Total Gym

Finding Motivation in Fitness … and Life

“Every artist was first an amateur” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whether your goal is to lose weight, train for a marathon or (ahem) dust off your Total Gym, Ralph Waldo Emerson poetically writes that we all must start as an amateur. It’s easy to get discouraged if we aren’t meeting our goals from the get-go, but heed Emerson’s advice: everyone starts at the bottom to get to the top. Find your motivation and stick with it – you’ll meet your goals with time. Our greatest successes often come from disappointment.

Here’s a dose of fitness inspiration from Brittany Brees, wife of Super Bowl XLIV MVP Drew Brees. She and her famous quarterback husband train on Total Gym PowerTower at home.

What’s your source of fitness inspiration? Leave us a comment below.

Single Dad Stays Fit on Total Gym

Gary Wilson trades in free weights for a Total Gym® at home, giving him more time with his 2-year-old son.

A life-long user of free weights, Gary Wilson recently traded them in for a Total Gym because of its efficiency and convenience, and to spend more time at home with his son. Little Casey Gray Wilson is at a very busy age, just two years old. His dad wanted to focus on getting in a great workout, while keeping his son safe.

“It was getting hard entertaining my son while working out [at the fitness center] so I bought a Total Gym. I would have never thought I’d stop using free weights, but with [the Total Gym], it’s like I still am,” Gary said. “Free weights allow you to target muscles, or you can work a group of them, depending on the exercise. The Total Gym allows the same flexibility, without having a huge collection of different bars, benches, and of course the weights. The results are great; the workout is intense.”

Gary first tried the Total Gym at his fitness center, and then bought one for his home because of its many benefits. He says it gives him the body definition he sought, the ability to incorporate cardio work and a high degree of safety.

“The Total Gym makes it easy to maintain form, and easy to stop when you can’t get that last rep,” Gary said. “With free weights that is where injury can occur.”

The biggest benefit for Gary, though, is its convenience. Having a Total Gym at home allows him to stay fit despite long working hours and being a single father.

“I had lost hope for a good workout. I did not have the room for a workout bench, bars, weights, etc.,” he said. “So I tried Total Gym and was hooked. I can enjoy my workouts right at home, while sill being a good daddy and keeping an eye on my son. People always ask me how I stay fit; where do I find the time and what do I do with my son when I’m working out? I simply tell them that Casey is watching cartoons in the living room.”

This blog written by Bonnie Lee
efi Sports Medicine, Marketing Specialist

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.

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

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