offers more pros than cons.
Pros:
- Light and compact
- Wide range of resistance available
- Easy to use
- Well-priced
- Easy to assemble
- Provides a full-body workout
- Full instructions and user manual included
- Comfortable bench and leg pads
Cons:
- May not offer enough resistance for very strong users
- Can only be used by one person at a time
- Self-assembly required
- The feel of resistance bands can take a little getting used to if you usually use weights
The pros far outweigh the cons, and the disadvantages are minimal, especially when you consider the price and benefits offered by the Weider Flex CTS Home Gym.
Bottom Line
While there is nothing inherently wrong with multi-gyms that use selectorized weight stacks, they are not the only choice for home workouts. In fact, weight stacks can be a drawback for some users.
With its adjustable band resistance system, the Weider Flex CTS Home Gym provides a real alternative to bulky, noisy, and often expensive weights. You can work your entire body using anywhere between 10 to 200 lbs. of resistance, but you can do it while making barely a sound. The machine itself is compact and lightweight, making it ideal for apartment dwellers and exercisers who don’t have the space for bigger workout machines. You can also fold it away between workouts.
The Weider Flex CTS Home Gym is a very budget-friendly, easy to use alternative to multi-gyms that use weights for resistance. While it’s probably not strong enough for advanced exercisers, it should provide beginners and intermediates with a great all-over workout.
Patrick Dale is an ex-British Royal Marine and owner and lecturer for a fitness qualifications company. In addition to training prospective personal trainers, Patrick has also authored three fitness and exercise books, dozens of e-books, thousands of articles, and several fitness videos.
