Home gyms are becoming popular among people. The Total Gym remains etched in the hearts of many individuals with its various home gym options and equipment suitable for every kind of buyer – the slim one, the fitness freak, the couch potato, the gym geek, and likewise.
The Total Gym 1600 is a gem from this company that puts a full stop to all your concerns – about excess money spent on gym memberships, the need to buy a range of fitness equipment or space constraints. Lightweight, compact, and strong, the Total Gym 1600 is the pocket-friendly home gym that’s best suitable for apartments and small spaces.
In this review, we will go closer to this pocket-friendly equipment.
Table of Contents
Pros & Cons
When we decide to go for a product, we look into a couple of brands, their models, and all kinds of options before finalizing one specific model.
How do we do this? Firstly, we list down our specifications; Second, we come up with a budget and, finally, compare various brands and the specifications offered before choosing a model.
When you do this, it is evident that every model has benefits and downsides, which you use to eliminate a few from the list.
The Total Gym 1600 has a list of pros and cons that can be used to help you decide on your best buy.
Pros
- The frame and construction is sturdy
- Provision to perform 60+ exercises
- Easy to fold and place-could be placed under the bed or even slid vertically in a convenient place
- Simple to assemble and easy to maintain
- Optimal resistance levels that offer the facility to perform a full-body workout
- Good accessories including DVDs, nutrition guides, and exercise accessories
- Versatile exercising experience
Cons
- Limited warranty period
- Unsuitable for those looking out for muscle building or high-intensity workout
- Suitable for those who weigh only under 250 lbs
- Not the best fit for fitness pros
Frame & Construction
Unlike many Total Gym models, the Total Gym 1600 comes with a lightweight frame that’s not suitable for people involved in intense workouts.
But lightweight doesn’t mean that it’s fragile as it does have a steel frame with padded clipboards.
The home gym weighs not more than 75 lbs making it easily storable.
Still, the equipment has a sturdy metal construction that consists of non-slip rubber feet that are safe on the floor.
Weight Limit
The Total Gym 1600 supports weight up to 250 lbs only.
Though a 113 kg weight limit seems to be good from a general perspective, this is not suitable for obese, tall, and overweight individuals.
Even the possibility that the equipment was designed to benefit women users to encourage them to work out?
It seems logical as women are less concerned about their health placing their family’s wellness above their own than men.
The Total Gym 1600 could be the perfect gift for your wife, girlfriend, sister, or your mom as well.
Total Gym 1600 Workouts
This is a versatile home gym that provides the user with the benefits of performing over 60+ different workouts.
The main equipment and the extra accessories provided are a boon to any exerciser as you are provided with the ability to use every muscle in the body targetting each muscle group specifically, such as the biceps, abdomen, glutes, calves, and more, for the wholesome experience of a full-body workout.
Extra attachments and accessories in the form of a squat mat, dip bars for shoulder, chest, and arms, press bars that target the chest, arm, and back strengthening exercises, and the multifunctional attachment that facilitates the performance of upper and lower body workouts, including pull-ups and leg curls make the Total Gym 1600 a desirable equipment for those who get easily bored by the monotony of exercising.
Offering a mix of strength training, cardio, and other exercises, it must also be mentioned that the home gym comes with 8 different resistance levels, which means that the user can set up to 8 inclination positions.
The resistance here doesn’t depend on any weights but absolutely on the user’s body weight.
This helps the user decide on the bodyweight percentage that could be used in the resistance.
The lowest resistance level is 1, and the highest is 8-with smaller inclination levels promising intense workout experiences.
Attachment
While the machine setup is a great way to exercise, don’t we all love the accessories that come with it?
Sometimes, we are more interested in them than the main equipment.
The Total Gym 1600 never lets us down in this regard as it comes with a range of attachments that promise variety to every user.
Leg pulls: This accessory helps you work out on your leg muscles with the help of adjustable ankle cuffs that are suitable for any feet/ankle size. This works for your inner thighs and hamstring muscle, strengthening leg muscles.
Dip bars: Straightforward to attach with the lock pins provided; the attachment can be done in less than a minute. Working out with dip bars complements the exercises that could be done using the Total Gym 1600 benefitting your shoulders, pectorals, triceps, and chest.
Squat stand: A squat is a prevalent exercise taught in every fitness center and gym.
Even individuals exercising in their homes do this exercise, but the question here is whether they do it correctly or not!
An incorrect squat can cause tension on your knees and affect the knee joints leading to bigger complications. The squat stand that helps in doing squat exercises targets the lower body.
It helps in slimming and toning legs as well as your butt and also strengthens muscle tone.
Press-up bars: The press-up bars are a gentle reminder of the military-style workout as they copy-paste the military-style press workout.
This is an ideal workout for the upper back, shoulders, triceps, and chest. These bars provide both wide and narrow grips enabling the user to choose his/her exercise option.
