ProForm Epic 1200 Pro Elliptical Review - It's Perfect For Women
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My Personal Elliptical Choice For Women
I don't want to sound sexist but with all of the ellipticals that there are on the market, I believe that the Epic 1200 will benefit women more than men.
I am not saying that men won't receive benefits from this machine, but I do think that there are certain features that will benefit women more.
So why would the Epic 1200 appeal more to women?
Ok, this is where I see women showing more interest in the Epic1200 than men.
When most men workout, they are usually looking for all over toning and firming. They may want to build up their shoulders, arms and flatten that belly but you very rarely hear them complain about their thunder thighs or a sagging booty.
Standard elliptical workout programs can help men achieve many of the their goals by helping to burn calories and fat. They will then hit the weights for their body building or specifically do ab work.
However, listen in to a conversation of women talking about their bodies and you'll find each one listing specific areas that they need to work on. They are not just concerned about overall toning but hitting certain areas harder and that is why many turn to Pilates workouts after their elliptical workout.
The Epic 1200 Has Quick Target Toning
This is where the Epic 1200 shines. With Quick Target Toning you can just touch 1 button and select which trouble spot you want to give extra attention to. The target spots include thighs, back of legs, butt, hips, upper body among others.
The Epic 1200 will then automatically adjust the resistance and incline for you. Since the Epic 1200 can target speficic muscle groups, you can concentrate on these during your workout, giving you quicker results.
Now don't get me wrong, men will receive as much benefit from the quick target toning I just think that women notice their problem areas more and are more apt to want to do targeted exercises.
How many men talk about their saddle bags or the size of their hips? Some, but now think of how many women talk about these areas and you'll agree - we women seemed to be more concerned. Don't even get me started on my bat wing arms (and, no my husband doesn't have these).
Bicycle Crunch Exercises for the Abs
How Good Are Ellipticals For Getting 6 Pack Abs?
When you are working on your abs, your first step is to burn off the layer of fat covering your abs and elliptical machines are great for this. However. when it comes to doing the targeted exercises to build ab muscle, an elliptical is not your best bet.
To get 6 pack abs you would be much better off weight training and doing floor exercises such as: the bicycle crunch, push-aways, the plank, push-ups, modified raised feet crunches, reverse crunches, long arm weight crunch, side bridge, swiss ball bridge among several others.
Now again thinking of the goals of men and women, most women just want to remove the fat covering their abs (where ellipticals come in) and men prefer to build the abs (floor exercises and weight training).
Does the Epic 1200 Pro have any other special features?
Yes, the Epic 1200 does have several important features including:
18 personal trainer workout programs, a full 18" stride that will accommodate longer legs, heart rate monitor built into the club style grips so you can be sure to stay within your targeted heart rate zone, unique over-sized gel stride pedals that are non-slip, coolaire fan for more comfortable workouts, very nicely lit console for easy viewing of your stats and of coarse the special target toning and 1 button power incline and power resistance.
The ProForm Epic 1200 also has a Lifetime frame warranty and 1 year parts and labor, free shipping (for a limited time) and also has an introductory savings of $200 with payments as low as $25 per month.
Useful Links
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Comments
If I was purchasing an elliptical trainer I would go to http://treadmills-ellipticals-homefitness.com/ since they affiliate with several different companies so you can compare prices and warranties. Some times you see an advertisement for a piece of workout equipment and the price is super low, but then you find out that you only have a 60 day warranty. It's much better to spend a little bit more but get a longer warranty.
Hi, great hub. As someone who has put on weight recently, I am interested in trying to get back to my original body shape.
This eliptical is great when it is working. I purchased one and had the eddy mechanism (the electromagnet tension mechanism) fail after 2 weeks. Proform proceeded to send 2 new mechanisms, both of which were bad. I think this is because they did not pack them properly.
After multple bad parts, I would have returned this except the machine weighs 300 pounds and is would have been almost impossible to pack up and ship back.
After the last bad part, The repair technician was able to dissasemble 2 of the bad mechanisms and cobble together a working part. So far, the machine is now working. I stongly suggest that if you buy this machine, get the extended warrenty - you are going to need it. I have had this thing for 3 months and it has been working for about 3 weeks out of that time.
I will say that the repair tech was great,and was as annoyed about the situation as I was. ALso, to be fair, when the machine works, it is a great workout. As long as it keeps working, I am satisfied with it.
Moz, I am sorry that you had a bad experience. ProForm is one of the top manufacturer of fitness equipment and I've never had any problems with them.
