The Total Gym has been around for many years and always was a first class piece of home exercise equipment. Most people will have seen it advertised on the infomercial channels being used by Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkley.

This latest model The Total Gym Shaper is the most inexpensive model they've produced coming in at just under £100 ($140) and offers great value for money.

It works by using your own body weight as resistance and depending on the incline you set can give you a weight range of 6-60% of your body weight. So for muscle building you use a high incline with fewer repetitions and for aerobic muscle sculpting a lower incline and more repetitions are used.

Total Gym claim you can do over 60 exercises on it targeting every muscle group in your body and it has the following features:

I know this type of equipment works because we have one of the older models which, by the way, cost us a lot more than this one.

The only thing I don't agree with Total Gym in their informercial is the easy-to-put-away part. You see a small women folding it up and then effortlessly putting it away. Trust me, it's not that easy. It's a well-built machine and heavier than it looks!

Bottom line is that I like The Total Gym and although I don't use mine as much as I used to (I prefer to use equipment like The T-Bow and body weight exercises), for your average at home exerciser this piece of equipment is inexpensive, well built and will give you a great workout.

Amazon usually have the best price for the

The video below shows how Chuck and Gena use the Total Gym in their own workouts. The Total Gym shown is one of the more expensive models but the Total Gym Shaper will do exactly the same job.

All the best,

Posted by: At Home Workout Reviews

The Total Gym Shaper Reviews

Being a Personal Trainer can be a lot of fun when it comes to reviewing exercise equipment and DVDs. It’s like a disease at the moment the amount of new “stuff” coming onto the market is staggering. So what’s a person to do? How do you pick am exercise program that works?

Take Core Rhythms for example. How do you know it’s any good? Will you be able to use it to get fat loss results? If you spend your life searching for that perfect product trust me you’ll look forever and be no wiser.

Core Rhythms looks like a decent product (Disclaimer I don’t have it) it will get you moving and if followed regularly will help you lose weight. The issue is do you like it? Does it light your fire? Will it motivate you to workout?

For me it wouldn’t I don’t like to dance (call me strange if you like) so this type of workout just wouldn’t motivate me to get off my butt! But maybe it would for you, maybe you like to dance and maybe you like this type of music if so then this workout would be perfect for you.

I’ll say it again it doesn’t matter what exercise you do just do something if you find you’re getting bored have a go at something else mix it up a bit as I’ve said there’s no shortage of material.

I like to do aerobics, strength training and stretching and I get bored easily which is why I use equipment like The Firm Wave to help me get variety in my workout.

Take look at this video and see if this workout would motivate you if it does you know what to do

All the best,

Carol J Bartram
(Personal Trainer & Pilates Instructor)

Posted by: At Home Workout Reviews

The Core Rythms Review

I think the T-Bow Exercise System is the single best piece of home exercise equipment I’ve ever bought. I’m a Personal Trainer and believe me I’ve tried dozens of pieces of equipment, some cheap and some expensive. Almost all of them lie stacked up in a corner of my spare bedroom – now discarded as either totally useless or so complicated to use that it’s not worth the hassle setting them up.

The TBow on the other hand can be ready for use in seconds. Just slip it out from under the bed, turn it over and your ready to rock!

It can be used to give you a truly great cardio fat blasting workout, use it with the bands for strength training, use it for stretching and if you do Pilates use it to make your workout more challenging.

This versatile piece of kit really does it all and it’s great fun to boot. If I had to pick only one piece of exercise equipment to keep it would be this one it really is that good.

It pre-dates The Firm Wave by a number of years and is the original design. I also like The Firm Wave as it comes in at under $100 and will do the same job. I have 18 T-Bows which I use to teach classes and the ability to able to stack them is important (The Wave won’t stack).

Whether its The TBow or The Firm Wave don’t hesitate just get one, use it regularly, have fun and lose weight at the same time.

All the best,

Carol J Bartram
(Personal Trainer & Pilates Instructor)

Posted by: At Home Workout Reviews

The T-Bow Exercise – Does It Rock?

Question: I already have a lot of home exercise equipment (Exercise Bike and Treadmill) is there any point in buying The Wave as well?

Answer: Absolutely! The equipment you have is great and if all you needed was Cardio then maybe you could get away without buying the Wave. The Wave comes into it’s own because you can combine cardio, strength training and stretching all into one fun fat blasting workout.

By including the Wave into your exercise program you not only add variety, you are also challenging your body in new ways. This in turn prevents your body from adapting and helps you avoid the dreaded weight loss plateau.

Once you’ve tried the Wave you’ll be hooked. I now use The Wave in all my own exercise programs and find that if given a choice I always end up on the Wave it’s just such fun I find the time passing much more quickly than it did plodding on the treadmill.

Give it a go – You won’t be disappointed.

All the best,

Carol J Bartram
(Pilates Instructor & Personal Trainer)

Posted by: At Home Workout Reviews

The Firmwave Reviews – I Already Have A Lot Of Other Exercise Equipment

I have been asked by my clients to review the Firm Wave Personal Gym. They had seen it advertised and knew I had a similar piece of equipment the T-Bow. I use the T-Bow for my own training and have recently started using it with my Personal Training clients and have had some pretty good results.

The Wave like the T-Bow is a curved step which can be used either side up. With the curved side up it is stable (won’t move) and can be used to:-

• As a normal step
• For stretching
• Used with an exercise band it can be used for strength training
• You can do many body weight only exercises like Press-Ups and Squats

When you turn the Wave over so that the curved surface is down you end up with an unstable surface. With your feet on either side of the Wave it can be challenging to stay upright on it never mind move. This way up you can:-

• Rock from side to side for a fantastic fat burning workout
• Walk on the Wave to help tone thighs and buns
• Increase core and abdominal strength
• Add a resistance band to super charge your workout

It is claimed you can burn three times more fat using the Wave compared to other cardio equipment. Three times, well maybe not but you will burn a lot more that’s for sure. Working on the Wave is challenging, rocking to music with a fast beat will have you sweating and breathing hard in less than five minutes.

The Wave will enable you to perform over 100 toning, strength building and body sculpting exercises all on a piece of kit that costs less than $100 and comes with four DVD’s an exercise mat and a healthy eating guide. I have to say I was impressed with the Wave. It won’t stack like the T-Bow but for most home users who only buy one this will not be a problem.

This piece of equipment is not a gimmick. It will do what it claims if you use it. The advantage this has over many other pieces of home exercise equipment is it’s price. Even if like most people you quit after a few weeks what have you lost? Not a great deal and because it’s so small, has no moving parts and is easy to stow away when you decide to give it another go it will still work even if you leave it for 5 years or more.

Don’t waste any more time do what thousands of others have done. Ride The Firms Wave and get the results you’ve only ever dreamed of.

Carol J Bartram
(Personal Trainer)

Posted by: At Home Workout Reviews

The Firm Wave Reviews