While at BlogHer 12 I spent a lot of time in the expo hall. It was wall to wall brands demonstrating some of their top of the line products. I was excited to see Bowflex there because I do my best to keep up on health & fitness and their Core Body Reformer caught my eye. I watched a demonstration, thought it looked like an incredible piece of equipment, and had them scan my badge to enter to win one.
Little did I know how life changing that simple motion would be.
After arriving home from BlogHer I settled back into my routine of blogging, errands, keeping up the house, and trying to fit in exercise when I could. One morning I opened up my email and immediately started jumping up and down and calling everyone I knew. I had won a TreadClimber TC20 from the Bowflex booth at BlogHer!
I did some research on the TreadClimber TC20 and learned that it’s an elliptical, stepper, and treadmill all in one. Thanks to the dual treadle system users can burn up to 3.5 times the amount of calories than on a treadmill at the same speed.
The TreadClimber TC20 arrived in 4 enormous boxes. Thankfully only one was really heavy because the day it arrived it was raining. I was able to bring 3 of the boxes inside myself and only had to leave the heavy one outside under our awning to stay dry until Dave could get home to bring it in.
We were really excited about the TreadClimber and once we finally opened up the boxes, Dave had it put together in one evening. I couldn’t wait to start using it.
It couldn’t have arrived at a better time. I’m a hermit in the winter and my workout routine falls apart once the temperature drops below 40. I hate being cold and lose my motivation to get bundled up to get out to the gym. But now the TreadClimber TC20 is here and I can workout whenever I want. I’m hoping using it this winter will keep up my fitness level and keep my blood flowing so I’m not as cold and inactive this winter.
The first time Dave and I used the TreadClimber TC20 we each couldn’t get over how we could get so sweaty walking at such a slow pace. Our first couple of times we used it we walked at 1.5-1.7 mph or so and we agreed we felt like we were walking in slow motion but after doing so for 20-30 minutes we had worked up a good sweat and felt it in our legs the next day.
After using it now for a couple of weeks, Dave is up to 2.5 mph for 20 minutes which is quite a workout. I’m around 2.0-2.2 for 30 minutes. On a regular treadmill I walk at 4 mph. The best way to describe this workout is to imagine if you were hiking uphill but on a smooth surface. We nicknamed it the “Trudge Climber” because it feels a bit like you are trudging uphill or through mud.
We were surprised to learn when it first arrived that we couldn’t run on it. It is made for walking only. After using it for these few weeks we understand why. Since the treadles down’t lie flat, they are always on an incline, running wouldn’t really be possible. That’s ok with us because walking on it is enough of a workout in itself and with the combined motions of a stepper and elliptical it allows you to burn more calories than you would on a traditional treadmill.
Here’s a video I made showing how it works. I apologize in advance for darkness in the video. Our basement doesn’t have the best lighting.
Now that we have the hang of it we were both intrigued by this Bowflex video which explains how to use it for interval workouts:
Dave enjoys interval training so he’s excited to give this a try. I may try it a couple of times but I prefer the steady workouts. Either way we are thrilled to have the TreadClimber TC20 and recommend it to anyone who is looking for a treadmill, stepper, or elliptical machine. This is truly a low impact, 3-in-1 machine, that offers an intense workout which burns calories and produces results.
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