Sole Fitness ST600 Strider – Full Body Workout With Flexible Stride

Overview: The ST600 is one of the newest machines in the Sole elliptical lineup, one of two in the Strider series. These new trainers offer a stride length from 18″ all the way up to 26″, giving you the flexibility to choose your own length and target all of your muscle groups for a highly effective workout.

Let’s look at some of the best features…

Adjustable Stride

As we mentioned, the ST600 Strider allows you to choose from a wide range of stride lengths, so it is not only ideal for every user but you can vary it from one workout to the next. Pick a shorter length for a stepper workout to target your thighs and calves, then ramp it up to the highest length for a full on jog or run targeting your hamstrings and glutes. It offers flexibility you just don’t have with a typical elliptical.

Compact & Portable

Just like the company’s new SC200 Stepper, the ST600 is very space friendly and easy to move around. It’s only 53″ long and 33″ wide so it really does not take up a lot of room at all…perfect for smaller settings. Although it is heavy and durable at 288 lbs., it’s easy to move around with the transport wheels.

Natural Motion and Feel

The ST600 offers the same natural, ergonomically ideal motion that Sole is known for. The machine is specifically designed to mimic your natural movement, and each motion, from the shortest stride to the longest, is comfortable and fluid, with minimal impact on your knees and joints.

Other Great Features

You get cushioned handlebars, pulse and wireless heart rate monitoring, 12 built-in workout programs, 16 resistance levels, a durable 27 lb. flywheel and a bright 7.5″ LCD display showing all of the relevant workout stats.

The Sole ST600 Strider Test Drive

As we’ve mentioned before, hybrid trainers are becoming more and more popular these days, as people appreciate the ability to vary their workouts and target as many muscle groups as possible without having to purchase multiple machines. The ST600 strider is really a stepper, elliptical and treadmill all in one, and as such is a great machine for hitting all of those muscle groups.

UPDATE: Sole is no longer making the ST600 or ST300 Striders. If you’re looking for something similar with an adjustable stride, check out the NordicTrack FS7i FreeStride Trainer.

For starters, it’s a nice looking machine. It’s all black with silver on the base of the arms. Getting on it feels very sturdy, yet comfortable at the same time. Kind of like something you find at one of the better gyms.

The display is very basic yet functional. It’s a 7.5″ LCD and it shows your time, watts, RPMs, pulse, calories and distance as well as a graphical display of your current program choice, of which there are 12 built into the machine. You can also use it manually and choose from 16 different resistance levels. Transitioning from one to the next is seamless and quiet, which is a welcome change.

We tried out all of the possible stride lengths on the ST600, and you can really target different muscle groups very effectively. You can even add arms to the mix with the moving handlebars, or just hold the stationary ones for a lower leg workout. The motion is very natural and feels good at all resistance levels, and you can switch from one to the next with a touch of a button.

Anything we didn’t like during our review? The ST600 stepper doesn’t have too many bells and whistles, but that is true of the entire Sole lineup, including its little brother the ST300 Stepper. They are known for quality and function above all else. Also, as of this writing the ST600 did not have Bluetooth capability like some of the other machines…it would be nice to have that for tracking purposes and syncing with fitness apps to help you monitor your results.

Conclusion

If you want to branch out from the typical elliptical workout, the new Sole ST600 Strider might be a good option for you. It opens up the stride lengths for a more complete workout, yet is compact and space friendly at the same time.

At about $1999 on sale, it’s a bit pricier than other Sole machines, but it also offers a lot more. When they add Bluetooth it will certainly be worth the price.