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.

We are 3 weeks into our Total Gym XLS journey! Here’s our measurements for this week:

Both Jai and I have been seeing improvements in endurance – last night, he increased the resistance on his workout by moving the incline up from level 4 to level 5. The nice thing is that you can adjust the slope based on what exercise you’re looking to do and what your capabilities are – I’m still keeping it on the lowest possible incline, but I can see that some of the exercises are becoming easier as my arm strength improves. I’m pleased to see continued results in my arm definition, especially given the short period of time which I’ve been using this equipment.

I missed quite a few days of working out last week, from being out of town all day Thursday and then feeling under the weather when I got back. Jai and I started to come down with a bug over the weekend, so I just wanted to take it easy, and fortunately whatever flu it was seems to have dissipated. I thought this might slow my progress this week, but I still seem to be on track.

Now that it’s officially autumn, we’re starting to see typical stormy Seaside weather rear its head. We’re not in the thick of storm season yet – there are still intermittent nice days, and will continue to be for a couple more weeks at least – but the epic downpour of rain we got on Sunday made me so thankful to have a gym in my home now, so that my workouts won’t be comprised by the winter weather that will be here before I know it.

Another great aspect to having a gym system in my home is being able to squeeze in workouts on days when it probably wouldn’t have happened otherwise. I had a long workday last week and when I was finally ready to wind down the day, I thought, “Ugh, I don’t have time to workout, I need to go to bed!” Then I realized – wait a minute, it’s not like I have to commit to a long workout! So I just hopped on the machine in my PJs for a few minutes before bed. Even if my local gym had been open at that hour, I wouldn’t have wanted to get dressed and drive there just to do a 10 minute workout. Of course, you certainly don’t need to have equipment to do a quick workout, but since I focus the majority of my exercise on weights, having an all-in-one unit offers me something I have not been able to replicate outside of the gym. I think weights are fantastic for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that I’m not doing high-impact exercises like jumping jacks at the moment because I’m taking it easy on my knees.

And speaking of my knees, they are feeling the strongest and healthiest they have been since before my injury. I’ve been doing great this year in terms of walking, standing, and being able to function, but I’ve still been avoiding high-impact exercise and have a harder time with things like squatting down. But I’m regaining my strength there, too – I was able to kneel down on the beach while I was taking photos a few weeks ago, and I have been practicing doing this to get my knees used to bending and holding weight again. Now when I kneel down, it feels more like a difficult stretch rather than sharp pain. I’m excited to be working out on the Total Gym, since it’s all part of gradually getting back up to 100% athletic ability and getting my knees used to a complete range of motion again. As I’ve said, I’m just taking it nice and slow because I see no reason to rush into extremely challenging exercises and put undue strain on my knees. I’m excited to see how my progress continues over the next few months!