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#1
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I was hoping to get some advice on the Total Gym Xli from people who
have had experiences using this machine. I would describe myself as being in moderate shape, using my local gym more for aerobic workouts (tredmill, crosstrainer etc) a couple of times a week and using machine weights once a week. As I'm frequently quite busy, I was looking to use the Total Gym for those in-between days when I can't get to the gym, to help supplement my quest to achieve muscle definition and tone. Here in the UK, the only Total Gym model available is the Xli, advertised on TV. Does anyone know if this is the same as the 1500 model available in the States? Is this just a pile of junk or a reasonable piece of equipment? I am always quite skeptical of products advertised on TV. I would appreciate your comments. Thanks. Rich |
#2
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Bob Cardone wrote:
(Rich Y) wrote: I was hoping to get some advice on the Total Gym Xli from people who have had experiences using this machine. I would describe myself as being in moderate shape, using my local gym more for aerobic workouts (tredmill, crosstrainer etc) a couple of times a week and using machine weights once a week. As I'm frequently quite busy, I was looking to use the Total Gym for those in-between days when I can't get to the gym, to help supplement my quest to achieve muscle definition and tone. Here in the UK, the only Total Gym model available is the Xli, advertised on TV. Does anyone know if this is the same as the 1500 model available in the States? Is this just a pile of junk or a reasonable piece of equipment? I am always quite skeptical of products advertised on TV. I would appreciate your comments. Thanks. Rich http://www.epinions.com/sprt-All-Exe...splay_~reviews http://www.epinions.com/content_81103916676 http://www.fitnessinfomercialreview.com/totalgym.htm This info should help Bob Actually, these sites were VERY interesting--and quite perplexing. I still have yet to grok the mentality of the American Pubic(tm), apparently. The first site gives the Total Gym 4/5 stars. But, it also gives the Gazelle 4/5 stars!!! The last site reviews almost EVERYTHING favorably, with a couple of interesting exceptions: The Ab Doer, and Pentabosol, the ******* brain child of the Eades, MDs, who ruin every concept on which they choose to write. *One* brave soul called the Gazelle pure junk--the rest loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOOD GAWD........ Cardone's gots lotsa company!!!!! Funny-- only one review of the Gyrotonic--****ed cuz Gyro refused to deliver it!! No reviews of Basedow's Fitness made Simple! But about half the people *loved* Greer Childer's UTTERLY useless Oxycising--the other recognized it for what it is--hot air. All's I can say is, when Penn & Teller fed people water out of a garden hose to unwitting--or witless--restaurant patrons at $7/GLASS (!!), they SWORE it was the best goddammed water on erf. One does not ever have to sit in or on a Total Gym, Bowflex, or Gazelle to know that they are *fundamentally* hobbled--some to the point of near-total uselessness, some mildly useful. But all highly misrepresented. With Total Gym now stooping to the level of having gymnast Kurt Thomas do fake Iron Crosses. Please.... And harmful, to the extent that if the *real deal* were properly presented and properly understood, consumers have a much better shot at true fitness, or at least practical fitness. Even these concepts, true/practical fitness, are not obvious. Is the Total Gym "good"? Yeah, for military presses and kneebends, and as an overall fitness stop-gap. Worth the money? Maybe, depending on if a stop-gap is really all you want. ---------------------- Kristofer Hogg, ms, rd HoloBarre Rehab/Fitness/Stretching Systems, Yonkers, NY to email: Remove the numeric value of pi in my address ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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John wrote:
From: Screachy Preachy wrote: Is the Total Gym "good"? Yeah, for military presses and kneebends, and as an overall fitness stop-gap. Worth the money? Maybe, depending on if a stop-gap is really all you want. Knee bends even suck unless you either add a lot of weight (depends on which model and max. weight capacity) or do single leg presses. If you have the low end model with the "butterfly attachment" as the foot platform, simply push the foot end of the unit close to a wall and put your feet on the wall for the press. Allows for better foot placement and you're not balanced on some bar. On your posterior side, I find it does an ok row and a decent posterior delt. work. The military, as Kristofer said is adequate. On the anterior, it pretty much sucks. Biceps, maybe anterior delt. , but pecs and abs are pathetic. One "built in" problem is that as your body slides up the ramp, the point of resistance (pulleys) change in realationship. No, I don't care for them, I've just been forced to train clients who had them. John Finally, a voice of reason! In addition, the line of action of the cable for the "proper" execution of a variety of exercises is considerably far off. For example, in doing a bench press sitting up (which I gather is pretty much the only way to do it on a TG), you have a significant component of the force *downward*, perpendicular to the arms. Now TG, Bowflex, and all these other """experts""" rationalize this by saying, Oh, oh, now you gotta use yer stabilizer muscles--dats why blah blah is so much *better*! Balls. What these errant component forces are doing is just making you unproductively *strain* to do a simple goddammed bench press. Furthermore, a pushup is very nearly 2/3 of one's body weight in terms of bench pressing. That right there exceeds what a TG can provide. So not only are many of the exercises poorly constructed, many are simply superfluous. But, it is a source of resistance, which is more than a lot of junk out there provides. For people who don't know any better, it might serve a purpose. ---------------------- Kristofer Hogg, ms, rd HoloBarre Rehab/Fitness/Stretching Systems, Yonkers, NY to email: Remove the numeric value of pi in my address ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
#4
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Nice post. Keep posting such needed information. Thank's!
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#5
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