I noticed an ad for the ROM cardio machine in The Atlantic a few months ago. It sells for $14,615, and claims to give you “a complete non-impact cardio, resistance- and flexibility workout” in just 4 minutes.
Want to see what you get? Google “rom machine” and click on the first link. (I’m not going to link directly to the site in case that’s a no-no, even though I’m hardly suggesting that anyone run up their black Visa card on this thing.)
Let me clearly state that I don’t believe the claims being made for this machine. Not only are the claims way too grand, but paragraphs like this set off my nutbar alarm:
Here’s what I’m wondering: has anyone ever tried one of these? Has anyone ever seen one in person? Do you suspect the manufacturers are crackpots or hucksters, and is the difference a significant one?
Even HIIT which takes you to 100% of your maximum (normal/safe) heart rate during some intervals cannot work in four minutes. This is a completely impossible claim.
So…these guys are idiots, right? If four minutes sounds like too short a time, why don’t they advertise something slightly less ridiculous, like 15 minutes at a lower intensity level?
And if the machine did anything close to what they promise, the best marketing plan would be to sell them to health clubs at cost so that people would get a chance to try them.
So either they are idiots, or they are relying on their customers to be idiots. And I’m guessing it’s the latter.
Y’know, for 15 grand, I could build an awesome home gym. I mean, 1 grand for the weights/racks/etc and then maybe 14 grand to hire a roomful of beautiful models to fawn all over me while I lift…
Uh, yeah. My vote is for “snake oil salesmen”. Their product looks ineffective, shoddily built and dangerous. You’d be better off doing your cardio/resistance training in a lion pit.
Their website is missing only one thing: “This machine is much too powerful for the average fitness hobbyist. If you just want to shed a few pounds for summer or get into shape for amateur athletics, this is not for you. Our patented power workout is exclusively for hard-core fitness enthusiasts who want to bench-press locomotives or sprint up Mount Everest on their lips. And you know this is true because it’s, y’know, so a-spensive.”
Well, I actually did order the free video the last time a thread about this popped up here. I can safely say I have not received any additional junk mail that I’m aware of, nor did they ever bother to contact me.
Mind you, it’s obvious that this a scam if you go by the claims on their site, and watching the even more outrageous claims on the DVD support that theory.
It does seem like a kinda cool piece of equipment to have if you’re filthy rich just to one-up your friends and neighbors though.
And the video’s pretty sweet - the production values are very high and they spent plenty of time and money putting the package together. Obviously they spent a hell of a lot of money and really only market this to incredibly shallow ultra-richies with significantly more money than brains.
“Experts in all fields of knowledge are guardians of the status quo. Anything that differs with their beliefs is immediately dismissed by them as untrue.”
Exactly! Never trust an experts opinion. They are closed minded and have their own agendas.
Go with what you see in ads and on tv. Why would somebody wanting to sell you an exercise machine for $15K lie to you?
