When the Total Trainer home gym’s top notch gravity resistance workouts are touted, many of us hoping for bigger muscles think this disqualifies it as an option for our home. This is because the phrase “gravity resistance equipment “ is associated with machines that are only good for toning or maintaining current physique, concluding that it is incompatible with increased muscle mass. This assumption is reasonable: we read that Total Trainers come with up to twelve resistance levels that allow us to, depending on the model, lift from 4% to 72% of our body weight. But the ambitious among us might wonder: what happens when 72% is no longer enough to push our muscles to fatigue during bench press lifts?
So we might instead purchase a standalone weight bench, thinking this free weight exercise is the only way to acquire chest work sufficient to build, and not simply maintain, upper body muscle. But with the Total Trainer’s upgrade potential, buying an individual bench is no longer a necessity: bulk can be built from the comfort of a Total Trainer glide board.
This is possible thanks to the Power Bar attachment. It lets users continually upgrade the challenge of chest press lifts by allowing for a continual increase in poundage beyond the 72% of body weight threshold. Its purpose is to let you work against poundage exceeding the top resistance level.
The strengthening of chest, shoulders, and triceps that free weight bench press lifts are noted for can be done just as effectively on your Total Trainer. You do no need to worry about being forced to cap your chest presses at a pre determined resistance level. What would be the point of the bench press, the paragon of all upper workouts that we enjoy boasting about our “max” in, if we were unable to even reach this max while working out? Well, thanks to the Power Bar upgrade capability on the Total Trainer, this question will never have to be posed. You may start out with gravity resistance lifts before adding plate weights to these as you attain those bulging arm and chest muscles.
The Total Trainer bench press is simply a modified way to do the standard weight bench version. You lie on the glide board and push against the Twin Handles, hitting the precise upper body locations that receive attention during regular bench workouts. If you are uncomfortable performing this lift using Twin Handles, you can use the Bicep Curl Bar to more resemble a barbell bench press. Don’t forget that more focus is placed on the upper chest when the glide board is adjusted to a higher incline.
With these home gyms, you will have a state of the art pulley system the ability to do lifts with a plane of motion ensuring proper form. Your “max” can reach heights as lofty as you are willing to work towards. You can now get in your bench press work from the same machine on which squats and pull-ups are performed: this convenience and the consistency of its results make the Total Trainer a hard to pass up offering. Not only do you not need a standalone weight bench to engage in this pectoral-targeting work, but stellar core and lower body work are available from the same home gym.