BUY ON TOTAL GYM | $ 989

Total Gym XLS Comprehensive Buying Guide

Celebrities Christie Brinkley and Chuck Norris have long endorsed the Total Gym brand, and Total Gym XLS is their best-selling home gym model. It is a complete home gym supporting more than 80 workout options and is soft on your joints. The package includes wall charts, DVDs, and like for proper training support. It uses a custom part of your body weight to work as resistance, hence accommodating any fitness or ability level. It is a home gym system where no assembly is required.

Unlike traditional weight stack home gyms, Total Gym XLS is a versatile workout system easy on your joints and, of course, works quietly. There is a padded glide board as its centerpiece. You can work more or less against your body weight by adjusting the glide board angle. You can perform above 80 workouts using the accessories, pulleys, squat stand, and leg pull provided in the box.

It gives you training support to show how this device is suitable for high-energy workouts, slow pilates style exercises, and gentle rehabilitative workouts. It provides wallcharts and DVDs to help you perform those workouts correctly. You can work your cardiovascular, core muscles, lower body, and upper body system.

Total Gym XLS equipment is suitable for cardio and strength exercises. It is a unique machine that uses your body weight for resistance. There are four Total Gym models available in 2017, and Total Gym XLS is one of them. The exercises they support range from 60 to 200, and Total Gym XLS offers an optimum number of 80 workouts – neither too few nor too many.

Several people wrongly believe that the best way to get ripped is by lifting heavier weights. You can tone your body by lifting a percentage of your body weight against gravity. All in all, it is a solid above average machine that is easy to assemble and store and is versatile enough to achieve your fitness goals. Although its warranty coverage is limited and the price tag is high, it is a value for money proposition for users looking for a low-impact machine.

Total Gym offered several upgrades over its earlier models that make Total Gym XLS the best model for total-body workouts in the comfort of your home. A better glide board padding, improved squat stand, and a new cable and pulley system will make your day better with ease and practical functionalities.

Salient Features of Total Gym XLS

80 Plus Home Gym Workouts

Your Total Gym XLS offers 80 plus home gym exercises to perform. You can refer to provided colorful wallchart showing 35 activities that you can do with this trainer machine. If you want just to get started, taking help from the Start-it-up CD included in the pack is an excellent way to begin. The CD has 12 workouts of 6-8 minutes to introduce you to the primary features of your new home gym. These workouts are an excellent way to start if you are hard-pressed for time but still want to train for a few minutes. You can jumpstart your morning or whenever you feel it’s time to pack in a few workouts.

You can do these 80 low-impact workouts for a full-body toning, but we are a little skeptical about the number because most of the workouts are similar. But you can replace everyday exercises like cardio, leg pull, squat, and ab crunch. Thankfully, there are several included plans and workout DVDs to guide you in learning the routines and design your custom workout programs.

Your pack also includes some DVDs to help you learn customized workouts for competitive training, high-energy activities, and slow pilates-like workouts for a range of balance and motion. You can build custom workouts using Training Deck – cards showing different exercises.

Full-Body Workouts

Total Gym XLS comes with a leg pulley, wing attachment, and a squat accessory. Of course, it includes the pulley system and the glide board as well. All these accessories and the unique design of Total Gym XLS ensure that you can exercise almost every muscle of your body, focusing on cardio training and body flexibility. You get low-impact full-body workouts to provide a well-rounded development and fitness. Total Gym XLS essentially uses your body weight to create the required resistance. You can increase or decrease the resistance by adjusting the incline level of the glide board, keeping it pretty lightweight.

Angled Board

The Total Gym XLS features an angled board with head support and accessories, including pulleys, a squat station, and ankle straps. For instance, you can tone your hamstrings and quads using the leg pull accessory. Similarly, you can work on arm and back muscles with the help of a wing attachment. The head support and the glide board feature better padding are wide enough to accommodate user weight capacity up to 400 pounds without any stability issues. High-density foam padding is 1.5 inches thick made of a non-tear vinyl cover. Moreover, you will find thick and wide padding at the end of your glide board to support your lower back, neck, and head comfortably.

Nutritional Program and Meal Plan

You can think of it as a bonus feature. Besides so many fitness benefits, you get a unique Meal Plan and nutritional program developed by Dan Isaacson. It promotes healthy eating habits and shows strategies for weight loss. For your information, Isaacson has helped develop the Total Gym, and he has been a health and fitness professional in Hollywood celebrity circles for at least 25 years.

Warranty & Guarantee

Total Gym XLS comes with a decent warranty package to protect your purchases. You get a lifetime warranty on the frame, indicating the best quality and durability of the material used. The warranty on parts lasts for six months. You also get a risk-free guarantee of 30 days. If you are not satisfied for any reason, you can get reimbursement for the product price, except shipping expenses, borne by the customer.

