Fifty Plus (50+) - Chuck Norris' Total Gym....any opinions ??

My 19 year old son has been using a friend's Total Gym (you slide up and down using your body weight for resistance) and he's convinced he's gotten "results". Now he wants us (me, him, and my checkbook) to get one of our own. I have a rickety, disintegrating Bowflex (one of the earliest, less sturdy models), and would consider something new and a little different.

For general strength training and conditioning (neither of us is an endomorphic wonder), any experience or opinions about Total Gym?

P.S. My son insists that Chuck has introduced 2 different women as "my wife Gina" in his info-mercials. Me, I'm too busy admiring Christy Brinkley's....................smile. :D

I would think the TV model will become rickety like your Bowflex ... an immediate upgrade might get you a better machine. That said ... I pay for gym membership ... we don't have room for an in house gym.

I have one. Like it for being compact. It works my upper body to the extent I expect of it. Go to a sports store where they have one in stock. Try out the model. They let me do so. Since my expectations are to aspire to look like a cyclist- I expect little of my upper body. Muscles are most needed in the legs.

I had a Total Gym for a while, which I bought used from Craigslist. I'd suggest looking there before you do anything else, if you do choose to get one.

I liked the fact that it folded up (I left it standing upright in a corner of my bedroom), but I was constantly worried that it wouldn't take much punishment. The model I had was not the lowest low end, nor was it on the high end.

Even though I got used to putting it together and taking it apart, my experience is that there is always a chance of a NASTY pinch when folding/unfolding the contraption. I had a couple of close calls.

Overall, I would give the equipment a 3.5 on a scale of 1-5. In the end, however, I flipped it on Craigslist for $10 more than I paid for it.

I liked the convenience, but I believe the better (and probably cheaper) choice is some dumbbells and a simple bench. If money is no object (ha!) I just came across a really innovative set of dumbells which are sort of sqaure, and you sort of dial in the weight you want to use, and that much lifts out. No need for a rack or lots of weights. I can't explain it nor remember the name of it but it was cool. But the set was like $300. For dumbbells. Uh huh.

I learned some marketing from a guy who later skipped town ahead of an angry customer. Rule one sell the sizzle. The more advertising you see they less spent on the actual goods. Consider the kind of gym that charges by the month and has no initiation fee ( salesmans' commission). Craigslist or yard sales or flea markets sounds better than paying for those TV ads. My spouse goes to Curves and I garden in my massively rocky back yard. Together we do Argentine Tango. She has sets of exercise hardware gathering dust. If he wants one of the TV ones let HIM pay for it.

My 19 year old son has been using a friend's Total Gym (you slide up and down using your body weight for resistance) and he's convinced he's gotten "results". Now he wants us (me, him, and my checkbook) to get one of our own. I have a rickety, disintegrating Bowflex (one of the earliest, less sturdy models), and would consider something new and a little different.

For general strength training and conditioning (neither of us is an endomorphic wonder), any experience or opinions about Total Gym?

P.S. My son insists that Chuck has introduced 2 different women as "my wife Gina" in his info-mercials. Me, I'm too busy admiring Christy Brinkley's....................smile. :D

Personally, I would go for a "safety cage" with a lat attachment, a bench, an olympic bar and free weights. Sturdy, will last a lifetime, and can be adapted to dozens of different exercises. Also, it will always be resellable. You do need some room, however.

You can see mine here in the background: (http://members.aol.com/dnvrfox/wtroom2.JPG)

BTW, you can get dumbbell bars, etc., at Wal Mart.

. If he wants one of the TV ones let HIM pay for it.

Yes, I agree in encouraging independence. Yet this "kid" works two jobs, is a successful full-time student, and a hell of person who's overcome a lot. One never knows until one truly knows in particular. Sports and fitness are things we've shared all our lives....I'll be glad to treat him if it seems worthwhile and fits needs.

I have one and like it. I gave up free weights and a bench for it. It just fits my lifestyle better. Tried the gym / fitness center route and was disappointed with the extra time involved and the focus on "youth" evident everywhere I looked. When will people get it.... people over 50 control over 80% of the earth's wealth. You'd think someone would figure out how to shift this eternal quest for looking "younger." Me, I just want to look fit. (OK, end of rant and back to topic.) I find the total gym can build strength or keep your body toned... just depends on the number or reps you do.

I agree with DeeGee. Some decent dumbells and a plank, a set of hand held push-up bars to lay on the floor, and find the 15-25 minutes it takes to run through a routine X3/week. I wouldn't go by the results a 19 year-old gets. They can tone by simple osmosis.

