I've gotta be honest…I've always been a little leery of celebrity-endorsed products. When I see a product being marketed by personality more than performance, I get suspicious.

So when I was approached to review the Terrell Owens Super Strong Man Home Gym System, I was very curious to see if the sales copy would match the potential results a person could get with it.

What Is It?

The Super Strong Man Home Gym System is basically rubber tubing with clips on the ends so you can attach handles and ankle straps (included with the package). The handle design gives you the ability to attach all SEVEN bands at once, giving you tremendous potential total resistance but plenty of increments in between for more targeted resistance on exercises that don't merit as much resistance.

Another nice feature is that it includes TWO sets of handles and ankle straps, so more than one person can use the bands at the same time. It also includes a door anchor that allows you to attach the bands to a door (it's a small piece that braces on the other side of the door with a strap that comes through to your side of the door). Rubber tubing is a staple of small home-gym systems like this. There's nothing really groundbreaking about WHAT the Super Strong Man System actually IS.

The REAL test comes down to two things: the quality of the materials and the effectiveness of available exercises to perform with the bands.

1. Quality

When it comes to elastic tubing, Bodylastics is an industry leader. They've been doing this for 10 years and (according to their website) were one of the first companies to attach clips onto the end of elastic tubing to allow you to use handles with tubing.

The tubing is definitely top-quality. This stuff will take a beating without any trouble. The handles are good - they're not solid steel like you see on cable machines at the gym, but they hold up very well to the heaviest exercises and they're comfortable on the hands.

The door anchor is a great idea and works like a charm. It really expands the number of exercises you can do with the bands.

So quality…no problems there. This package is solid in that department.

2. Effectiveness

Here's where my own personal bias comes out a little bit…I've never been a big fan of tubing training. I've tried many tubing-based exercises - some have been fine and some just don't work at all for me.

That being said, if YOU find tubing exercises to be effective, you will be VERY happy with this home gym package. The number of exercises you can perform with it is quite large (they state 140 in their marketing materials but really, there is a plenty more you can do with it - you'll only be limited by your imagination).

Rows, chest presses, shoulder presses, squats, lunges, curls, pushdowns, extensions, leg curls…you name it, you'll be able to duplicate the movement with this home gym system.

As far as tubing exercises go, this tubing system definitely gets the job done very effectively.

The main issue I have with tubing exercises is that of the strength curve - when the band is not stretched, you get NO resistance. As you stretch the band, the resistance increases.

This matches the strength curve of some exercises well enough but not others. For example, when squatting, you'll get almost no resistance at the bottom of the exercise but as you squat up, the resistance increases. That matches the strength curve nicely but I kinda like having some resistance at the bottom!

Also, the stretch positions of the muscles are not worked well because of this strength curve limitation. For example, when doing a flye type of exercise for the chest, you'll get very little tension with your arms out wide in the stretch position - it's all at the top like a cable cross-over. In my experience, tension in the stretch position is very important for optimal results.

But overall, will this home gym help you build muscle and strength? Absolutely. Is it better than free weight or bodyweight training. In my opinion, no - not better but different.

Where band and tubing training DOES shine is in training for explosiveness.

When you train with free weights, part of what holds you back in strength and explosiveness is that your body also has to work to decelerate the load before it gets to the end of the line.

For example, when doing a bench press, if you press a light bar explosively and don't slow it down, it'll pop right out of your hands! Therefore, your muscles won't fire quite as strongly throughout the movement because they know they're going to have to slow the limbs down at the end of the movement anyway. This is known as "deceleration inhibition" and it can hold you back in strength and explosiveness.

But when you use bands or tubing, the increased resistance as you come to the end of the exercise slows your limbs down. Your muscles don't have to do that work anymore. This removes some of that "deceleration inhibition," allowing you dramatically improve your explosiveness.

Powerlifters use bands in their training to accomplish this goal - they combine free weight and bands to improve explosiveness.

Tubing functions exactly the same as a training band in that it helps improve explosive contractions of the muscles. You'll read in the marketing copy how Terrell Owens noticed a decline in his on-field performance when he stopped using band training.

CONCLUSION:

If you're looking for a compact home-gym system that travels well, the Terrell Owens Super Strong Man Home Gym system is definitely worth looking into. It's made from high-quality materials is well hold up very well no matter how much abuse you heap onto it.

If you've tried tubing-based training and it works well for you, this is a great system to work with and one I would have no trouble recommending for you.

It's not something I would as my only training equipment but would I use it as an additional tool in my arsenal? Absolutely. I would use it in conjunction with free weight and bodyweight exercises.

Also, this home gym system is an excellent option when travelling, especially if you're going somewhere where you'll limited gym options. You can attach the bands to your hotel door and start training within a few seconds.

Because of the range of bands and the multiple included handles, it's great for several simultaneous users.

 

To learn more about the Terrell Owens Super Strong
Man Home Gym and to get one for yourself,
please click here.

Return to Fitness Equipment Reviews Index Page