Home gym, sex machine or torture device? Entirely upto you!!!!!!!!!! (Pilates Power Gym)

Member Name: Logan33

Product:	Pilates Power Gym
Date:	13/03/09 (1094 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, effective space saving solution for a home gym

Disadvantages: You may get a few raised eyebrows before you tell them what it is

Not sure why I keep writing so many fitness reviews, but I guess I should stick to what I know about (might make some of you get fit you never know!!). Having read through my reviews, I have noticed that I tend to have concentrated on kit that has not lived up to expectations. Well this time, I'm writing about a product that definitely exceeded my expectations, namely, the Pilates Power Gym.


WHAT IS IT?

Well to get an understanding of the Pilates gym, you need to know what pilates is:


"Pilates focuses on the core postural muscles which help keep the body balanced and which are essential to providing support for the spine. In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and alignment of the spine, and aim to strengthen the deep torso muscles."


Ok, so what makes it different from any other exercises? Well, its founder Joseph Pilates believed that there were 7 different variables that influenced the effectiveness of exercise:

BREATHING: Breathing helps us to transport the oxygen successfully around the body. It is thought that if we do not breath correctly during exercise then it limit's the effectiveness of this oxygen transfer. In Pilates you are always taught to breath out on exertion and breath in when relaxing. This is because when you exert effort AND breath out, you have to force all of the air out of the lungs. This had the opposite effect of creating a larger inhalation, therefore your breathing instantly becomes more efficient.....clever eh!


CENTERING: It is believed in Pilates that every movment is determined by the strength of the "Powerhouse" muscles. To you and me this means the "Core" muscles. A good core and therefore good centering essentially means you set a stable platform for all other successfully movement.


CONTROL: All movements to be done slowly ensuring maximum control. This to me is common sense but its unreal how many people you see in gyms lifting huge weights with terrible posture!


PRECISION: The main aim is to perform each exercise as perfectly as possible, rather than many repetitions with imperfections. Its hypothesised that by achieving this, your exercise regime becomes incredibly focussed and effective.


FLOW: Each exercise is to flow into the next, therefore your body remains in perfect poise and balance. This will improve tonality, aerobic ability and muscular endurance.


FLEXIBILITY: Pilates should incorporate elements of stretching to improve overall flexibility of the muscles



PILATES POWER GYM

So now you know what the machine is focussing on, how does the machine work?

The Gym itself is a welded carbon steel construction which on face value looks absolutely terrifying! When I first saw it, I really didn't know where to start. The machine itself it's a mix-mash of cables, pads and pulleys, all in a neat little bundle (140 x 45 x 33 cm). The initial problem is I wasn't sure where to start or what it could do.

On closer inspection it was essentially a pully system, with a large pad in the middle that you could lie on or sit on with two pully's at the top of the machine. When you pull the pully's, the pad would slide.......simple. The machine could either lie flat to the ground, or you could incline it all the way up to 30inches. Obviously as you incline, the exercises would get harder. It also had 4 different power chords which means you can adjust the resistance of you work out. In short, there is a lot of scope for continued improvement. On the other end of the machine, there is an adjustable arm that can be extended to either help you to balance, or get out of the way for exercises when lying down!

The problem is, I still couldn't work out what exercises I could do. The makers claim you can do around 95 different exercises on the machine. At first I was a little sceptical as this is quite a claim! However as I began to experiment, it was clear that you could do pretty much any of the exercises I could think of from machines I would use in the gym. For example (And to name but a few):


Bench press
Cable crossover
Triceps press
Bicep curl
Upright row
Low cable row
Pec Deck


However, importantly, as a man I was using the machine and comparing it to weight lifting devices in the gym. I think I secretly wanted it to fail on this front being a natural sceptic of all new exercise inventions!! Even in light of this the machine was actually surprisingly good, infact it was bloody excellent!. When you started to take the ethos of Pilates into account (slow, precise exercises) The machine was actually extremely challenging. I only managed to incline it half way before I was getting a muscle burn comparable to any of the machines I used at the gym. I hadn't even altered the band resistance (which was on the easiest setting!) I must admit, I was starting to get hooked.


The machine essentially focuses on using your own body weight as the resistance and also each exercise takes into account the natural movement of your body. In gym's this type of equipment is known as "free motion" equipment. It is becoming more and more popular and really highlights a move away from Fixed machines like a shoulder press. The main advantage is that by using free motion equipment like the pilates power trainer, you have to use all the stabilising muscles around the joint to control the movement, much like when you use free weights. Fixed machines don't do this as they concentrate on isolating muscle groups (e.g shoulder press on a fixed machine you just press upwards, you do not have to control the weight on its way up the machine does this). Free motion equipment is considered to be a much more effective way to train.

However in fairness to the machine, I had only used a tenth of its capabilities. There was a dvd which came with the equipment one which looks at strength training and one that looks at Pilates. Out of interest I thought I'd check out some of the Pilates moves you can achieve. Well perhaps I wished I hadn't as the lean lady introducing the exercises had me experiencing pain I did not realise a man could go through.
"Ok this time we're going to try the Mermaid" THE WHAT! 5 Slipped discs later but a whole lot more flexible, I retreated and returned to my usual "Manly" bench pressing and bicep curls.
Joking aside, it was clear that 95 different exercises may even be an understatement. The machine really offered limitless exercises, with the exerciser being the only limitation.

In essence however it showed me that this machine was actually a superb feat of engineering. It really was multifunctional as well as challenging. The dvd's and diet plan that accompanied it was useful, all be it like most exercise dvd's, you'll be cursing at them after hearing the same joke over and over again!

PRICE

And so to the price. I immediately put my prediction in of around £400. The machine was sturdy, well built and comfortable...ithad an expensive feel about it. Factor in the fact that it actually worked too, I was confident in my prediction. I was however wrong.

£250 (thanedirect.co.uk) Excellent price
£90 second hand on Ebay!!!!!!! Unreal

I was staggered by this. In particular the eBay offer (all be it, it was pick-up only!). For this money, I could not think of any other machine that would give you an all over workout at such a good price. Not only is the machine made well and effective, its cheap too!

CONCLUSION


If you enjoy exercising and you are looking for a good piece of home gym equipment, this is definitely worth a consideration. Its small and relatively inexpensive compaired to its competition (Multigyms) but it is extremely effective as a training tool. This kit would be seriously suitable for all exercisers with an interest in toning/strength/flexibility/aerobic training. Perhaps if your into body building I'd give it a miss, but for the general exerciser it is second to none!. The machine comes ready assembled so you don't have the hassle of building it like many mutiny's, and there is also a 30 day back money guarantee from the company if your not 100% happy.


There was one downside however, when I first saw this machine in my friends bedroom, I was starting to wonder what she had got into (That was closely followed by the phrase...."you cheeky minx, can I have a go!"!!!!!!!! ;)

One of my top recommendations. 10/10
Hope that Helps,

Kind Regards,
Logan

Summary: Cheap, Effective, Small. The perfect solution to your home gym requirements