Did you purchase directly through ProForm online? If so you may want to send customer service an email through their contact at http://www.iconservice.com/proform/contact_us.html and let them know how you feel about your experience.
Well, now its failure number 3. whatever jury-rigging the technician did broke down today and the THIRD replacement part failed.
I can see the pin that holds the rear electromagnet is bent or loose, which is allowing the rear magnet to hit the flywheel when it turns. I can't tell if it is bent or just needs to be tightened because it is impossible to get to without removing the entire eddy mechanism.
It sounds like a metal pipe being dragged behind a car. This is the same failure that has happened 3 times. I don't know what to do about this. Has this happened to no one else? Having the same failure happen 3 times defies the laws of probability.
This machine sucks.
Moz,
Depending on where you purchased your elliptical you have a few options. If you purchased through ProForm you can call them at 1-888-533-1333 or 1-888-742-0128or if you prefer not to call but to wrtie to them you can fill out the form on http://www.iconservice.com/proform/contact_us.html
However, if I were you I would probably call and this way you can explain the problems that you are having and talk to a real person about your frustrations.
Additionally you can also fill out a customer satisifaction form at http://www.iconservice.com/proform/product_feedbac this would be in addition to your calling them or filling out the contact form.
If you have purchased your product at a local store, you can also let them know what your issues have been.
ProForm is one of the top manufacturers of fitness equipment and in all the checking around that I have done with consumer and product ratings ProForm rates very highly. Also the 1200 model has many glowing reviews from different sources.
I not quite sure why you keep on having problems with your machine and the replacement parts and be sure to take advantage of the phone numbers listed above or the ones that came with your machine.
Good Luck.
An update-
The machine is working now. The problem was that Proform was not packing the replacement parts properly - the eddy mechanism is a very heavy (~20 pounds), fairly complex part that is machined to fairly precise tolerances. Proform was throwing the replacement mechanisms into a largish box with almost no packing material. The boxes and parts got the hell banged out of them during shipping, knocking them out of alignment. After this happened THREE times, I and the ttechnician both got on the phone and yelled at them about it and the FOURTH part was packed and shipped properly. We have had no problems since then.
It still pisses me off that it took over 4 months to get this resolved, but at least I can work out now. I would still recommend the extended warranty!
Moz
Moz,
I feel for you having to go through so much trouble and frustration. I know that would have been furious.
However, not that everything is working well I believe that you will find that 1200 is an incredible elliptical machine. Being able to target your toning will help you reach your personal fitness goal more quickly.
Thank you for keeping us updated!
Hi all - quick question - got this machine in sept 08 and just had the tech back out for the 2nd time - it would appear the incline motors still not working, this is the 2nd one they have sent to me. Can you all tell me - your incline ramp - does it go up alot ? as if you are working out on a stair machine? sorry to ask - I am so over calling Proform -though am going to have to call again to ask for more parts to be sent... I would love to see this machine work properly having spent over $1000 on it! I looked long and hard for a good machine - I liked this one so went for it, but its not worked since purchasing it. Any info would be most appreciated ! Thank you :)
Pippa74,
In addition to having ProForm come out an fix your machine also fill out the customer servey form at http://www.iconservice.com/proform/product_feedbac
ProForm does read all the comments and if you check "yes" at the bottom where if they if they can contact you about the survey they often will. This will give you a dirrect link to "those with the power".
When your elliptical is in the power incline ramp position, your incline will not be very high but you will feel a difference in the way your lower body moves as you pedal. The incline changes the position of your stride that that you can use your muscles differently and therefore toning in a different way.
ProForm does stand behind its products and I know that they will do what ever they can to make you satisified.
I think i may be having the same issue as Moz did. I put together the unit yesterday and immediately I heard and felt something in the flywheel catching or dragging on each full turn of the wheel. I usually feel a slight lurch on the left pedal and a loud click/grind noise. The unit is still very much workable, but the noise is just too much to deal with.
I did not buy an additional warranty for this and I purchased directly from proform, how much will it cost to have a tech come out and take a look at this (in general)?
Matt,
Give ProForm a call toll free at 1.888.533.1333 and they can give you all the info that you need inlcuding any costs which may be associated.
Our manual got ruined when I left in on the deck and we had a rain storm. I called Proform, got through right away and they sent me a replacement immediatly.
Did you call 1-888-533-1333 ?
My call went through to a person right away. I couldn't be happier with their service.
SendaCowChip says:
16 months ago
Ok you sold me. Who's the best online vendor to get a good Elliptical Trainer?