Using the Total Gym Toe Bar Attachment To Do Pilates At Home

Joseph Pilates – a gymnast, circus performer, martial artist and boxer – originally created an exercise regimen to help rehabilitate World War I soldiers. Not long after the war, he moved to New York and evolved his exercises and his “reformer machine” for the rehabilitation of injured dancers. Almost 100 years later, Pilates is still popular because it helps develop long and lean muscles; improves the flexibility of the back, shoulders, and hips; and builds a very strong core with low impact moves.

The Total Gym can be transformed into a reformer machine with a Pilates Toe Bar attachment, which allows you to perform upper and lower body Pilates movements. The design makes it possible to drop the heels to stretch the Achilles tendons while articulating through each joint of the foot. Compared with another Total Gym accessory, the Padded Squat Stand, the Pilates Toe Bar extends further than the squat stand allowing a greater range of motion in the knees and ankles and encourages proper alignment. If you want to get a full Pilates workout on your Total Gym, then the Pilates Toe Bar is the accessory that you should go with.

12 Pilates Movements To Perform On The Total Gym

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Compound vs. Isolation Exercises

In the 90’s I trained to compete in body building competitions. In those days, we trained mostly with isolated exercises. The textbook definition of an isolated exercise is any exercise in which only one major muscle group is trained. Examples of these can include bicep curls, tricep extensions, leg extensions, leg curls, and calf raises. At the time, we thought that we could only build larger muscles if we trained this way.
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Incredible Upper Body Workout

Fitness trainer John Peel joins us once again today on Total Gym Pulse to bring us his incredible upper body burnout workout using The Total Gym. This workout consisting of four different exercises working four different body parts with thirty seconds for each movement.

The first exercise John demonstrates in this series is the pull up. Lay flat on your stomach on the glideboard of The Total Gym and have both cables in hand. Make sure to keep your elbows wide and squeeze your back as you pull yourself up. This is the same motion as a regular pull up and you can modify the intensity of the exercise by moving the level either up and down. Do this exercise for thirty second with no rest. (more…)

How Get A Flat Belly After 40

Life after forty can be fabulous and fit rather than fat and flabby.

Some may say that the second the birthday candles are blown out, their metabolism went on vacation! Was it the extra cake?  Or was the culprit the aging process taking over? How do we prevent this from occurring, knowing aging is inevitable?

If you are over 40, at some point or another, you may have developed a middle age pouch either from lack of exercise, a poor diet, or post-baby. Even though a tummy tuck may sound like a good solution, there are good and natural ways to slow down the fat-storing process, such as eating healthy foods, performing intense core workouts, and having the goal to make it happen!

The 8 Do’s and Don’ts:

Having a flat and firm core after forty takes patience, effort and knowledge of some important facts. A tight tummy is more than just for looks. Here are some ‘core truths’ that can help you banish belly fat and get a flatter, tighter, and ageless midsection!

1. DO Strengthen Your Core To Improve Your Overall Health– Core muscles support the back, protect vital organs, and allow daily functional movement. Ignoring the core and allowing extra fat increases the risk for coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. (See the workout at the end of the article!)
2. DON’T Go Crazy On The Crunches – Performing traditional crunches have value, but doing hundreds will not lead to a tighter midsection! Abdominal muscles often stay hidden underneath a thick layer of belly fat, so the key is to train your abs a few times a week with a variety of core movements and burn fat with cardio sessions. More isn’t better!
3. DON’T Ignore Cardio and Strength Training- A solid combination of cardio and strength training plays a vital role in melting the excess fat the body holds onto. To get a flat tummy and muscle tone, you need to burn off the top layer of fat in order to replace it with lean muscle from strength training. (more…)

Sculpting Pilates Moves That Burn Serious Calories

Want a leaner and stronger body? You can transform your Pilates workout into cardio, strength, or combination workouts, by changing the pace (tempo), incline level (intensity) and repetitions. These alterations can provide enough tweaks to change the body without having to learn a large repertoire of exercises. Increasing your pace and adding explosive Plyometric moves will help to raise the heart rate, while slowing down the movements and adding increased resistance will focus more on muscular development.

Tips and Recommendations for This Pilates Workout:

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Fat Burning Workout Day 2

Miss Fitness America Sherry Goggin joins us once again on Total Gym Pulse to bring us day 2 of her 3 day fat burning workout series on The Total Gym. Today Sherry is going to focus on the lower body to help you develop those lean legs and firm butt you desire!

The first exercise Sherry demonstrates works the inner and outer thighs. With your chest out and back straight, place your feet inside the cables towards the top of The Total Gym. Move your legs in and out for a total of 10 reps and be sure to keep your breathing controlled as you go.

Next, Sherry tells us to raise the level on the machine and detach the pulleys for the next exercise which is squats. Place your feet on the squat stand shoulder width apart and sit at the end of the glide board. From here, squat all the way down and on the way up be sure to squeeze your buttock muscles. Make sure to keep your movements slow and controlled. Do 10 reps on this exercise as well.
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