When I first saw the advert for the tower 200 I must admit I was impressed and a little excited. A cable training system that can be installed anywhere you have a door. Made of steel pre-assembled and easy to use what could be better?
I’ve always liked cable machines as an exercised tool because it’s provides you with functional training. It doesn’t lock you into one particular position like gym machines nor does it isolate a particular muscle group. It’s a full body workout because almost any exercise you do using a cable machine requires that the rest of the your body (muscles) need to work to stabilise you and therefore more muscles are used whilst performing the exercise.
I must admit it sounds perfect providing a maximum of 200lbs resistance which should be enough for most people’s needs. Jake claims you only need to use the tower 200 for 11 minutes a day and that it comes with a free DVD and the ability for you to perform over 200 exercises.
I almost bought one myself but then I started to look around and read other people’s comments on the tower 200 and as I thought if it sounds too good to be true it probably is too good to be true. Opinion is divided into two camps (as always) one who say it’s well built and the other claims that pulleys break and resistance bands get frayed.
People were complaining of broken and worn pulleys and stated that the cables had started to fray and in some cases actually broke. You can imagine the damage a pulley flying off when loaded with 200lbs of pressure could do. It wouldn’t be a pretty sight if it hit you on the head or any part of the body for that matter.
It would appear this really is (or could be) a fantastic piece of at home exercise equipment costing in the region of $200 if only they can get the alleged quality problems sorted. Given half a chance I’d probably buy one myself.
Read the comments on this post to see what I mean about the quality issues.
PS I’m not saying this product is bad it may be fantastic it’s just that I get nervous when I start to read negative reviews. A couple you’d expect after all you can’t please everyone but more than that and I become wary.