Total Gym

TESTIMONIAL: Bud Harris Fights GBS with Total Gym

We recently received an inspirational story from Bud Harris that we’d like to share with everyone. Nothing makes us happier than hearing about how customers use Total Gym to help them beat the odds.

Dear Total Gym,

I must highly recommend EFI’s Total Gym as a wonderful product! My trainer and I created a specific program using weights and resistance cables and the EFI Total Gym machine to help me work back from partial paralysis due GBS disease. Additionally, the machine is self-motivating because it is fun, and produces results quickly and smoothly.
I reached my goals of walking and traveling, due to our efforts pointed to our efforts to build a stronger core, which enables me to overcome other semi-permanent physical problems. It is GREAT! Thanks to your machine I traveled to France this summer for 5 weeks, instead of being stuck at home on a walker.

Sincerely,

Bud H. Harris Ph. D.

Crunchy Knees?

This post was written by Vicki Hatch-Moen (ACE Certified), a certified GRAVITY instructor and the Group Fitness Director for ProRobics Conditioning Clubs in Seattle, Washington (www.prorobics.com), where she also teaches a variety of group fitness classes and personal train clients. You can email her at lastingfit@comcast.net.

Do your knees make crunching sounds or have pain when going up and down stairs or during standing squats and lunges?  Many times that pain or crunch is associated with the knee not tracking properly with the foot and hip during movement.  After checking with your doctor to rule out a knee injury that requires physical therapy or medical treatment, try the following progression on your Total Gym three times a week on alternate days.

Set your Total Gym at a low to medium height (level 4-6), squat stand attached & fully extended.

Bilateral Squats (2 legs)

Lie supine (face up) on the glide board with hips at the bottom of the glide board and feet on the squat stand shoulder width apart. Place your toes at the top of the squat stand. Start with the legs straight, but not locked. Glide down the rails (squat) keeping your knees in line with the shoe lace zone of your shoes. Stop the squat when you get to 90 degrees of knee flexion (bend). Lift your head to make sure your knees are not dropping inward toward your big toes or pushing past the ends of your toes. Perform 2 sets of 20 reps.

Unilateral Squats (1 leg)

Next walk your feet toward each other until they are a couple inches apart to prepare for a unilateral squat on the right leg. Bring your left knee above your left hip and hold it there, so now just your right foot is on the squat stand. Slowly bend your right knee to 90 degrees of knee flexion keeping the knee in line with your shoe lace zone. Keep pressure into the heel as you squat up and down. Do a visual check to ensure good knee & foot alignment.  Perform 8-10 reps on each leg. Repeat with a second set and third set as you feel stronger.

While performing the bilateral and unilateral squats keep your spine and hips relaxed on the glide board and abdominals drawn in. Breathe out as you squat down. If squatting to 90 degrees of knee flexion (bend) causes knee pain or crunchy sounds, then don’t squat as low or try placing your toes slightly above the top edge of the squat stand. Work within a range of motion that is pain free.

If knees continue to be pain or crunch free, every 2 or 3 weeks raise your Total Gym up to the next level.

This progression has helped many of my clients have less knee pain and crunch with their other activities. Let me know if they help you or if you have any questions.

Total Gym and the Shoulder

This post was written by Susan Joseph P.T., a GRAVITY Instructor and physical therapist based in Orlando. She has worked in hospitals, home health, spinal cord injury and outpatient rehab. She recently opened Coreworks Pilates (www.coreworkspilates.com), offering Post Rehab Pilates, Group Equipment and Mat Classes and Personal Training.

I am a physical therapist of many years, and one of my secret weapons is the Total Gym. I do primarily Outpatient Rehab. Working in a small setting I have really had to make use of the space. The Total Gym really helps me do this well.

When I get a patient with a shoulder injury and we are ready for neuromuscular reeducation the Total Gym is my first choice. Starting out supine working towards sitting, and kneeling, the number of exercises and the changes in planes allow for a first class treatment. I like to start with really light resistance at a low level working combination rotational movements to improve flexibility.

