If you're looking to burn more calories, improve your cardiovascular fitness, break a plateau, or increase workout duration, interval training should be part of your workout program.
When I was contacted several weeks ago by Gymboss.com asking if I would be interested in test-driving the Gymboss Interval Timer, I jumped at the opportunity and even recruited a CFB reader to help review the product.
To start, let me explain what the Gymboss is and what it claims to do.
According to the Gymboss packaging, this high quality, muti-use timer is designed and used by fitness experts to increase strength, endurance, cardio, and general health. The Gymboss will accelerate any workout to the next level by allowing you to control the intensity, set the pace, and avoid interruptions, resulting in a more precise, disciplined workout.
Features and Functionality For the low price of $19.95 the Gymboss has some very nifty features that are usually found in $100 + interval timers:
- Ability to set one or two intervals. This is incredibly useful if you’re doing a high intensity interval workout (HIIT) and need to switch from one exercise to another in an allotted time frame. For instance, I did 2 minutes of Clubbell swings followed by 30 seconds of mountain climbers; cycling through this sequence for a total of 6 sets.
Catapult Fitness Blog reader and co-reviewer Caron S. found another great use for the dual interval option – “My trainer set up circuits and as soon as the timer went off, we moved to the next station. Easy for all of us to hear and keep the session moving at a better pace. No more watching the clock for my trainer either … she was able to focus on our form, training and beatings.”
Intervals can be set from 2 seconds to 100 minutes.
- Multiple alarm options. You can set the Gymboss for a low beep, high beep and/or vibrate mode. As Caron mentioned, the high beep is loud enough to hear in a group setting. For running intervals on the treadmill, I personally prefer the vibrate mode.
- Stopwatch functionality. Very basic but a nice addition.
- Water and shock resistant. I wouldn’t have thought the Gymboss would have held up as well as it did. To no fault of the product, I dropped the unit twice and it kept on ticking. The belt clip was perfect for running intervals while keeping the Gymboss on vibrate.
Ease of Use While not intuitive, the instructions that come with the Gymboss are pretty straight forward and I was up and running with the unit within 10 minutes of taking it out of the package (actually, I think it took me longer to open the clamshell package than setting up the unit itself!).
If you require assistance, Gymboss has posted YouTube videos to walk you through the set up process.
The unit is small and very light weight, and comes with a belt clip that will hold tight regardless of what speed you may achieve on the treadmill. The battery life is great.
Round-up
So, does the Gymboss meet its claim in regards to accelerating any workout to the next level?
If weight/fat loss is your goal, interval training is a must. While the Gymboss cannot do the workout for you, it is definitely a tool that will benefit anyone performing any of the following exercises:
- Boxing (the Gymboss enables you to set the number of rounds, the length of rounds and the length of the rest period)
As Caron mentioned to me in her review, “I never used an interval timer prior to this and now I do not work out without it.”
I concur and based on the value the Gymboss provides at a sub $20 price point, The Gymboss Interval Timer is the newest recipient of the
Catapult Fitness Blog NO BULL Seal of Approval!
If you're interested in the chance to win a Gymboss Interval timer, leave a comment on this posting telling us how a Gymboss would help your workout.
This contest is open to U.S. and Canadian residents from Wednesday, October 14, 2009 through 11:59 pm ET, Sunday, October 18, 2009.
Train hard; stay strong.
Peace.
Susan
If you're looking to burn more calories, improve your cardiovascular fitness, break a plateau, or increase workout duration, interval training should be part of your workout program.
When I was contacted several weeks ago by Gymboss.com asking if I would be interested in test-driving the Gymboss Interval Timer, I jumped at the opportunity and even recruited a CFB reader to help review the product.
To start, let me explain what the Gymboss is and what it claims to do.
According to the Gymboss packaging, this high quality, muti-use timer is designed and used by fitness experts to increase strength, endurance, cardio, and general health. The Gymboss will accelerate any workout to the next level by allowing you to control the intensity, set the pace, and avoid interruptions, resulting in a more precise, disciplined workout.
Features and Functionality
For the low price of $19.95 the Gymboss has some very nifty features that are usually found in $100 + interval timers:
- Ability to set one or two intervals. This is incredibly useful if you’re doing a high intensity interval workout (HIIT) and need to switch from one exercise to another in an allotted time frame. For instance, I did 2 minutes of Clubbell swings followed by 30 seconds of mountain climbers; cycling through this sequence for a total of 6 sets.
Intervals can be set from 2 seconds to 100 minutes.
- Multiple alarm options. You can set the Gymboss for a low beep, high beep and/or vibrate mode. As Caron mentioned, the high beep is loud enough to hear in a group setting. For running intervals on the treadmill, I personally prefer the vibrate mode.
- Stopwatch functionality. Very basic but a nice addition.
- Water and shock resistant. I wouldn’t have thought the Gymboss would have held up as well as it did. To no fault of the product, I dropped the unit twice and it kept on ticking. The belt clip was perfect for running intervals while keeping the Gymboss on vibrate.
Ease of Use
While not intuitive, the instructions that come with the Gymboss are pretty straight forward and I was up and running with the unit within 10 minutes of taking it out of the package (actually, I think it took me longer to open the clamshell package than setting up the unit itself!).
If you require assistance, Gymboss has posted YouTube videos to walk you through the set up process.
The unit is small and very light weight, and comes with a belt clip that will hold tight regardless of what speed you may achieve on the treadmill. The battery life is great.
Round-up
So, does the Gymboss meet its claim in regards to accelerating any workout to the next level?
If weight/fat loss is your goal, interval training is a must. While the Gymboss cannot do the workout for you, it is definitely a tool that will benefit anyone performing any of the following exercises:
As Caron mentioned to me in her review, “I never used an interval timer prior to this and now I do not work out without it.”
I concur and based on the value the Gymboss provides at a sub $20 price point, The Gymboss Interval Timer is the newest recipient of the Catapult Fitness Blog NO BULL Seal of Approval!
If you're interested in the chance to win a Gymboss Interval timer, leave a comment on this posting telling us how a Gymboss would help your workout.
This contest is open to U.S. and Canadian residents from Wednesday, October 14, 2009 through 11:59 pm ET, Sunday, October 18, 2009.
Train hard; stay strong.
Peace.
Susan