An Ultimate Guide to the Jacobs Ladder Machine: Lose Weight Fast
On the lookout for a cool new piece of cardio equipment? Guess what, we’ve found one. And it’s a hit: The Jacobs ladder machine.
This is a piece that balances all the necessary features of a great cardio machine, plus much more. It guarantees an effective sweat workout that can burn calories more efficiently than many other pieces of cardio equipment, including the treadmill.
In this article, we’ll be providing you with an ultimate guide to the Jacobs ladder machine, featuring everything you need to know about it so that you’re able to lose weight and reach your fitness goals easily and enjoyably.
The Jacobs Ladder Machine
Getting your hands on one of these could be the perfect solution for anyone looking to lose weight. This machine will suit people of any age, gender, and level of fitness experience, promising an enjoyable and effective workout, vastly different from a basic jog on the treadmill or cycle on the spin bike. I’ll quickly run through how this article will be structured. We’ll provide descriptions of:
What the jacobs ladder machine is
How it works
Why it’s effective
Its benefits
Its limitations
Some workouts for you to try
Whether you’re just getting into fitness or an established guru, this article will provide you with everything you need to know about a machine that’ll be incomprehensibly useful in your journey to lose weight.
What is the Jacobs Ladder Machine?
It’s a revolutionary cardio machine that allows users to burn calories by repeatedly performing a ladder-climbing action. It consists of a welded tubular steel frame, paired with solid maple ladder rungs and a self-motorised ladder belt, allowing you to perform safe and secure exercise in your journey to lose weight.
To put it simply, the machine’s construction is of the highest quality. You’ll struggle to find a machine more impressive and advanced as this.
If you’re interested, here are the machine’s other features and specifications:
31.25 inches in width
76 inches in length
65.5 inches in height
325 lbs in weight
ABS/ Polyethylene casing
Ceiling height of 7.5 feet
Metrics detailed on the machine’s digital display panel include elapsed time, feet climbed, calories burned, climbing rate (feet per minute), and heart rate (given you use the provided waist strap).
How the machine works
Unlike almost every other cardio machine, this piece doesn’t function off pre-programmed or digitally controlled movement, instead using a cable tethered to the machine from the user’s waist band, using tension to determine the intensity of the workout.
This is a major upside of the machine, as users are able to freely dictate the intensity of their workout without any stress of having to navigate a small, partially unresponsive LCD display screen whilst fatigued.
Arguably the most useful situations that are made possible by this type of movement are acceleration and deceleration. Instead of having to repeatedly click a sticky button, taking 5 - 10 seconds of time to increase or decrease the digitally controlled speed of the machine, you can simply climb at a faster pace, and the machine will follow. You’re the boss.
Let’s go back to the waistband, and look at the multiple other functions that it maintains.
It acts as a safety mechanism to lock the rungs in place when the machine isn’t being used
It allows you to control the resistance exerted by the machine during your workout, as well as the speed
It measures essential body metrics including heart rate and calories burned
The machine also possesses side rails, providing a helpful alternative for those that don’t like the continuous hand over hand motion demanded by the ladder rungs, allowing you to lose weight through a smooth and ergonomic workout.
Crafted with high quality material
Why is it so effective?
Researchers have found that the jacobs ladder machine allows users to burn more calories in shorter periods of time compared to other more prominent forms of cardio exercise, namely treadmill workouts. Here are some more comparisons. The machine burns:
250% more calories than swimming
150% more than tennis
63% more than cycling
23% more than running
All in the same amount of time, with extraneous variables considered. [Source]
Another reason the jacobs ladder machine is so effective is its wacky but fun form of alternative cardio exercise. Implementing variation, in the case through a different movement, can be inexpressibly useful in helping you lose weight or reach any other fitness goals you have.
Are you ever lying in bed, and you feel you’ve been in the same position for a lengthy period of time, so you decide to roll over, which ends up making you more comfortable than you were before? It’s the same sort of situation. The climbing motion made possible by the machine promises an enjoyable workout that’ll be even more effective than your boring and basic treadmill workout.
Benefits of the machine
Burns calories efficiently
We’ve already discussed this briefly, but the importance of burning calories in helping you lose weight is unfathomable. Potentially the most significant factor that influences the success of a person’s weight loss effort is whether they’re in a calorie deficit or not.
You’re in a calorie deficit when you’re burning more calories than you’re ingesting. This is what you want if you’re trying to lose weight. By burning calories more efficiently than almost every other form of cardio equipment, the jacobs ladder machine asserts itself as one of the most effective forms of cardio exercise out there.
