KEEP YOUR MUSCLES GUESSING & PROGRESSING ON YOUR TOTAL GYM
Hey Total Gym Team, it’s Master Trainer JayDee here to welcome you to 2026! Read on if you’re interested in making sure you’re always getting the most out of your workouts.
In the workout world, my favorite saying has always been, “To keep your muscles progressing, you gotta keep em’ guessing!” Let’s have a little chat about what this means and why it is so important. I’ll also explain why when you’re sore the day following a workout, you should smile with glee!
Let’s start with why you should smile if your workout makes you sore. The reason you’re sore is that during your workout, you stressed your muscles to the point that they actually break down. This is what makes you sore. Then, when you let those sore muscles rest, recover, and repair with proper nutrition, all the benefits happen:
- Your muscles build back stronger
- Your tendons, ligaments, and bones that these muscles are attached to also get stronger. Thus, your body becomes more stable, less injury-prone, and your posture improves.
- These stronger muscles require more calories to keep them alive, thus increasing your metabolism
- You live longer! Strength is a legit longevity marker
Are you smiling yet? But here is the tricky thing with your body. It is very adaptable. Meaning if you keep doing the same workout, your body will get stronger and adapt so your muscles don’t break down anymore. Sounds ok, right? Wrong. If our muscles are not getting stressed enough to break down and thus become sore, it means we are no longer reaping those juicy benefits. Make sense?
Watch the accompanying video as I demonstrate the following simple ways you can keep your muscles guessing to keep those muscles progressing! The coolest thing is, your Total Gym makes these changes simple:
- Changing the Planes of Motion – Life does not happen in a simple, linear fashion, which is what most equipment in the gym emulates. Using the pulley/cable system on your Total Gym, your muscles and joints are free to go in all sorts of functional ranges of motion.
- Changing the Repetition Range at which You Hit Fatigue – When the glide board is at higher levels, you will fatigue in a lower repetition range – let’s say about 10 reps. On some days, lower the level so you can pick up the pace and maybe hit fatigue at about 15 reps.
- Adding Unilateral Reps and Static Equilibrium – Single arm, or single leg, as well as one of my favorites, and unique to your Total Gym: Static Equilibrium.
Enjoy those simple changes, TG Team, and let’s relish being sore after our workouts. Not only will you live longer, but you’ll also live with a happier and healthier body. Have a Stellar and Joyous 2026!
