Total Bar Upper Body Exercise Bar

I wanted to get a new workout gadget to play with and I saw someone using a BodyBlade, so I thought I'd pick one up - then I saw the price, much more than something I didn't feel strongly compelled to buy. Thanks to good old Amazon suggestions, I spotted this, and at the price, it was worth taking a gamble on. As far as workmanship on the product, it seems to be well built and thought out - to be honest, I'm not sure what the competition does to warrant 3x the price, but from my perspective, the Total Bar is a great value (very few other workout things I have cost as little). Now from the workout perspective - I'm a fan of functional training, I have a Tuff Stuff corner functional trainer that I really love, so I'm already a believer of this kind of equipment. That being said, I was open but skeptical about how good of a workout that swinging around some rubber ends on a composite tube would be... For me, this was akin to when I first used a VersaClimber (if you haven't tried one, then definitely do it) - it's best summed up as deceptively difficult. It's *VERY* easy to pickup and just sort of do it - and it's actually a pretty natural device, so it's also easy to do things correctly, which is even better. At first you think, "Bah, this is way too easy..." - then keep doing it for a minute - "ok, maybe not so easy..." - then do it for a minute or two more "yeah, this can definitely be a good workout". Will it replace my other equipment? Not on your life - I love my treadmill and functional trainer, but will this start being a part of my rotation to mix things up? Absolutely, for me if gives a good burn, it's quick to setup and get going - not much more to ask. My only reservations (which I'll update this review if it ever happens), is whether or not this thing will break at some point, and if it does, how painful an experience it is. ;) On the suggestion side, I wish it could be made to collapse down and travel well, because if it did, it would absolutely be something I would take on trips for easy hotel workouts - but as it is, it's way too long.