Five New Ways to Lose

Lapsed gym rats have another name for January. It’s called “drag-yourself-back month.”

To sweeten the prospect, athletic equipment manufacturers have been busy devising new and novel indoor ways to burn fat and tone muscles. Forget basic treadmills and exercise bikes that take you nowhere and bore you en route.

We found five new machines that will grab your attention--and maybe dissolve those holiday-induced love handles.

Here, the promises and the pitfalls.

Nautilus Skate Machine

Place your feet on the oversize pedals of the Nautilus Skate Machine, grab the handlebars if you’re feeling shaky and pick your route using the buttons on the display screen. There’s Pennsylvania Avenue, Appalachian Ascent, Rodeo Drive and nine others. Pick from nine effort levels.

The skate machine mimics in-line skating. The computer tracks calories burned, time elapsed and speed in strides per minute.

Benefits: Cardiovascular conditioning; lateral motion works out the gluteal and hip muscles; tones thighs. Low impact.

Klutz factor: The lateral motion required is more difficult than the linear movement (front to back or up and down) required on traditional bikes, treadmills and stair-climbers. “It takes five or six times to get the hang,” says Tom Marshall, a private trainer at the Sports Club/LA.

Virtual Reality Bike

The colorful screen in front of the Tectrix Virtual Reality Bike displays a command: Sit down and pedal.

Next, you pick your route: the flower tour, the half-mile, the long race, the rigorous mountain bike tour. At the Bulldog Gym of Hollywood, you can even take along your workout buddy, since general manager Brian David Zola has two VR bikes hooked up side by side.

There’s lots besides pedaling to keep you occupied. You can race against on-screen competitors, your buddy or the clock. Press “Map” on the screen and your route unfolds. Push “View” for an overhead perspective of your position and progress. Lean and pull on the bike handles to zoom around competitors or stay on the straight-and-narrow.

Of course, if you’re feeling rebellious you can ignore that upcoming “Keep Out” sign. But expect consequences--you’ll land in water (and hear gurgling sounds). The faster you go, of course, the more your face feels the virtual wind, which spews out of a grid right below the screen. At workout’s end, you’ll find out total miles and average speed.

Benefits: Cardiovascular conditioning; improves quadriceps strength. Low to no impact.

Klutz factor: Most people get the hang their first time out, Zola says.

H-Squat

The serious bodybuilders at Gold’s Gym in Venice who were working out near the H-Squat machine politely declined to give a demonstration of the new contraption. Too busy finishing their weight work.

The machine, which allows exercisers to mimic a traditional squat done with a free weight, looks like a cross between a medieval torture machine and a way to stay dry until the moat ebbs. Half the fun (unless heights are a problem) is climbing up the six or so feet just to get to the seat of the device, which stands about nine feet high.

Once you’re there, settled in with your feet extended onto the foot plate, there’s no compression on the spine, explains Michael Ryan, the general manager (who was happy to demonstrate). Adding weights to the machine can customize a workout, he adds.

Benefits: The machine allows for a combination of leg extension and hip extension, working the hip muscles to a greater degree than a leg press machine, says Tom Proffitt, a spokesman for Hammer Strength, the manufacturer. It will improve quadriceps and gluteal muscles.

Klutz factor: It takes about two times to get the feel, Proffitt estimates.

Sit-Up Master

It’s easy to slough off if you do your crunches in an aerobics class or in front of the television. But the Sit-Up Master makes it hard to fudge.

You sit in a reclining chair that places your body in the pelvic tilt position, which greatly reduces pressure on the low back, says Marshall of the Sports Club/LA.

Next, pick your regimen from the display screen: beginning, intermediate or advanced.

The machine tells you when to start, when to stop, when to rest. Your job is to keep up with the computerized outline on the display screen, your “personal trainer.”

Benefits: By positioning the body at different angles, the sit-ups can become more or less difficult.

Klutz factor: None. People get the hang of the machine the very first time, Marshall finds.

Reebok’s Sky Walker

Step onto big rubbery pedals, grab the cross-country ski-like handles and you are ready to float to fitness. You’re on the Sky Walker, which some compare to a floating cross-country ski machine. Others compare the workout to vertical swimming.

Promoted by the manufacturer as a no-impact exercise, the Sky Walker’s natural walking motion is designed to work out all major muscle groups.

Upper and lower body workout levels are independently adjustable, so if you have legs of steel but arms of mush, the machine will accommodate you.

Benefits: Cardiovascular conditioning and toning in a fell swoop. “It’s [especially] good for legs and gluts,” says Anil Patel, general manager at Body Sculpting, a private training gym in Los Angeles.

Klutz factor: Most people use it three or four times before feeling comfortable, Patel says.