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My name is James Driver and this is a testimony to how working out on a total gym actually saved my life – literally.  I am now 43 years old and a year ago I was looking into buying some home fitness equipment.  I had narrowed my search to a free weight system and a Total Gym.  The costs were comparable, but after viewing a video on the Total Gym I decided it would offer me the best work out.

For almost a year I have been working out faithfully on the total gym.  I knew I had more strength and flexibility than I had achieved working out at a gym on free weights and machines.  I now know that the total gym workouts actually prepared me to handle a life and death situation far more than free weight system could ever do.

On June 26, 2006 my church group which comprised of 18 adult and youth entered the Ocoee River (Class 3 and 4 rapids) for a whitewater adventure.  I had actually been white watering before and was looking forward to the river experience.

In the midst of a rain storm we headed down the river.  I was sitting in the right front and the very first rapid we hit sucked my section of the boat down and then popped up leaving me airborne.  I did not panic since I had been on numerous occasions and knew what I had to do.  I placed by feet down the river and went toes and nose up in the air.

Things seemed to be going along OK considering my backside was being beat by every rock down the river but things turned suddenly bad at a large rock with a strong hydraulic.  This part of the river literally sucked my feet to the bottom and as I went through the rapid my right ankle became entangled in a loose end of a rope that had been wrapped around the rock.

My body wanted to continue down the river but I was violently twisted back and facing the rush of water as the rope had firmly twisted around my ankle.  Unable to breath, I placed my left foot under a rock setting at the bottom of the river and turned by body so that my face pointed down river.

At this point the rush of water was so strong that it forced my head into the water and I was submerged.  What was left of the rope that wrapped around my ankle was floating past me and I was able to grip it.  Since the current was strong, the rope almost served as an iron bar in the middle of the river and I was able to grip and push against the rope to pull my head out of the river.  I then attempted to find another foot holding so that I could use my good foot as a plant.

I am 6’1” and I was barely able to get my head out of the water.  Using my foot and mostly the free end of the rope I was able to keep my head above water and push against the current.

I saw where people were suddenly working on a way to free me.  I was in a bad spot and no one could reach me.  Several times people were swept past me as they made an attempt to get to me.  I was told 20 minutes had gone by and yet no one seemed to be able to reach me.  I could see the panic in my rescuers eyes which made me realize I was in trouble.

I can now see looking back how the Total Gym workouts were giving me the strength to hang on while my rescuers were figuring a way to save me.  Specifically, the Total Gym exercises that gave me the muscle strength and flexibility that no free weight or machine system could give me were: 

  1. Twister.  This allowed my lower abdominals and upper and lower back to be able to twist and stabilize myself in the water against the current.
  2. Seated Row and Seated High Pull allowed me to develop the muscles that pushed against the water (upper back and rear shoulders).
  3. Butterfly and bicep butterfly.  These muscles were the ones that I needed most as I pulled myself out of the water using the same motion I used working on the total gym.

These exercises can not be duplicated with free weights and old clunky gym machines.  Plus I had the added bonus of the cardio workout that the Total Gym gives while I work on these muscles.  And I definitely had to have the muscle strength and cardio combination to withstand the constant pressure of the water.

Finally a rescuer was able to get to me and with a knife cut the rope and I was now once again free floating through the rapids.  I am not sure how far I went before finally making it to the shore.  I was exhausted and I was told that hypothermia was beginning to set in.

My rafting guide looked at me and said she had been on the river for more than 13 years and had never seen anything that scared her more.  I had my bumps and bruises, cuts and scrapes, and obvious loss of body heat.

I am not sure how much longer I would have been able to remain above the water, but I do know this.  A year of working on the Total Gym and the specific exercises I have been using gave me the strength to stay above water until my rescuers could get to me. 

The Total Gym and the exercises only it provides saved my life.