Hit the Peak of calf muscle pain with Reebok Body Peak!
Written: Feb 26 '06 (Updated Mar 23 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Strengthens your calf and back leg muscles, great calorie burner...
Cons: ... not a good machine to keep going on, silly design flaw
The Bottom Line: It does what it does well... but it's not for everyone.
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| captaind's Full Review: Reebok Body Trek Elliptical Trainer |
The Reebok Body Peak machine is an elliptical trainer of sorts (more commonly known as “Cross-Trainers” in the UK) but is much more focused on particular muscle groups than most machines of this type. Instead of the normal elliptical path, the foot pedestals that you stand on move in an approximately 45% diagonal motion, simulating moderately steep climbing. Though you can hold on to the handles and work your arms and upper body slightly, this puts almost all of the strain on your calf muscles and to a lesser extent the muscles that run through the back of the higher parts of your legs.
Because the Reebok Body Peak puts so much strain on one particular muscle group, it is one of the worst machines to start out on unless you already have strong calf muscles, but for the same reason, persistent use will fairly quickly enable you to use the machine for longer and longer durations. It’s a great calorie cruncher though isn’t a machine that you’ll feel comfortable using for extended periods at a time. Your calf muscles really do begin to ache after a while, though in some ways it’s very easy get going with because you’re directing to force almost straight downwards onto the foot pedestal, meaning you can use your weight to help out. Using your arms to pump the handlebars that move parallel to the foot pedestals might not seem to make much difference, but rest your hands on the bar in front of the display for a while and you’ll soon realise that your arms are doing more than you thought they were. (Generally you would use the hand rest if you were particularly looking to strengthen your leg muscles.)
There are several options for the “course” you will follow, which vary the resistance to your pushing down on the foot pedestals. The basic levels are 1-10, which you can set at the beginning and are changeable at any time during your workout. (After a short while you’ll find that anything below level 6 just feels like you’re doing nothing at all.) There’s an easy climb, “Heartbreak Hill” (gradual incline followed by gradual decline), glute master (for exercising the glutes – gluteus maximus or “bum muscles” in the common vernacular!), calorie cruncher (gradual incline with short respite at the end), random, and interval (high-low-high-low). The controls are easy to use and clearly labelled. At the beginning you also put in your weight, which is used to determine you calories burnt according to the effort of the exercise. The machine displays calories burnt, calories burnt per hour, distance climbed, rate of climb, time elapsed or remaining, and heart rate (if you have a chest strap attached). At the end of your workout, a summary is displayed with your total distance covered and calories burned, along with average calories per hour and rate of climb.
The machine is quite bulky (53 x 28 x 67 inches) and very expensive if you want to buy one – about $3,000. I use one at my gym or I’d never have tried it! It’s good for calorie burning or specifically working the muscles at the back of your legs, but for general fitness it’s not really as good as other cross trainers because it’s difficult to keep going for extended periods of time. My biggest complaint is a safety one, however – there is no cooldown at the end of the workout, and even if you’re on level 10, it suddenly goes down to level 1 without any warning (unless you’re keeping an eye on the time display of course). This dramatic decrease in resistance can almost throw you off the machine if you’re not careful. (Fair enough, I’ve never been actually thrown off the machine nor seen anyone else thrown off, but it’s an uncomfortable way to end your workout.)
Overall, if your gym has a Reebok Body Peak or if you’re thinking of buying one, be aware of the above problem and use it for strengthening your back leg muscles, particularly calf muscles. I wouldn’t recommend more than 20 minutes at a time on it though.
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Thanks to Openroad for adding this to the database for me.
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This review was an entry into the Expand the Database Write Off - why not join in yourself?
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See Also:
Reebok Body Trec - a more balanced elliptical trainer
Life Fitness 9500 HR - king of the elliptical trainers
Top Ten Reasons to Join a Gym
Recommended:
Yes
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