Now this plan is to give you a little jumpstart consisting of diet, lifestyle, and Sliding Bench Training to get you through the winter, out of that holiday binge, and ideally start to shed off 5 – 10 lbs (at least that’s what I’ll be shooting for). And this will be the same template I’ll be following myself.

I wanted to make this plan because it’s the prime season for people to start those typical resolutions, start fresh with their training, and just recover a bit from the holiday food (that if you guys are like me starts around October). I’ve also heard from some new people in the channel who just got a Total Gym or some other sliding bench trainer for Christmas and are looking for a quick guide to start fresh.

What’s laid out here is NOT a crash diet or exercise plan where we’re hitting the brakes and doing a 180 in the opposite direction. Because I don’t think that’s the best course of action anyways. We want this to be sustainable and something we can build upon. And we’re still in winter, so we have time to gradually ease our way into our spring / summer weight, which during that season, has its own things that we can manipulate with our training. 

I made a mass gaining program PDF and VIDEO YOU CAN SEE HERE for the fall when people typically eat more so to capitalize on that season. And predictably according to my scale, I put on approximately close to 10 pounds. Which I have no problem with because I know I (and you can as well) take that off starting now. 

But like I said, what’s being laid out here can be used at any season.

DIET

Diet is vitally important, but it’s highly individualized as you all can assume. I don’t know everyone’s situation and I’m not sure what particular diet you’re following (or enjoy), nor am I going to be giving specific dietary advice. You guys can take all of this and use it at your own discretion. 

Identify / Alter Habits

• What do you want to add in or take out? 
  • Focus on adding in versus eliminating (but that works too)

• Snacking Between Meals
  • Try to stick to either set snack times or eliminate them all together to just focus on eating during your set “meals”. 

• Alcohol and or Caloric Drinks
  • Reduce and or cut out for a set period of time. Find alternative calorie-free options to curb that habit. 

• Treats or Meal “Add-ons”
  • Avoid / Reduce desserts or other food that you typically consume around your meals (ex. appetizers, chips, dips, chocolate, etc)

• Limit Dining to Once a Week
  • Self explanatory, but try to also plan ahead on what you’re going to order to choose the best option for you. Also consider smaller meal sizes. 

• Maximize Ready Made Meals and or Make your own staple foods habits 
  • Aside from “ready made meals” services, create your own staple meals based on portion sizes you can adhere to. 

• Keep Protein High
  • Protein keeps you full, supports muscle growth / repair, and has a high thermic effect (requires greater energy by body to breakdown). You don’t have to go crazy with the amounts, but consider what most sports nutrition research recommends for those that regularly resistance train (1.2-1.7 grams per kg of bodyweight). Also ideally seek protein sources that high sources of essential amino acids such as animal based foods. 

Lifestyle 

• Stick to or tweak your morning / night ritual
  • Keeps you on track with your schedule, good for sleep patterns, and just great overall for establishing a foundation for your daily habits. 

• Screen addiction
  • In my opinion,everyone is a potential victim to this. Don’t get sucked into negative influences or time wasters that distract you from your goals. Instead, set parameters and little rewards that once reached in the day, allow a little time for mindless or educational entertainment. 

• Increase Non-Exercise Movement 
  • Set aside say at least 20 minutes (that maybe can be broken up) to get up and move your body, but not in a way that’s considered exercise. Go for a mini-walk or I even like my cellerciser which I keep next to my computer. 

• Read or Audible 
  • Great for calming the mind and learning. Also things like audible can be great to motivate you for the point above. 

• Focus and Assess Objectively Good and Bad Uses of Your Time
  • This is on you, but take time and assess how certain things / habits affect you and your overall health. My own personal example is social media. I can make all sorts of excuses as to why I should use it (even for promoting this channel / website), but personally, I feel the “cons” outweigh the “pros”. And I can tell you that this for me was a great decision.

TRAINING

Do Upper / Lower Training 

• 4 x Week minimum
• 20 – 45 min

OR

Total Body Training  

• 3x Week minimum
• 30 – 60 min

Cardio 

• Plan it and Do it
• Min 20 min vigorous 3x a week. (not counting walking)

Exercises: I get all sorts of questions regarding this so I’ll just defer to some of these videos that help if you’re new. 

