Since Adventure Fitness Athletic Club is next to the mountains, most of us know that climbing is a great cardiovascular, functional, and strength-training exercise. Unfortunately, however, busy schedules and inclement weather prevent us from mountain climbing whenever we’d like.

The good news is, if you’re a member of our Thornton gym, you have access to exercise equipment that helps your body closely mimic a climbing motion. This means you can enjoy the benefits of mountain climbing from the comfort of our gym, on your schedule.

In addition to our auto-belay climbing wall and our climbing cave, AFAC also has two VersaClimbers at our gym. These phenomenal training tools provide a better exercise experience than many other types of equipment, are low-impact, and are incredibly versatile in the ways you can incorporate them into your workout program.

What is a VersaClimber?

The VersaClimber is an exercise machine that allows your body to mimic the experience of climbing. The machine is built at a 75 degree climb angle that helps decrease the weight bearing load on your knees and lower back while distributing the load to your upper torso. While you stand vertically erect on the machine, the VersaClimber has two pedals that you push with your feet, and two handles that you pull with your hands.

There are also two handlebars extending from the middle of the machine. You can hold these bars with your hands if you want to use only your legs on the VersaClimber, giving you a stair-stepper type of workout.

The VersaClimber does not have a motor, so the machine only moves when you do and allows you to climb at your own pace.

VersaClimbers can be configured in two different climbing pattern configurations:

• The standard climbing pattern, which means your hands and feet on each side of your body go up and down in unison.
• The contra-level climbing pattern, which means your hands and feet on opposite sides of your body go up and down together, mimicking how infants crawl. The contra-level pattern is also known as the “cross-crawl” pattern. Some physiotherapists prefer the contra-level pattern because it imitates how humans naturally move when climbing, walking, crawling, and running.

What are the benefits of using a VersaClimber at the gym?

VersaClimbers are credited with a long list of benefits that you can enjoy when you include it in your gym workout routine. The most popular benefits of working out on a VersaClimber are listed below.

It provides a total body workout

When you use a VersaClimber, you will engage all your major muscles in your legs, arms, and back. The push-pull motion of climbing also forces you to utilize your core stabilizer muscles. Since you’re using most of your muscles on the VersaClimber, you can get a full-body workout in a minimal amount of time. Some of our gym members say that just 10 minutes on a VersaClimber feels like a good workout, while 20 minutes can leave you drenched in sweat.

It has several advantages over other common cardio workouts

Research has shown that VersaClimbers can provide a more complete and safer exercise session than ellipticals, treadmills, running, cycling, swimming, stair-steppers, rowing machines, and cross-country skiing. Consider the following:

• Unlike road running, bleacher running, and treadmills, VersaClimbers do not pound the joints and can work both the upper and lower body.
• Unlike rowing machines and stationary bikes, VersaClimbers provide a coordinated upper-body and lower-body workout and do not place stress on the lower back.
• Unlike elliptical machines and stair-steppers, VersaClimbers allow you to easily toggle between an upper-lower body coordinated workout, a lower-body only workout, or an upper-body only workout.

In addition, the fact that the VersaClimber forces you to work against gravity helps you burn more calories than other exercises.

It’s low-impact

The VersaClimber does not pound your hips, knees, ankles, feet, and other lower-body joints like running does. Likewise, it does not put pressure on the spine like rowing and biking does. The VersaClimber is ideal for anyone who wants to get a low-impact, yet intense, workout.

It’s easy to use

The beauty of the VersaClimber is that anyone, even a beginner, can climb on and begin using it. It doesn’t require any skill like running, rowing, swimming, and biking do.

It helps you maintain and improve mobility

The cross-crawl motion that you use on a VersaClimber mimics the way the human body is designed to move while crawling, running, and walking. That means using a VersaClimber can help you maintain and improve your natural balance and coordination. The slight torso rotation that happens when you use the VersaClimber can also help strengthen the stabilizer muscles in your core. These movements help you prevent injury and maintain a better quality of life as you age.

It burns a lot of calories

Several studies and many personal training experts agree that VersaClimber burns more calories than any other cardio exercise. It’s estimated that you can burn 500-1,000 calories in a 30-minute session, depending on how hard you go.

Its display shows you what you need to know

The VersaClimber’s display module shows you your heart rate, calorie burn, time, distance, and other important information about your workout.

What workouts can I do on the VersaClimber at the gym?

True to its name, the VersaClimber is versatile in the way it allows you to complete multiple types of workouts. In addition to the standard use of climbing on the VersaClimber with your hands and feet in one rhythmic motion, you can also:

• Target your lower body — Hold onto the rails on the side of the machine to concentrate on a lower-body workout that is similar to a stair-stepper experience. This targets the buttocks, calves, shins, and fronts and backs of the thighs.
• Change the direction of your hands — Place your hands with your palms facing toward you to work your biceps, deltoids, and large muscles of the back. Grip the handles with your palms facing away from you to work both front and back muscle groups on your arms.
• Work on your core — As you use the VersaClimber, concentrate on flexing one side of the body while extending the other side, and vice versa, which will help tone and trim your stomach, sides, back, and the back of your arms.
• Vary your speed and the length of your step — On the VersaClimber, you can increase or decrease your stroke rate (how fast you’re climbing) or increase or decrease your stroke length with ease. There’s no need to change settings on the machine because the machine instantly adjusts to the way you’re moving.
• Complete a squat-style workout — Squat down so that your knees are at an approximate 90-degree angle and do short strokes to give yourself a good quad muscle burn.
• Target your upper body — Stand on the base plate in front of the VersaClimber and use your arms to drive the hand grips. This provides a range of upper-body-only workout options when you use different stroke lengths and rates. You can face your palms outward or inward, as well, to target different muscle groups.
• Increase or decrease the resistance on the machine — You can vary the amount of resistance to control your speed and/or the resistance you feel when you’re climbing. Less resistance means more speed, while more resistance means your muscles will need to work harder to climb. It’s generally recommended that beginners start with no resistance and then work their way up to higher resistance over time.
• Use the VersaClimber for high intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts — HIIT training on the VersaClimber is achieved by sprinting on the machine for 5-10 seconds, then resting until your heart rate returns to its lowest target range, and then sprinting again. This is usually repeated for at least 10 minutes. You can increase the speed and stroke length of each step to make sprints more strenuous. The VersaClimber is ideal for HIIT workouts because it allows you to train both the upper and lower body. Also, the VersaClimber does not have any top-end limitations, which means it can go as fast as you can without holding you back.
• Use the VersaClimber for sports rehab and sports-specific workouts — The VersaClimber can help improve an athlete’s condition to prevent injuries, prevent deconditioning that might occur while recovering from an injury, and create a safe conditioning program that won’t aggravate current injuries. It is used for a wide range of sports including baseball, basketball, cycling, football, golf, skiing, and soccer to name a few.

Try the Original Cardio Climber at AFAC Gym in Thornton, CO

Invented by mechanical engineer Dick Charnitski in his garage in 1981, VersaClimber is the first cardio climbing machine of its kind to exist. It was also the first commercial exercise machine to use a heart rate monitor to measure exercise intensity. And now you can use the #1 original total-body vertical cardio climber at AFAC gym. Our state-of-the-art equipment is one of many reasons why Adventure Fitness Athletic Club is the best gym in Thornton. To find out more about our VersaClimbers and our other equipment, please feel free to speak to our personal trainers. You can also contact our gym owner, Susan at 720-849-0245 or susan@adventurefitness.club.

To read more articles from Adventure Fitness Athletic Club, check out our Adventure Corner blogs by clicking here.