Total Gym

Total Gym Weekly Workout – Fun and Fit with Plyometrics

Hello Total Gym Friends and my Fellow Golfers!

To me, the best feature about Total Gym is the ability to do plyometric strength training. What other piece of equipment allows you to do plyometric pull-ups or tricep dips?

The Latin roots of the word “plyometric” are plio meaning “more” and metric meaning “measure.” So think of this as measurable increases in strength, power, bone density, body awareness and control, and much more! Most importantly, it’s a different and FUN way to train your body!

Here are some great plyometric exercises to try on your Total Gym and catch my Golf Fitness tip at the end:

One thing I forgot to mention in the video, you can try almost all of these plyometric exercises uni-laterally – or one arm or leg at a time. Fun for the whole family!

Enjoy and stay tuned for future Total Gym Training Tips!

Don’t have the accessories that JayDee used in his video? Check out the NEW TotalGym.com and click on the Product Accessories page to accessorize your Total Gym!

JayDee Cutting is a GRAVITY Master Trainer, certified personal trainer, Pilates instructor and creator of the “Core Golf Fitness” program. JayDee’s Core Golf Fitness DVD offers on-course and warm-up exercises proven to help advance your golf game and is available for purchase at http://coregolffitness.com.

Total Gym congratulates JayDee and his wife, Elba, on 10 blissful years of marriage! They recently renewed their wedding vows and JayDee says, “Thanks to Total Gym, we still fit in the same clothes we wore 10 years ago! ”

An Olympian’s Journey to the 2012 Summer Games with Total Gym

Two-time Olympic triple jumper Kenta Bell is a celebrated U.S. Track and Field athlete, who is preparing for his third Olympic games in London next July!

… and he’s planning to get there with the help of Total Gym!

As the 2010 U.S. Champion and member of the 2004 and 2008 Olympic teams, Kenta tells Total Gym Inside, “I couldn’t see myself effectively [making it to the trials] without a Total Gym. There are certain things in my training that I just can’t accomplish without a Total Gym. I’ve tried using bands and other gadgets, but they just aren’t as effective.”

Total Gym supports Kenta’s journey to the 2012 Olympic Team Trials next summer. Watch this video of Kenta Bell doing a 17-meter jump at the Olympic trials in 2008!

Each month, Total Gym Inside will check in with Kenta to see where he’s at in his Olympic training and get the acclaimed athlete’s Total Gym workout tips.

Here’s an update on Kenta’s training from the man himself!

Lately, I have been working intensely at increasing my overall strength and work capacity. This phase of training is typically called “Max Strength.” On the track, I’ve been heavy into doing hill runs along with lots of weighted ball tosses, barefoot jumping drills and running in the sand. I’m now going into a phase of power training, where I’m working at becoming more “ballistic” and improving my movement and coordination. This training helps me explosively change directions at a high rate of speed, reducing ground contact time while creating higher force velocity.  Ideally, it’s all about creating elastic strength – or longer, lean muscles. On the Total Gym, it means creating more explosive plyometric movement, often incorporating the use of bands and tubing where rebounding and quick change of direction are of the highest importance. I use my Total Gym GTS to do single leg explosive squat presses, dynamic calf push offs and high inclined squats with elastic tubing to create more tension and create more fast twitch muscle fiber activation. This phase of my training is typically much more fun and exciting than the previous phases. It’s all about consistency and progression!!! Knowing where you are going next.

Stay tuned for monthly updates on Kenta Bell’s “Journey to the Olympics!”

Have a question for Kenta Bell? Leave a Comment below and Kenta will answer your question!

Ask Dr. Salada – Exercise-Induced Asthma or the Real Thing?

Q:  Sometimes when I exercise I feel wheezy. How do I know If I have asthma?

A:  Exercise gets your heart rate up and causes you to breathe faster. This can lead to wheezing if you have sensitive airways, which can become dry and irritated with exercise. Those who think they have exercise-induced asthma, may notice that they feel short of breath or cough when they try to do cardiovascular or aerobic types of activity. If your symptoms seem to occur every time you exercise, you should see your doctor for simple asthma tests that can be done in a doctor’s office. Breathing tests can be done before and after exercise to see if your airways are “over reactive.” If the findings of these tests are consistent with bronchoconstriction, or the constriction of the airways in the lungs, then medications such as inhalers, which serve to dilate your airways, can be prescribed. These medications can help to open your airways and make breathing easier, especially during exercise. Your doctor can help you to determine if you need asthma medication(s) every day or just for exercise. Staying well hydrated also helps calm your airways, so always drink plenty of water during and after your exercise routine. Until next time, enjoy your workout and keep using your Total Gym!

Have a health question for Dr. Salada? Leave a Comment or email us at TotalGymBlog@totalgym.com.

Dr. Salada is board certified in Internal Medicine and has been in practice in San Diego since 1996. She attended medical school at Wake Forest University where she received high honors in Family Practice and Internal Medicine. Her final training was obtained from Pennsylvania State University where she completed her residency in Internal Medicine.

Visit Dr. Salada’s website for more information: http://elizabethsaladamd.com/.

