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You have seen Chuck Norris call it the all in one full body gym replacement. Well.... No.
The total gym does not replace any piece of gym eqyuipment though it does work most of your upper body. Now when I say work I do not mean it the way bodybuilders mean it, like when they say "I am going to work chest today and then tomarrow I will work back" instead it has a small number of exercises (two to be exact) that involve a wide range of muscles. While they are needed and used in the workout nothing is isolated enough to get the perfect burn, nor is anything ever given enough resistance to limit reps to the 6-15 range recommended in strenth training.
While most of the exercises shown in the informercial are totally ineffective due to a lack of resistance to even the out of shape user the exercises they show for legs are downright uncomfortable and (I think) dangerous. I won't go into a lot of detail on the legs because I myself have always used my total gym strictly for upper body but suffice it to say that the leg workouts shown on the infomercial are there strictly for the "full body" claim. The assisted squat IS safe and comfortable. However if you cannot do a squat without mechanical assistance you do not need exercise equipment. You need a rehab specialist.
What the machine does offer is two exercises in which you either sit on your knees sitting up or you can just lay on your back- Then you pull the chords down to your chest and down to your pelvis. Reverse and repeat. You feel a nice stretch and invlolve just about everthing. and you can ad a crunch at the end but dont expect to get the intense burn like in a "real" ab workout.
There is no point to do any other exercise on this thing. I also have never needed to go below the highest hole. I put my own hole in the machine to make it harder and I seldom go lower than that hole. I understand however that I am in great shape and others who perhaps are just starting an exercise regime would have a harder time at these levels and would feel more comfortable at a lower setting. I still maintain though that the two varients of the one exercise are the only useful aspects of this machine.
Also, this thing is advertised as a strength trainer. Wrong again. There are no exercises that most anyone can not do at least 20 reps of. After 20 you are not strength training. You are doing resistance cardio. I don't get why they are so ashamed of this. I have gotten many a good sweat doing cardio on my total gym. I do not get much stronger but hey, that's what dumbells are for. So, if you want stronger arms go to the gym and train arms. Want a sexy tummy? Go to the gym and train abs. This is for a full upper body bloodflow circut workout. Not much else.
Even, though this machine feels good and gives a great fun stretch and a descent burn I never liked using it exclusively as the the whole workout. I always need to lift weights or shadow box and work the total gym into a circut. It does work a wide range of muscles and when they are exhausted they need to do something else to recover. I can go eight minutes strait but prefer to go three to five (the length of one song) I seldom use my total gym anymore. After a couple workouts with it now my body remembers it and adapts so it hardly burns. There was a time though that it really helped. And it really is fun. As for paying over a hundred plus bucks for it, don't. this thing is worth at most $70. And that is pushing it. It is certainly not life changeing nor will it transform anyones body. It is not as quiet as the commercial would have you believe, either. When fully greased it sounds like an emphsemea patient hyperventelating. (grease it down for every ten hours of use)
So there you have it. your very own closet monster with way overhyped claims and some good fun features. price aside and hype aside I give it 3 ninjafaces out of 5
And I promise you Chuck Norris in not getting any stronger on that thing.
You have seen Chuck Norris call it the all in one full body gym replacement. Well.... No.
The total gym does not replace any piece of gym eqyuipment though it does work most of your upper body. Now when I say work I do not mean it the way bodybuilders mean it, like when they say "I am going to work chest today and then tomarrow I will work back" instead it has a small number of exercises (two to be exact) that involve a wide range of muscles. While they are needed and used in the workout nothing is isolated enough to get the perfect burn, nor is anything ever given enough resistance to limit reps to the 6-15 range recommended in strenth training.
While most of the exercises shown in the informercial are totally ineffective due to a lack of resistance to even the out of shape user the exercises they show for legs are downright uncomfortable and (I think) dangerous. I won't go into a lot of detail on the legs because I myself have always used my total gym strictly for upper body but suffice it to say that the leg workouts shown on the infomercial are there strictly for the "full body" claim. The assisted squat IS safe and comfortable. However if you cannot do a squat without mechanical assistance you do not need exercise equipment. You need a rehab specialist.
What the machine does offer is two exercises in which you either sit on your knees sitting up or you can just lay on your back- Then you pull the chords down to your chest and down to your pelvis. Reverse and repeat. You feel a nice stretch and invlolve just about everthing. and you can ad a crunch at the end but dont expect to get the intense burn like in a "real" ab workout.
There is no point to do any other exercise on this thing. I also have never needed to go below the highest hole. I put my own hole in the machine to make it harder and I seldom go lower than that hole. I understand however that I am in great shape and others who perhaps are just starting an exercise regime would have a harder time at these levels and would feel more comfortable at a lower setting. I still maintain though that the two varients of the one exercise are the only useful aspects of this machine.
Also, this thing is advertised as a strength trainer. Wrong again. There are no exercises that most anyone can not do at least 20 reps of. After 20 you are not strength training. You are doing resistance cardio. I don't get why they are so ashamed of this. I have gotten many a good sweat doing cardio on my total gym. I do not get much stronger but hey, that's what dumbells are for. So, if you want stronger arms go to the gym and train arms. Want a sexy tummy? Go to the gym and train abs. This is for a full upper body bloodflow circut workout. Not much else.
Even, though this machine feels good and gives a great fun stretch and a descent burn I never liked using it exclusively as the the whole workout. I always need to lift weights or shadow box and work the total gym into a circut. It does work a wide range of muscles and when they are exhausted they need to do something else to recover. I can go eight minutes strait but prefer to go three to five (the length of one song) I seldom use my total gym anymore. After a couple workouts with it now my body remembers it and adapts so it hardly burns. There was a time though that it really helped. And it really is fun. As for paying over a hundred plus bucks for it, don't. this thing is worth at most $70. And that is pushing it. It is certainly not life changeing nor will it transform anyones body. It is not as quiet as the commercial would have you believe, either. When fully greased it sounds like an emphsemea patient hyperventelating. (grease it down for every ten hours of use)
So there you have it. your very own closet monster with way overhyped claims and some good fun features. price aside and hype aside I give it 3 ninjafaces out of 5
And I promise you Chuck Norris in not getting any stronger on that thing.
