Product Review: The Jungle Gym XT

Hey everyone,

Today we tried out the newest addition to our home gym - the Jungle Gym XT.  This suspension trainer is a great tool for any home gym and/or exercise regime. 

Instead of doing a traditional workout with our new Jungle Gym, we decided to leave things unstructured and try out various exercises.  At the outset, we figured that we would immediately jump into intermediate and advanced level exercises, given that we're not couch potatoes.  That wasn't the case!  Even some basic exercises that look easy (i.e. little movement) can be particularly challenging when you're not used to this type of training. So, let's talk about the Jungle Gym XT...

What you see when you open the box

To start the session, we began to set up the Jungle Gym XT on our cage.  It can also be set up on a chin-up bar, with a door, on a sturdy tree limb, etc.  Check out the two pictures below showing how we set it up.

The set up was quite easy.  The Jungle Gym XT uses a simple loop mechanism to secure it, while the straps and toggles are also extremely intuitive.

One thing to address, at the outset, is why we didn't get a TRX, which is by far the most popular suspension trainer out there.  There are a few good reasons, which stemmed from the research we did into this product.  The Jungle Gym XT has several advantages, namely its price (approximately half of the cost of a TRX), the durability and quality of the materials (e.g. the well designed stirrups), and most importantly the design which involves two separate anchor points.  Why is that important?  It allows you to widen or narrow the setup (see image below), which increases the number of exercises you can do (as opposed to an inverted 'Y' setup for a TRX).

Once we had set up the Jungle Gym XT, we tried out a wide range of lower and upper body exercises.  Although the Jungle Gym exercises are predominantly bodyweight, it really challenges your balance, core and stabilizing muscles.  This is why we were pleasantly surprised to find that it will take us some time to work up to the advanced exercises!

Stay tuned as we post about the new Jungle Gym XT suspension training workouts we have tried for both lower and upper body (with demonstration videos).

- Tannys & Alex

P.s. - This makes a great birthday gift.  Thanks mom and dad!