“The Best exercises”

“Only 3 Exercises you Need”

“Simple Workout Plan”

Example Upper / Lower Body Program

Upper Body

Lower Body

Total Body Example Frequency

Intensity Note: What is “RIR”?

Reps in Reserve (RIR)

For example if “RIR 3” is listed, this means choose an intensity that allows you to complete within the rep range with 3 reps left in you. 

So “RIR 3” would be harder than “RIR 10”

And that’s it. That might not seem like much (or maybe it does I dunno), but if you adopt and follow this simple plan along with tailoring it to your own lifestyle, this should make for a successful outcome. The ultimate goal of this document is to encourage you to set some sort of plan and assess what habits / lifestyle factors you can alter for positive change. 

I know many of you reach out to me and just ask “just tell me what you do” and while I don’t fully recommend that approach (I made a video about that as well) , I do understand that some people work best with a specific plan laid out. So if that’s you and you want to see my step by step outline, you can look for that in the near future. 

What I like about it..

First, I like the price tag (~$550) and felt the overall design of the machine was fairly solid. I wouldn’t say it’s light, but also wouldn’t say it’s super heavy either. I’ll say it is a bit more bulkier or more cumbersome to move around than most of my sliding bench trainers, but unless you’re like me and like moving your equipment inside to outside, you’ll likely just leave your row machine right where it is.

The overall feel of the machine is unique in that it’s not like a Total Gym and it’s not like a traditional indoor rower. It’s basically a combination of the two. Yes, you’re on an incline and it’s somewhat similar to a TG in design, but it is a different experience pulling (and I should say pushing from the feet) instead of working against a pulley behind you on a normal Total Gym.

What’s cool about this machine is that while yes, it’s dominant in pulling, it also really works the legs. You can even just isolate the legs on their own. Which even though this machine differs in design of a traditional indoor rower (which I’d say this is a different category in mechanics) a traditional rower if used correctly is more so leg dominant versus back. 

With this TG Incline Row, it’s really up to you how you want to use the machine. The basic row movement is a perfect total body exercise in incorporating the legs with the arms, back, and even lower back. But you can (and I often do) use the machine in a variety of arm and shoulder exercises.

While you certainly can use this machine as a cardio based workout, I really think it shines as a compliment to your other forms of resistance training you may be doing. I have great workouts super-setting from my Total Gym FIT then jumping on the Incline Row.

What I don’t Like

What I ultimately dislike is what I alluded to above, and that’s that the Total Gym Incline Row isn’t the best at what some might believe it’s supposed to be…a cardio based indoor rower. I would not put this on par with a Concept 2 indoor rower. I fact did a comparison video on this if you want more detail, but basically they are two different things.

A Concept 2 rower is one of the best cardio devices one could pick up and the Total Gym Incline Row is more lower intensity resistance training tool. I really couldn’t see myself using this Incline Row for longer than five minutes without wanting to jump off and do something else. It just gets a little uncomfortable and honestly is a pretty hard to do, especially when you incorporate your whole body.

So is it WORTH IT?

I’d narrow this down to if you have extra money to spend, you enjoy the “up and down” motion of a Total Gym, you got the extra space, and you’re viewing it as a supplement resistance training piece, then YES it’s great.

But do not get this if you’re looking for a low impact or just more interesting form of cardiovascular activity. For that I would say there’s much better options.

This is something that perhaps I need to stress more on my YouTube channel, because as often as I like to claim and promote the simplicity in Total Gym or Sliding Bench Training, in truth it does take some time to get accustomed to and used to the machine in a way that you’ll fully start to appreciate its effectiveness.

So in this article, I want to briefly discuss why it’s important to respect that exercising on a total gym takes a degree of skill and what are some things you can do to help build good form on the machine so that you can maximize results.

Squatting or lifting a barbell never feels natural when one is first learning.

