We received a complimentary Total Gym XLS for the purposes of this series; this post also contains affiliate links. This article is an account of our personal experience only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any medical condition. Always consult with physician before embarking on any fitness program.

It’s week 14 with the Total Gym XLS:

This week, I’ve been really digging in to the stack of DVDs that came with our XLS. I’ve really been enjoying the AbCrunch Workout With Rob Glick, which is the the companion piece to the AbCrunch attachment. It’s a short DVD, so it would be easy to do if you were time crunched for ab crunches (Har har), but it’s a killer workout. I have done it twice in the last week and my abs are so sore – in a good way – that it hurts to laugh! Jai was also impressed with how much of a workout this gave him.

I’ve been combining the AbCrunch with other ab and upper body exercises from the deck of workout cards and working out for about an hour. On “Alternating” days, I’ve been having fun looking at some of the other DVDs: Last night I did part of the upper body portion of the 5-Day Advanced Program, and last week I had a look at the GRAVITYPilates Infused Core. The Pilates DVD works your legs a lot, so I ended up shelving it for later since I didn’t want to put too much strain on my knees; I already did some kneeling AbCruch exercises earlier in the week, so it’s important that I don’t push it too much, since my knees do still get sore easily from working out and I have no desire to re-injure myself by going too hard. This makes it more challenging to get a full body workout in, and I have to get creative to think of how I can alternate muscle groups each day, but that’s totally OK!

I’ve been fighting to make more time in my schedule to take care of myself, which is why I’m enjoying spending more time using the Total Gym. This hour of working out includes my warm-up and cool-down stretches, flipping through the DVDs, adjusting the machine, and so forth. I worked out like this for several days last week, with one day being a quick and simple workout as I didn’t have as much time, and two days off. It’s so awesome being able to modify my workout routine around what’s going on, rather than having to say, “Oh, I guess I can’t do weights today because the gym closed before I could get there.”

What has your workout routine been like this week?