Top 5 Total Gym Exercises

Combine These Moves for the Ultimate Total Gym Workout Routine

Total Gym exercises… they make them look so easy on TV, don’t they? But do you find yourself wondering exactly what the best moves are to get the most out of your Total Gym workout routine?

Working out at home using a home gym is a great alternative to spending hundreds of dollars for gym memberships. But…

I am sure you are like a lot of other folks out there (myself included).  You see an exercise product on TV, you buy it, and then you use it… once.

Unfortunately, for many people, a piece of home gym equipment turns into an ultra-expensive, spouse hated clothing rack. But this doesn’t need to be the case for the Total Gym. In fact, if you simply do these five Total Gym exercises below, you can get more value in a full body Total Gym workout routine that you ever imagined possible.

The Total Gym was designed to promote functional exercise – that is exercises that mimic normal, everyday movements – with the main form of resistance being the weight of your body. It allows for over 100 different exercises, and you can adjust the resistance of the Total Gym exercises by altering the incline of the sled. This gives you many options to vary your Total Gym workout routine. Another cool benefit is that the Total Gym doesn’t take up as much space as some of the more traditional home gym equipment; therefore, your Total Gym exercises can be done in less space (this also makes it less attractive as a clothes hanger… :-))

Which brings us to some examples of awesome Total Gym exercises… Here are my favorite 5 exercises to work into your next Total Gym workout routine…

Total Gym Exercises

Basic Pull-Up

Lay belly down with your head and neck above the top of the bench. Now, grab the cords and perform a pull up. Your body should slide upward in a smooth motion as you pull down on the cords. You can use a facing away or facing toward you grip.

“Bench” Press

Sit upright on the sled, with your back toward the pole. Now, with the metal part of the handles outside your hands than the cable running beneath your wrists, grab the grips. Now, keeping your elbows tight to your body, press the handles away from you in a nice, smooth motion. Do not lock your elbows at the top of the movement.

Bonus: For some added variation, you can quickly move to a chest fly from this position. Simply rotate your hands so that they are facing forward (the same direction as your face) and bring them up to about shoulder height so that your arms are in a cross position. Be sure not to lock your elbows. Now, keeping your arms in that position, bring your hands together in front of you, focusing on contracting you chest muscles at the top of the movement.

Incline Squats

Lay with your back on the bench, feet at the bottom, head toward the pole. Place your feet firmly on the bar at the bottom of your Total Gym. Now, in a nice controlled motion, lower yourself until your knees are bent approximately 90 degrees, and, using your quads, hamstrings, and glutes, push yourself back up.

Bonus: If you want to hit your calves, flip over onto your stomach, and place your toes on the bar. Now, keeping your legs straight, raise up on your toes. Lower yourself slowly, feeling a slight stretch at the bottom before lifting up on your toes again.

Bicep Curl

Sit at the top of the bench, facing the pole. Grab the handles with your palms facing down and your arms extended in front of you. Now, bend your elbows and rotate your hands as you curl so that your palms are facing toward you at the top of the move. You are curling from straight out in front of you toward your head (you will finish with your hands beside your face).

Triceps Extension

Lay on the board facing up with your head at the top of the board. Grab the handles with your palms facing away from you. With your arms bent, your hands on either side of your face, and you elbows tucked tightly to your body, press down until your arms are nearly straight (you will finish near your hands near your knees).

These Total Gym exercises can be put together for a quick and easy, total body Total Gym Workout. (I will call it the Total Total Workout! :-) )

As you can see, the Total Gym is a flexible and easy to use home gym system and more and more people are discovering the benefits of workout out at home.  If you want to see the benefits personally, then I recommend checking out Home Gym Secrets now.

These moves will help you to burn fat, and anything that encourages you to exercise, I am for. However, for building muscle mass, especially in any significant quantity, Total Gym exercises aren’t the way to go.

Alright, now that you know some of my favorite Total Gym exercises, go, take the clothes off the machine, and get started changing your body.

Learn How to Design Your Own Total Gym Workout

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