Regardless of any exercise tool, it takes repetition but also some level of instruction and mindfulness to eventually progress an exercise into the most effective movement pattern possible for your goal. Likewise, sitting or lying on a sliding bench trainer might be more fun than a barbell, but it can be equally or more challenging to learn depending on a variety of individual factors. All the Total Gym videos, articles, and resources in the world won’t do much good if you don’t dial down the form on the various exercises.

Not only that, you’ll be much more likely to not see results and therefore give up on sliding bench training.

Now I do have a more direct solution to this being my online coaching options. You can check those out HERE if you’re interested. This is really the only way I can fully address a direct question and give specific form feedback on a particular exercise.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you NEED a trainer or coach to learn effective sliding bench training. But it does (as with any good coach) save you trial and error. I do have some good starter / beginner videos on my YouTube channel as well if you’re interested.

Recording Yourself or Using a Mirror

Other great tool(s) to take advantage of is finding ways to personally assess your own form. A very simple (and probably the most effective) is to record yourself with a smartphone. This will tell you a lot even if you have no idea what to look for. Odds are if something doesn’t look right with regards to an exercise, it probably isn’t. You might not fix it on the next set, but some of the best ways to correct bad form / posture is first to be aware of the problem.

A runner up to this would be to set up a mirror close by. However I say this with some caution. Given the nature of sliding bench training, it can be dangerous to to look at a mirror which may cause you to lose your balance. I found this out personally the hard way when I’m either referencing a near by mirror or if I start talking to someone while I’m exercising. All of this is just a reminder that exercising on a Total Gym can be more engaging than other forms of resistance training.

Be Mindful of your Form

This should go in line with the first set of recommendations, but I often find people simply go through the motions when they train. But this isn’t a Total Gym training problem, but an exercise problem in general. Someone might watch a video, see a poster, or look at an instruction book and think they got the gist of it. And of course I’m not saying you need to hyper analyze an exercise before your start performing it. But I am saying that you need to treat exercise like every other skill. Start practicing, but don’t stop trying to improve and hone in your technique.

Hire a Personal Trainer or Coach

I’m a big fan and promoter of hiring a trainer. I should emphasize a “good” trainer or coach, as anyone can count reps or simply create a “hard” workout. If you appreciate that exercise is a skill (which already is step up), then make sure you find a coach who thinks the same.

Skilled personal trainers regardless if they’ve used a Total Gym before or not, can still provide a lot of solid guidance that will ensure that you’re on the right track and just as important, won’t get hurt.

Be Patient

This is true of ALL health and fitness goals. Aside from consistency, the second variable to success in this area is being patient and or enjoying the process. There’s a certain luxury to starting a fitness goal when we’re young. Results come quicker, we recover faster, and we simply have more energy to put forth greater effort. Don’t let this discourage you if you’re up in age. Because regardless of your state in life, both young and old have to be both patient and consistent long term or they’ll go right back to where they were.

Recognize that working out and seeing results on a Total Gym will take time. It may take longer than expected. But what you can expect (and often it’s the thing people forget) is that performance gains come quickly. Don’t feel discouraged if that weight hasn’t come off as fast as you’d like or if the muscles aren’t as defined as you’d like. Try to remember how hard or awkward certain exercises were or how many more reps you can complete now compared to before.

If you stay consistent, be mindful about what your form, and be patient; you’ll be MUCH better than you were before.

This might be obvious when you consider the nature of this machine, that it relies on bodyweight for resistance. But given how popular calisthenics and bodyweight training are, especially in the home fitness world, it’s surprising how overlooked sliding bench trainers really are.

When most think of bodyweight training, traditional modes or devices that support this are pull up bars, parallettes, push up handles, or any device that allows you to progressively train with your body weight. There’s actually some pretty cool portable contraptions that allow you to pack up and train anywhere.

A Total Gym really is no different, except it’s better. Unlike those other devices (some of which make bodyweight training a little expensive), a Total Gym allows you to not only progress but also regress exercises to fit your ability. Traditional bodyweight training on the other hand does not provide this luxury. Many are attracted to the simplicity or results derived from basic calisthenics. But it can be hard (also a little boring at first) for someone who’s 50lbs overweight to start working pushups and pull-ups without some special equipment.

