What is Hydraulic Exercise Resistance?
Hydraulic exercise resistance is a different form of resistance that uses hydraulic pistons to provide resistance (instead of weight.. While the style of our exercise equipment alone is setting the bar high for other exercise equipment manufacturers, the real foundation behind the equipment is the driving force of our resistance—what we call ‘Fluid Dynamics Resistance Technology.’
Built with highly engineered hydraulic pistons, resistance is created by how (hard or fast) you either (push or pull) the exercise arms which controls oil flow through dual fluid cylinders. Founder and President David Chapman says “You really just have to try it out to get an understanding of how it works and how it feels—but I’ll tell you one thing, people love it once they’ve tried it!”
How does it work? How does it feel?
It's the FEEL-GOOD Exercise! To get an understanding of how this works in action, picture a standard chest press machine. The first part of the movement would be pressing the resistance away from you. This is similar to what people are used to. But unlike conventional weight-bearing machines, the second part of the movement would not be lowering the already-lifted weight, but rather it would be an entirely new movement that consists of pulling the weight back towards you! But since there is no weight-bearing pulley system pushing against you, you can just stop the arm at any point within either direction of the movement and resistance goes to zero!
You can even change the speed or resistance for either direction independently! This will change every preconceived notion users’ have about resistance exercise and offer a new, unique, and limitless potential that both current exercisers can add to their program while also enabling populations with previous limitations to be able to utilize resistance training where they were once unable or hesitant to.
Since there is resistance on both the push and pull side of each exercise, each piece of exercise equipment is therefor two different opposing muscle groups working almost simultaneously! This is good for the user because you get a well-balanced workout, increase the cardiovascular component of your workout, and cut your time in the gym in half. It’s good for the gym owner since they have to buy half as many machines, or they can now accommodate twice as many users for the same price. Since you’re able to control not only the resistance but also the speed with which you go through the movements in either direction, you can quickly, easily, and simultaneously customize your strength, power, speed, and cardiovascular workouts.
Is Hydraulic Exercise Resistance New? Is it Safe?
Well it is new to the mainstream exerciser but it's not really not that new. It's been around for over 20 years with most women's gyms such as Curves® all over the world were built on the foundation of hydraulic exercise equipment because of how easy it is to do group circuit training with it. We've been around since 1998 and have furnished well over 4,000 machines in over 30 countries. Over the last decade, we've perfected our equipment to better accommodate a wide variety of different types of users so that everyone can benefit. Our newest Signature Series offers adjustable resistance settings to accommodate various strength or cardiovascular levels. And yes, it is absolutely safe. In fact, it's easy to see why it's actually much safer than any other type of commercial exercise equipment available anywhere!
Benefits of using Our Hydraulic Exercise Equipment
Many additional benefits exist because there is no weight-based lever pulley system. The resistance is only concentric, as opposed to having an eccentric portion (i.e. lowering the weight) so you’re able to stop at any point within the movement in either direction—greatly reducing any risk of injury. Because the arm has no set levers for pulleys, range of motion is also no longer an issue for use for people with poor flexibility.
Seniors and anyone that has an injury or other pre-existing conditions such as arthritis or other joint and muscle injuries can use the equipment with ease because movement is smooth and never requires you to exceed a weight or range of motion than you are safely and comfortably capable of. This allows you to strengthen your muscles without putting any undue stress on your joints. In addition, the absence of an eccentric load nearly eliminates DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). Harry Layne, an 81 year old diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, attributes Fit Express’ fluid machines with greatly reducing his symptoms by increasing both his balance and his strength.
The risk of injury, inability to properly use the equipment, intimidation, muscle soreness, and joint pain commonly associated with resistance exercise are among the top reasons senior citizens cite why they don’t do resistance exercise. Fit Express seeks to change this by using their hydraulic fitness equipment to make a significant advancement towards obesity and health among the rapidly growing Baby Boomer population, as well as those with joint, muscle, and other special conditions. In addition, the rest of the population can use the equipment as a different and exciting change-of-pace. The Fluid Interval Training workout developed by Fit Express to use with our equipment. With various possibilities from easy to hard workouts, cardio-focused, strength focused, cardio/strength hybrid workouts the FIT™ system can provide everyone from kids to seasoned athletes to senior citizens with a fun and challenging workout.
“These are machines are a lot different from the other. Well, I’m a mechanical engineer, number one, I guess, so I appreciate the fluid motion of these machines and the sounds. And the fluid motion meaning it’s mechanical but it’s fluid drive… you’ve got that fluid drive… it’s smooth and easy. You don’t have a bump; it’s just very smooth. Of course the sound goes with it, too. The water rushing… so it’s enjoyable.” - Carl Gottfried
“Hi, I’m Linda Ferris and I’ve been coming to the FIT classes for a long time. It’s the only thing I’ve ever done that has brought me back consistently because it’s fun. I just like working on the machines. They’re easy to work. You can get a good workout. You can get an easy workout or you make yourself really work, but they’re just plain fun.” - Linda Ferris
To see all of our 9 different hydraulic exercise equipment circuits visit us here.