The Benefits Of Training With ViPR

ViPR stands for vitality, performance and reconditioning. Pronounced as 'viper', this multi-purpose fitness tool is fast developing a reputation in gyms around the world. It provides an integrated whole body workout, simultaneously targeting strength, agility and fitness. People of all abilities are finding it an engaging and fun way to train.

Despite its rather unassuming appearance, this large rubber tube is having a radical impact on the way people train. The whole body is encouraged to work naturally with the weight using a series of lunges, twists and lifts. Using the body as nature intended means that injuries arising from repetitive strain are far less likely to occur.

Traditional weight training focuses individually on each area of the body. Repetitive movements are designed to work one muscle at a time. Not only can this be tedious, it is an unnatural way for the body to work. This can result in the untimely wearing of joints and can cause injuries.

Michol Dalcourt, the developer of ViPR and a trainer of athletes, noticed that such traditional strength training did not necessarily translate into better performance on the sports field. The ability to perform endless bicep curls with dumb bells seemed purposeless to him. What his ice hockey players needed was to hit a puck moving at high speed with considerable lateral force. Strength had to be combined with agility.

Michol noticed that the toughest players, and those who sustained the least injuries, were those brought up on farms. It was not weight training that was responsible for their superior performance, but real work. Farm labor, he realized, required both strength and purposeful movement. The whole body was utilized in a variety of ways to perform a multitude of tasks involving constantly varying weights.

Michol set about developing a training tool that would mimic the work of a farm laborer. The end result was a piece of equipment that conditions the body in all three planes of motion. It invites an endless array of movement sequences. It is available in a range of weights and this allows it to be adapted to almost any purpose. As the body is able to move without restriction, stresses are absorbed throughout the system, preventing undue strain on any one part of the body.

ViPR is not just for sportsmen and fitness enthusiasts, anybody can benefit from its conditioning benefits. People suffering from limited mobility due to injury, illness and disability have found it helpful. It can be used in team training exercises or for individual workouts. It is an enjoyable and challenging way to achieve greater fitness and strength.