About efi


Contact: Jean Walcher / Cassie Piercey, 619.295.7140      JWalcher Communications  
  jean@jwalcher.com / cassie@jwalcher.com   

CORPORATE BACKGROUNDER [download pdf]

In 1974, when Tom Campanaro developed the Total Gym, the fitness industry’s first functional training and conditioning machine, the benefits of exercise were barely a blip on the public consciousness.

Thirty-two years later, Campanaro’s company, efi Sports Medicine, is an industry leader that remains at the forefront of innovation in physical therapy, athletic training, home and commercial fitness.  As the manufacturer of functional rehabilitation and conditioning equipment, efi provides a wide array of equipment to more than 14,000 clinics, schools, hospitals, rehabilitation and athletic training centers, health clubs and three million homes worldwide.

“Our goal,” says Campanaro “is to manufacture and deliver products that set industry standards of excellence and value; products that help people achieve health, fitness and rehabilitation goals and bring value to the industry and the end user.”
 Throughout years of product innovation and evolution, efi has pursued its mission by manufacturing and marketing safe, low-compression, user-friendly equipment that promote functional training, increased flexibility, greater strength and improved endurance.  The company’s flagship products, Total Gym PowerTower and the GRAVITYSystem’s GTS®, are designed and built based on the principal that “functional exercise”—the re-creation of natural body movements during exercise—is the quickest and most effective path to fitness.  efi’s mastery in delivering the proven benefits of functional training, using the body weight as resistance against gravity on a single exercise apparatus, facilitates shorter, more efficient workouts that produce superior results.

The machines engage all muscle groups, providing over 250 exercise choices that offer a full range of motion in all planes of movement, including multi-plane movement for performance training and rehab; upper and lower body stretching and strengthening exercises, and aerobics. 

Getting Started
In 1974, Campanaro went to work with DynaGym, an exercise equipment company that produced a low-end version of an incline plane training device that used an individual’s body weight as resistance.  In hopes of improving on the machine, Campanaro founded Total Gym Corporation with partner Doug Marino in 1974, with Dale McMurray and Larry Westfall joining the company within the year.  They developed Total Gym, a high-quality version of a machine that encouraged the use of multiple muscle groups together in each exercise—now referred to as “functional training” exercises. 

With the fitness craze of the early 80s on the rise, Campanaro began forging relationships with 200 specialty fitness equipment stores.  This, and Total Gym’s regular presence at trade shows, helped the company to sell 36,000 Total Gym machines in 1984.
 In 1987, efi Sports Medicine, as the company is called today, discovered that a significant number of sales were to physical therapists, who had realized the benefits of partial weight bearing or ‘unloaded’ training for their patients.  Total Gym’s entry into the rehabilitation community brought the company increased credibility. From 1986 to 1996 efi built Total Gym into a strong, well-respected brand, setting the stage for its launch into a bigger market. 

Infomercial Explosion
Recognizing the potential reach of infomercials combined with television—the medium that could provide comprehensive demonstrations—Campanaro licensed the Total Gym brand in the direct response and retail markets to American Telecast who signed actor Chuck Norris, a Total Gym user for more than 20 years, as the product spokesperson.
 Currently in its tenth year on the air, the Total Gym infomercial is one of the industry’s longest-running and most successful; broadcast to 85 countries and credited with sales of over three million units worldwide. 

The Pull of GRAVITY
Though Campanaro and his partners had the opportunity to sit back and bask in the wild success of the Total Gym brand, Campanaro instead took efi Sports Medicine into new territories by launching the GRAVITYSystem in March 2003 to the health club industry.  True to form, he did it with the goal to bring value to each entity and individual who touched the product.
 The GRAVITYSystem is a turnkey business model for health and fitness facilities that includes unique 4-way programming, specialized equipment, trainer education and marketing support materials.  The GRAVITYSystem’s four programming disciplines (Group Training, Pilates, Personal Training and Post-rehab) are all conducted on the GTS machine.  Like the Total Gym, the GTS is a device that uses an individual’s body weight as resistance against gravity, utilizing a dynamic cable and pulley system and free-rolling glideboard on an incline plane.  It facilitates more than 250 resistance training, stretching and Pilates exercises. 

efi Products Earn Endorsements, Awards
efi Sports Medicine products, used by hospitals, athletic trainers and sports medicine facilities throughout the world, are recognized as the most effective tools for functional rehabilitation, strength and sports-specific training, injury prevention and overall conditioning.  Professional athletes also benefit from the equipment.  Total Gym, for example, was used as a training tool by the USA Track and Field Gold Medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee, as well as by Olympian and World Champion triathlete Barbara Lindquist.  Athletic trainers for the Chicago White Sox—2005 World Series Champions—and both contenders in the 2006 Super Bowl XL, the Pittsburg Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks, use the Total Gym PowerTower for training their athletes. 

The American Council on Exercise (ACE), the nonprofit watchdog organization that regularly conducts university-based studies on the claims and effectiveness of infomercial products, cited Total Gym in its publication ACE FitnessMatters.  In 1999, an editor’s note states: “(Total Gym) has largely relied on the product’s merits to make the sale – not on outrageous claims.” 

efi’s GRAVITYSystem, with its unique combination of equipment and programming, continues to build significant interest among club members and bring an early return on investment to club owners.  The GRAVITYSystem is already used in dozens of the most successful clubs and gyms around the country, including Life Time Fitness outside of Dallas; CRUNCH in Chicago and Mission Viejo, California; The Jungle Club in Vero Beach, Florida; the RDV Sportsplex in Orlando; Gold’s Gym Healthplex in Davenport, Iowa and Progressive Fitness at Gold’s Gym in San Diego.  Independent, high profile clubs across the country featuring the GRAVITYSystem include the Training Club in Del Mar, California, Matrix Fitness Center in New Jersey and Columbia Basin Racquet Club in the Northwest.  In addition, the GRAVITYSystem received three prestigious awards in its second year: the One Body One World (OBOW) Innovation Award from the East Coast Alliance (ECA) and the TUV Innovation Award from FIBO in Germany, as well as the Best of Show at FILEX in Sydney, Australia.

For more information on efi Sports Medicine, Total Gym, the GRAVITYSystem and the locations that offer the program as well as efi’s library of other functional fitness products, visit www.efisportsmedicine.com or call 800.541-4900.
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