A Total Gym Offers More Versatility and Better Exercises

Don’t get me wrong, there’s tons of exercises that a trained progressive bodyweight trainer can work up too. But this will take, some good joints, and possibly some youth on your side. A total gym provides all the practical benefits of calisthenics such as increased lean body mass, better range of motion, and improved performance, but with MUCH more room to adapt to the individual.

I also doubt the vast majority of individuals who opt to get their resistance training in the form of bodyweight conditioning are doing so to progress into a front lever (picture below).

Instead, I believe most people choose this type of training because of the ease of entry and physiques that they deliver. If people knew the possibility and potential a Total Gym can deliver with maximizing their bodyweight, I think a Total Gym would be THE piece of fitness equipment to train your body for maximum results.

And for very good reason, given they are cheap, versatile, easy to transport either around the house or traveling. 

I know a lot of you have both resistance bands and a total gym, and having both is certainly better. 

But this is really for those either on the fence of picking up a total gym and ultimately just an article emphasizing why I believe the sliding bench trainer is the best form of resistance training for the home when you factor in most people’s needs and common goals.

So I’ll be going head to head on my main points on these two forms of popular home resistance training and provide why I think the Total Gym or a Sliding Bench Trainer is the superior device. But please share your thoughts on what you find most advantageous, what you prefer, or just simple likes and dislikes between the two. 

Of course this is my opinion and everyone has different preferences, abilities, space availability, and even budget concerns (but I will address that as well).

PRICE

Figured might as well talk about this first. Aside from space requirements. The price is most likely a huge factor in why someone picks up resistance bands versus a sliding bench trainer. For sure, it’s a cheaper alternative to buying hundreds of dollars worth of weights. In fact there’s some really good quality bands like the SUNPOW BANDS (which I’ve reviewed on my Youtube Channel) that are not only affordable but also decent quality

Some of the advertising that these bands really do over sell this however, making claims that you can save and replace hundreds of dollars worth of free weights if you simply buy this $50 dollar band set. Basically equating band weight or tension to free weights. I don’t want to go down this rabbit whole, but it’s simply not the same type of tension and overall stress that’s placed on the muscle. Again, not to say you can’t build your body using resistance bands, because I’m sure I will upset someone with this and maybe some following statements. 

But considering the type of resistance band you buy (tube or loop style) it generally won’t set you back too much for just the bands. However if you are in the market for some premium bands, I consider the Undersun Bands to be the best loop style and the bodylastic bands to be the best tube style. But regardless, I’m always saying even with expensive or better quality bands. They all will eventually lose their integrity over time and possibly break.

But if you’re looking to use them for a period of time, you’ll probably at least eventually invest in a high quality band like the ones I mentioned above. Then there’s things like bars that go with them and these boards or packages that you can find.

Some these get really expensive. Like that x3 bar is over $500 dollars. ……  At that point, I’d just opt for an entry level sliding bench trainer, like the Total Gym APEX G1.

Which goes for as low as $299 and I’ve said and will continue to say that even these base models are awesome. I could easily get by with one of those if I had to.

Efficiency

With efficiency, I’m really going to stretch this to a number of areas;

Which for one is easer to set up

Which allows more ease to transition between exercises

Which one has more variety exercises

And for all of these, a sliding bench trainer wins out

Yes, the total gym depending on model and for certain people can be heavy or awkward. But once it’s set up, all the exercises are available to you. With bands, yes you can just bring them out anywhere and start working out, but you’re really limited to what you can anchor them to. Whether that’s a bar, one of those stands, a good door anchor (and a good door). I use my squat stand that’s weighted down, which can make it easier to try and set up various exercises, but even that has limitations. 

And obviously, the more limited you are to setting up, the more limited you are to the exercises available to you, the more limited in the tension that can be place on a given muscle, and just the time it takes to switch exercises up. 

