Inspire Fitness is a very well known name in the fitness world. Their prized fitness equipment, and especially their home gyms, are known for being top-of-the-line in every regard. The two mainstay functional trainers are the FT1 and FT2. Both the FT1 and FT2 home gyms are complete home functional trainer systems, but the FT2 comes with a high-powered Smith machine to take your workout to the next level.
Here, we’ll look at the FT1 vs the FT2, so you can make the best fitness choice for your household.
Inspire FT1 Overview | Inspire FT2 Overview | FT1 vs FT2
Important Note: The features and functions of these home gyms are countless and no article can give them justice. In order to get the full overview of the Inspire FT1, FT2, and more home gyms, visit or contact your local G&G Fitness Equipment Showroom.
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Inspire FT1 Functional Trainer
Workouts
What do you want out of a home training machine? The first thing is durability: It’s an investment in yourself, and you expect that investment to last. The Inspire FT1 (like the FT2) is built solid, with a heavy steel frame matted in black and silver — which means it keeps off those unsightly dings and scratches.
The next is versatility, and here the FT1 truly shines. Workouts are executed via the built-in cable system. Adjustable and flexible, they attach up and down the full length of the frame on both sides, allowing you to perform a wide range of movements depending on the muscles you want to target.
That makes the FT1 home gym a superb platform for:
- Leg Workouts: Including lunges, squats, hamstring curls, and abductor exercises
- Back Workouts: Including lat cable pullovers, lat pulldowns, and bent-over rows
- Arm Workouts: Including bicep curls (seated and standing), tricep pushdowns, and overhead extensions
- Ab Workouts: The cables provide enough flexibility and resistance for safe ab rotations and crunches
The FT1 comes with two weight stacks in each tower, each weighing 165 lb. That’s more than enough to do some serious lifting, but you also have the option of upgrading the weight as needed, up to a total of 50 lb extra per side.
As you can see, there’s more than enough here for a full-body workout. To add to the FT1’s value, however, Inspire also includes a number of optional attachments to let you change it up even more. The FT1 comes with:
- Light and comfortable ankle cuffs
- An exercise belt
- A tricep rope attachment for the cables, so you can incorporate more targeted, tricep-intensive exercises into your workout
Assembly
Fully assembled and with the optional bench, Inspire’s FT1 would weigh in at over 700 lb. Minus the bench, it’s a more modest 540. It’s 83 inches tall and 54 inches wide, so you’ll need a reasonable amount of space to set it up, but nowhere near as much as other trainers. The FT1 is, in fact, quite high-powered and versatile, considering how compact it is. You may want a second person on hand to help you with the assembly, however.
Unlike some home trainers, the FT1’s towers come in one piece, taking a lot of the legwork out of installation. The instructions are clearly mapped out and diagrammed, and most of the tools you need to do the job are included, though you’ll want to keep your toolbox handy.
All together, and preferably with a helping hand (the equipment is heavy, after all), you’re looking at an assembly time of 2 to 3 hours.
Warranty
Inspire offers a full lifetime warranty on the FT1’s frame and parts, which is pretty incredible, given the trainer’s premium quality. The initial price tag might seem high, but a lifetime warranty means you can use this gym with confidence for years, and even decades to come.
Specs
G&G Fitness Inspire FT1 Home Gym Video Overview:
Inspire FT1 Home Gym Manufacturer’s Video Overview:
What’s Better? The FT1 or FT2?
The Inspire FT1 Home Gym is, without a doubt, a best-in-class functional trainer at this price point. But what about its cousin, the Inspire Fitness FT2? Is it worth the upgrade?
Still can’t decide? Try before you buy! In order to get the full feel of the Inspire FT1, FT2, and
more home gyms, visit or contact your local G&G Fitness Equipment Showroom.
Inspire FT2 Functional Trainer
Workouts
The Inspire FT2 is Inspire Fitness’s premium model, a fully loaded functional trainer and strength-training platform. It’s exceptionally durable, built to withstand years of heavy use. Made with heavy-duty steel tubing, the FT2’s weight and dimensions actually exceed Inspire’s FT1 model. The FT2 is also heavy enough that it doesn’t shake or wobble at all during use.
With the FT2, you’re looking at a wealth of possible exercises. The FT2 is equipped with two adjustable metal weight stacks on either side, each weighing in at 160 lb. You can easily change the weight you’re using with the locking pin on each stack. You can also raise the weight on each stack, up to a total of 210 lb each.
