Probably not. Perhaps there should be some screening before allowing people to use these things!
That said, maybe a small trampoline would be better for your low impact exercise. Kind of like the rebounders at Better Health Innovations
Better Living Through Innovation
Probably not. Perhaps there should be some screening before allowing people to use these things!
That said, maybe a small trampoline would be better for your low impact exercise. Kind of like the rebounders at Better Health Innovations
By nathalies
A lot of people trying to lose weight want to know if they should be running on the treadmill, or exercising on an elliptical machine. Both are popular, effective cardiovascular workouts and can be found in any gym. Let’s take a look at some of the factors that could affect your decision to workout with either a treadmill or an elliptical. [Read more…]
It seems like we’ve been putting out a lot of Teeter Hang Ups videos and blog posts lately. In this video, I review the features of the new Teeter EP-560 inversion table and also walk through the differences between it and the Teeter EP-550. As of this post, both models are available, and I hope that this helps you decide which is right for you.
Click Here for more information on the entire line of Teeter Hang Ups inversion tables. Let us know if you have any questions by contacting us or by leaving a comment below. Thanks!
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Speaker 1 (STEVE): Back pain. If you’re watching this video then you’re probably suffering from back pain. You may have looked at all the different options that you have to address that pain. You may have looked at or even tried injections in your back; pain injections in your back, going to a pain clinic once a week, or once every other week, to get pain injections.
You may have looked at surgical solutions. You might have already had a surgical solution. Really, you just want that back pain to go away. You just want to get your life back.
If you’re watching this video then you’re probably pretty far down the road of looking at an inversion table. When you look at inversion tables around the market it’s pretty simple, or pretty easy, to come to the conclusion that you want a Teeter Hang Ups Inversion Table. Before I get into talking about the two that are right here, a quick little bit about Teeter.
Teeter is the only company that’s been making inversion tables continuously for 30 years. They’re the only company that offers a five year warranty. They are the only company that puts their inversion tables through a 30,000 cycle test to achieve UL, or underwriter laboratory certification. You know, I wouldn’t plug in a toaster in my home that didn’t have the UL mark on it. Lord knows, I wouldn’t hang from my feet from something that didn’t have a UL mark on it. It was tested to extremely high quality levels.
When you go shopping for an inversion solution there are a lot of options out there. There is, of course, the cheaper import brands, and let’s just dismiss those for now anyway, because we are looking at Teeter. We’ve made the decision that Teeter is the preferred solution.
Teeter offers a number of different inversion table models. They’ve been improving them over the last 30 years, and continually introducing new models. Back in 2008 they came out with this table, the EP550; the EP series. A wonderful table; really, really took off. They did quite well with this table.
Earlier this year or actually just about a month ago or so, they came out with the EP560 series. It’s offered as a 560. It’s also offered as a 560 sport. What might be making your decision of how to go a little bit confusing, and we talk to a lot of folks on the phone, that this is exactly the cases, “Hey, what should I buy?†You’ve got the EP550 for $299. You have the EP560 for $299. That’s what it costs at BetterHealthInnovations.com today.
I’m going to do a quick run through of the features on the new table; how that’s changed from the old table. I’m going to call it like I see it. There’s a lot of things that I really like about the EP560. If I were to put one in my home it would be a split decision though, because there are a lot of things that I also like about the EP550. Both currently are being offered for sale. I assume that Teeter is going to phase out the EP550 at some point but right now, the date I’m uploading this video, you have a choice. It’s a choice that fortunately, it will be difficult to make a bad one … a bad decision on this. Both are great tables. Both will give you years and years of service. I have an older Teeter in my home that I’ve used for probably about 10 years. This particular table right here, we’ve had this here in our offices since 2008 and we’ve got people hanging on it all the time; people of different heights, different weights, and different body build. It’s performed very well. Obviously, similar construction with the new EP560 series. This is going to provide years of good service as well.
Let’s quickly hit the new features on this table, on the EP560. A lot of things remain the same. It still has a very smooth rotation. It still has the same tether strap in the back to set your angle of inversion, which I really like. I think that the biggest thing on this table that they’ve changed and they introduce this as formerly available on the EP950 only, is they put in this ergo-embrace system for your feet. This ergo-embrace system is much more like wearing gravity boots in your invert. It’s not quite … and I would say that if you’re going to be doing exercises and that sort of thing on the table, moving around a lot, take a look at gravity boots. Conversion kit. It goes for about $100 if you want to convert the table over, or you could just go with the EP560 sport. These ergo-embrace tables, they will grab your feet from the front, in from the back, as opposed to the EP550, and we’ll turn and take a look at that now. As opposed to the EP550 series, which is going to grab your ankles from the back and grab the top of your foot. You do feel secure in either table. I would say that I, personally, I feel a little bit more secure in the EP560 but it’s certainly like I’m not going feel like I’m going to fall out of it, in the EP550.
