Hi All, I thought I'd share with you all some thoughts on a training course in Johnny G's Kranking (using his Krank Cycle machine) I did yesterday.

Kranking is based on the old concept of arm kranking so in some respects it is not new. What JG has done however is to make is sexy and make it accessible to many types of people, in both a one-to-one session and also and most importantly in a class scenario.

In the USA they believe about 15% of the population attend a gym (about 12% I think in the UK). These are mainly fit people to being with and individuals interested in sports in general. What Kranking promises to do is open that up to perhaps as much as 40% of the population. This includes the obese, the elderly (even those with a fear of falling), people with a physical disability (stroke,amputees,paraplegics,MS,Muscular Dystrophy,people with chronic arthrosis or other lower limb disorders and there is even some suggestion single arm kranking can be good for lymphoedema post breast cancer).

I had my first experience in kranking towards the end of 2009 during a Spin marathon (6 hrs). At the time I felt it was a bit of a gimic as it didn't (and doesn't) permit the kind of range of movement we are trying to facilitate in the thoracic spine with other therapeutic interventions. It was also a lot less than what I achieve with my clients using Gyrotonic. But perhaps I was missing some of the point. Johnny G and his crew are the first to say that cranking is not just about the physical movement that is facilitated by the machine. It is alot about connecting within the body and working towards a flow in mind and body as you go on your own personal journey during a class. By the middle of the training I was totally in that zone.

The concept of a journey, assisted with great music, and simple encouraging verbal cuing from the instructor is something that was such a pleasant change from the typical yelling gym instructor. We also all worked with heart rate monitors on that displayed our Rates (and name aliases) on a large screen, color coded for our training zones. This let us use colour as a means to get in touch with what our hearts were doing during the workouts and it was great when together we'd all fill the display in the green or yellow etc. Not a totally new concept but one not yet taken up in the gym environment. Maybe that is all aboyut the change.

Often I find myself going off into these self meanderings by closing my eyes in a spin class (not for long as I feel I am being rude to the teacher yelling at me to do something else). Now I have found a place to enjoy that experience, on my own, with variations that I decide on, yet in a group class and a shared experience. It was great and I have to say I too think this is going to be a huge thing in the gym scene world wide.

As with any new concept they have a way to go on the presentation of the physiology behind what's going on but what they do have is some useful data. Importantly I got my HR up to 191bpm arm cranking (in a fusion class that combined spin and arm kranking in 4 min explosive bursts). Even arm cranking along brought my HR up into the 170's, therefore burning as many calories as I would in spine. Interestingly they present some old data from the fixed arm ergonometers that sown that the coloric burn for a given power output was in fact more in kranking than in cycling. This has been repeated a few times which would mean that those that cannot go for a ride or a run (for what ever reason) can burn, burn, burn by taking an arm cranking class.

It's early days but I welcome this new angle on what is actually a pretty old type of physical exercise. I love that is encorporates (in true Californian Style) mind, body and spirit. Afterall someone has to do it in a mass market way to. But most exciting is that this type of class will open up the doors to those with a physical disability and the elders to approach the gym with confidence and sit along side the rest of us, in the same class, and enjoy the same types of experience. Physio's are just going to love suggesting this to their clients who would normally find the gym just a little to scarey.

Well done to the Kranking Team. You can view their sexy kranking promo video here. Notice the music as they do spend a lot of time working on music for their classes.