Robust Build

You might have guessed from its lifetime warranty that Total Gym XLS has a sturdy frame build. Steel tubing design of 1.25 to 2 inches. It gets its aesthetic appeal from a combination of chrome plating and powder coating looks. Of course, no one will prefer ugly equipment in the living room or at your home gym space. The lower rails have durable powder coating, whereas the upper rails have chrome plating for long life.

Pulley System

This bodyweight resistance system heavily depends on the glide board and pulley system. The 1000 pound rated vinyl coated cables work smoothly with their pulleys. It comes with attachments that you can interchange quickly: ankle holders and nylon strap holders. They consist of durable nylon coating and synthetic rubber cushioning for excellent grips. One thing that is impressive about the pulley system is that it has a tensile strength of one thousand pounds, making it a durable machine that will last for a very long time.

Smaller Footprint

Unlike several other home gym equipment, Total Gym XLS is compact and small. Although it is a bit long when used, its size is much smaller than other competing models. You can fold it down to be a little longer than a typical ironing board. It means that you can quickly store it in a closet or under your bed. Moreover, a smaller footprint and little weight ensure easy storage and movement around the house.

User Friendly

You can assemble this home gym equipment quickly and store it conveniently. Unlike most other home gyms, the assembly out of the box is minimal in Total Gym XLS because of its streamlined design and construction. All you have to do is to extend the frame from its folded position and raise its glide board to your preferred incline level.

Customization

You can customize Total Gym XLS home gym by simply attaching the additional attachment purchased by you. Such accessories include weight bars, leg-pull, dip bars, press-up bars, and many other options. For instance, you can connect them to the mainframe with brackets and hitch pins. You will get illustrated directions and written details included in the box.

Ease of Storage and Movements

You can quickly fold and store Total Gym XLS in your home anytime. It weighs only 90 pounds, with 22 pounds of glide board weight. You can easily lift the glide board and secure it in position with a lock pin. It is relatively easier to move the machine to a different spot in your room as it has convenient wheels on the bottom side. However, you may find moving the device on a thick carpet slightly challenging because the wheels are a little small. Although it does not take up much space in a folded-up position, it requires some space to work in with unfolded footprint.

Assembly

We have already explained that Total Gym XLS comes in an almost assembled position. You can take it out of the package, and you are ready to use it after a few joints or screws here and there.

PROS OF TOTAL GYM XLS
  • Total Gym XLS does not require expensive and bulky weights as it uses body weight against gravity to create the necessary resistance. You can customize your fitness challenges, as it is pretty straightforward to adjust resistance levels.
  • You get a fair variety of gym workout possibilities, numbering more than 80.
  • Excellent cushioning and padding on the patented glide board add to your comfort, especially when you find extra padding near the ends.
  • It supports users up to a height of 6’2″ and weight up to 400 pounds, covering a large chunk of potential users.
  • People love guidance, especially when they come across something as novel a concept as Total Gym XLS that features pulleys, seat boards, accessories, and much more. Multiple workout DVDs make it easier for you to learn the nitty-gritty of this home gym. Moreover, you also get guidance on nutritional programs in the box. You can lose weight and build muscles by targeting specific muscle groups.
  • A free 30 days trial means that you have full liberty to return the product if you are not satisfied in this period. It is a no questions asked refund policy that makes things more manageable if it does not meet your expectations.
  • The machine is designed for at-home use with versatile, low-impact workouts. People with low mobility, injuries, or potential impact issues will love this feature because controlled resistance is always gentle on your sensitive joints.
  • It is a cakewalk to assemble Total Gym XLS as it comes in almost made condition.
  • You can store the machine in a folded position almost anywhere in the house. Lightweight with 80 pounds only, you can move it around with the help of convenient transport wheels.
  • The machine is highly durable, especially with pulleys of 1000 pound tensile strength and a lifetime warranty on its frame.
CONS OF TOTAL GYM XLS
  • The warranty coverage of six months on parts is on the lower side, compared to a lifetime warranty on its frame.
  • You don’t get the best value for money for this home gym at a hefty list price of $1999.
  • It is not suitable for people over 6 feet 2 inches.
  • It may not be suitable for intense strength training or bodybuilding. It targets users looking for body toning and weight loss, and maintaining optimal body weight.
  • Some customer reviews have reported the breakage of transport wheels and some small parts.

Machine Specs of Total Gym XLS

Dimensions (Inches): 90 x 19 x 43 (L x W x H); Workout Area (Inches): 90 x 20 (L x W); Machine Weight: 92 pounds; Machine Type: Bodyweight; Maximum Weight: 6 to 54 percentage of weight; Number of Exercises: 80 plus; User Weight Capacity: Up to 400 pounds; User Height Limit: 6 feet 2 inches; Seat: Glideboard; Training Support: Total Gym DVD, Pilates DVD

Final Words

It is easy to customize your daily fitness routine with Total Gym XLS and reach your fitness goals. It is low impact, versatile and durable. It offers at-home workouts that slowly and steadily tone your body and improves your fitness level. If you are looking for a weight training machine with cardio features, Total Gym XLS is your right choice for full-body workouts.