Just so we're on the same page, this column isn't about the 1990 Tim Robbins thriller, or the Biblical Jacob's dream of a ladder joining heaven and earth, nor about the rope ladder with wooden rungs that can be used to get from a large ship to smaller craft. And it's definitely not about the device by which an electric arc travels up two metal rods.
The Jacobs Ladder I'm referring to is a cardiovascular device, 65 inches high by 31 inches wide, with a closed loop of maple wood ladder rungs. It works similarly to a treadmill on a 40-degree incline — but you provide the power. A digital readout shows elapsed time, feet climbed, rate of climb, calorie burn and heart rate (with a chest strap).
You have a choice of holding onto the handles along the side of the machine or grasping the wooden ladder rungs and using a hand-over-hand method to simulate a climbing action. My personal preference is grasping the handles on the sides. I admit I feel a bit more in control (which is probably why I should challenge my stabilator muscles more by grasping the rungs).
I took a trip to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to look at the fitness center devoted to spec-ops training and found one section that had 10 Jacobs Ladders set up in two rows of five facing each other. They were situated near two rows of Concept2 indoor rowers.
I knew these guys were serious.
If you're looking for special programs such as "fat burner," "alpine hills" or any one of the military PT ones that many standard treadmills, ellipticals and some bikes have, this is not the machine for you.
The Jacobs Ladder is a special program all by itself. It has all the low-impact benefits of treadmills, ellipticals and bikes while keeping the back neutral — and keeping stress off the low back and hip and knee joints — all while imparting a higher workout effect. You can't just loaf along on a Jacobs Ladder like you can on those other machines.
When I first got on the Jacobs Ladder, I tried to slow my pace (after an embarrassingly short time, according to the digital clock). But because I was the motor that made the ladder run, I had the sensation that I would be stepping off the bottom, so I would speed up a bit and get higher on the ladder. The machine said: "Not so quick. You have a little bit more in your tank."
Perhaps that's a bit of a reach, but I was pleasantly surprised that my first Jacobs Ladder session resulted in a higher cardio impact with lower joint impact in a shorter amount of time than I had anticipated.
Here are some training sessions that are fairly standard, along with one session capability that I discovered.
Constant speed/set time: Keep up a steady rate for a prescribed period of time or as long as you can. Record your rate and time, and work to improve. You can also attempt multiple sets with a rest period that brings your heart rate back down. Record the number of sets, and try to improve. One approach is to focus on multiple sets of speed and time, then when you reach five sets, increase speed.
Interval training: Set a rate that you can execute easily, and hold for a specific period of time, such as 2 minutes. Then maintain a faster rate for a shorter period of time, such as 1 minute. Repeat these sets for however many you have determined. When I start interval training with clients, I like to go with a 2-to-1, slow-to-fast, rate. Increase the length of the fast-pace interval until slow and fast are the same; then start to reduce the slow interval time until you reach a 2-to-1 fast-to-slow ratio.
Cardio/strength interval training: When you get off the Jacobs Ladder, the digital clock does stop, but it stays frozen at the stop time for about 55 seconds. You can take a set of power blocks (weight-adjustable dumbbells usually 10 to 40 pounds) and do a set of strength exercises (10 hammer curls, for example), then get back on the Jacobs Ladder and continue the cardio interval without going back to zero. You can also do a two-set tabata (20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest, but you don't get the last 10 seconds' rest). Now you really have upped the ante on weight-reduction workouts.