Another change to the table. The back has been redesigned to accommodate accessories on the EP560. There are two accessories currently available. They have acupressure nodes, which you can place in the back. We’ll be doing a video on these accessories at some point, or you can just go to BetterHealthInnovations.com and learn all about them.
There’s also a lumbar bridge which puts a nice pressure right in the small of your back, right in the lumbar region. If you’re inverting at 60 degrees it really, really feels nice. It’s a very popular accessory, even though we’ve only had this table out for about a month. They also have some hand holds now that they built in. The hand holds, I guess, they’re good if you want a full on inversion or even partial inversion. You can reach over, grab one, do a little bit of manual stretching, manual twisting of the back.
If you’re looking at the two tables it might just come down to ascetics. The EP560 is in a silver/grey finish, a powder-coat finish. The EP550, they had the frame in a powder-coat black. It really might depend on just what your preference is. We offer a lot of gym equipment in different colors. I think that silver is probably the most popular.
One thing that you’ll notice when you’re looking at the two tables side by side is, for years Teeter had talked about the triple chrome-plated main shaft. The reason it is chrome plated is that chrome is an extremely hard plating and it’s not going to wear out. You’re not going to wind up with any kind of scratches from moving in and out of the back. That’s really only an issue if you have multiple users in the home, where you’re going to be adjusting that frequently. That’s when you have multiple users at different heights. If you’re going to be using that main shaft, or rather adjusting the main shaft on a frequent basis you might want to steer towards the EP550 with the hard chrome triple plated main shaft. They went to a powder-coat in the EP560 series. There is a case to be made that … that might actually look a little bit more pleasing if you have it set up in your living room, for example. You don’t have a big shiny piece of chrome. I think the chrome does go nice with the black frame with the EP550 though.
Other parts, just to know what we’re talking about, our plating and finishing. They did stay on parts that are moving for everybody. They did stay with a hard chrome finish.
There’s a couple of smaller enhancements on this table as well. For example, the back which is a little bit tough to see in the video. The back of the A-frame, you can reach down, there’s a hand-hold there that you can grab if you’re going to the full inversion. Prior to that, you would reach to the sides of the … with the EP550 you would reach to the sides of the table, grab the A-frame to stretch or to come back into a full position.
Again, that was an extremely quick run-down of the EP560 and the EP550. Like I said when we started out, you’re not going to go wrong with either table. If you purchase it through Better Health Innovations, go ahead and use the thing for 90 days, and if you don’t like it, give us a call. You can send it back and get a full refund. There’s no restocking fee within 90 days.
Of course, we mention this in every video. We help you along the way. We have a coaching program; an individual one-on-one coaching program with a member of our staff. I’m a coach for several people, for example. Where you get somebody’s phone number or you get somebody’s email address. We also email out some helpful inversion tips on how to use your inversion table.
If you have any questions about the tables certainly give us a call. Visit our website. We have a lot more information at BetterHealthInnovations.com/Teeter. A lot more information on the site that we could fit into a relatively short video. I wouldn’t really elect the decision between the EP550 or the EP560 slowing down at all. Either way, again, you’re going to be making an excellent choice. Again, it’s really risk free when you’re purchasing from BetterHealthInnovations.com
Again, I encourage you to contact us with any questions you might have.
Everybody, have a great day!
Teeter Hang Ups claims that their new EP-560 inversion table can be assembled in 13 minutes, so I put it to the test. I have assembled other models in the past, but this was my first time with their newest series of tables. The 13 minutes is possible, but only after you’ve taken all the parts out of the box. Teeter does a nice job with protecting their tables during shipment, and there is a considerable amount of unpacking necessary (about 10 minutes).
In the video I assembled using the tools that come with the table. It would go faster using a socket wrench and electric screwdriver.
Watch the video to see if I can assemble the table within the 13 minutes Teeter claims.
What is the most difficult piece of exercise equipment you assembled? Comment below.
Click here for more information about Teeter Hang Ups inversion tables.
[TRANSCRIPT]
Speaker: Hi everyone. Here we are with another Teeter Hang Ups video.
This time, I’d like to walk you through our Assembled Inversion Table. This is the new Teeter Hang Ups EP-560 Inversion Table and we’ll do a full review on this table and probably compare it to the EP-550 side by side.