That’s really a big reason why I don’t use my bands that much. It’s just too cumbersome for me to not only switch up the exercise, but also to fine tune the resistance. So whenever I was using the bands by themselves, it usually was just the occasional bicep curl, shoulder press, maybe deadlift.

FUN FACTOR

This leads us into another huge variable that will ensure which one is right for you or provide the most amount of results and that’s the “fun factor” or you could say level of adherence on the machine. Basically what device are you more apt to use because you find it more engaging or interesting. 

Again hands down it’s the Total Gym. Even with the all the time I have on the machine. I find myself if I’m talking to someone on the phone or even just my wife and I’m in the basement next to the Total Gym, I just find myself wanting to do reps for no reason than to just glide up and down on the machine. 

I could gone on about this, so I’ll spare you my rant about just how inviting the machine is, but at least for me, I really have not gotten sick of it at all. 

I know there’s a lot of die hard resistance band purists out there, but I really don’t know how you do it. I tried using my bands for about a week awhile back when first got them. And I really couldn’t do it. But don’t get me wrong, you can still get lost in the flow of exercises and have a good time as well. I just find that I’m really just cycling through about a few different exercises. 

And final as just being engaging. Given the sliding and balance requirements of the SBT, you really have to be present in the exercise which I think translates to the

EFFECTIVENESS

 I’m going to wrap all this up by talking about effectiveness. Which what I started with really depends on your preference and which one you’ll actually use and adhere to. And if you agree so far or are sold on what I presented thus far in the previous points then a sliding bench trainer is for you. Because I already made the case on why it’s effective. 

But from someone who’s been using the machine as my only form of resistance exercise coming from training in a gym for most of my adult life. I’m really seeing nothing but good if not better things as far as how effective these machines are to giving time efficient, fun, and most importantly muscle stimulating workouts. 

When I’m saying “muscle stimulating” I’m really just saying that despite using them so much, I still feel like I can adaquetatly stress my muscles through a variety of adjustments and progresses to various exercises. I’m still discovering new exercises and ways to work different muscles that I really don’t think I would find (or at least would be interested in finding) with resistance bands. 

Bands come with some unique variable resistance tension, that’s great for sure. But I feel that a SBT provides that perfect tension that to me, feels like how a good cable machine feels in a gym. Also with the added benefit of being a bit more dynamic (or moving) rather then staying in a static fixed position that purely isolates one joint. 

And this is within my general long term goals of having muscle definition, healthy joints that arnen’t aching, increased flexibility, and just overall good function throughout my life. And most importantly doing so in a way the really doen’t feel like work or a chore. 

Now if you want to gruelling workouts on these things you can, but you really don’t have to. 

So wrapping it up, these are just some thoughts. Not saying they are going to be right for everybody. But if you have the resources, you like the things I’m saying, and your on the fence of picking one of these up.. I’d say do it. But the probably the best decision, which I didn’t highlight for the sake of time is that both  are great and these two modes of exercise really work well together.

I do however find that most consumers looking for something for their home that allows them to get some strength or resistance training tend to gravitate towards these big multiuse units versus some barbells, free weights, and a squat rack. Often times because they feel it will be cheaper in the long run because you’re not paying for expensive weight plates. But also because they feel they are less intimidating to use and a have a lower space footprint.

 These big machines really are not the best idea

In comparing a Total Gym or some other sliding bench trainer to one of these home gym units, I first am comparing it to the overall tagline that I say with these machines. And that’s they are the most versatile, efficient, effective, and fun way to resistance train that accomplishes 90+% of people’s goals.

So already that’s already a strong position to take, but that’s not to say that maybe a home gym unit might make sense for you or is worth picking up along side a sliding bench trainer.

COST

This is generally something most people consider and initially may argue that a top of the line Total Gym like the FIT model (my personal favorite) is comparable in price as most of these multi use Gyms can cost upwards to >$1000 easy. But depending yon the brand and model of sliding bench trainer, you roughly would be spending somewhere in the range of $300 on the low end to upwards of $1500 on the higher end. Which can go even higher if you go “premium” on say a Total Gym GTS. But compared to most sliding bench trainers, most of the home gyms use weight plates and are just bigger iron machines. So these generally will almost always cost more than an entry level sliding bench trainer.

