The Total Gym is a multi-exercise home gym that lets you create a variety of workouts to target specific areas of the body, in addition to creating cardio workouts. A main feature of the machine is a movable bench that lets you vary the exercises you do. Using a Total Gym, you can target your quadriceps, calves, hips and thighs with a variety of exercises.
Total Gym Leg Work
To perform a wider variety of leg exercises on the Total Gym, do different exercises from different positions. The bench on a Total Gym slides back and forth, allowing you to push your body's weight, resisted by the machine's cable system. You can sit, lie on your back or kneel on a Total Gym to work your leg muscles differently. You can keep the bench on an even level or incline it to add more resistance and vary your leg exercises. EFI Sports Medicine, maker of the Total Gym, provides demonstrations of more than 20 leg exercises you can do on the machine at its website.
Squats
A squat is a common leg exercise that works the quads by requiring you to push yourself up and down. Inline the bench on the Total Gym at a 45-degree angle, with the high end of the bench toward the cables. Lie on your back with your feet against the end of the machine. Lower yourself slowly, and your knees will bend upward as your butt moves toward your feet. Pause one or two seconds at the end of your bend, then slowly push yourself back to a straight position. Pausing prevents you from using momentum, instead of actual effort, to do the exercise, maximizing muscular exertion. You can vary the exercise by performing squats one leg at a time, or lying on your side.
Sprinter Start
To work your quads, hamstrings, calves and butt, perform sprinter starts, so named because you start in the same position as a sprinter at the start of a race. Kneel on the inclined bench facing the raised end of the bench. Place one foot against the opposite end and the other foot underneath you in a sprinter's start. Push yourself upward using the leg against the end pad. Pause, then lower yourself. Use less resistance and move faster to tone legs and improve muscular endurance. Use more resistance and work slower to build muscle.
Incline Lunge
The Total Gym helps you add resistance to lunges by performing them against the machine. Stand behind the Total Gym, with one end of the bench on the floor and the other raised about 45 degrees. Stand behind the machine with your hands on your hips and put one foot on the end of the bench. Push the bench forward and upward with the foot you have on the machine, hold, then return. Perform the exercise using your leg muscles to move the bench, rather than your entire body.
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