The cabling system is height adjustable, allowing you to exercise a full range of motion to get the most out of your investment. A sample of exercises you can do with the FT2 include:
- Leg Workouts: Deadlifts, calf raises, front lunges, squats, and hip extensions
- Back Workouts: Crossover rows, lat pulldowns, back flies, aerobic rows, and back presses
- Arm Workouts: Bicep curls, pull-ups, and tricep extensions
- Ab Workouts: Ab crunches, ab rotations, and twist crunches
Inspire’s FT2 is equipped with a Smith machine with an Olympic-level bar, which greatly adds to its versatility and long-term viability. The bar attaches directly to the FT2’s weight stacks with its pin-locking mechanism, so you can easily choose the setting that’s right for you. The included safety catches help make the FT2 one of the safest home functional trainers to lift weights on.
The FT2 comes with a number of optional accessories, including:
- A high-performing exercise belt that you can attach to the pulley system for assistance during workouts
- A tricep rope
- Rubber D handles that can be integrated into virtually any exercise using the FT2’s pulley system
Assembly
Make no bones about it, the FT2 is a heavy, rock-solid piece of machinery. Assembly will take a few hours, although Inspire’s included manual and diagrams provide all the information you need to get the job done. You’ll also need some common household tools, especially a screwdriver and ratchet. It’s not really a solo job, but once the installation is done, it’s done for good.
Warranty
There are few things more comforting than knowing that, if anything happens to break with your functional trainer, you’re fully protected. The Inspire FT2 comes with a full lifetime warranty for residential use and a 10-year warranty for commercial applications. That’s exactly what you’d expect from a machine like this.
Specs
G&G Fitness Inspire FT2 Home Gym Video Overview:
Inspire FT2 Home Gym Manufacturer’s Video Overview:
Face Off: Inspire’s FT1 versus FT2
Let’s state it clearly right off the bat: Inspire’s FT1 is an excellent machine. It’s one of the greatest home-training systems on the market, especially at its price point. It’s not a budget model, and it’s not a machine you buy and then let collect dust: No, the FT1 is a serious exercise platform, made for serious people who want serious results. Its lifetime warranty will serve you well for many years.
But the FT2 is all that and more. It’s heavier, bigger, and more versatile. It offers a wider range of exercises, both at its default setting and when upgraded with optional add-ons. The FT2 offers a number of upgrades over the FT1, especially in terms of the:
- Included Smith machine
- Fixed cable pulley system
- Pull-up station
- Safety features
Simply put, the FT2 is a beast. And this beast could be exactly what you want, but if you’re living in a smaller space, you may find the more compact FT1 to fit you better.
Now, both the FT1 and FT2 are upgradeable. You can add bench and leg attachments to increase your workout range. But if you have the FT1, you won’t get the FT2’s Smith machine or fixed cable pulley system. You also can’t upgrade the FT1 to include these later on, which is something to keep in mind.
In practice, the FT2’s fixed cables increase its stability during weight lifting exercises. That helps your muscles during the exercise and naturally increases resistance—the pulleys can actually feel heavier than the equivalent level in free weights would.
The FT2’s Smith Machine
The FT2’s Smith machine is not like other Smith machines. As you probably know, Smiths have a somewhat mixed reputation in the fitness world, with some people arguing that they make lifting artificially easy. There could be something to that, but that’s not entirely relevant to the FT2’s Smith machine.
That’s because lifting with the FT2’s Smith machine is simple, safe, far from easy, and never artificial. Inspire fitted the FT2’s Smith machine with a hefty weight multiplier, raising its Smith’s total weight resistance up to as much as 460 lb. That’s a superlatively high metric, but since the lowest setting is just 20 lb, you have a lot of room for improvement if you’re new to lifting.
The FT2’s Smith machine is truly the star of the show. It’s simple to use and easy to move out of the way when you’re not using. You can adjust the lowest height that the Smith will reach during each repetition, so that the bar will stop automatically if you’re unable to control it.
All of this means that you’re not going to outgrow the FT2. The Smith’s maximum weight is high enough that you could work on it for the rest of your life and never max it out.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you won’t want to try.
Still can’t decide? Try before you buy! In order to get the full feel of the Inspire FT1, FT2, and more home gyms, visit or contact your local G&G Fitness Equipment Showroom.
The Bottom Line
Though they are similar on the outside, the FT1 and FT2 actually fulfill different purposes. If the added strength-training capabilities of the FT2’s included Smith machine don’t interest you, then the FT1 is a great choice. That said, you’ll be using these machines for years to come, and the FT2’s Smith machine is second to none in terms of usability and sheer power. Keep that in mind as you decide which machine is best for you!
Still not Sure What Gym to Buy for your Home?
That’s where we come in! The fitness equipment specialists at G&G are here to help you find a solution that works for your fitness goals, home, and budget. We even offer financing. Give us a call or stop in to a G&G Fitness Equipment Showroom near you for a free consultation.