Get some water pipe sections, thread them together to make a T. Bolt the T to the plank and you have a foot hook for situps, or turn around and hang on to the T for leg-lifts (gut crunches for us with bad backs).

Nothing works faster than free weights.

As for Chuck, he gets 'tone' by watching Ms. Brinkley ;)

Thanks for the advice. I did free weights for years, but an accumulation of joint and overuse injuries, mostly from skiing, make the less-inertia/gradual increase in resistance of Bowflex-type exercise more workable for me.

I had a Total Gym from when they first came out. I liked it for firming up, but it was restricted as far as building muscle. Convenience was great though, except folding it up, which I found to be a chore.

After probably a decade, I decided to get a new one, but found that the equivalent model would cost over $1200. So, I did some internet research and found this. (http://www.vigorfit.com/) Ordered it and found that, thus far, it is pretty dang great. It is sturdier, smoother, and easier to use than my Total Gym was and costs a ton less. The resistance bands make it so that you can continually add to your workout.

It does require assembly though, which I had a tinker-toy wizard friend of my youngest daughter take care of (she insists on doing this with everything I buy - a future engineer like her dad I'm sure).

So far, it's held together well, except that the foam overlay on the hand grips on the pull up bar seems to be starting to tear a bit.

All in all, I wouldn't return to Total Gym if I had to get another in the future. I'd stick with what I have now, even if they were the same price. I just think it's flat out better.

Also, beware that Total Gym comes in a wide range of prices.

I think Total Gyms are really nice and the one I had certainly served its purpose. You could do better, especially with regard to price.

But, please note that my comments are directed at Total Gyms as they were years ago. Perhaps, they've improved.

We've gone though the weight benches and Nordic Tracs and gym memberships..... the one piece of equipment that still gets used the most (we've had it for at least 10-12 years) is the total gym. Wife and I each use it several times a week. It's been our best value as far as exercise equipment..... uhhh that is besides the bikes. :D

I agree . the thing is a pain to take down. Have enough room in the den. I just keep it set up.

Nothing better to me than the encouragement and examples viewed in a gym situation and far less cost

All the TV hype for soloflex, bowflex, and they NEVER show you anything less than the PERFECT male or female models and those things cost THOUSANDS, get a 90 day or 6 month membership for a fraction, if your kid is still enthusiastic after 6 months get a trainer for him, but spend up front and then he gets bored and then u TRY to sell it in the paper for a couple of humdred bux, IF you are lucky

Yeh how much is C Norris getting for the commercial and does he even lift a finger?

Ahhh Travlin'....but with daily jobs, riding, classes, other obligations for him and me---getting to the gym consistently is difficult. Bowflexes do work....heck, most devices "work" for general fitness users....consistency and effort from the users is the main ingredient. All your cautions of course make sense.

My last 2 jobs came with access to gyms as part of the company perks... but the time to get on the machines was never right. The company I now work for has a "pipe" gym and a Total gym, along with several cardio machines and freeweights here on site. I've tried 'em, and the pipe gym is nice, but big; the Total Gym... didn't impress me.

The best workout I get is doing situps, leg lifts and hefting the freeweights at home in the morning, before I bike.

Free weights and dedication are the best things out there... everything else is just some fancy way to fake you into exercising.

Consider that the "dedication" is simply mental exercise, teaching decipline.

Oh and that fancy weight system that you just dial in the weight... freeweights with a quick release on the weights are much much cheaper... I believe that is a Bowflex SelectTech system.

I did some internet research and found this. (http://www.vigorfit.com/) Ordered it and found that, thus far, it is pretty dang great. It is sturdier, smoother, and easier to use than my Total Gym was and costs a ton less. The resistance bands make it so that you can continually add to your workout.

It does require assembly though, which I had a tinker-toy wizard friend of my youngest daughter take care of (she insists on doing this with everything I buy - a future engineer like her dad I'm sure).

So far, it's held together well, except that the foam overlay on the hand grips on the pull up bar seems to be starting to tear a bit.



I'm so stoked! I just found one of these VigorFit gyms on craigslist and bought it today. The fellow had two -- the one he bought and one someone gave him, and as he couldn't talk his wife into working out with him on the spare unit, he put it up for sale.

It's FAR better made than the Total Gym I'd had before, stronger materials, better padding, etc. Plus, there were some extras included. For instance, when his unit was originally delivered, there was a small tear in the vinyl so he called the company and they sent him a completely new board, no charge, which he never got around to installing. Now I can use the original board (the tear is slight and not in a high stress area) and then replace it when I get that urge.

I've been trying to establish a routine with dumbbells and an exercise ball, but it's just not working. And going to the gym wouldn't work either, at this point in my life. So I'm going to give the Total Gym concept a second whirl, and I think I'll like it more than the last time, since I won't be as worried about equipment failure and flimsiness. It does pay to get a higher quality version.