Versatility

Efficiency and Effectiveness

This is where a traditional strength trainer using dumbbells / barbells (which I’d considered myself formally trained in) will just dump on any “home gym” unit or sliding bench trainer as being inferior to producing any or will be limited in producing results. And that was kind of my mentality or sentiment for a long time. I had some skin in the game as my parents had a massive Hoist multigym at our house. Growing up, even when I first started going to the gym, I really only used this equipment at my house if it was a holiday and or if the gym was closed. The thought of working out with this kind of home equipment was only out of necessity and always felt inferior to going to the gym.

But if there’s something that consistently using the TG has taught me, its to get rid of my preconceived notions of what’s possible using really any piece of home fitness strength equipment. Because now I’m fairly confident, if you gave me one of these multiuse machines I could equally find ways to stress my body so that wouldn’t set me back. 

However, this leads me into a giant reason why I prefer and recommend a Total Gym or sliding bench trainer. And that’s because is just fun, enjoyable, and engaging. I never get sick of it or bored despite performing a lot of the same exercises most of the time. Versus in the past when I had squat rack, free weight sets ups, I always ended up selling them because they weren’t getting used.

And I really wasn’t using them, not because I didn’t’ think they were effective, but because I I just got bored using free weights in my house. That may not make sense, since I would just go to the gym and continue to use them there, but that was case. Not to mention a large part of why I go to the gym was the versatility in equipment.

Space Concerns

As I was alluding to early at the start of this article, what both sliding benches and home gyms units more or less have in their favor is that they don’t take up much space. Arguably again, a sliding bench trainer massively wins out not just in the space it takes up, but that it can be broken down and that you could transport it relatively easy or I’ll say much easier than a home gym unit. When it’s summer, I actually lug my Total Gym out of the basement outside no problem. If you’re investing in a multi unit beast of a home gym, odds are you’re planning on not moving any time soon, because taking down and packing these is not fun.

I’m sure some of you have done it, but I’d hate have to break these things down and reset up some of these units. And I think that’s also a reason why I sold most of my equipment throughout the years. I just didn’t want to deal with moving it. What I did keep were my smaller compact equipment like my Powerblock adjustable dumbbells, a bench, and an old Weider Ultimate Body Works sliding bench.

Using Both

As far as using or having both machines. I’ve made many videos on my Youtube channel comparing free weights (barbells/dumbbells) and resistance bands to a sliding bench. And in all those videos, I conclude that if you enjoy those other types of equipment then having both to compliment each other is ideal.

The only place I actually see it being a detriment is really mentally. Where people feel like they HAVE to use free weights or whatever else with their total gym. And unfortunately this can lead to a lot of problems. Primarily, that since your including equipment you don’t enjoy, you’re less likely to actually use it.

But I think using a home gym with a sliding bench trainer would work out well. Simply by mixing things up a bit, you could incorporate some really great supersets that allow you to get off of the incline and do some exercise standing or using a bench. All while reaping those same benefits faster with more interesting workouts. They key is to find a home gym unit that compliments what you want and feel are lacking in your home gym workouts.

Ultimately, I believe what matters if you’re deciding on one versus the other, is which one do you think you’d enjoy and or use the most. Go to a store and try out a machine to see if works for you. The beauty of buying say a Total Gym from their website, is that you can simply return the product with their trial period. 

I will compare other specific home gyms to a sliding bench trainer in the future and I have much more to say on this. So I’m sure this will be the first of many articles comparing a various home gym unites to each other.

My Top Home Gyms that are NOT Total Gyms

PowerTech Lever Gym

BodySolid Lever Gym

Bow Flex Blaze

BodySolid Functional Trainer

So in this article, I’m going to share my top 3 reasons why I love these machines so that maybe this might be helpful to you if you’re thinking about picking one up or you’re wondering why it’s just not sticking for you. Either way, I think you might find some value in this. If you want to see the video version click here

Reason 1: Fast Transitions Between Exercises

When I was going to the gym, I’d love the traditional barbell strength routines, but where I really would get the most out of body, in the zone flow state experience was listening to my heavy music and being that guy super-setting from machine to machine. Now I tried to not be annoying, only sticking to what was open, but that was one of the best parts about going to the gym. Having access to all this equipment where you could dial in what was working then switch up to something else.

