This is the Torture Machine:
This is how you feel when you know you have to get on the torture machine:
Nancy came to know The Torture Machine during one of her first personal training sessions with Becky. We had met several times with some modest success, so Becky threw this in to mix things up a little. Now normally we met in the afternoons, after lunch had had some time to settle but before dinner was the only thing on our minds. However, on this fateful day, Becky couldn’t meet in the afternoon. We agreed to meet at 9 a.m.
Some things you need to know here about Nancy. One, Nancy is not a morning person. Becky will get up at 4:15 to go teach a cycling class or take a 12 mile run, but Nancy thinks that’s crazy. Also, something else you need to know is that Nancy may have given up most of her vices in favor of healthier living, but the one vice she has been unable to kick, even with tremendous effort on her part, is her morning addiction to Diet Coke. It’s the fizz. She just has to have it.
So now the scene is set. Nancy is not happy to be exercising in the morning but she has had her morning Diet Coke so all should be good. Becky introduces Nancy to The Torture Machine. They do not become immediate friends but Nancy does her best to complete one set. Nancy’s stomach feels a little queasy. Nancy does another set. Nancy says to Becky, “My stomach’s a little upset.” Becky says, “It is?” Nancy says, “I think I might throw up.” Becky says, “You DO?”
Don’t worry, Nancy made it to the bathroom so it wasn’t quite as embarrassing as it could have been. When she returns Becky says, “Did you?” Nancy nods and Becky bursts into tears, thinking she had made Nancy work too hard. Moral of the story: If you want a free personal training session, throw up. Because Becky did not charge Nancy that day. Another moral of the story: don’t drink a fizzy beverage right before you work out.
But the true moral of the story is: keep coming back, even if one time you threw up. That was the one and only time for Nancy (although Becky has subsequently made other people throw up as well). And the pros of working out, over time, have far outweighed the cons.
As for The Torture Machine, we can’t seem to ignore it, because it really does make your back and shoulders look nice. It mainly works your latissimus dorsi. Yes, we had to look up how to spell that. Let’s just call them “lats.” The muscle we're talking about is shown in the picture below:
Strive for 3 sets of 12 at a challenging weight. Ask someone at your gym to help you set it up and to show you how to maintain proper form. Here's Becky giving her lats the time of their life:
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