The unit I bought has barely been used as well. I paid $220 for it, about half the price of a new unit with delivery, etc.

And by the way, the fellow who sold it to me is QUITE in shape, thank you. He's probably in his forties; plays rugby regularly, rides his Trek 820 MTB frequently, and does Total Gym (VigorFit Gym?) workouts 5-6 times a week.

As I said, I'm stoked. :D

Submitted for your approval. A poster once named Granny Gear morphed into Cross Chain. He has reappeared as Granny Gear...in the Twilight Zone.

Congrats, DG. All for the price of a cheap suit...and this, more than the suit, really will help you look and feel better-- from the inside out. A pity GrannyGear, originator of this thread, seems to have died before having a chance to find himself on his own VigorFit. Keep that motivation bubbling and get to work. Persistent, consistent, and now resistent! Hope you have room with all those bikes hanging off the walls, etc.

Adding strength training to your cycling will make for a more complete program and probably enhance your riding as well. A good place for a 50Plusser to be! Keep us up on your progress! People "laughed" (gently) at your hanging out on Craigslist.....good things come to those who are patient!

Submitted for your approval. A poster once named Granny Gear morphed into Cross Chain. He has reappeared as Granny Gear...in the Twilight Zone.

On your left, hold your line, car back, up ahead.........you, cyclist, are about to enter-- The Twilight Zone.

http://frogstar.soylentgeek.com/wav/twilzone.wav


If you look carefully, you'll see, among the apartment dwellers, one Gary D. Gee. The kind of man we all know...a CraigsList hanger, a cycleshop duffer, a modest Mr. NiceGuy forum poster. He doesn't know it yet, but he's about to enter....The Pump Zone.

You can get a better, cheaper clothes drier. We got $5 for our total gym at our garage sale when we moved. A bench and free weights would be a better investment. We got $45 for the bench and weights at the same garage sale

A bench and free weights would be a better investment.

For you. The best equipment, I believe, is the equipment that gets used.

My mother has a great exercise bike and a health rider. They are marvelous for hanging laundry. I suppose that is one form of use...:D

For you. The best equipment, I believe, is the equipment that gets used.

I'm still using the slowly desintegrating, senile Bowflex I got at a garage sale. I'd used free weights for years and still do for some movements. The Bowflex and perhaps the VigorFit I find to be a little easier on aging, overused joints. Certainly better in overcoming inertia at the start of any movement. And, as someone who has dropped a plate on his toe twice......

Almost any machine or free weight system that allows you to work major muscle groups in a progressive manner will be fine for general fitness. That, and the discipline to use it regularly and with goals and a means to reach them.

That and probably stretching. We stopped by a friend of my wife's the other day after cycling. She is a yoga instructor, and she streesed the importance of strectcing and staying flexible to me. In fact I didn't know how inflexible I was until I tried to do some of the simple stretches she showed me. FWIW I'd rather be outside doing soetning physical (besides work), and in the warmer months I'll bike, hike or paddle. In the winter, snow conditions permitting I'll x-c ski or downhill ski.

In spite of my cratered back and easily inflamed joints, I use dumbbells and a bench. I just do all of my lifting reclined or on an incline, so I put zero compression on my back, and I do more reps with less weight than someone who is really trying to bulk up. I also do core exercises on a mat, following a video.

It seems to work well for me. I've had no joint issues from the dumbbells, and I found a great buy at Sam's on the bench and dumbbells.

Me, I just want to look fit.

Me, I just want to retain enough vision and mental acuity to see how I look!

Caruso

Me, I just want to be a chick magnet for 20 year old babes on the beach. Been waiting now since 1963.

Seriously, I'm staying fit for when I run into Florrie Turcone. She sat in front of me in 7th grade math. Big crush on her. Then, one day she moved away. Been devastated ever since. 46 years. But I'm bound to run into one of these days. Wonder if she rides?

With a name like Florrie Turcone, she had to be a hottie!:)

I have one. Like it for being compact. It works my upper body to the extent I expect of it. Go to a sports store where they have one in stock. Try out the model. They let me do so. Since my expectations are to aspire to look like a cyclist- I expect little of my upper body. Muscles are most needed in the legs.


<snicker> Chuck Norris products..cyclezealot LOL

Total Gym user and fan. Just get the cheap version from Sears or some palce like Dicks Sporting Goods. If you want to look like Mr. Atlas this is not the device. Between TG and biking went from 174 to 140 in six months. To TG distractors: if you don't use it you ........know.

Comments on being hard to fold down? Takes about 20 seconds.