Have you been looking for home gym equipment but can’t seem to find anything that lasts or that can handle heavier loads?
Finally, there’s a quality home gym machine designed for heavier users and it will also give you a fat-shredding, muscle toning full-body workout.
Introducing the Merax Vertical Climber:
Unlike most home gym machines, the 2nd Gen Merax Climber can support users up to 330 pounds. Not only will it handle weight, but it utilizes the user’s weight to increase the resistance, making it more effective with heavier users.
Get Merax Vertical Climber on Amazon
What are the benefits of a climbing machine?
- Strengthening: This machine mimics the action of rock climbing and if you’ve ever gone rock climbing, you already know the burn you get after just a few minutes of exercise. By using the climber’s weight to operate the machine, it will help build lean muscle quicker than any other type of cardio machine. And it doesn’t just work your legs. The moveable handles work in unison with the pedals to work your arms, back, shoulders and core, as well as the glutes, quads, and calves.
- Fat-burning: Spending an hour walking on a treadmill at a speed of 3 mph and an incline of 1.5% burns an average of 250 calories. Slightly better, riding an exercise bike at a speed of 10.5 MPH with moderate resistance burns an average of 330 calories.
And a similar workout on a climbing machine?
An hour spent on a climber burned an average of 500 calories! That’s double the caloric burn from a similar workout on a treadmill.
- Low-impact: Heavier athletes suffer more from joint pain than anyone else. That’s why it’s so important to find equipment that limits impact loads. Vertical climbing machines are similar to elliptical machines in the sense that the foot pedals move with the natural motion of the body and each leg supporting the weight of the other as they move up and down. This eliminates virtually all impact on knee and hip joints that would take a pounding on a treadmill. Although unlike an elliptical, vertical climbers give you a full-body strengthening workout that will leave you lean and toned.
Why choose the Merax Vertical Climbing Machine?
There are a couple more popular climbing machines on the market, such as the Maxi Climber and the Conquer Vertical Climber. Both are great machines and provide similar workouts. All three machines have non-slip pads to keep them stable, movable and static handles with ergonomic grips and sturdy non-slip foot pedals. However, the Merax Climber is engineered specifically to handle heavier users. While users over the 220 pound weight limit have reported that the Maxi Climber and Conquer Climber could handle heavier loads, they are both designed for lighter users. In addition, users over the weight limit would be voiding the machine’s warranty and would be using it at their own risk.
Conquer recently upgraded their machine and the Conquer 2.0 is designed for heavier use than the original model. It is listed with an upper weight limit of 275 pounds. While it’s a significant improvement from the previous model, the Merax is still the heaviest duty climber on the market. To sum things up, if everyone who will be using the climber is under 220 pounds, you should consider both the Maxi Climber and Conquer Climber. However, if anyone over 220 pounds will be using the machine, the Merax climber is probably your best bet.
While it’s designed to handle heavier users, the Merax climber’s height is adjustable, just like other climbing machines. Therefore, it can be used by people of all shapes and sizes, making it the most versatile of all climbers. And while it’s slightly larger than other machines, it still folds up making it easy to store when not in use. Overall, if you need a machine that can handle heavy loads or a variety of users, the Merax climber is by far the best machine.
How to use the Merax Vertical Climbing Machine
You can use the climber to do a classic cardio workout or HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) which is becoming increasingly popular.
Cardio
To warm-up, begin climbing at the speed you would casually climb stairs. After five minutes, gradually increase your climbing speed to increase your heart rate to a running speed at the top end of your target heart rate. If you don’t know your target heart rate, you can check it here. Maintain this speed for 15-20 minutes (as you grow stronger, you can increase this time). After this, decrease your speed back to a walking pace and cool-down for five minutes.
HIIT
HIIT is a training method that uses short high-intensity bursts to burn fat quick and build lean muscle quicker. As with the cardio workout, start with a five minute warm-up. Then climb as quick as you can without sacrificing form for one minute. After completing your first interval, rest for one minute. Complete five more intervals if you can and after the last interval, slow down to a walking pace and do a five minute cool-down.