An exercise machine with lasting appeal? (Leg Magic)

Member Name: laramax

Product:	Leg Magic
Date:	28/03/08 (3156 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Really does only need a short period of time each day

Disadvantages: You need to use it regularly to get the effect

It all sounded too good to be true - exercise for just 20 seconds a day and you will be able to tone up your thighs and buttocks. Well it might have sounded too good to be true but the advertising was persuasive and I can never resist a challenge!
I don't get much chance to read the newspapers during the week but I do like to sit down on a Sunday morning and delve into the Sunday papers and it was there that I first read a piece about the Leg Master. It suggested that with a minimum exercise time you really could tone up those parts below waist level that generally need it if you are past your best.

Curious I looked up the website of the company (www.legmaster.tv) and discovered more. Apparently it was developed by Neil Summers who is an Award Winning International Health Care Product designer. His wife Fiona was approaching 40 yrs old and having had four children challenged her husband to design something to stop her body "heading South". She told him that as a busy mum she didn't have time for the gym and she wanted something she could use at home to help with her fitness. It sounded good so far.

**Buying the Leg Master**

The price of this machine on their website is £99.99 with free delivery. Alternatively I discovered I could buy it through my newspaper on offer for £89.99 with £5 p&p. Digging around further on the internet I found a supplier on eBay offering them at £59.99 with £9.99 postage. I doubt you will be surprised to hear that I decided to purchase mine via eBay, especially as the eBay vendor was offering next day delivery and I am not known for my patience!

**Assembly**

It duly arrived the following day, carefully boxed and I eagerly unwrapped it to see what it was like. The machine itself once assembled is like an upside down T. In truth there really wasn't much to 'assemble' the side runners were folded up against the vertical and merely needed folding down and then the extension handle to the vertical needs to be slotted into place and then tightened into place using the screw knob.

On the machine I bought the handle, once fixed in place, is ever so slightly out of square which I put down to the fact that I bought it cheap on eBay however this is marginal and does not in any way impede it in use as the handle is only there for balance, rather than for support whilst exercising, but more of that later.

........and now to Exercise!

To get on to the machine they recommend that you first ensure that both foot platforms are resting in the centre of their tracks. This is important as it stops them from moving suddenly once your weight is on them. You hold on to the handlebar and then place each foot on the platforms and make sure you gain your balance. This is actually very easy but I can understand why they stress the importance.

Next you need to make sure your hands are lightly rested on the handlebars and draw your feet together. This is where it is important to make sure you aren't putting your weight on the handlebars - if you do you don't get the full benefit of the exercise. To get full benefit all your weight needs to be borne on your feet! As you pull your feet together you will feel the muscles in your thighs tighten. Next push your feet apart along the tracks and then pull them together again.

The idea is to create a steady controlled movement and to do a number of repetitions. They suggest that you will probably start with about 20 which would take about 20 seconds and that this is sufficient to obtain toned muscles.

Certainly it is much harder work than it looks. This is because you are supporting your bodyweight as you exercise. I have previously used a scissor action whilst laying on my side to tone this muscle group and this is very easy in comparison however it take a long time to get tone by this method. Using Leg Master you get the results quicker and with less repetitions because you are using your bodyweight.

They suggest a second exercise which is just to pull your legs together on the machine and hold your feet at the highest point on the rail. They suggest that 10 seconds is a good starting point but that World Class Athletes might be able to do 3 minutes. Believe me 10 seconds is a challenge (although maybe with practice I might eventually make 3 minutes - if so watch out for me in the 2012 Olympics!)

How does it work?

Standing on the Legmaster your body weight rests at the lower section of the curved ramp. As you lift your body weight up against gravity you work the muscles of the inner thigh. Effectively you are 'weight lifting' using soft flabby inner thigh muscles. On the inward sweep you engage the inner thigh muscles. On the outer sweep you use your buttocks and outer thighs.

This is very different exercise from a stepper or a stationary bicycle as you can use these for around 20 - 30 minutes. You would be unable to use the Legmaster for 20 minutes. Most people start with just 20-30 repetitions.

What this machine doesn't do is to give you a cardio-vascular workout. If you are trying to improve overall fitness you will need some other form of equipment or exercise for this. What it will do however is replace some of the floor exercises like the scissor one I described earlier. It will give you good results for your buttocks and thighs and I also suspect it will help with the pelvic floor muscles as well as you pull your feet inwards.

Would I recommend it?

Well yes I would actually, although I do think at full price it is a little overpriced. It is quick and easy which I like and it certainly exercises muscle groups which I do need to tone. It also folds up very easily for storage which is important for me.

Will it end up going the same way as most fitness equipment in my house? (unused and unloved) - well maybe, I don't really have enough willpower to exercise every day, but it is so easy to use something for just 20-30 seconds each day that I think it might last longer in its appeal than most.

Don't get me wrong when you exercise on this machine it isn't 'effortless' - it is quite hard work. But most of us can manage half a minute of hard work - especially if it works as well as this machine seems to.

==FOOTNOTE==
I have had this machine for over a year and I am still using it every day before I go to work! That is something of a first for me to have a piece of exercise equipment where the novelty doesn't wear off. Because it takes so little time to use it I have really been able to stick with it. I don't use it to build muscle, just to keep my thighs toned and I can see a difference. It seems to have had a name change and is now also called Leg Magic but appears to be the same machine.

Review previously published by laramax on Ciao (Jan 2007)

Summary: Exercise for just 20 seconds a day and tone your thighs