Pilates Power Gym Pro Original Cardio Package (Incl. Power Flex Cardio Rebounder, Push Up Bar & 4 Pilates Workout DVDs)

I am a personal trainer and have a 1200 square foot area in my basement, full of exercise equipment. This makes a very nice addition, but there are a few cons. I will address those first, then the pros:Cons: The cardio rebounder is pretty useless, and not at all worth the extra money. The reason it is useless for me, is that I find it very uncomfortable to use the actual fabric for feet/toe placement when rebounding. I get a better bounce just using the top bar, and my toe/knee position is more correct using the top bar. (I use shoes for this, then take them off when using the foot straps.) I won't get into the mechanics of that since this will be already be a long review, I'll just say that the foot frame is not high enough to prevent knees from sticking out further from the toes when squatting or bouncing. I am a 5'7" female though, so the less than optimal knee/toe position may be exaggerated on me more so than on someone shorter.My second con, has to do with my height as well. I can complete every exercise given in the booklet and on the dvd's, but on a few of them I just don't get the full range of motion. Even just a few more inches length on the slide board runners would help greatly.My third con is a mechanical issue. When I first got it all set up and used it, I kept hearing a rubbing/hitting sound on the left side. Upon inspection, I found that there was some sort of pin on about the center of each side of the outside frame that points in toward the slide rungs. The pin on the left side was bent in toward the rungs, but I was able to bend it back out. Everything now works fine, unless I turn on my side and do a one legged side squat. Facing right, it's smooth. Facing left, it scrapes, but in a different area more near the top. It scrapes enough that I do not feel I can continue to do the side squats, which I really enjoy. bummer! But I would rather miss out on those than go through the trouble of packing this thing back up and exchanging it, when I am not sure the replacement would fare an better. Plus, even though it may not sound like it at this point, I would really miss this machine in the interim, and as long as I don't do left facing squats the machine runs very smooth.My fourth con is the price. At the time of this review, this machine costs $50 more than the one without the rebounder. This machine also comes with a couple of extra dvd's. Since the rebounder is truly useless to me, that means I paid $50 for a couple of dvd's. As a personal trainer, and fitness buff of 30 years, I don't really need the dvd's although I can see where they may help someone who is inexperienced. If I had it to do over, I would absolutely just go with the $50 lower cost version.Ok, now for the Pros!I have used all kinds of machines, free weights, and have spent lots of time on the total gym. I have all these various machines in my basement. Even after all the cons I wrote on the Power Gym Pro, it is the machine I have used the most for the past few weeks since I've had it. I absolutely love the smooth feel. It feels as natural as higher end weight machines that I have used. Compared to the Total Gym, well, I like this better. I can get a better range of motion on certain exercises with the total gym, but the Power Gym is smoother and I can get more resistance. With the Total Gym, I have to put it on the highest slant and still cannot get a good leg workout. With the Power gym, I can put it on the highest slant AND use all four resistance cords and Yay, I can actually FEEL those squats! Another area this machine excels over the Total Gym is ease of movement. You literally just grab the handle on the back of the Power Gym and it really does easily roll anywhere you want it. And it doesn't take up near the space that the Total Gym does.Another thing I love about this machine is the way the leg exercises feel with the foot straps on. The motion is such a nice smooth combination of stretching and resistance. I love getting both done at the same time! I won't mention the name of the other (competing) machine anymore because it sounds like I'm bashing them when I don't really mean to. The 'other' machine really is nice and I've gotten a lot of use out of it in the past. But other than the slightly better range of motion on just a few exercises, the Power gym excels in all other areas.With the Power Gym I can truly get a full body workout, and I can get in my cardio, my stretching, and my resistance training all with this one machine. Yes, I do periodically use some of my other stuff for variety, but if I could only have one piece of equipment in my workout area it would be this!

This pilates tool is well made, 1\10 the cost and far more portable than a regulation pilates reformer. But some aspects of the design of this Gym may not suite older or larger bodies. The distance between shoulder stops to end is very limiting. To do the exercises as shown in directions, the user needs to have good abdominal core strength and be very agile, able to move from sitting position to side or back then back to sitting up, hands free in a very confined space. Not easy for those over 60 and maybe not possible for those who can not bend at the waist\hip or bring knees to chest. To easily get into a position to do the arm \100s & most leg exercises shown in the company videos the user may need to be short waisted \small hipped & under 5' feet 6" inches overall. To be able to utilize this gym we devised a stand , 14" high, to make using this gym possible for our 65-68 year old bodies. We are also" Seriously" thinking of repositioning the shoulder stops and pully mechanism to allow for more room to shift in and prevent catching collar length hair into the pully aparatis. Kaswit should consider offering an optional raised base /stand that would include side pull out extenders so the pully system can be repositioned behind the user's body regardless of the direction the head is facing. Video training was good, during the exercises the instructor used the foundational /traditional Pilate's discriptive vocabulary for training objectives.

Easy and fun to use, small footprint and effective in working targeted muscle groups. I have already seen a difference in just a couple of weeks of using 20 minutes per day following the work out videos provided.

I was so excited to get this machine as I have been wanting a rebounder for some time. This piece of equipment is solidly made with such easy transitions from using the foot straps to going straight into arm circles. The glideboard is quiet and is so smooth and it really lets you focus on the moves rather then being distracted by squeaks. The DVD'S are okay, geared more for beginners and not all that challenging for more experienced users. With that being said, this is by far the best piece of equipment I have bought in years and the one I have been using everyday.

My wife purchased this for our home gym so she could do pilates with the expectation I would use it as well. I could tell once we got it out of the box it wasn't going to be a good fit for me but I gave it a shot anyway. I'm 6'3" and lift weights regularly, so not only was the fit VERY awkward but this thing wouldn't adjust anywhere close to a resistance level that challenged me. So then my wife, who's 5'1" gets on it and it's awkward for her too. It had plenty of resistance for her, but the cable lengths and pivot points made typical movements awkward and she wasn't able to get resistance for the full range of the movements. It seemed to be built well and was plenty sturdy but for the life of us we couldn't understand how this works for so many people to get such good reviews.

I have been wanting this machine for some time. Experienced with matt Pilates, finally I am able to experience Pilates with a reformer machine that gives stretch and resistance at the same time. First of all it arrived a day earlier than estimated. It came fully assembled with a few pieces that needed to simply be attached. It came without any issues and works better than I had imagined it would. The videos are a great support to working the machine and I am so happy with this purchase. I really enjoy the videos and the workout is fun yet very challenging. I saved the box in case I ever need to bring it with me outside of the house. I would have given it 5 starts but like the other reviews -if it was only just 3-4 inches longer, it would be a perfect *****.