Multi-functional attachment: This is the primary attachment that brings variety to the user workouts.
Simply by adding it to the upper or lower rails, you have given yourself the freedom to change the intensity of the workout and the target areas.
Use this attachment to perform pull-ups, leg curls, straight arm lifts, shoulder press, and so on.
While attaching it to the upper rail works on your upper body, attaching it to the bottom rails works for your lower body.
Total Gym Flip Chart: Assembly of any home gym comes with the instruction manual, which is common.
How about getting an extra set of charts that give suggestions on the various exercising options as well?
If you think this is an excellent accessory mainly because we know that we can do 60+ exercises, how about struggling to know how to do them?
The exercise flip chart developed by a group of Total Gym official trainers is an exercise guide consisting of a range of exercise programs that suit every trainer-right level from a beginner to an expert trainer.
The beauty here is that this flip chart is positioned appropriately at the top of the exercise machine, where it could be referred to easily while performing an exercise.
The chart is an add-on to your entire exercise experience, taking it to the next level as it shares with its users tips and tricks for a commendable workout experience.
Nutrition Guide: It is generally said that weight loss or toning is 80% portion control and 20% exercising.
Maybe Total Gym has perfectly understood this. Hence, it has come forth with a nutrition guide that elaborates on the recommended foods, portions, types of preparations, and everything else related to nutrition.
Only when you have nutritious food will you have the energy to exercise.
Workout DVD: Apart from the exercise chart, Total Gym 1600 comes with a couple of DVDs that give detailed instructions on the various exercises that can be performed, elaborates on the functioning of the machine, and takes you through the A-Z process of setting up the machine and using it regularly.
Assembly & Maintenance
The Total Gym 1600 comes fully assembled, which means that you must only unpack the equipment and set it up in one corner of your room to start working out.
It is a lightweight home gym weighing only 75 lbs, which means that a single user can move it around the house as per his/her wishes.
The exercise guide and the DVD helps you fit the extra accessories as per the user’s requirement, which is very simple.
Maintaining this home gym is an extremely simple-a cloth. Some water and soap are more than enough to occasionally clean the equipment and keep it devoid of sweat and dust.
All of us can do this as this is the minimum requirement for the purchase of any product.
Gym equipment is known for its germs and bacteria that result from multiple usages. Still, home gyms are advantageous in this regard as it totally depends on the user to keep the equipment clean and germ-free by cleaning it regularly or even after every use.
Warranty
While some might crib that the warranty period of 1 year on all the parts and frames is limited, what more do you expect from a budget-friendly home gym?
But beware, this warranty is assured only when you use it at home, and the product offers zero warranty if it is installed in a gym.
Total Gym 1600 Alternatives
As we have discussed above, none of us are inclined towards buying a home gym or product just by looking at it at a glance.
It isn’t also logical to step into a shop and purchase something even before trying to know details about a couple of other models that satisfy your requirements.
Hence, every product has an alternative option, but the only concern here is that the other option could differ in its cost or features offered.
Likewise, if you have any concerns, especially with weight capacity, with Total Gym 1600, you can go for alternative models such as Total Gym Force or Total Gym 1400.
Total Gym X-Force: This could be a better choice if versatility is your main priority.
Besides offering all the features of Total Gym 1600, Total Gym Force comes with extra stability mats and an AbCrunch option.
In terms of resistance, too, it can sustain 12 different resistance levels than Total Gym 1600, which only comes with 8 different inclinations.
Above all, the Total Gym X-Force can bear up to 350 lbs weight, which is a big advantage if you are built of heavy body stature.
Total Gym 1400: If you dig deeper, there isn’t much difference between Total Gym 1400 and Total Gym 1600.
The primary difference is that in terms of resistance levels, while Total Gym 1400 comes with12 levels of resistance, the Total Gym 1600 offers only 8 levels.
Weight-wise too, the Total Gym 1400 supports only 25 lbs more (275 lbs is its weight-bearing capacity) than Total Gym 1600, whose weight capacity is 250 lbs.
Other features, including warranty, accessories, exercise versatility, and assembly, are the same in both models.
Hence, it entirely depends on you to choose the preferred one according to your budget.
Final Words
With 8 different resistance levels, 60+ exercising options give you a great experience in strength training, cardio, overall body workout, and easy assembly.
The Total Gym 1600 could be the perfect buy for the entire family as it caters to the exercising needs of an individual of any age, right from 8 years to 80 years.
The accessories offered are also great for the price incurred, makings it a good model to purchase if the weight limits suit you.
Read Also:
- Total Gym 1100 Review
- Total Gym 1900 Ultimate Exercise Machine Review
- Total Gym XLS Review – Comprehensive Buyer Guide
- Total Gym FIT Fully Review – Is It a Smart Buy?
- Total Gym GTS Review – Most Versatile Total Gym Model
