Rom Machine at http://blog.cleveland.com/health/2009/03/rom_

Fri, 5 Jun 2009 08:06:16 -0400

I'll do almost anything in the name of fitness. Just ask my family. But even I don't have Kris Schenosky's guts.

Four years ago, the Willoughby resident bought an expensive piece of fitness equipment straight out of an ad, dropping nearly $15,000 on a Rom Machine, sight unseen. To me, that's like buying a car over the phone.

But in her case, what seemed a little crazy ended up making a lot of sense. Now she exercises more efficiently than most of us.

If you're active and you read, you've seen the ad for Rom Machine. Pick up any periodical related to health or fitness, and it'll be there, promising a complete, well-rounded workout in four minutes, all for the oddly specific price of $14,615.

Who, I always wondered, buys these things? More important, do the machines work? Are they worth it? Now I know the answers.

Schenosky, who also owns a Bowflex, a treadmill and a sauna, bought her ROM to avoid lifting weights. An avid runner, she knew she needed to cross-train but couldn't stomach a gym. Also, with four kids, time was a factor.

Still, even for Schenosky, four minutes is too short. She uses her ROM for 16 minutes at a time, mixing in miles on the treadmill.

ROM, developed in 1990, is the platypus of the fitness world, a cross between a stationary bike, a rowing machine and a stair climber. At its core is a large metal flywheel. Aside from a small timer and output monitor, nothing's electronic.

Sitting in a high-backed seat with my feet resting on stationary brackets, I began with a rowing motion, grabbing and pulling two bars from my toes all the way to my chest. Simple enough. Certainly a good stretch for your lower back.

Only it's harder than rowing. On their way up, the bars sprawl out well beyond the body, calling on pectoral and shoulder muscles. Also, unlike rowing, there's no chance to rest. I had to push the bars back down.

To experience what Schenosky does three times a week, I did this for eight minutes. Eight long, sweaty minutes. Afterward, I had the makings of a blister on my hand. No wonder. The computer said I'd exceeded the target pace by 5 percent.

But it wasn't too bad. After all, for a runner like me, the lower-body half of the workout would surely be easier.

Except it wasn't. In fact, it was exponentially more difficult.

Holding handles near my waist and standing on two small pedals, I pushed one foot down while the other one rose. That's all. Back and forth, like climbing stairs.

But these were like no other steps I've ever taken. The resistance was tremendous, for one thing, and the pedals diverged several feet, forcing a deep stretch in my legs. Truthfully, it felt more like climbing a mountain.

The cardiovascular benefits were obvious, and my legs were tired, same as they are after a strength workout. Only my calves seemed to have been left out of the loop.

Amazingly, the monitor said I'd fallen short of its target pace by 4 percent. Whatever. How I achieved more with my arms than my legs is a mystery.

What's no longer a mystery, though, is how anyone could spend $15,000 on a Rom Machine . Now I understand, and if I had the money and space, I'd buy one, too. Unlike many investments these days, this one would actually return what I put into it.

For more information visit : http://www.rommachine.org/

History of the ROM machine

Tue, 26 May 2009 07:05:49 -0400

The ROM Machine is the brainchild of John Pitre, hailed by many as America’s leading surrealist and social commentary painter, selling more prints worldwide than any other artist. His paintings addressed the themes of over population, drugs, and ecological deterioration already during the 60s and 70s, well before they became obvious problems of our times. In addition to being a talented artist, John Pitre is often called a modern day DaVinci, holding over thirty patents to his name. Through his scrupulous study of human anatomy in the arts he has also designed the world’s most advanced fitness equipment, the ROM cross trainer which was awarded the Best of What's new in 1993 by Popular Science Magazine.

The ROM machine was conceived of and designed while Pitre was living in Telluride, CO. In the winters, he would ski to keep in shape, and in the summers hiking provided ample opportunity for fitness training. However, in spring, the snow would melt, but the trails were too treacherous for hiking, so staying in shape became difficult. In John Pitre: The Art and Works of a Visionary, he writes: “This challenged my creativity and passion for invention, so I analyzed what I could put together to prevent us from getting totally out of shape before summer came. Within short order, pulleys, ropes, iron bars and other interesting leftover parts borrowed from the mines around Telluride began to appear in my barn, which I slowly transformed into a gym of sorts. [..] In time, I discovered that if the weight declined at precisely the same rate the user’s muscles lost strength, he or she could continue the exercise well past the point when the muscles normally failed.”

This eventually evolved into what John Pitre called The Time Machine, reflecting the time savings benefit that the ROM cross trainer offered its users. In 1990 John Pitre approached Alf Temme to manufacture the ROM machine. Temme had a long history of working in the health and fitness industry. After undergoing changes in the industrial design of the ROM machine which streamlined it for easier manufacturing, the ROM cross trainer took the shape it has today, and for the most part the design hasn’t changed much in the last 19 years.

The first years of manufacturing and marketing the ROM machine were filled with challenges, including the heavy skepticism on the part of consumers. The ROM cross trainer’s claims of a 4 minute workout were just too hard for many people to swallow. However in 1993 Popular Science Magazine awarded the machine and its makers the prestigious Best of What’s New awarded, which granted the machine more credibility. The company began to sell more and more of the machines, and referral sales became a great source of continued sales. However, the scientific community still remained skeptical of the revolutionary fitness claims of the ROM machine. This was soon to change, though.

In 1996, a Japanese scientist by the name of Nishimura Tabata published a study "Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max," which is now recognized as one of the foundations of the high-intensity interval training, also known as HIIT, exercise strategy. The studies of Tabata and other proponents of HIIT have shown that this method of exercise can be more effective at burning fat and maintaining, or building muscle mass than high-volume, lower intensity work-outs. Finally the high-intensity short duration physiology behind the ROM machine was supported by studies in the scientific community. Further studies have proven that HIIT increases the resting metabolic rate for the following 24 hours due to excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, which explains how a user can burn a similar amount of calories after working out 4 minutes on the ROM cross trainer as they would as a result of performing a traditional cardio workout like jogging or cycling.

As a result from the increasing acceptance of the validity of HIIT fitness and growing sales because of word of mouth, demand for the machines increased so much that in 2003, the company had to move its production facility to an 82,000 square foot factory in North Hollywood, CA. The ROM machine’s components are fabricated at this location from raw materials (sheets of metal, bar, tubing, etc) and assembled, the final product being crated in custom wooden crates, waiting to be delivered to their final destination.

Rom Machine's Open Salon Blog

Rom Machine at http://blog.cleveland.com/health/2009/03/rom_

History of the ROM machine