Life Fitness Platinum Club Series FlexStrider Trainer

Overview: The Life Fitness Platinum Club Series FlexStride Trainer is the Rolls Royce of elliptical machines, with all of the features you could ever ask for. Although out of reach for most home buyers, if you can afford the hefty price tag you will not be disappointed.

Here are some of the most appealing features…

Smooth, Natural Stride

The FlexStrider allows you to adjust your stride while you train, up to an impressive 36″, so you decide whether you want a step machine workout, an all out sprint or anything in between. It’s a real step up from the 20″ stride on the Club Series Elliptical. The machine is ergonomically designed to provide the most natural, smooth motion that makes you feel like you are floating on air, with minimal impact on your joints.

Console Selection

One of most appealing features of many Life Fitness machines is the ability to choose your own console. You have the basic Explore console which is a 7″ LCD, the mid-level Discover SI with internet capability and a 10″ screen and the top-level Discover SE with internet and built-in TV with a 16″ screen. Of course, the enhanced displays with their touch screens are more expensive than the Explore console, but for many they are worth the additional cost with the improved features.

Workout Programs

Although you only get a handful of workouts with the Explore console, the Discover consoles give you up to 42 workouts and 8 custom workouts including speed, hills, interval, heart and goals, among others. So with the 26 resistance levels you can really change up the way you train and do something different every time you get on your FlexStrider.

Other Features

The Platinum Club Series FlexStride Trainer also features resistance control on the handlebars, front wheels, oversized pedals, app compatibility, quick start, wireless heart rate monitoring, cup holder and accessory tray.

Life Fitness Platinum Club Series FlexStrider Test Drive

OK. Let me just start off by saying that the FlexStrider is a very expensive elliptical machine, so very few of us will end up having one of these beauties in our home gym. It costs about $10,000 with the Explore console and each enhanced console is another $1000. That’s a lot of money to spend on an elliptical trainer, given that you can get an incredible machine with all of the bells and whistles for less than half that price.

Still, the FlexStrider Trainer is an awesome machine, and I had the pleasure of using one in my health club, as Life Fitness seems to be the brand of choice there. It is a real beauty, durably constructed yet inviting at the same time. It has a nice entry platform and when you step onto the machine you immediately feel like you are going to get a good workout.

The gym has the Discover SE console which is hooked up to their main system, and the touch screen is large and bright. It certainly takes some getting used to as there are various controls on the screen that do different things, and it can be a bit confusing. There are interactive courses that you can choose as well as a number of different workouts. You can also use various fitness apps via LF Connect to sync your workouts which is cool.

If you don’t need the touch screen or internet access on your Life Fitness Platinum Club Series FlexStrider the Explore console is just fine, and you’ll save yourself a little money.

As far as the workout, the Life Fitness FlexStrider is very smooth and very quiet, even up at the highest resistance levels. With the 36″ max stride you can really stretch out and it’s almost like you are running on an elliptical which is very cool. The wireless heart rate monitoring works well and there are several cardio-centric programs to choose from.

All in all it offers a great workout, with a nice comfortable feel and low-impact. Nothing to complain about with this machine…except the fact that I just can’t afford it! 🙂

Conclusion

If money is no object the Club Series FlexStrider from Life Fitness is one of the best elliptical machines you’ll find on the market today.

It takes your workouts to a whole new level, with a huge variable stride length and tons of workouts to choose from, not to mention your choice of console and dozens of other features and capabilities. If it’s too expensive you can check out the other offerings from Life Fitness that are at least 30% cheaper and still give you a lot for your money.