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Total Gym?
- Thread starter susieq
- Start date
The Gym costs over $l,000. A friend bought one and returned it a couple days later. Its larger than the Total Gyms in the Sport Stores that cost a few hundred dollars. The infomerical Gym has own their barbell to do squats. The barbell cost is additional and the weight amount is limited. Have you ever tried one at a store? You would benefit by checking them out before ordering. Its another $50 in shipping if you decide to return the informercial Gym. There are LOTS of them being sold on E-Bay. My friend thought it would be good for pilates ... in her opinion, it wasn't. I tried it for arm/leg work and did not like it. I think Cathe's tapes give a superior workout and are more cost effective. I'd save my money for Cathe tapes... but thats just my recommendation....
H
honeybunch
Guest
My second ex-husband, the alcoholic preacher, had a TG, and I liked it. They use them a lot in re-hab places. If I had the bread, I'd buy one for my collection in my workout area.
Chuck Norris rocks!!
Chuck Norris rocks!!
I have a Total Gym, and I have mixed views about it:
On the posivie side, it is very useful for pulling movements that are not possible to do at home with free weights. For example, I use it for pull downs (you actually pull a percentage of your body weight up, but the movement is very similar to a pull down machine at the gym). I also use it for a hamstring curl-type exercise. Both of these exercises (as far as I know) cannot be done with free weights (I know you can use ankle weights for hamstring curls, but with the Total Gym, you can really increase the weight).
On the negative side, firstly, the total gym that we bought was not exactly the same as the one they use on the adverts, and this really annoyed me. The main thing is that it doesn't have the platform for doing the squats. They can still be done, but not comfortably.
Secondly, another thing that annoyed me was that in the advert, they show an old lady easily sliding the folded up gym into her wardrobe. What rubbish! I really struggle to carry the weight of it. For about the first year, I hardly used it because it was a pain to set up each time, and I usually ended up trapping my fingers whilst trying to unfold and set it up. Now that we have a gym room set up, I have the Total Gym set up all the time, so I use it regularly for the pulling exercises I mentioned.
Thirdly, the squats that they show are way too easy even at the maximum level. From minimum to maximum incline, you are lifting 5% to 60% of your body weight. So, you can imagine how easy the squats are! You may as well do them on the floor and use your full body weight!
Fouthly (nearly done!) they advertise using the Total Gym for a cardiovascular workout, where you do squats and a pull down movement at the same time. Nice theory, but it's extremely boring, and I find having my ears so close to the machine for a long period of time too noisy. (Also, watch you don't catch your hair in the runners, done that, very very very painful...)
So, to sum up, it is a good piece of equipment, and you can do a lot of different exercises on it, like they say. But, I believe that most of the exercises can be done more effectively with free weights. Also, don't be sucked in by their enthusiasm. I think I was, and that's probably why I was a little disappointed. Having said that, I only paid a few hundred (English) pounds, so even if I only use it for those 2 exercises, I think I got my money's worth.
Hope this helps in your decision.
Regards,
Sharon.
On the posivie side, it is very useful for pulling movements that are not possible to do at home with free weights. For example, I use it for pull downs (you actually pull a percentage of your body weight up, but the movement is very similar to a pull down machine at the gym). I also use it for a hamstring curl-type exercise. Both of these exercises (as far as I know) cannot be done with free weights (I know you can use ankle weights for hamstring curls, but with the Total Gym, you can really increase the weight).
On the negative side, firstly, the total gym that we bought was not exactly the same as the one they use on the adverts, and this really annoyed me. The main thing is that it doesn't have the platform for doing the squats. They can still be done, but not comfortably.
Secondly, another thing that annoyed me was that in the advert, they show an old lady easily sliding the folded up gym into her wardrobe. What rubbish! I really struggle to carry the weight of it. For about the first year, I hardly used it because it was a pain to set up each time, and I usually ended up trapping my fingers whilst trying to unfold and set it up. Now that we have a gym room set up, I have the Total Gym set up all the time, so I use it regularly for the pulling exercises I mentioned.
Thirdly, the squats that they show are way too easy even at the maximum level. From minimum to maximum incline, you are lifting 5% to 60% of your body weight. So, you can imagine how easy the squats are! You may as well do them on the floor and use your full body weight!
Fouthly (nearly done!) they advertise using the Total Gym for a cardiovascular workout, where you do squats and a pull down movement at the same time. Nice theory, but it's extremely boring, and I find having my ears so close to the machine for a long period of time too noisy. (Also, watch you don't catch your hair in the runners, done that, very very very painful...)
So, to sum up, it is a good piece of equipment, and you can do a lot of different exercises on it, like they say. But, I believe that most of the exercises can be done more effectively with free weights. Also, don't be sucked in by their enthusiasm. I think I was, and that's probably why I was a little disappointed. Having said that, I only paid a few hundred (English) pounds, so even if I only use it for those 2 exercises, I think I got my money's worth.
Hope this helps in your decision.
Regards,
Sharon.