Day 4: Last night I decided to try out AlterG Antigravity treadmill. It was one healthy lifestyle brand came to trust. I had seen a video for it a while ago and have been dying to try it out. So when it came up on ClassPass, I had to try it.
Basically what happens is, you put on these bike shorts that are attached to this tulip looking thing with a zipper that runs all around your body. You get zipped into the bubble surrounding the treadmill. Once the machine calibrates and you start running you can adjust how much of your body weight you want to be running with. The lower the number goes, the less weight you’re running with. So I chose 60% as a good starting point. The experience is totally bizarre but weirdly exhilarating. Air blows up into the bubble to lift you while you run. That way when you strike the tread of the treadmill you are doing it with a lighter touch which saves your knees and other joints from the impact.
I ran for about 25 minutes with 2 walking breaks in the middle. I did a little over 2 miles and my speed ranged from 4.5 to 7.5 with an incline of 4%. I sweat my ass off and really felt like I had a good run. But I wasn’t exhausted. I felt pretty great. I wasn’t crazy sore this morning either. I did have a little back spasm but I have no idea if it’s related to the machine or not. There wasn’t any diagnostics on the treadmill so I have no idea about calorie burn or heart rate. If I do it again I think I would try to get a heart rate monitor on as well as my fitbit.
I would definitely do this again. It was weird and kind of fun. Knowing what I know about it I would probably try to run longer and slower and just see how long I could go.