And the Total Gym allows me to do that in the closest and really almost more supierior way than the gym. On a sliding bench trainer, I can go from lateral raises to sit up into pull overs, to tricep extensions, to bicep curls, turn around back to presses, back to some single leg squats, then to pull ups…often times without even moving the tower or messing with the incline. 

And even though I’ve covered numerous unique ways to set up and use the machine, I still love keeping exercises simple and quick to transition. 

This is why I mentioned in many of Youtube videos, that compared to other home gym staples like resistance bands or even free weights, they kind of lose their fun for me. This is in large part because they take more time to switch out weight or tension which isn’t conducive to those superset workouts I’m alluding to. 

Now for some people, they don’t like that. They want things to be trackable, measurable, and methodical. That’s kind of hard to do when you’re quickly jumping from exercise to exercise and going off of “feeling”, which is something else I promote. These types of traditional workouts tend be very conducive to progressive strength training in general however. I often get frequent questions about what are the exact numbers, reps, sets, settings, etc. 

And I try to answer these questions as best I can over internet comments, but it can be hard to do as there are many variables at play. But I really want to tell them, just have fun on the machine. Practice a few staples, some pulling, some pushing, do some leg stuff, do single leg stuff and stick to to finding exercsies that dial in that stress in you muscles

.

Reason 2: Creativity

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Despite this seemingly limited design of the machine, there’s so much room to make these exercises and the equipment work for you. Something else that I loved and still do is trying different things with physical fitness. I’ve always had an unorthodox style of training that allows all sorts of types of equipment and movements.

One of the best parts of these machines is that it allows me to express my creative nature to discover new exercises and ways to stress the muscles. Not just in finding unique exercises, but also messing with other training variables in each workout such as reps, sets, incline settings, type of resistance, etc. So that every workout is different than the previous one. But many people don’t like this. They want to be told exactly what to do with how much weight to use so that they can accurately measure progress. This is totally understandable, but if your goal is to improve overall fitness, build an aesthetic physique, and have fun in the process, you don’t have to worry too much being so strict on these variables.

But everyone had different needs and interests so doing what works for me might not be the same for you. At the very least I’d like the content that I provide to you be a motivator or catalyst for you to step outside of your fitness box to try something new, but still be effective.

A sliding bench trainer is a tool just like anything else and just like stability balls, barbells, or resistance bands, it can do a lot of things; but it’s really only limited to the individual’s abilities and creativity…and yes, the integrity of the equipment. 

Reason 3: How it “Feels”

I’ve mentioned this already, but I often times I encourage my viewers to find exercises that they fine are ones that they specifically can feel the desired muscle working. Some people call this “getting into groove” or the “mind-muscle connection”, but whatever you call it, it’s that range of motion or exercise that works in taxing the muscle.

I also have a video on this if you’re interested.

Never just do an exercise if you’re not “feeling it” or because it was simply written down in a program.

I can get this desired “feeling” from barbells or say resistance bands, but I’ve always loved a well built machine or the tension and stress of a cable tower. If I was going to outfit a large gym space, it would have to be with some sort of functional trainer machine . Heck I’d even considering getting one, but aside from the heavy price tag, they are beasts, and I hate to think about having to move that thing if I had to. 

But I love that kind of tension and stress that it provides. And I think the total gym provides that but in a much more compact way and the beauty is you’re using your own bodyweight. 

I’ve said in many different videos referring to different body parts, that if given the choice to use a free weight or even a specialized machine for say arms, shoulders, or back; many times over I’d choose a total gym. Now it’s not perfect, some things you’d still have to fine tune to suit your needs and abilities. 

Even though these are my top 3, this website and my Youtube Channel is never limited to the amount of reasons as to why I love sliding bench trainers.