Jacobs Ladder - Who uses this?
I have been using the Jacob's Ladder for years. There were 2 of them at the World Gym that I went to and they seemed averagely popular. When I started going to Golds, there was none and I had to push and push and push for 2 years until they got one. When I saw it show up at Golds, I thought that it would be the shiny new toy that would be impossible to get to. I thought that there would have to be a sign up sheet and that people would be limited to 30 minutes max.
Quite the opposite. It often sits for 1.5 hours that I am weightlifting completely unused. Every Arc Trainer and ellipticial in the gym is full up with people and you have to wait for them. There are very few times that I have to wait for the Jacobs Ladder. Golds Gym even had a Everest Challenge promotion for it where if you did the same number of feet as Mount Everest is tall, you got a t-shirt and a chance to be in a TV advertizement. Not too many people took up the challenge. Even the young gladitor training style guys with the Vin Diesel looking tattoos stay away from it.
I do 30 minute total but break it up into 15 minutes, 8 minutes and 7 minutes at an average of 78 feet a minute. A few crossfit people are made to do it pretty intensely for like 2.5 minutes by their coach before being made to run around the track and then do pushups. But other users are only doing it at like 65 feet a minute for like 6 minutes max and then they are outta there. A lot of people report being able to only hang with it for like 3 minutes at a time. One senior woman walked up to me while I was on it and said, "Oh. You are on the ladder of death."
Is the Jacob's Ladder really the ladder of death? How many other people here have this in their gym and have used it? Who loves it? Who hates it? If you use it, what is your target goal for time and feet per minute rate? Besides dying from heart explosion, are there other fears about using it? Like missing the ladder rung either your hand or foot?
I like it because it is so intense and also because it is low impact on my feet and knees. It is one of my replacements for running because I suck at running.