DVD of the Month – GRAVITY :: Power UP!

GRAVITY :: Power UP pushes the limits of traditional Total Gym training! Join GRAVITY Master Trainer Michael Steel for this bold new program featuring a challenging plyometric exercise series that links strength and power in one dynamic 45-minute workout.

Click here to learn more about this hot new Total Gym GRAVITY program and to purchase your copy!

Live outside of the United States? Click this link to explore our list of GRAVITY Distributors around the world who offer GRAVITY Training DVDs, all new Total Gym equipment and much more!

Total Gym Weekly Workout – Lower Body Blast

Try this Total Gym Booty Butt Blast to kick your lower body training into high gear! GRAVITY Master Trainer Peg Hamlett demonstrates her three favorite Total Gym exercises to challenge the lower body in minimal time!

See more GRAVITY :: Picks from our elite Total Gym GRAVITY Trainers here.

Peg Hamlett

Fitness Psych: Dieting = Gaining Weight

Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.

OK, let’s get serious. After all, it’s your life I’m talking about here. How much weight do you say you need to lose, and how much weight do you really need to lose? Often these two are a good ten pounds, or more, apart.

Not sure? Click here to calculate your body mass index. It’s one of a number of reliable indicators to screen for weight categories related to life threatening illnesses.

America is getting heavier and heavier. One conservative estimate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention points to one-third of us being obese—not overweight—but obese. More troubling, they tell us that nearly 20% of children and teens are also more than just overweight—they are obese.

We are eating ourselves to death.

So if you are more than 20% over your “ideal weight,” or a man carrying more than 25% body fat or a women carrying more than 32% body fat, you are obese. OK we got past that. Now let’s do something about it.

Remember, healthy nutrition is king and exercise is queen. Want a healthy kingdom? You need both. That’s where full-body, functional workouts come in. You see, literally ANY diet will help you lose weight. That’s not the hard part. The hard part is keeping it off with genuine, healthy, lifestyle changes. Socrates had it correct when he said, “The rest of the world lives to eat, while I eat to live.”

Diet propaganda screaming about losing weight always reminds me of the magician who gets you to watch one hand when the other is hiding the card. Sure you can lose weight with any diet. The trouble is, at least as I have taught it to my patients over the years, diet=gaining weight, unless you have a post-diet plan. Even 20% of those who have bariatric bypass surgery regain their weight!

A Total Gym exercise plan can be an essential centerpiece of your post-diet healthy living plan, along with healthy nutrition and changing the way you think about yourself, your health and food intake. It’s important to manage your expectations and have a total-body game plan to increase a sense of being “able” to exercise, to avoid the feeling of “having to” exercise, and to erase the feeling of “learned helplessness” that comes from previous failed attempts at exercising.  The setting is all-important for comfort and self-esteem among those who may also face body-image issues.

A word about your readiness to get beyond just dieting. Mark Twain wasn’t necessarily attempting to motivate people to adopt a healthy life plan when he said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started,” though he may well have been. If you are reading this, you’ve identified yourself as contemplating, preparing or at the place where you are acting on establishing exercise as a habit.

You were designed for movement and activity and therefore it is essential in a post-diet healthy living plan to incorporate physical activity into your daily life. Still, half of those who begin exercise programming drop out within one year, and that means serious weight gain. Cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and mobility are all valuable for weight loss and maintaining health and wellbeing.  Working on stability and mobility before you move to more dynamic forms of functional exercise, which the Total Gym allows, helps prevent injuries.

When it comes to a Total Gym workout, keep in mind that the more muscles you recruit in any given exercise, the more calories you will burn during that workout session. A properly designed and followed Total Gym workout regimen will maximize your calorie expenditure in less time when compared to those machines that isolate only a single body part. You are able to fluidly move multiple body parts in different directions (side to side, rotating, front and back) on the Total Gym and therefore increase your calorie expenditure. Add to the fact that this type of workout involves your entire body, and you see why you burn calories at an even higher intensity.

Get moving on your Total Gym and get healthy. After all, as someone once said, “Your body is the baggage you must carry through life. The more excess the baggage, the shorter the trip.”

Here’s to a long trip!

Michael R. Mantell earned his Ph.D. degree at the University of Pennsylvania after completing his M.S. degree in clinical psychology at the Hahnemann Medical College, where he wrote his thesis on the psychology of obesity. He has served as Chief Psychologist of Children’s Hospital and Health Center of San Diego, and created and led the nationally recognized Psychological Services and Employee Assistance/Wellness program for the San Diego Police Department. He is a member of the Sports Medicine Team at The Sporting Club in La Jolla, California, maintains a private clinical practice in La Mesa, California, and writes and speaks for the American Council on Exercise.

Total Gym Weekly Workout – Single Cable Combination

In this week’s Total Gym workout, GRAVITY Master Trainer Rob Glick demonstrates how you can use a single cable to isolate one muscle group at a time. See how Rob uses core balance and control to progress through these advanced body positions on the glideboard.

Find more videos like this in the NEW Exercises section of TotalGym.com!

Advanced Single Cable Combo