Then I begin to move the patient through many of the Pilates exercises such as Saw, Scarecrow, Thoracic Lift with a Pull Up, Thoracic Twist, Swan Dive 1 & 2, Crouching Tiger. These are just the beginning and help to build stability in the upper back and shoulders.

To develop specific shoulder strength  shoulder flexion, abduction, internal and external rotation can each be addressed individually. Patients move from supine to prone, then to sitting and finally to kneeling. Resistance can also be changed by changing the levels on the tower.

Patients like the fact that they can start with an easy exercise and continue to do the same exercise and see progress as they move with confidence to do more resistance by just changing the position of the Total Gym, or their position on the equipment. I also find that the combination workouts train not only the shoulder muscles but all the support and core muscles that allow for smooth control of shoulder movements.

By the time patients are ready for discharge, they feel confident, having been challenged to try all movements relative to their job requirements and activities of daily living. I find patients easily transition back to their everyday activities with the help of the Total Gym.

RECOVERY: Customer Aaron Silva Achieves the Impossible

Mr. Silva is an inspiration to us all. Below is his story.

Dear Total Gym,

My name is Aaron Silva. I am from the island of Maui. I suffer from a neuromuscular and autoimmune condition all-in-one called Myasthenia Gravis. And this is a testimony about how Total Gym assisted me in taking back my life—which this illness had robbed me of.

About a year ago I was weighing in at about 260lbs before working out with Total Gym. One day I made up my mind and was determined to loose my weight. I also wanted to be able to do something that was unheard of for people who suffer with Myasthenia Gravis, and that was to ride a cross-country style mountain bike up very steep hills along with single track trails.

So, in April of 2008 I started working out on an older Total Gym model that I had already purchased about 1 year before. We never really used it all that much. That model was the Total Gym XL. Within the first week of using the Total Gym XL, I added walking around Napili park into my workout plan. I could hardly complete one lap around the park.

Within the second week I had lapped it twice and then by the third week I was lapping the park 4 laps which is about 1 mile and it seemed that I was getting stronger each time. The park is very hilly so I got a good burn too. In a period of six weeks, along with working out on the Total gym XL, I wasn’t just lapping the park four times, I was doing it within 25 minutes and I managed to drop about 35lbs in 6 weeks.

By the 7th week I started riding my bike for 30 minutes, 3-4 miles every other day. The whole time I worked out on the Total Gym XL my body kept on changing and getting stronger. One day in May 2008 I was checking out the Total Gym web site and I came across the Total Gym 14000. It is one of the smaller, older designs of the upgraded models and it seemed to be what I needed to assist with the fitness goals I had to reach along with the price being just right. So I went for it.

I spoke with a Total Gym representative and he assisted me with my purchase. He was totally awesome and with his help in that purchase he did have a major part in me [reaching my] fitness goals. After I upgraded to the Total Gym 14000 I started to loose more weight. I incorporated more bike riding over the summer of 2008. In the fall of 2008 around the month of October—as I call it ROCKTOBER—I took my bike off road for it’s first mountain run. I was out of breath as I hit the wall on the trails but it felt good. And every time I managed to hit the wall I was getting stronger and stronger.

And now here I am one year later I am weighing in at 158lbs. 102lbs I lost—what a change. I can even ride up very steep hills close to 2000 foot level at the top. And those totally cool single track trails are fun to ride. I am still cranking out strong sets on the Total Gym. And the keg that I once had for a for a mid section has been traded in for in a six-pack. I still have Myasthenia Gravis but at times, I don’t even feel it.

The Total Gym is everything that Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkley said it was and more. It assisted me in taking back my life. Thank you for allowing me to share this with you. As we say in Hawaii, Aloha. Oh yeah! Please tell Mike Gold I said Mahalo again for helping me with my Total Gym purchase. And the next trail run Mike is for you DUDE!!!!

