Isometrics and Fitness: My Review of the Iron Gym Express

For Christmas my wife bought me, among other things, the Iron Gym Express. For those of you who do not know, the Iron Gym Express is a piece of exercise equipment. It is used for isometric exercises and it delivers as advertised.

For starters this piece of equipment retails for between 20 and 30 U.S. dollars. It is very easy to assemble which is a point in its favor. This piece of equipment is only good for a few exercises. One can use it for dips, push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups which is the main thing is advertised for. It is lightweight, small, and disassembles easily so it is convenient for travel.

For pull-ups it fits snuggly onto the top of a conventional doorway. It does this well and it is obvious its designers did their homework; it supported my weight easily (just under 200 lbs.).

For pushups this piece of equipment helps as it allows one to go deeper than normal and it allows one to have one's hands positioned in a different position - palms up instead of palms to the side. Combined, these features make push-ups slightly more challenging and more productive.

Dips are another matter. For dips one needs to place the piece of equipment on a service that is higher than the mere floor. I used my kitchen table plus a chair for my feet. Needing a surface other than a flat floor for dips is a drawback for this product.

I did not use this product for sit-ups. For sit-ups it supposedly fits into place in the doorway (similar to the way it does for pull-ups) at the bottom of the floor. One can then brace one's feet and body into place placing one's feet underneath the crossbar.

The drawbacks with the piece of equipment are numerous. It is merely an isometrics aid and as such it suffers from all the drawbacks that isometrics do. Isometrics are not usually good for those at a beginner level as they are too challenging and beginners can barely do a few repetitions of a single exercise (I have pull-ups in mind here but it might be true for dips as well). For those at an advanced level, isometrics - especially push-ups - are often not challenging enough. For those at the intermediate level (where I currently am) they are very good at building strength and for overall conditioning of one's physique.

For pull-ups, the exercise this piece is most known for, there are drawbacks. For the very short and the very tall this device is a no go. Short people, like under four foot tall (I have children in mind here), will have a hard time installing this piece into a door frame. For the very tall, above approx. 6'3'', ones' legs could/will hang down too far and obstruct one from doing a proper pull-up. Even with legs fully bent, which is not always easy to do, I could imagine a person with long arms and legs having his/her knees touch the floor.

My wife paid about 20 dollars for this piece of equipment and at that price it is worth it. At 30 dollars, I might balk. It is a good piece of equipment, but it is very limited in what it can be used for.