While I figure on assembling it, I can also point out some of the features of this table. If you want, what I have here, I don’t know how I could see that on video, but there really aren’t that many parts of the Inversion Table. This is not like an elliptical machine or an exercise bike. They are just as hundreds and hundreds it seems of different parts and little fasters that you have to put together.
Assembly with Teeter Hang Ups Inversion Table is really quite simple. I did take it out of the box, because I didn’t think that anybody wanted to sit and watch me take one out of the box. It’s been a while since I assembled an inversion table. I’ve never assembled this model before, but it is very similar to the EP-550.
So I’m working. You know, everything here already came assembled. This A-frame came assembled, most of the back came assembled, and we are just putting on assembled smaller parts. It comes with some of these little tools and wrenches, etc to do it. Probably it would be faster if you had a socket set, ratchet screwdriver, that’s it.
So here the bars are tightened to the sides of the table and these are used to aid when you’re trying to come back from inversion, if necessary. Normally you just have to, you know, you have your hands over your head, to shift your center of gravity. Normally, you just have to take your hands and put them back by your sides, you know, go up to an upright setting.
And what I’m going to do is, I’m going to get these on fairly tight, but I don’t want to spend a whole lot [00:02:00] of time on video boring you guys watching me tighten up bolts.
The instructions that come with the Teeter are quite clear. There’s also a DVD that comes that helps. If you enroll in our coaching program, which is free if you purchase a Teeter Hang Ups Inversion Table from BetterHealthInnovations.com. If you participate in our coaching program, we actually send out the assembly instructions a couple of days before you’re going to receive your table. In that way, you read it out if you like. You can understand better what sort of tools you’re going to need, what we can help you with an area that you’re going to need, that sort of thing. So those were the stretcher [indiscernible] [00:02:58] handles.
Moving on to the next step, we’re now going to assemble the main shaft and the main shaft is basically what holds on to your ankles or on to your feet. So it’s rather important. So the foot rests on the Teeter Hang Ups table, still similar to what they have on the EP-550, again this is an EP-560.
What’s good about this is that it’s a different thickness on each side. So as you flip it, you’re can adjust it for basically how big your feet are. Then I think just about all the screws and fasteners and here when we put it together, it’s [00:04:00] airproofed that you can’t put things in backwards for the most part that I know of. You can’t put in things in backwards, you can’t [indiscernible] [00:04:08] faster in one place that sort of thing.
Say for example, this foot, I don’t think I could put this on upside down if I try and this is just a Phillips screw through a Phillips screwdriver that comes with it for nothing.
So let’s see. This is where you’re going to be resting your feet now. Likely to assemble the part that you’re going to have the back of your feet on. I’m sorry, these two will be the – the cups will go behind your ankles. You see that on video. And actually probably the biggest improvement for this EP-560 is that it comes with these so-called Ergo-Embrace. It’s called an Ergo-Embrace feet.
What the Ergo-Embrace does for you is it clamps around your ankles as opposed to grabbing the tops of your feet. So that’s little bit more comfortable. It’s a lot like wearing a gravity boots as opposed to stay in foot clamps. This goes in with the bolt [00:06:00].
And normally I’d probably be sitting on the floor doing this as opposed to trying to balance through things in my hand. This time I’ll keep my finger right there. I’ll try it out again. It is important that this particular one goes in fairly tight. I’m going to take that all the way down and just the same on time holder.
Okay, that’s where the back of your ankles are going to go. Your feet are resting on here. Legs up where you like, that’s where the front of your feet are going up. Well guys, it’s been a while since I’ve done a lot of these.
Now Teeter Hang Ups essentially claims you could assemble all these in 13 minutes. Let’s see how close I come to that [indiscernible] [00:07:49] [00:08:00]. In the front of the spring load it has a pin, so I’m just attaching the back of the spring here. They give you a nice cable tie in this model, which I don’t think I’ve seen on the previous ones. They give you a nice cable ties so you can just pull it up and through. Normally you just cut that off but I think you just leave that out there. And there’s your [indiscernible] [00:08:44] unit. I’ll lean it up against the frames. The next step is. Make sure we haven’t missed anything. Then this one thing, oh the plug to go down at the bottom here. Actually this plug will normally go on the back you normally leave it off because I’m not going to take the time to cut that off right now, I’ll do that later.
Okay, assembling the back cushion. The lower part of the back cushion. So already some will add on here. Actually go to the last steps here. You need to put on this piece here. They are pretty lightweight material and it’s intentionally so. The old inversion table, this is little bit lighter than an EP-550, I thinks it’s got 10 pounds lighter. And this is just simply three fasteners that are going to [00:10:00] go through. The front of the fastener has a little hex or Allen wrench kind of thing, which is included.
