Training at home is becoming increasingly popular with people wanting to change their bodies and not enter a gym or health club. A home workout can provide you with excellent results, and the best thing about them is you don't even have to leave your house.
The best thing about building your own home gym is that it can be made up of the equipment you want it to be, a simple bench and some dumbbells will do most people. There is however lots of different exercise machines on the market and personally i am not a fan of machines however i have recently got to try one out and was fairly impressed with the workout i got from it.
Anyone that has seen the home shopping channel or those late night infomercial's would have seen commercials for various pieces of home workout equipment. I usually don't pay any attention to these adverts as usually they are for poor quality pieces of kit with exaggerated claims and videos of models that obviously don't use the product.
One of these pieces of equipment that stuck in my head was the Total Gym Ultra. I think it was the simplicity of the machine that caused me to find out more about it (and it was endorsed by Chuck Norris :-) ). There are several models of the Total Gym Ultra and they range from $600-$2000 which is a lot of money. I enjoy working out but Jim the last person that would spend that much on a piece of equipment that i have not tried myself. Luckily the company that sells the home gym does a trial offer for it which gives you the chance to try the product for 30 days from $1.
I was really thinking of trying the Total Gym Ultra out as i was looking for an all in one full body workout machine that will save space in my house and provide a good workout. About 2 months ago i got a phone call from an excited brother of mine, he stated that he had just bought the Total Gym Ultra and it had been shipped to his house. Part of my thought was excited as i would get to try the home gym without spending any of my own hard earned money.
Note
This review is completely unbiased. There are no affiliate links within this article and i am making no money from it, i just give my opinion on a piece of home workout equipment that i have recently tried.
The next day i went round to his house and was confronted by the Total Gym 2000. This is the cheapest model and at first glance looks a little weird. The Total Gym Ultra is basically made up of a bench and some pulleys, not the most complex piece of equipment in the world. I was quite impressed with the sturdiness and quality of the build, but for $600 i would not expect any less really. The gym itself was already set up so i cant really comment on how easy it was to build but i have been told that it should be a two person operation but my brother managed it ok on his own.
The home gym comes with a workout DVD which gives you demonstrations of all the exercises you can do with it and some example workout plans you can follow. The total gym folds up for easy storage and can fit in a cupboard quite easily when you are not using it.
With the Total Gym it is possible to get a whole body workout and there are a variety of exercises you can do. While i was testing the home workout equipment i did the following exercises.
There are many more exercises you can do with the Total Gym and you can download the free workout cards below which features photos of some of the exercises you can do with it.
The machine uses your own body weight as resistance and by performing the exercises at different speeds you can get a great workout. The below video shows Chuck Norris and his wife demonstrating the Total Gym. Its a little cheesy but you get to see how the machine workouts.
The exercises are easy to do and when you combine some of them together without rest periods you can get a real intense workout from this piece of kit.
The Total Gym is not something that personally i am going to buy myself as i am happy with my bench and dumbbells however if you are looking for a single piece of home workout equipment that you don't have to worry about changing cables and weights then the total gym maybe for you.
My suggestion is try before you buy. The money back offer is good for people who want to test this machine out, as it may not suit everyone. If you are looking to get massive muscles and be the next Mr Olympia then get some weights, if you are just looking to tone up then the total gym maybe for you.
Want to design your ultimate home gym Terminator style? See Set Up a Home Gym for more information.
Home Workout Success was set up to help those who wnat to workout at home. On this site you will learn that a gym membership is not nessary when it comes to building muscle and burning fat.
You can see the power of home fitness workouts by following my progress as i take on the 12 Week Muscle Building Challenge.
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