Sunday, May 18, 2008
Life, Health + Fitness
Man vs. machine
Can a new workout machine (that Jamal Anderson swears by) really change your life?
Cherry Banez PR/NinhChau
Super Bowl XXXIII former Atlanta Falcons Jamal Anderson and Travis Hall with the ProSpot Fitness machine
WHAT: ProSpot Fitness
WHERE: 2000 Newpoint Place Parkway, Lawrenceville
HOW MUCH? Work out by invite only. Call for retail price of a machine.
CONTACT INFO: 770-446-9299. www.prospotfitness.net.
FITNESS FACTOR: 4 stars
FUN FACTOR: 3 stars
By Colleen Oakley
I’ve never been a fan of workout machines. My fiancé has a Bowflex and swears it’s easy to use, but it just looks complicated. And why should I spend time trying to figure it out, when my free weights work just as well?
That’s why when I heard about the ProSpot Fitness, a workout machine that allows you to lift weights without a spotter, I wasn’t that enthused. It sounded like a great invention for pro athletes and serious muscle heads, but I don’t do much bench pressing. How could I benefit?
Then I met Jamal Anderson’s publicist at a recent event. Anderson, a former Falcon, is an investor in ProSpot and she invited me to work out with him on the machine so he could show me what it was all about.
Work out with the Dirty Bird himself? I couldn’t pass up that opportunity.
I headed up to the ProSpot facility in Lawrenceville on a Tuesday afternoon. It’s the headquarters of the company, but they also have a private gym filled with ProSpot machines for VIPs like Jamal and his old Falcons teammate Travis Hall, also an investor in the company.
Jamal was running late, so the creator of the ProSpot, Michael Slawinski, gave me a tour and started showing me the ropes on the latest model. His enthusiasm for his product was infectious, and I have to admit, the technology was impressive. The weight bar for squats and bench press is suspended on cables and has a skin sensor mechanism, so when you’re not touching it, it stays in a locked position—in other words, if it gets too heavy, you just let go and the weight won’t come crashing down on top of you.
But forget squats and bench press—the amount of exercises you can do on the machine seemed limitless. Mike took me through a round of different core exercises that were much more my style than the muscle-head stuff. He also strapped me into a harness where I practiced jumping forward, pulling against the weights I was hooked up to. After just 10 reps of those, I was breathing hard and sweating.
“Didn’t know you could get your cardio in, too, did you?” he asked me with a smile.
I shook my head and asked for water. After about 45 minutes of working with Mike, it was clear that this was no ordinary machine. It also came as no surprise that celebs have been lining up to get their hands on one; Fergie, Jesse James and Sandra Bullock have all taken deliveries.
Finally, Jamal came bustling in apologizing profusely for being late. I waved it off and told him that Mike had certainly turned me into a believer.
“So you work out on this thing exclusively?” I asked him, eyeing his build—he still looks like he could take the field and rush for 300 yards, no problem.
“Yep, about four times a week,” he said. We chatted for a few more minutes and then I shook his hand and left.
“Come back and work out with us anytime,” he called out after me.
I might just do that; I want a crack at that machine again. SP
Colleen Oakley is a freelance writer in Atlanta and the former editor of Women’s Health & Fitness magazine. Got a fitness challenge for her? E-mail her at colleen@sundaypaper.com.