The ROM Four-Minute Total Body Workout

For years, I've dutifully made my way to the gym, putting myself through the paces-- cardio, weights, stretching. Repeat tomorrow. It's a huge time suck. But I've always thought of it as the price you pay for a healthy body (and the occasional hot fudge sundae). So when I first heard about the ROM (Range of Motion) cross training machine -- a crazy-looking futuristic contraption that promises to deliver the equivalent of 45 to 90 minutes of exercise in just four minutes of intense training -- my ears perked up. I was also deeply suspicious.

The ROM looks more like a medieval torture device than a piece of gym equipment. It's long and spindly, with lots of limbs that inexplicably extend into space. Hence, the futuristic bit: Think about spending two minutes on a tricked-out rowing machine, then climbing onto the back of it and following up with two minutes of a stairmaster-type workout, all at the absolute top speed your body can possibly handle and in what feels like the absence of gravity (imagine how those moves would translate if you were in a swimming pool, or, I'd guess, outer space).

The premise of the workout rests on the fact that our muscles function like calorie furnaces: The more muscle we have, the more calories we melt away through over the course of a day. Muscle itself is built when the body is challenged -- tell your system to do something it can't (or can, but just barely) and it will direct resources toward making sure you can take it on next time. Therefore, challenge as many muscles as possible as much as possible, and you're sitting pretty, the ROM developers figure. They calculate that by walking or running, you're only engaging about 4 percent of your muscles. Their device is designed to take on 12 times that, resulting in a twelve-fold greater burn.

I've got to say, all of these interesting ideas paled as I faced the ROM for the first time. It's not a friendly-looking piece of equipment. Gearing up for my first test run, I suddenly felt a little nervous. On hand was Pete Cerqua, a New York-based personal trainer, author of The 90-Second Fitness Solution. He's also one of the few ROM-owners in my area. At a cost-point of $14,615, the machines are hard to come by. There are only around 5,000 nationwide. For Cerqua, the machine pays for itself. He explains that because the ROM really stretches and lengthens your muscles as you build them, you get physical fitness, strength, and that amazing yoga body all in one sitting. He says his clients can't get enough.

Before I go on too much, I should say that the machine has its share of skeptics. While research supports that short, intense workouts leading to physical gains (sprints, in particular, have in multiple studies stood up to endurance training both in terms of heart health and muscle building), experts (among them, Kenneth Cooper, founder of the Cooper Clinic) say it's just too soon to tell if this machine is a complete solution.

I'll give the experience to you pretty much the way I felt it: My heart rate managed to accelerate to a totally new and unfamiliar speed within milliseconds. Between a monitor telling me how close I was to a target pace (always, seemingly, just out of reach) and Cerqua's vigorous encouragement I found myself pushing faster, faster, harder, harder -- and suddenly: Boom. It was all over. My heart kept thumping all the way to my ears, my breaths were heaving and ragged, and I was feeling totally, incredibly triumphant (if slightly woozy). I can honestly say I've never felt so challenged, satisfied, and vaguely terrified all at once.

Pluses: The endorphin high was pretty out-of-this-world. But even more so was the pride I felt at having challenged myself. It sounds crazy, but that made up for the pain. The even bigger believe-it-or-not: I think I got results. Maybe it was all in my head, but the next day I felt like I looked more toned, and my body was sore in all the placed I'd thought needed work. However big or small my gain was, the excitement and motivation I got from that was well worth the four-minute price tag.

Minuses: Obviously, there are a whole lot of compelling hypotheses here, but the published scientific testing is still nascent. The concept makes incredible sense, yet given all the variables that factor in to this stuff, I'd be irresponsible not to say something like "look before you leap" or "see how something like this works for you." As earlier noted, the machines are also expensive and therefore not standard gym fare; a more realistic way to test the theory would probably be incorporating some interval training, or intense yoga. The last thing I'd say is that I do work out for two totally separate reasons the ROM doesn't deal with: It's fun, and as a health writer, I know there are documented mental benefits to the time and repetition that the treadmill affords. This experience was a great reminder that, regardless of minutes spent, exercise is an impressive and time-worthy pursuit.

Takeaway: Given the option, I'd definitely come back for more. The way I felt (and thought I looked) the next day was a strong motivator to keep up with yoga, stretching -- and, frankly, pushing myself just a little beyond my perceived limit. Machine or no machine I think that's a good action plan.

Learn more: ROM machine homepage, ROM company website, the ROM machine in action, Pete Cerqua's 90-Second Fitness website

For targeting and stretching a large number of muscle groups, Pilates is a great, easy-to-incorporate workout that you can also do at home.