Customer Reviews

Body Sculpture BS1370 Twist Stepper with Bungee Cords

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I've owned this mini-stepper for about three months now. Agree with the other posts that the computer doesn't work and the instructions are useless, but it was easy to put together and those little computers always lie anyway! If I burned as many calories as my very reputable make of treadmill tells me I do, I'd be hospitalised!!

This stepper is absolutely brilliant for what I wanted. I spend hours and hours every day in front of my computer for work and suffer from varicose veins and middle aged spread from all the sitting. I bought this to stand on whilst working on my laptop - which I put on a gas lift chair on the desk, so i can adjust it to the perfect height. Luckily I'm self employed and have my own office otherwise people would think I was barking.

Not only is it absolute relief not to be sitting down all day, and gone are the achy legs and stiff neck and back, but amazingly, after the first few weeks of use I got toned thighs, a toned bottom and lost weight!! A couple of months on, I've firmed up very nicely thank you! And I don't do very much, I just gently 'walk' up and down on it whilst typing - am doing it now - and if I'm waiting for a page to load or my computer to reboot I might do something a bit more energetic. It's also very good for dancing on when a good tune comes on the radio!!

Seriously, because of the lateral movement, you do get a really good range of movement in your thighs, hips, knees and lower back. While I'm thinking I often twist around at the waist, or raise my arms over my head or out to the sides. I don't use the bungee things so can't comment on those. It is absolutely fantastic to be constantly moving instead of sitting hunched over the computer all day and if, like me, you're desk-bound I strongly recommend you get one. Wish I'd thought of it ten years ago!

If you are buying this as a piece of exercise equipment though, you might be disappointed. It isn't really a work-out and you can't make the resistance very high, even at the highest setting - twist the central knob to raise or lower the steps to make it easier or harder. But if you use it for any length of time, even an hour a day in front of the telly, I think you'd get results.

All in all it is very sturdy and robust, has stood up really well to continuous hours of use, over several months, is very very quiet - no squeaks at all, just a gentle thud as you go down - and pretty portable, I shove it under the desk as a foot rest when I do sit down.

Length:: 0:37 Mins

I have gotten the stepper today. First half hour it was fine. When I tried it again later that day it squeaked horribly, as can be heard in the video. Has anyone been able to fix the squeak? I have tightened the bolts but after half an hour it just starts squeaking again.

Update: I sprayed some WD40 on the entire center section and its now been fine for the last 2 days (6000 steps).

Update 2: After 2 weeks or so the device is still quite quiet.. The first few minutes it makes some noises (not squeaking) but once it "warms up" it seems to make less noise.

Also, the resistance in this device isn't that much. But I guess that depends on the weight of the user using it. For me it was fine since I only wanted a light resistance whilst using it at my stand up desk. (Though using it for an hour or so does bring up a sweat). And as you can see in the video, there really isn't much "twist" to this stepper.

Update 3: The device started squeaking again after a few more weeks (more of a clunky noise that can't be fixed with WD40).. My recommendation is to only buy this if you using it whilst watching TV loudly or listening to your ipod.

When I first trying this stepper out after I received it, I wasn't too impressed, because I thought, the heights of the steps were just too short, won't be able to give me a decent workout! Plus the counter wasn't working at all. I was setting up the height of the steps as how the instruction told me to, i.e to turn the knob fully clockwise, the knob was very tight but I made sure it was turned fully, however the height still not very high! So when I was about to give up, I looked on the product picture again on amazon site, then saw the steps could actually go a lot higher! So I went and tried again, this time, I physcially have to push one of the step higher to the height that I want (you can do that no problem as the cylinder gives you a cushion effect, so it's very flexible and you won't break it so don't worry), then, only then I was able to turn the knob further more clockwise! And voila! When you can't turn the knob anymore this time the stepper height was set on the height that I want! And it worked brilliantly! So I am a lot more happier with my purchase now! The counter is also working as well. So incase anyone is like me finding the steps being set too low and struggled, then you could try my way and it should work wonderfully I am sure! I can finally get on with my exercise routine now, next step is to see if it will help me to lose them post pregnancy weight!

I prefer jogging outdoor and always hated working out on machines. After weeks and weeks raining and horrendous wind, finally I decided to investigate in a machine to buy. A friend used this one and highly recommended to me. It arrived very quickly even during Easter holidays. Had trouble to make it work as the instruction manual is absolutely a joke! Finally figured it out by myself. I have used it a lot so far. I really love it. It's so portable. I can carry it around in the house (upstairs downstairs). If there is a TV programme that I want to watch, I would carry it to the living room and work out on the machine while I watch TV. Unlike one previous review, I don't find it noisy at all. Its very effective. I sweat so much after 20min excersise (including the waist line). A 20min excersise probably equalls to a 45min running. Therefore I have been using it even when the weather is nice outside because this is more efficient. Anyway, a great machine and I think I will actually use it a lot unlike some other equipments I've bought before.

Note that the image displayed on the Amazon listing (at the time of writing) is different to the Stepper currently shipping - the image displayed shows square-section feet on the unit but it now comes with round tubular feet. I'm not complaining! The unit i received seems sturdier and stronger than the one pictured.

There are no chains to break, unlike some other units, and the resistance is created by two hydraulic chambers under the footpads. You cannot adjust resistance but you can adjust the 'travel' of the footpads - short travel would give you a faster, more aerobic workout presumably?

Seems like a decent unit for the price.

I got this after alot of study. Price and reviews of this product definitely got me sold - however, I am not convinced. The differences between the resistance levels are minimum, which means once you find one level of stepping easy, there is very little you can do to increase the difficulty... leaving you with "stepping more" as your only option.
I would definitely recommend this as a support to additional training / jogging that you may do, but not as the only form of keeping fit - especially if you want to tone.

Have found this a good machine, no squeaks, easy to adjust for different levels of fitness. At first, had trouble getting the computer to work, but this problem has resolved itself. It also comes with a years warranty.

Very speedy delivery thanks amazon, and I was pleasantly surprised that it was so light, I can carry it around myself very easily. It won't take up much space so I decided to leave it in the living room. No squeaks, and it works very well. I feel like I sweat the same way like I used to at a gym, and feel pretty good after twenty minutes or so workout.

If you are like me who's too lazy to get out to go to a big gym that makes you feel anonymous sometimes, this equipment is great because it costs half the monthly fee for the gym I used to go to.

I bought this about 6 months ago, and it has been great fun, however, the rubber stopper underneath the heal-end, of the stepper broke off, I managed to glue it back on. Now one of the straps has snapped, and I'm a bit cheesed off about it, but on the whole it's very good, for the price, I still like it, and it's better than other fitness machines I've used in the past.

I ordered this side stepper on Sunday evening and used the super-saver delivery option and I got it 2 days later-outstanding!! So far so good. Anyways I got the stepper out of the box and couldn't believe how impressive it looks. I had to figure one slight thing and that was getting the cord around the wheel located in-between the steps, basically you have to lift one step right up in order to slacken the cord (it was like the krypton factor for a second!) to get it on the wheel, once that was sorted it was ready to go! The computer looks very nice but there really isn't much to go on in terms of the instructions with regards to this but hey, for the price this is fantastic value for money and if I can burn a few calories then it's good for me! Just a great piece of kit, very impressed! Highly recommended!