Anyone have a Total Gym?

[Riprorin]

I prefer to work out at home and need something portable.

Anyone tried one of these?

Total Gym 1700 Club

or

Weider Total Body Works 5000

I'm not into bulking/body building - just want to add a little muscle and get stronger/toned up.

 

[Riprorin]

^^
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[MustISO]

We do. I'm not sure which one it is. I think it's a model below the link you have there. Two years ago it was $299 or maybe even $199, it was a gift.

I've used it a little but my wife likes it more than the bow-flex.

 

[StageLeft]

I tried one once for some lats. It was good for them, but I really doubt that a person could get a full capable body workout with some of the other muscle groups with one. Better than nothing, but I'd think perhaps a bowflex is better (though they are overpriced). If I was getting a bowflex and had the room I'd just dump the money instead into free weights - which I did!

 

[Riprorin]

Free weights are out of the question for a bunch of reasons:

No room (we have a finished basement we use as living space)
Too much time handling weights and transitioning between routines (I already spend 1 hr 15 minutes everyday on cardio/stretching)
Too great of a propensity to hurt myself
No spotter (I've had 1.6x my weight stuck on my chest before going for 1 more rep and that's no fun).

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Riprorin
Free weights are out of the question for a bunch of reasons:

No room (we have a finished basement we use as living space)
Too much time handling weights and transitioning between routines (I already spend 1 hr 15 minutes everyday on cardio/stretching)
Too great of a propensity to hurt myself
No spotter (I've had 1.6x my weight stuck on my chest before going for 1 more rep and that's no fun).

Stick them off to the side of your furnished basement

Spotting you can mostly alleviate as an issue if you do a lot of lifting in a cage. I have no fear about hurting myself on bench/squats because I have oh-sh*t bars to grab the weight if I need.

Still, if you can't make them work you can't make them work! I'd give a bowflex a try, though I've never seen one on display anywhere.

 

[xboxist]

I had a Total Gym about 3 years back. I can't recall which model. If you're of a weight that is, say... 250 lbs. or less, then you shouldn't have the problem that I had - which was that the sliding seated part wouldn't support my weight too well, and it would kind of grind along the track. It was not smooth at all, and it made the machine practically unusable to me. I fluxuated between 260-280 back then.

My friend has used it since then however, and he's in great shape in part thanks to that machine. It's basically a poor man's Bowflex. If you use proper form on the exercises, you'll benefit from it.

 

[Riprorin]

I'm a little guy (5'8" x 150 lbs) so my weight shouldn't be a problem.

How is it for moving it around/storing it?

 

[xboxist]

It's fairly mobile. It seems slightly heavy for it's size, but that's a good thing. You'd rather have a solid machine than have it made lighter specifically for mobile-purposes. In its stored position, it's long, but very low. So you can easily tuck it under a bed or maybe even a couch.

 

[Riprorin]

I tried the Total Gym 1700 today and I think I'll pass on it.

The good news is I have a free membership at the fitness center at work. I can go when my kids are doing karate on Saturday morning and twice during the week during my lunch hour, so it shouldn't be too bad to work in some work outs.

 

[V00DOO]

My total gym has been sitting in my garage for 3 years now.

 

[vi edit]

The total gym is okay if every muscle in your body is totally flaccid. If you are in any reasonable amount of shape you won't get a workout from it since it is limited by your body weight. You can only up the resistance so far and after that it's an exercise in futility. You train your muscles to the highest resistance it'll go and then you are peaked out.

Buy something that at least allows you to increase the weight a bit.

 

[slackerinabox]

I have the weider total body works- for my limited abilities (i'm looking to tone and not build huge muscles) it's great - and a real steal at $150... Epinion's reviews