And again, I think usually one would be assembling this while sitting on the floor, at least have a chair available, I think it will be most awkward hanging it right here balancing this stuff. I think that’s it with the fasteners we got. And again, probably you just take your little Phillips – I’m sorry not Phillips, your Allen wrench and your regular wrench to tighten up these fasteners here, but for the sake of time, I we’re not going to do that for this demo. We need to assemble the roller hinges onto the bed. This is pretty simple. Roller hinges [indiscernible] [00:11:38] were inside.
Refer to the manual or some of our coaching materials of what you want to do with the [indiscernible] [00:11:45] in the middle. What I see in the middle is just three holes here. They are [indiscernible] [00:11:55] [00:12:00] chair. Well this usually is going to sit right into that A-frame there and this is really not a heavy piece and I know if you’re suffering from back pain and that’s why you got the thing, probably you don’t want to be lifting a lot of stuff around. It’s really not – this is probably, I don’t know, 15 pounds or so. I might be grossly over or underestimating that. This we’re just going to drop right in. There’s a little safety retention feature here you have to pull back. And as you can see, we’re all but done at this point.
We are back to make sure I didn’t miss anything critical. They are looking good, the main shaft. And one difference with the 560 over the 550, this is no longer chrome. In fact, I kind of like the chrome one. If you have to sit here literally like the gray, you know, the gray and the black are a little bit better. The advantage in the chrome is that chrome is never really going to wear.
Anyhow we have a tether strap on the back and I absolutely love the way that Teeter has done this over the years. They haven’t changed it. You know, it’s a control, your handle version, a very simple tether strap as opposed to a mechanism that might be on the sides of our similar competitors. But there you have it. I think that I might have made it, the 13-minute mark. I wasn’t really keeping track as I went. I think it’s pretty close we got this thing assembled and grant that I didn’t have everything off out of the box [00:14:00] for us. I would say it probably took a good 15 minutes to get everything out of the box.
So you have a Teeter EP-560 Inversion Table and the next video, if you want to subscribe through our channel so you won’t miss it, the next video will be a comparison of this table, the [indiscernible] [00:14:10] one, this table versus the Teeter EP-550. Then again, visit us at BetterHealthInnovations.com/Teeter to see the complete wide range of Teeter Inversion tables and if you have any questions at all, you can email us or even if you want you can give me a phone call personally.
Have a great day everybody.
Last week the Teeter Hang Ups Teeter Fit-100 Inversion Table was released to a handful of select retailers, including Better Health Innovations. I had some hands-on time with the new table when it was unveiled at the Health+Fitness Business Expo last month in Las Vegas. I also spent quite a bit of time with the folks from Teeter, including their founder, Roger Teeter. In this post, I will walk you through the new Fit-100 inversion table and describe how it compares with other tables in the Teeter Hang Ups line. I also cover other (non-Teeter) tables at the Fit-100’s price point.
This table is being launched at $289, but we are currently discounting it to $229. At this price it competes with the other budget Teeter Hang Ups table, the Fitform at $219. Going from a Teeter Fitform up to the Fit-100 for an extra $10 will depend on the features you want (mainly the bed design), but going from the Fit-100 to the $299 EP-550 is a more difficult choice. I’ll cover this in more detail below.
First, a quick bit about Teeter Hang Ups: They have been in the inversion business for more than 30 years, longer than any other inversion table manufacturer. Teeter is the only company that demonstrates their commitment to quality by having their tables independently tested and certified to UL 1647, making them the only company with tables that carry the UL mark. Most notably, inversion products are the only products offered by Teeter Hang Ups, making inversion tables their sole focus. All other inversion tables are from companies who produce all sorts of equipment. In fact, most competing tables are produced by Asian contract manufacturers who make all sorts of products and sold in the US by marketing companies.
The Fit-100 carries the UL Mark, which is impressive for a table at the price. In order to have the UL Mark, an inversion table must be tested by an independent lab to a 400% safety factor and for 30,000 cycles.  Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) is an independent, not-for-profit product safety testing and certification organization. We have tested products for public safety for more than a century. Each year, more than 17 billion UL Marks are applied to products worldwide (www.ul.com).  UL also performs random and unannounced inspections of Teeter’s factories as part of their certification. I need to write a blog post about UL testing at some point, but for now, let’s leave it at this: You would never buy a toaster without the UL Mark, so it is certainly an important consideration when purchasing a piece of equipment that is going to suspend you upside down!
