Please teach me how to use my home gym.

January 2, 2012 2:21 PM

Please help me sort out a detailed list of exercises on my new(to me) home gym. details within.

I recently purchased this used home gym (read: no documentation). Its a Norther Lights "Cascade" model. The manufacturer has thus far been unresponsive and i can't seem to come up with a list of excercises. heres what i know (and you can glean this from careful observation of the pic)

its got 3 metal "bars" that can be attached overhead or at the floor. a lat pull down (i know its at least used for that) a smaller one (maybe for rowing?) and a D shaped one. they are pictured behind on the lower right.

its got a black rope with flat discs at either end. (attached the lat pull down pulley at the top right)

its got that thing that you hold yourself up and do some sort of lift/crunch thing with. left side.

its got some sort of foot pedals near the pulley attachment point at the bottom middle.

its got an assembly that can either be pushed away from the body, or if you unlatch 2 sides allows you to rotate your arms (hands up in the air) to close them to your chest. (hard to see but on the right side

what i am looking for is a complete list of excerises i can do with this machine. here's an example:

there is the leg thing (where you can do leg lifts) so that would be:

1. [insert name of using both legs to do a leg lift]
2. [insert name of using one leg to do a lift]
3. insert the less than obvious excercise i'm probably not seeing (i dont know, face backwards and etc etc is what i am thinking i am missing)


in essence can you educate me on what to do with this complex machine that is likely to escape a complete novice uhhh, worker-outer?

bonus points for some sort of poster that shows the various exercises and instant wonderful karma for an actual manual or piece of documentation from the mfg. (you will earn the karma as i will be able to keep my resolutions!!)

posted by chasles to sports, hobbies, & recreation (4 answers total)

I found this youtube video. I'm having difficult determining if that is the same set that you have (the guy seems to be always standing in front of it) but that may give you a few ideas.
posted by sacrifix at 2:37 PM on January 2, 2012

Just looking at it, I am going to start naming some of the exercises that you can use this thing for. If you don't know what the exercise is or what the proper form is, it might be worthwhile to have a personal trainer help you so that you don't hurt yourself. Once someone familiar with these things sees them, it's really easy to get as much out of them as possible. I have used similar devices in the past, but not yours. YMMV.

Seated Side
1) Fly's
2) Leg Extension
3) Leg Curl
4) Lat Pulldown
5) Tricep Extension
6) Seated Press (Forward)
7) Military(Shoulder Press)

Sit on Floor/Stand Nearby Side
1) Rows, Seated/Upright/Other Combos
2) Bicep Curls
3) Calf Raises
4) Flys
5) Arm Raises

Armed Area
1) Leg Lifts
2) Dips
3) A lot of really good body weight exercises for your core.
posted by Nackt at 2:38 PM on January 2, 2012

Exercise list by muscle/area of body. If you play around with it, you'll see alot of the exercises you can do with your machine. Most explanations have a picture/video with it.
posted by quodlibet at 2:49 PM on January 2, 2012

thanks for the help. the exercise list is amazing and the youtube video also pretty good. (youtube is blocked here so sometimes i forget its an actual resource and not just a time suck)

also the vendor came through with the OEM exercise poster so that filled in some specific blanks for me.

i'm off to get buff. should anyone else ever stumble onto this thread just memail me and i'll send the poster along.
posted by chasles at 9:47 AM on January 9, 2012