I received a lovely present a couple of weeks ago - a Leslie Sansone's Total Strider Treadmill.
It had belonged to my friend's mother who has sadly passed away and he asked if I wanted it. I naturally jumped (or walked) at the chance.
I have done a bit of research and found that the cost of this item when it was new would have been in the region of £120. I don't know if this exact model is still available to buy new but they often appear on EBay at a reasonable price although it is a heavy piece of equipment so it may well have to be collected rather than posted.
The Total Strider comes complete with a leaflet giving comprehensive instructions on how to assemble the Strider, although mine was already assembled I am glad to say as I am hopeless at this sort of thing, a leaflet on how to use the Strider and a DVD showing some exercise routines.
**The Strider itself**
The Strider folds for easy storage and I'll give you a few details of the dimensions so that you can get a feel for the size of the thing. I will also add a couple of photographs so you can see what it looks like. I won't have a picture taken of me using the Strider - it's not a pretty sight! LOL! Anyway back to the information - when folded up the Strider is about 53 inches high, 25 inches wide and 16 inches deep.
The actual treadmill part is about 40 inches long by 16 inches wide. It has a large double flywheel to give a smooth and even walk.
The other bit of information is that the maximum weight for people using the Strider is 300 pounds.
The base of the Strider is a stand making it stable when it is in the storage position and the stand has two wheels so that you can tip the Strider up and wheel it across the floor to the place where you want to use it.
To then get the Strider ready for use there is a handle on the top right hand side which pulls out releasing a locking pin which holds the treadmill upright when not in use. The treadmill then can be lowered to the floor making the whole thing into an 'L' shape. There is an 'L' shaped piece of metal which looks like an Allen Key and this fits in the base of the Strider so that it remains solid whilst in use. I rarely remember to put this in position and I have never yet had any problems with the Strider trying to fold back up whilst I am using it. Although I suppose it is better to make use of any safety features!
The Strider is manual so any movement it makes is as a result of the person using it walking along the treadmill which is set at an angle so you are effectively walking up a slight gradient. This gradient can be adjusted but not by a great deal.
There are handles on either side of the upright section so that you can hold on for safety. When you get more proficient you can use the top set of handles which you move from side to side as you walk to get a 'total body workout'. This set of handles is called The Driver. There is a large nut (apart from the one on the treadmill walking! LOL!) which can be tightened or loosened to change the pressure of the Driver to increase or reduce the intensity of the workout.
On the top of the upright section there is a small tray with an indentation where you can keep bits and pieces - the aforementioned piece of metal and also a spanner type piece of metal for adjusting the treadmill belt if it begins to move to the left or right in use. There is a second indentation in which sits a plastic support to hold a glass or bottle of water for rehydration as you workout.
The central section of this tray houses a small onboard computer which tells you the time spent exercising, the distance travelled, the calories burned and the speed at which you are walking. This can be set to change from one reading to another as you walk or it can be set to just show one reading constantly such as time taken or miles travelled.
**The Booklet**
Before you start using the Strider you should read through the booklet. It advises you to consult your doctor before you begin this or indeed any exercise program. You are reminded to stay hydrated throughout your workout, to work at your own pace and to do stretching exercises before and after your workout. The other thing that is stressed in the booklet and later on the DVD is posture. You are advised to keep your spine aligned, your bum tucked in and your knees soft.
It is also suggested that you wear walking shoes to use the Stride but I have done my walking in sandals, trainers and even barefoot.
The workouts listed in the leaflet are divided into 'mini walks' of 10 minutes each, either using the Driver or not, 'power walks' of 15 minutes brisk walking using the Driver and the 30 minute 'total body walk' using intervals of fast and slow walking and using the Driver at intervals during the workout.
The benefits are listed as follows: it's not weather dependant, it's safe, easy and fun, it's versatile, you don't have to pay a gym fee or buy special workout clothes.
The leaflet also has a 28 day calendar showing which workouts to do on which days, but I haven't used that as I preferred to devise my own strategy. I am not fit enough to increase the workout to 30 minutes after only a week or so of using the Strider.
There is also a section on healthy eating so that you can incorporate a new eating plan into your regime.
**The DVD**
The DVD shows Leslie Sansone doing each of the workouts so that you could put the DVD on and actually work through it with her. She gives good advice throughout the DVD - and I do mean good advice. Although the workouts are quite strenuous, at least when you first start, she doesn't try and force you into doing too much too soon by setting unreasonable goals. She encourages you to take a break, reminds you to stay hydrated and encourages you to work at your own pace at all times. I thought this was excellent as so many of these sort of things in the past have tried to make you do too much too soon and I always found that I got fed up very quickly!
**My Experience**
I am currently about 14 stones in weight and I am about 5 foot 6 inches tall so I am about 3 stones overweight. I am diabetic and my blood sugar is slightly higher than it should be. I also suffer a lot of stress. Since we moved here to Llandudno in 2002 I looked after my father who had Alzheimer's disease until he died in July 2005 and I now look after my mother who has deteriorated a lot since dad died and has almost no short term memory so you can see that stress can be a problem for me!
I wanted to use the Strider mainly to improve my general fitness, reduce my blood sugar levels and also to reduce the stress levels. If it also helped me to loose weight that would be an added advantage.
I decided to walk for ten minutes a day at first and increase this when I felt able. I expected to be increasing my time after a few days. How naive I was!
When I first used the Strider I found the sensation of forcing the belt round with my steps really strange, but of course it does mean that when you stop walking the machine stops so you always go at your own pace. I had to keep stopping every minute or so to get my breath back! When you do stop there is room for you to put your feet on either side of the base just off the belt itself so that you won't slide down the gradient and off the back of the Strider.
I have been keeping a record of my achievements each day. When you stop walking to rest the clock on the on board computer stops. At first I was stopping so many times to get my breath that I was taking about 17 minutes to walk the 10 minutes if you see what I mean. I was walking between three tenths and four tenths of a mile.
After using the Strider for just over a fortnight I can now walk for ten minutes without stopping so my stamina must be improving. My blood sugar levels are dropping slowly as is my weight and I also seem to have more energy. We currently live in a Victorian three storey house and my ambition is to run from the ground floor to the top floor without getting out of breath. Yeah right!
My aim is to gradually increase the time that I am walking although whether I ever get to doing 30 minutes without stopping remains to be seen!
I have found the actual walking to be reasonably easy although I do find that when I remember to concentrate on my posture I loose the rhythm of my walking, but hopefully that will sort itself out as I get better at using the treadmill. I have tried using the Driver but haven't really got the hang of that yet either but I am hoping that will be easier when I get used to walking longer distances.
As I said at the start of the review (if you can remember back that far) I said that I wasn't sure if this particular model is still being made, but if you can get a second hand Strider I would definitely recommend it.