The Teeter Fit100 incorporates their new FitFlex inversion table bed. This is a two-piece injection molded bed that provides a rigid and secure feel while flexing enough for the user to move and stretch while on the table at partial inversion. Other tables in the Teeter Hang Ups line have either a one piece molded bed (the Flex Technology bed on the EP series), or a stretched nylon bed, like on the Fitform. I found the FitFlex bed to be comfortable enough, and it may provide a bit more support than the Flex Technology bed. I prefer this type of inversion table bed over the stretched nylon. In fact, many people find the stretched nylon on other tables to be extremely uncomfortable, especially those with back pain to the point where laying on a hard, flat surface causes lower back pain.
When you look at a table, it is easy to focus on the bed. However, when you are on a table I feel that the ankle clamps to be more important for the inversion experience. A poorly designed ankle clamp will feel insecure and even painful. The ankle clamps on the new table are similar to other Teeter Hang Ups ankle clamps. The foot rest portion rotates in order to adjust for larger or smaller feet, which goes a long way in providing a feeling of security and comfort. For most people, the ankle clamps on the new model will be just fine in terms of comfort and security.
Like all other Teeter inversion tables, the Fit-100 has a very smooth rotation and “controlled lock out” at full inversion. This lock out means that the table bed rotates a little past full inversion so the user can do exercises and stretches while completely vertical. The new table also has stretch handles, which is optional on more expensive models like the EP-550. These handles, located on the top of the A-frame allow the user to reach up while inverted and push with their hands to receive a bit of manual decompression of the back.
Obviously, to get the Fit-100 down to the pricing they wanted, Teeter had to leave out some features found on the next expensive model, the EP-550. Unlike the more expensive models, the main shaft is not chrome plated. The main shaft is the part that the ankle clamps attach to and it moves in and out of the bed frame to adjust for user height. Chrome is an extremely hard finish and resistant to wear caused from moving in and out of the frame. It is still a high quality (black) finish, and will not be a big deal for a users who do not have to move the height adjustment often. We do know several husband-wife users who have to adjust the height when switching between themselves. In this situation, we would recommend a machine with a chrome plated main shaft, such as the EP-550.
Another noticeable feature not on the Fit-100 are corner feet. Again, not a huge thing. I do like the corner feet on the more expensive models as they extend the area the table contacts the floor. Without the corner feet, the Fit100 was plenty stable though.
The new table comes with support material that exceeds what comes with similar priced models. However, it does not come with a DVD, which is kind of odd since the lower priced Fitform does come with a DVD. I think that this may be a feature missed by users. Our recommendation with the EP Series models is to play the DVD on a computer or TV close by while the table is being assembled. We have decided to offer our Inversion Coaching Program free of charge with the Fit-100, which should help make up for the lack of a DVD.
Teeter beats competing models with warranty (2 years for this table), but the warranty period is less than half that of the Teeter EP series.
The main competitor in this price range to this table are a couple models with the Ironman brand name. Honestly, I am not that familiar with the Ironman brand, but I have tried their tables on several occasions. The last I had heard, they had gone out of business and sold the name to another company. I’m not sure who is making Ironman now, but the tables are still available. A couple years ago Ironman tables had weld failure issues resulting in a recall. Most noticeably in comparison, the Fit-100 has a smoother rotation, more comfortable foot clamps, and is much less complicated. Ironman tables do not carry the UL Mark, so I presume they are not tested to the safety factors of Teeter inversion tables. Also unlike the Teeter models, they do not have the two year warranty or 30 day money back trial period (we extend this to 90 days for any Teeter models sold through our Better Health Innovations site).
As I touched on at the beginning of this post, moving from the Teeter FitForm up to a Fit-100 is a logical step. If you think you would prefer a stretched nylon bed, then go with the FitForm. If not, the Fit-100 is well worth the extra $10. Note that most users prefer the “Flex” type bed over the stretched nylon.
Deciding between the Fit-100 and the EP-550 is a bit more tricky. This is a bit like comparing a high-end Toyota to a Lexus. Both are world-class quality, and while you won’t be disappointed with the lower cost option, you won’t get the features of the higher-end model. So, here’s some basic guidance:
If you absolutely can not afford a $299 Teeter EP-550, then go with the Fit100. You won’t be disappointed, and your back will thank you for years.
If you plan on using the table a couple times a day on a regular basis, or if there is more than one person in the household using the table, then try to stretch to a Teeter EP-550.I would feel more comfortable using an EP-series table for heavy regular use, especially with the longer five year warranty period of the EP-550 versus the two year warranty on the Fit-100.
Bottom line: The Fit-100 is a great table, especially for the price. Â Click here to see the table and purchase.