What do you guys/gals know about it? Do you (have you) own(ed) any? Good review sites... etc. I'm particularly interested in the Total Gym (yeah, the Chuck Norris machine). I like it's simplicity. My weight has gotten "out of control." I'm now the size of an undersized defensive end and need to shed pounds rather than blockers...
Total Gym is crap, it's not as simple as it looks and the exercises either have too much weight resistance or way too little (depending on your weight). I used to have a bowflex, it is okay, but takes getting used to. The weight numbers don't correspond to real weights and the resistance is uneven during the exercise. I can also see a lot of older folk straining their neck on it. However, if you get used to it and are doing it just for the exercise, it's not half bad. Right now I just have free weights, a bench and a curling bar and try to run a few times during the week. I have a pull up bar that can also be used for situps. I exercise more on these than when I had the bowflex, so it goes to show that motivation is more important than having fancy equipment. If it's easy to do, you probably aren't getting a great work out.
i wouldn't recommend spending big money on these fancy contraptions which essentially can't do anything more than a pair of dumbells, a barbell, and bench can do for you.
Add a pull up bar, an ab wheel for big bang for your buck, and a medicine ball. Those three items are excellent for strengthening your core and whole upper body - just in case you want to be strong and not just pretty. The ab wheel and pull ups in particular will really wear you out quickly for an efficient workout.
On a related note, anybody have any experience with inversion tables? I hung on one once and it was a great stretch for my back. I felt really energized after just a few minutes... My chiro says not to go to 0 degrees-- about 15 degrees should be the maximum. I've noticed them at Sam's Club. We've thought about pulling the trigger.
Academy Sports & Outdoors sent me an advertisement that says that they sell the BowFlex Gym thingy and give the adjustable dumbells. Might want to give Academy a try...
I would forget about the home gym and do calisthenics (push-ups, sit-ups, squats, lunges, pull-ups, dips) instead. Lifting your own body weight would increase your strength and your flexibility quicker as opposed to a home gym. Mix it up with some cardio (running, walking, swimming, cross country skiing, in-line skating, cycling) while you are at it.
You wanna lose weight you gotta do some moderate to intensive physical activity...some cardio stuff..running/walking, swimming, biking, rollerblading, basketball, etc along with any weights. You get a bowflex or totaly gym and do just that, you'll just convert that fat to muscle and won't really drop any weight. You wanna shed pounds it's all about burning more calories than you take in.
if you're gonna spend money on a home gym, go with free weights. link here are the pro and cons for both. but if you ask people who know anything remotely about lifting and losing weight, i'm sure 99% would say go with free weights. you'll never get the results from a machine that you would from lifting free weights. also, depending on how much you're willing to spend on the home gym, it might be better to get a membership at an actual gym. there's a lot more motivation to work out when you're at THE gym.
The biggest key to losing weight long term is changing your diet. Exercise can help too. The issue is to increase your calorie burn and/or reduce your calorie consumption. Reducing your calorie consumption can be done without the rigors, dollars and time expense of investing in and using exercise equipment. I lost 40 lbs changing nothing but my eating habits and deliberately avoided exercising at the beginning. Why? Because I didn't want my dietary changes to be linked (habitually) to an exercise routine that I may or may not be faithful to over the long haul. For many people, exercising helps them lose weight because it makes them more conscious of what they eat and, consequently, dietary changes are easier for them. The downside is if you quit exercising your eating habits will revert back because you linked them together habitually. This is something that rarely gets talked about. So my advice is change your eating habits first and lock them in. Then add exercise. If you must start exercising right away, do cardio workouts only.
