I just watched this again, love it every time! I was thinking how great it would be to re-purpose this footage for new ads. It’s so retro that it works! For a flashback to 1983……
We’re finally looking into making Soloflex machines again! It may take a few months to begin offering them but now is the time for you to weigh in. What do you think about that idea? Would you change anything about the machine? Do you think we should always offer the classic Soloflex?
We set off last Friday to experiment with the connection points of the new Soloflex machine prototype. We needed to weld ears onto the base for the vertical main frame and front safety legs so we could see how the bolt looked and worked…perfect! On the back brace we decided to use a heavy hinge for easier assembly, it works great too. We also changed the front vertical safety bar to 1 3/4” tubing which makes the safety more rigid, it has a better aesthetic, more symmetrical since it matches the main frame tubing.
After hours of measuring, fine tuning, welding and drilling, it was time for the moment of truth… just how difficult was it going to be to take it apart and put back together and exactly how compact would it be broken down? As luck would have it, break down took us about 5 minutes and putting it back together took even less time, about 3 1/2 minutes. You may think I’m exaggerating but it’s true. We had the unfair advantage of knowing where all the pieces belonged, so to be fair, the average person might spend 15 minutes assembling, including tightening all the bolts!
I was super excited about how compact the machine was disassembled. Laid down flat with all the pieces inside, it measured 42”x46”x 7.5” (round up to a box 4′x4′x 8” thick, not bad!). Unfortunately it came in at a whopping 103lbs! On Wednesday we’re going to experiment with the strength of the steel and connections as it is. We may be able to use thinner walled tubing somewhere? Of course, we’ll never sacrifice quality, strength or safety!
Next step is to have more drawings made once we get it exactly right, then off to the real manufacturing shop to get built and powder coated. It’s going to make it look a heck of a lot prettier!
I’m sorry there are no photos yet. I didn’t have a back up battery for my camera on Friday. Bad planning on my part but I will definitely get some up by Tuesday.
Today we modified the safety to make it adjustable and changed it to round tubing. The adjustments are easy to make, it needs a little more bracing but happy with the way it’s come together so far. We may also change the front vertical safety bar to square tubing for more stability. It’s pretty solid but not good enough yet.
We also changed the back brace to round tubing as it makes a more comfortable step and also allows you to use it for elevated push ups (if there were no plates on the back) and convenient as a hamstring/glute developer. Adding some round tubing generally make the machine better looking, softens it up a bit.
We just drilled out 2 holes for the squat cradle but intend to add more adjustments there, at least 2 or 3 additional locations.
Our next step is to get the connections points correct. This is vital for the feel of the machine and easy assembly. We are thinking that welded ears for the main frame, connected with a heavy bolt through the bottom would be the best. Not unlike the way most heavy duty squat racks are connected. We’ll probably connect the front safety legs the same way.
Originaly posted at the World News, Financial News, Breaking US & International News.
NEW YORK (Goozad Health) – Vibrating exercise platforms, which are increasingly found in commercial gyms in Europe and elsewhere, may help people lose the particularly harmful deep “hidden” fat that surrounds the abdonminal organs and is linked to type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.
“We conclude, that it would be good to combine aerobic exercise with whole body vibration in a weight loss program,” study chief Dirk Vissers, a physiotherapist at the Artesis University College and the University of Antwerp in Belgium told Reuters Health.
With whole body vibration training, people do squats, lunges, calf raises, push-ups and sit-ups on a platform that sends mild vibratory impulses through the feet and into the rest of the body. These vibrations make muscles rapidly contract, which builds lean muscle mass. Whole body vibration training is touted as a more effective method of resistance training. Its true value, however, has been unclear.
To investigate, Vissers and his colleagues divided 79 overweight or obese adults into four groups. One group dieted but did not exercise; another group dieted and did “conventional” aerobic and general strength training exercises; a third group dieted and engaged in threee sessions per week of supervised whole body vibration training but no aerobic exercise; and the fourth group — the control group — did not diet or exercise.
Sixty-one of the participants completed the study, which consisted of a six-month “intervention” period, followed by a six-month period in which they were encouraged to do their best to maintain a healthy diet and exercise regimen on their own.
“Over the year, only the conventional fitness and vibration groups manged to maintain a 5 percent weight loss, which is what is considered enough to improve health, “Vissers said in perpared statement from the European Congress on Obesity in Amsterdam, where he presented the study findings Friday.
During the first six months, the diet-only group lost about 6 percent of their initial body weight, but could not maintain a 5 percent weight loss in the next six months. The group that dieted and engaged in conventional exercise lost about 7 percent of their initial body weight in the first six months and manged to keep most of it off by the end of the study.
