Sometimes all you need is a bona fide NBA legend strutting his stuff on an elliptical bicycle to make you realise how much you want that very same elliptical bicycle for yourself.
A week ago, Shaquille O'Neal uploaded to Facebook this simple video of himself riding an elliptical bicycle down the street. And now, some 700,000 or so views later, a lot of Shaq's fans want to know where he picked up his sweet, unusual-looking ride.
It's a marketing coup for ElliptiGO, an international fitness company that unveiled its first stand-up bike five years ago, calling it "the world's first outdoor, high-performance elliptical cycle".
If you watch the movement of the cycle in Shaq's video, you can see that it enables the same smooth body motions as an elliptical trainer in a gym. It's this low-impact motion that ElliptiGO says makes its cycles a much healthier exercise option than running or jogging, as the smooth movement of the pedals means there's no abrasive wear and tear on your knees, ankles, and joints.
Get yo ride on
Posted by Shaquille O' Neal on Sunday, July 5, 2015
According to the company, "The patented elliptical motion is the key, enabling smooth biomechanics that work muscle and cardiovascular systems, without jarring the body, while keeping the body in the optimal position to drive strength and speed."
ElliptiGO went as far as to commission research by the University of California, San Diego, which found that riding its elliptical cycles could burn as much as 33 percent more energy than riding a regular cycle, while providing a cardiovascular workout similar to running.
Not that most of the people who've watched Shaq's sweet strides really care about most of that for now. They just want the bike.
Well, it's cool and fun-looking, but it certainly ain't cheap. Recommended pricing for the currently available models starts at US$2,499 for the ElliptiGO 8C, while the top-of-the-line ElliptiGO 11R will set you back US$3,499.
Still, if you want the functionality of an elliptical trainer but you don't want to have to exercise in your home or at the gym, ElliptiGO looks like it's your only option. And you can't put a price on your fitness, right? Plus, you get to be like Shaq. Well, a little bit more than you are now, anyway.