Not all exercise equipment is a good idea — does anyone else remember the vibrating belt machine that you put around your hips and it was supposed to melt away the fat? Or how about those rolling ab wheels that most savvy experts on the body will tell you is a lower back injury waiting to happen? — so I tend to view each New! Improved! Latest! Greatest! item with a skeptical eye.
Many of these inventions are primarily intended to help you lose weight in one place: your wallet.
Sometimes, though, a new product comes about that makes sense, and the seems to be one of those. The in Vail (1300 Westhaven Drive, 800-282-4183, ) has put four of them in their , and with the emphasis on using your own body weight and the variety of exercise options available from one piece of relatively simple equipment, I think this could be a keeper.
The units that the Vail Cascade went with are the vertical-training systems from the FitWall company that are made from the same steel used in gym lockers, with a series of horizontal hand and foot holds, as well as plenty of places where cables, resistance bands and bars can be attached.
The units attach to the walls and come out only about a foot away, so they don’t take up very much space.
“That’s part of what makes this workout so appealing, for the club and the people doing it,” says Aria trainer and fitness supervisor Mike Benedict. “With a limited amount of space you can do a really effective workout and hit a lot of different areas on the body.”
The workout turns out to be incredibly intense, raising the heart rate quickly and, with the addition of the attachments and the set up across the room, a well-rounded, circuit-style routine.
“Obviously, this works on your grip strength, because you spend a lot of time grabbing the holds, but that’s just at first,” Benedict said. “So we get a lot of climbers, sure, and it’s good for improving things like water skiing and other sports where you’ll be holding things for long periods of time. But after you start to notice a difference in your forearms really quickly, it’s amazing how fast other parts of your body start to get strong, because you’re doing things like single leg squats and shoulder press dips, and core work too.”
Vail Cascade offers two FitWall classes Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and one class Monday and Saturday.
A one-day guest pass can be purchased for Aria for $30, which allows unlimited access to the fitness center, including the outdoor pool and hot tub.
Kyle Wagner: 303-954-1599 or outwest@denverpost.com