-Aaron Aliiloa Silva, Total Gym Customer

Total Gym = Total Workout

This post was written by GRAVITY Instructor Suzanne Sweeney. She has 20 years experience in the fitness industry as a Group Fitness Instructor, Personal Trainer and Pilates instructor.  She uses a holistic approach, considering health, fitness, nutrition and stress management to design workouts.  You can reach her at zenfit@gmail.com.

Hi there Total Gym enthusiasts! My name is Suzanne Sweeney, certified personal trainer,

Pilates and GRAVITY instructor. I started out my career as a gymnast turned dancer and fitness instructor. I have worked in the fitness industry for nearly 25 years. I currently reside in Auckland and visit my hometown near San Diego, California in the summer months (I fly north for the winter!).

In New Zealand, I teach GRAVITY Pilates and GRAVITY Group strength at our local leisure center. At home I use the Total Gym for myself and to train my clients. I use the Total Gym to help my clients reach their flexibility, strength and fitness goals. I teach with a “fusion” approach to exercise.

If I have a client that might benefit from Pilates or yoga based exercises one day and strength training the next, we can do it all on one machine! One does not have to go to the Pilates studio, then a maze of weight machines and cardio equipment in different rooms.

As a Pilates instructor, I am often working with a lot of clients that work at a desk all day and have very tight shoulders, hips and backs. The Total Gym helps me accommodate any level of flexibility or postural imbalance. As an example you might have tight hamstrings, hips or lower back and sitting on the floor or weight bench is not particularly comfortable. With these tight muscles you would certainly be compromising your posture and inefficiently working your target muscles.

On the Total Gym, you can simply raise the height of the glideboard for seated exercises facing forward. With the feet now lower than the level of the floor we are no longer struggling to sit in a nice upright position and can focus on good exercise technique.

I was first introduce to the Total Gym’s Gravity Training System in 2005 by a friend who was recruiting Pilates instructors to teach this new program called Gravity Pilates Evolved. I had no idea what I was going to experience, but one session and I was hooked. I immediately saw all of the possibilities. It was like having several pieces of Pilates and strength training equipment right in front of me (like a kid in a candy shop).

A couple years later my mom was having a knee replacement. Room space was a limitation so the Total Gym was a perfect solution. I loved the versatility and mobility of it so much that I bought 2 more for myself and my business.

I’m looking forward to hearing from the Total Gym users of the world and sharing some tips and tricks from my end.

Michael Stein Fights Cerebral Palsy

Yet another amazing story that truly inspired us all at Total Gym:

“I’m 65 years old and have a mild case of cerebral palsy. When I was a young man I wanted to become physically fit. However, I couldn’t even do one push up. When I would try to do push ups, I would get pains in my right hand and right arm, which are afflicted with CP. I didn’t lift barbells or dumbbells because the possibility of me dropping them on myself is much greater than it is for someone who is not handicapped.

I also tried doing squats. However, a few hours after doing squats, I would bend down to get something, and my right knee (also afflicted with CP) would jam. It resulted in excruciating pain in my knee. I thought to myself, ‘What am I knocking myself out for, I can’t get physically fit because I’m crippled. I better get used to it.’

Then, about 15 years ago I became obese. I was more than 50 pounds overweight. I couldn’t lose the weight. Then, in December, 1999, I saw the Total Gym infomercial. I called up the toll-free phone number and purchased the Total Gym 3000. I succeeded at working out with the Total Gym because it has six levels of resistance. I started working out putting the glideboard at the first level.

Now, I’m doing an athlete’s workout, performing many exercises with the glideboard at the sixth level and 110 pounds of weight plates attached to the weight bar. I’m no longer overweight. I’m now in the best shape of my life. Thanks for producing the Total Gym, which is the best thing that I’ve ever purchased.”

– Michael Stein, Total Gym Customer