Both the Total Gym 1500 and Bio Force TNT home gym facilitate strength-training exercises for every major muscle group, but they go about it in different ways. The Total Gym 1500 is a bare-bones glideboard gym; you sit or lie on the padded glideboard and push or pull yourself up a pair of inclined rails. The pulley-based Bio Force TNT more closely resembles a traditional home gym, with a leg lever, pull-down station and bench seat.
Size and Weight
The Total Gym 1500 measures 90 inches long, 18 inches wide and 48 inches high, and folds to 8-by-18-by-48 inches for storage. At 72 pounds, the Total Gym is light enough for one person to slide into a closet or beneath the bed for storage. The Bio Force TNT System doesn't fold for storage, and measures 52 3/4 inches wide and 82 inches high when fully assembled. The Bio Force weighs 174 pounds.
Resistance
The Total Gym 1500 uses your body weight for resistance. The higher you set the incline rails, the more of your body weight you lift, up to a maximum of 50 percent. The Bio Force System uses nitrogen-charged cylinders for resistance. You adjust resistance by sliding a selector along the machine's resistance arm. The Bio Force offers a maximum 170 pounds of resistance.
Exercises
The Bio Force TNT system allows you to do gym-style exercises, like leg extensions, leg curls, chest presses, pull-downs and rows. The high, low and midlevel pulleys allow you an almost unlimited number of functional exercise options. The Total Gym 1500 also accommodates some gym-style exercises, such as chest presses and rows. But the Total Gym places you at a slightly different working angle that can take some getting used to. This different angle allows you to perform some exercises you wouldn't find in a standard gym setting, such as the iron cross and pull-ups, with only a fraction of your body weight.
Price and Warranty
The discontinued Total Gym 1500 formerly retailed for about $250 to $270 through Fitness Quest. The Bio Force TNT ranges from about $900 for the 1.7 version to $1,500 for the 2.2 version, discounted to about $1,000, as of December 2010. Both the Total Gym 1500 and Bio Force come with a one-year frame and parts warranty.
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