Muscular Engagement
Exercising on the machine also benefits your muscular health (side note: good muscular health is a critical health factor that dictates your ability to live longer!) Multiple muscle groups are engaged during workouts, including:
Push muscles (chest, triceps, and shoulders)
Pull muscles (lower back and biceps)
Core muscles (abdominals)
Central abducting muscles (groin and glutes)
Although it’s not the most effective form of muscle-building exercise, the small degree of muscle growth earned as a secondary benefit alongside burning calories is great.
Improves endurance and cardiovascular health
Like all forms of cardio(vascular) exercise, the jacobs ladder machine improves circulatory function and cardiovascular health. The machine is instrumental in increasing your body’s capability to continually exercise for extended periods of time, with this being known as endurance training.
Cardiovascular dysfunction kills approximately 18 million people each year. By performing frequent workouts on the machine, you’re able to better your endurance, improving your chances of avoiding health complications in the lungs, heart, and bloodstream. Training that increases endurance also tends to help you lose weight. By the way, we’ve written a detailed guide on weight loss diets in this article, linked here, consider checking it out if you’re interested.
Challenges your coordination
The machine also benefits your coordination, another ability that exercising on a treadmill or spin bike can’t come close to developing. Sturgeon Valley Athletic Club suggested that the machine “reinforces a natural body movement that helps with coordination, posture, and balance.”
This benefit is a game changer, especially for those approaching their senior years, considering the fact that coordination can decrease with age. Sustaining a high level of coordination is a vital factor that ensures good physical health, with the jacobs ladder machine being instrumental in doing this.
Allowing you to perform efficient and effective cardio exercise
Limitations of the machine
Highly expensive
It can be said that the machine’s greatest drawback is its steep price point. As much as its benefits drastically increase its value, the product is quite expensive and may be unaffordable for some, and a bad investment for others, especially considering there are alternative methods to help you lose weight and reach your fitness goals. Here’s the machine’s cost on the jacobs ladder website in a few different currencies as of the 23rd of March, 2024 (inflation consideration):
$5,999 USD
£4,761 GBP
€5,522 Euros
$9,207 AUD
$8,173 CAD
By the way, we’ve conducted in-depth research into great alternatives that are much cheaper than this machine. Read our article on the 5 best treadmills out there through this link.
Large in size
The only other major drawback of the machine is its large size and inability to adapt to tight space. Most treadmills possess the same flaw, however, many exercise bikes and rowing machines can be folded up or stood up vertically to make them more compact.
Unless you’re keen to buy the machine, this won’t be an issue for you. If, by chance, a gym in your area has one, it’ll be their problem to provide the machine with a dedicated space. If you truly do want to buy one, ensure you have an adequate amount of space, whether this be in your garage, a spare room, or wherever else is suitable. As we mentioned before, you can lose weight through other types of equipment - we’ve discussed the 5 best exercise bikes (a smaller, cheaper alternative) in another article linked here.
The machine while being used
Some workouts to try with the machine
Here are some workouts you could try with the jacobs ladder machine. If you’re considering buying one, try to find a gym that has it so that you can do a trial workout and see if you like how the piece works. These workouts were created by Competitor’s Outlet - consider checking out their content.
Intense Endurance Workout
Warm up to a point where you’re at 70% of your maximum heart rate (find your approximate maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220)
Continue to climb at a speed that maintains your heart rate at 70% of its maximum until you reach a point where you can no longer physically sustain that heart rate
Record the time elapsed and try to go for longer next time
Weight Loss Aerobic Workout
2 minute warm up to get your heart rate to 70% of its maximum
Climb for approximately 20 minutes at a constant speed. This speed should be sustainable for the 20-minute period whilst never exceeding 80% of your max heart rate
Record how many feet you climbed over the 20-minute period
Dedicate a little bit of time after the 20-minute period to cooling down by slowing your climbing rate until you stop
Anaerobic Interval Workout
Warm up for 2 minutes, getting your heart rate to 70% of its maximum
Climb for 4 minutes at 85% of your maximum heart rate
Take 4 minutes of rest
Repeat the second and third steps 3 or 4 times
Record how many feet you climbed over the entire period and look to increase it during your next workout
Doing any of these 3 workouts consistently will be fantastically useful in helping you lose weight and reach your fitness goals. A great way to track your progress is through the FitTrack Dara Gen 2 Smart Scale, which is our top pick for the best fitness scale out there. Read our review of it here.
A condensed close-up view of the machine’s rungs and side railing
To Conclude
The Jacobs ladder machine is a revolutionary piece of cardio equipment which will provide you with an array of outstanding benefits, guaranteeing progress towards losing weight and improvement to your physical health. In this article, we discussed everything you need to know about the machine prior to purchasing it, so that you’re certain of whether or not it will help you achieve your fitness goals. We hope this article provided you with the answers you were looking for. Best of luck in your future fitness endeavours!