AEKE S1 Pro Review: I Tested It as a Coach, Not a Tech Reviewer

Two decades coaching, a year on a competing machine, and a garage already full of equipment. Here’s whether the AEKE S1 Pro earns its spot — and whether it can actually build muscle.

Who I am and why this review is different

I’m Kevin Andres. I’ve spent the last two decades coaching, including NFL athletes, and now I coach men in their 40s all over the world on losing the gut by simplifying their nutrition.

I’m not a tech reviewer. I’m not going to walk you through teardown specs. I looked at this machine through one lens: can it actually build muscle, and does it earn the space it takes up?

That matters because I came in with high standards. I’ve owned a Speediance Gym Monster 2 for the past year and I’ve loved it. My garage already has a rack of kettlebells, a rack of dumbbells, and barbells. This machine had to beat equipment I already own and already like.

AEKE S1 Pro specs

Build quality and footprint

First concern with anything in this category: is it actually sturdy, or does it shake apart the moment you load it? This one is locked in. No wobble, no shaking. It has wheels so you can tip it and move it yourself, and you can lock the platform down so it stays put while you train.

Setup was nothing. Out of the box, plug it into the outlet, ready to go. No installer, no drilling into a wall stud.

The footprint is the part that surprised me. I can straddle this thing and cover the whole machine. Folded up it takes almost nothing. If you’re working out of a garage corner, a basement, or a spare room, that’s the whole ballgame.

The screen is roughly twice the size of the competitor I’ve been using. Not a gimmick — when you’re following a movement or checking your numbers mid-set, you can actually see it.

The adjustable arms — the underrated feature

This is the thing I didn’t expect to care about as much as I do.

The arms move wide, narrow, up and down, and the angle changes at the push of a button. On the competitor machine I own, moving the arms up and down is genuinely difficult. Here it’s smooth and fast.

Why it matters, coach hat on: if you’re a man in your 40s who used to be an athlete, your shoulders are probably beat up. Being able to change the shoulder angle on flies and presses lets you find the path where you can actually move well and load it without pain. That’s the difference between training around an injury and training through one.

It also lets you do a real lat pulldown. On other home setups I’ve tested, I haven’t been able to get a legitimate one. Here I raise the arms all the way up, get full extension overhead, and it’s the real movement.

Does it have enough weight? Yes.

The question every strong guy asks first. Let me answer it directly.

110 pounds per side. I ran flies at 38 pounds and that was a real challenge — zero chance I’m doing 110 on that movement. On the lat pulldown I maxed the machine out and I literally could not pull it down. Same on the deadlift: cranked all the way up, that is not light.

Don’t worry about whether you can out-lift it. You can’t.

The cables are smooth throughout. Rows felt excellent. Changing grips takes seconds, and there’s a button on the handle that turns the weight on so you’re not walking back to the screen between sets.

Eccentric and spotter mode: the actual reason to buy this

This is the best strength feature I’ve used in any gym setting, home or commercial.

Eccentric mode

To build muscle you have to overload the tissue enough to force an adaptation. Eccentric mode lets you load the lowering phase heavier than the lifting phase. Say you can press 50 pounds. You set 70 on the way down and 50 on the way up. You get the overload where your body is strongest without getting pinned.

That’s a training method that normally requires a training partner. Here it’s a setting.

Spotter mode

If you get stuck, the machine senses it and drops the weight so you can keep moving. No bar on your chest, no shouting for your wife.

I’ve used this on the competitor brand to run drop sets — ten reps, hold at the sticking point until it reads that I’m done, it drops the weight, keep going. That makes for an absurd pump and it’s a legitimate intensity technique you otherwise can’t run alone.

If you train by yourself in a garage, these two features are worth more than every screen and app in the category combined.

The assessment and the AI

When you first turn it on it runs an assessment, which is exactly what a good coach does. It looks at body composition, posture, cardio endurance via the heart rate monitor, flexibility, movement patterns, and muscle strength, then tailors the program around your weaknesses.

It ships with a smart scale that measures bodyweight and body fat and syncs straight to the machine, so your training and your body composition live in the same place. For anyone who has ever tried to track progress across three apps and a notebook, that’s genuinely useful.

The AI also bumps the weight on its own if you moved a set smoothly, and it counts reps and power output per rep. I care about the power output number — if you’re chasing strength, that’s real feedback.

There’s a full library of guided workouts, plus golf, kickboxing, and yoga sessions. I tried the kickboxing one and it was legitimately good.

Honest note: I probably won’t use the programs. I’ve been writing my own training for twenty years and I want to adjust it to me. But if you don’t have a coach and you don’t want to think about it, it’s all there and it’s included.

The kids thing I didn’t expect

Under lifestyle there are six or seven games my kids have been loving — squats, burpees, that kind of thing. I can do my dumbbell work while my little guy plays, then we trade. Not why you’d buy it. But if you’re a dad training at home, you know exactly how much that’s worth.

No subscription — the part people underrate

Every major smart gym charges monthly. The hardware gets you in, the subscription keeps the features running.

The AEKE has none. AI coaching, form tracking, the class library, progress tracking — all included in the purchase price.

Think about your Peloton. It probably doesn’t get the use it used to. With a subscription machine, that’s a bill arriving every month for equipment you’ve stopped touching. With this one, you bought a machine. That’s it.

AEKE S1 Pro vs Tonal vs Speediance Gym Monster 2

I’m saving the full head-to-head against the Gym Monster 2 for its own video, since that one deserves a proper side-by-side rather than a paragraph.

Pros and cons

Who should buy it

Buy it if you’re a dad who trains in the garage, the basement, or a spare room, you want your entire body covered without buying every piece of equipment separately, and you want to actually build muscle rather than just move around.

Skip it if your gym is already fully built out and you’re happy with it, if the price is a stretch right now, or if barbell work under a rack is the whole point of your training.

Common questions

Final verdict

After a year on a competing machine and two decades coaching, this is what I’d recommend to anyone who wants to train at home without buying every piece of equipment separately.

The strength is there. The eccentric loading is the real differentiator. The bench is good, it folds away into a corner, and there’s no monthly bill attached to it.

I’ll keep testing and I’ll report back with a longer-term take, plus the direct comparison against the Gym Monster 2.

Check the current AEKE price here and use code KSQUARED at checkout to save a few hundred dollars.

One last thing, and I say it as a coach rather than as someone with an affiliate link: no machine fixes your nutrition. If you’re training hard and the gut isn’t moving, the problem isn’t your equipment. Start with the fat loss pyramid and then the metabolic reset.