The whole body vibration group, on the other hand, lost 11 percent of their body weight during the intervention phase and by the end of the follow-up period they had maintained a 10.5 percent weight loss.
The control group gained weight.
“But the biggest surprise,” Vissers told Reuters Health, “was that we saw an effect of vibration exercise training on the visceral adipose tissue, which is the intra-abdoninal fat that is the most important because it really plays a central role in metabolic syndrome.”
The vibration group lost significantly more of this particularly harmful hidden fat during the intervention period than the other groups and was more likely to keep it off during the next six month period.
“In my opinion, vibration exercise is a useful contribution to exercise, a healthy lifestyle and calorie restriction,” Vissers said.
In the training sessions conducted by Vissers and colleagues, the speed and intensity of the machine was gradually increased each week as well as the variety and duration fo exercises from 30 seconds for each of 10 exercises to 60 seconds for each of 22 exercises. The average time spent on the machine was 11.9 minutes per session in the first three months and 14.2 minutes in the second three months.
With vibration plate exercise training, “supervision in the begining is imperative and the longer the better,” Vissers advised.
By Megan Rausher for World News, Financial News, and Breaking US & International News.
We’ve gotten some great feed back! Here are the pictures I took this Saturday after we made some changes to the machine.
Tomorrow I’ve got two CrossFit certified trainers coming out to use it and give me their input. I am really interested to hear what they have to say.
I am very grateful for all the comments and good advice so far. I look forward to more ideas flowing in from all of you. If you have an idea, if you know exactly what you want out of a home gym….leave a comment! ;)
After more than 10 years we’re back at it. We’ve come up with a simplified whole body workout machine that’s more functional and easier to use than any machine on the market! Which means it’s easier to get that beautiful, healthy body you’ve always wanted. This machine focuses on the most important weight lifting techniques… free body exercises and squats. It looks basic because it is! This is the piece of equipment you need to get into the best shape of your life – in the least amount of time. Soloflex understands you’re busy and we know after 30 years in the fitness business how to get you toned and feeling great with the fewest amount of exercises in the least amount of time.
With this history in mind, we are proud to introduce the Soloflex Functional Gym. This machine focuses on the best weight lifting exercises ever invented…the squat and the pull up. Just those 2 exercises alone work every muscle in your body, but that’s just the beginning because there’s an almost unlimited number of exercises you can do with this machine. The barbell is tried and true, a classic weight lifting standard because of it’s versatility! Designed to blend into your living room, with this elegant machine you can get a full body workout efficiently, and safely, right at home. You have the pull up bar with a variety of hand grips, squats and limitless barbell exercises too.
There aren’t any pulleys, cables, flexy bars or extensions on this machine because it’s built for real functional training. Designed to be rigid enough for a 250 lb man do do his pull ups without any flex in the machine. The barbell is thick steel tubing for heavy duty squats that you can do in the convenience of your own home. Soloflex has always considered safety the first priority so we fully intend to have a durable and dependable safety strap so you don’t need a spotter. We have several good ideas for how to incorporate a safety strap for your heavy squats and bench presses and are still developing and testing ideas. Let us know if you have any.
This home gym is not going to cost you a small fortune either, unlike our competition, we want to offer the functional gym with barbell and starter weight plates for as little investment as possible! Hopefully less than half of what most home gyms cost today!
This machine is the height and width of your standard door frame (3′ wide x 6’8” tall) and the depth of a typical book shelf or cabinet (18” deep). Constructed out of tough steel, because that’s how we’ve always done it! It’s a sturdy, high quality machine made right here in the US, because that’s how we’ve always done it!
This is the real deal. This machine is for the serious lifter, perfect for doing your CrossFit exercises at home or P90x. It’s also perfect for the novice lifter too. There are numerous ways to modify a pull up, and did we mention that pull ups are the best upper body exercise you can do, and easy to modify! Use just the barbell if you are starting out, you don’t need to add any weight. If you’ve been lifting for years, go ahead, load it up! It’s sturdy enough to use with TRX Straps, resistance bands, rings and a barbell that’s fits standard plates …you name it. You can use all kinds of accessories with this gym.
The Soloflex Functional Gym is easy to assemble unlike those other home gyms that have 16,000 parts ( ok, that’s a slight exaggeration ;) The original Soloflex machine had 3 main pieces. It’s our belief that if a machine is well designed, it’s simple!
We would love to get your feedback as we go. We just built the first macine this week and we love it! Stayed tuned for more photos and updates.
Soloflex revolutioned the home fitness industry with the introduction of the Soloflex Muscle Machine in 1978.
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