Total gym

jacquirich

Hi I have bought the total gym (very cheap off e-bay) and have been using it alongside my Jilliam Michael's 30 day shred DVD its hard work, and the dogs are finding very amusing to watch. Not lost a lot of weight but really toning up, anyone else trying it:bigsmile:

JennieAL

My husband had one. It was just what I needed to get me angry enough to pick up a barbell... LOL. I HATE the Total Gym. I got into arguments with my husband over that thing. It's banned from the house. It's now folded up in our garage. He swears by it. I'll have nothing to do with it as long as I have free weights & and a barbell.

jacquirich

Oh that sounds bad, I chose it because the physio's ( My speciality is sport injury medicine) use it for rehab, and I have had a number of injuroes over the years

JennieAL

From what I understand, machines contribute to injury... it's because machines only allow for a fixed range of motion and the body isn't meant to stay in a perfect line like that. When you lift with free weights, you're able to move in the kind of range your body is designed for. The big compound moves like deadlifts, squats, press, etc. are what the body is meant for. Now, you need to have good form and that's crucial once you are lifting "heavy" to prevent injury. However, with the machines.... you are always limited in your ROM and that's what contributes to inury. You may think the Total Gym is safe because you aren't actually picking up a barbell, but once you put that seat at an incline and you're pushing heavier weight than you're used to at a limited ROM, you can injure yourself quite easily.

I instinctively recognized this when I first sat down and tried to use our Total Gym. I felt the odd feeling that my body was doing things unnaturally, and so I just never took to it. Ironically, it was the Total Gym (along with MFP) that led me to research free weight lifting.