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Mademoiselle Magazine
Get it: PowerBelt
Notable feature: The cords on the belt make you feel like a marionette (but a very cool marionette), What It works: Arms, shoulders, back, chest. You pull on handles attached to a waist pack; disks inside provide resistance. Good for: Adding an upper-body workout to a lower-body one, allowing you to burn more calories. (Ludwig likes it for in-line skating.) not so great for Whining sound, abiding fear: That added to a helmet, wrist guards, knee pads and Rollerblades, it will make you look like RoboCop. |
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Prevention Magazine
Walking Fit by Maggie Spilner
I laughed when I first saw it. Now I'm sold: The PowerBelt is a gadget that straps around your waist with two padded handles attached by cords. By holding those handles, you add resistance to your arm swing. When tested at the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse, the belt boosted walkers' calorie burn by nearly 50%," reports exercise physiologist and study author John Porcari, PhD. (Participants pumped the handles to chin height.)
The cords conveniently retract into their housing and out of the way when your arms tire. You can increase the degree of resistance with add-ons, called PowerPaks, which easily snap on and off the belt. In the study, calorie burn jumped to 52% with the; addition of PowerPak I and to 60% and 11% when walkers used PowerPaks 2 and 3, respectively. Using the basic model, I was able to break a sweat; on my morning walk without pushing myself until my shins cried "uncle." I felt none of the strain on my wrists or elbows that I'd experienced when I tried adding hand weights to my walking routine. |
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Walking Magazine
Great Gadgets
For those of you who insist on walking with hand weights (you know who you are), we've found the perfect compromise. The PowerBelt is a safe* way to work your upper body while you walk. Just strap the belt around your waist like a fanny pack, grab the handles, and pump your arms as usual. The belt adds resistance (you control the level) and, in addition to toning and strengthening your muscles, increases calorie burn by more than 48%. Now if you could only get up the nerve to use it in public. Call (800) 246-3744. *As until any other piece of exercise equipment, see your doctor before using. |
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