Invictus wheelchair fitness trainer

February 08th, 2016

Invictus Trainer is a wheelchair treadmill or 'rolling road' for wheelchair users!

Are you a wheelchair athlete or a wheelchair user who just wants to improve fitness and balance?

The Invictus Active trainer has been designed with you in mind! This is an innovative 'rolling road' or treadmill!

It has been designed to help you improve your fitness, technique and balance. You can use it to try and lose weight, increase your strength and is used by athletes for a great high intensity workout.

Key features and benefits:

Improve your fitness, balance and pushing technique.
Simulates 'road-like' pushing when maintaining a constant speed.
Lose weight – burn 350 kcal with a 30 minute workout*
Easy to set-up – can use used anywhere inside or outside.
Work each arm individually – four independent rollers.
Ready to go – easy to wheel on and off and start exercising.
Portable and lightweight – separates easily for transport and storage.
Record your speed, distance and heart rate – Smart model.
Invictus Active Smart Trainer – the Invictus Active Smart Trainer records your speed, distance and heart rate – connecting to all smart phones.

The Invictus Active Smart Trainer records your speed, distance and heart rate – you easy connect the trainer to any smart phone or tablet via the app and then once you start pushing your chair speed is displayed! You can then save this and record your distance and progress over time – there are also numerous different workouts available and using the heart rate you can do ‘burn and burst’ sessions and push and different speeds.

Available as an add-on you can buy the basic model and upgrade at any time.

The smart model comes with Bluetooth sensors which connect straight to your phone or tablet and display all the measurements.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the trainer work?

To use the Invictus Active Trainer you wheel backwards up the ramp and onto the rollers, with your wheels fitting between each roller. You can then secure yourself using the strap provided and ‘push’ your chair as your would normally.
What does it feel like to push / ‘wheel’?

The trainer is designed to simulate road-like pushing, it is not ‘hard’ to push with a lot of resistance and at first may feel like it is too easy. Resistance is built up in the rollers as you push and maintaining a constant speed is the key to getting the most out of your trainer – a ‘stop/start’ push will not provide any resistance but nor will it get the heart rate going! The first challenge is to push for 5 minutes maintaining a speed of 3 mph – unless you are in the GB Paralympics team this may feel like a workout!

What wheelchairs are suitable for the trainer?

Generally all ‘active user’ wheelchairs are the best type to be used on the trainer – although most manual wheelchairs will be more than suitable. Having a camber (angle of the back wheels) between 1 degree and 3 degree will give the best roll and optimum performance. The angle of the rollers can be altered in the wheelchair camber is different.

Can I try the trainer before I buy?

You can visit us at our showroom and try the trainer out with us.

Does the trainer take up a lot of room?

No – fully set-up and ready to use the trainer measures 103.5cm X 157.5cm – but for storage and transporting the trainer it can be separated easily. The ramps clip off and the two units can be stacked – measurements are as follows:

Fully set-up trainer: Length – 157.5cm X Width – 103.5cm X Height – 11.8cm

Single unit (one side): Length – 73.5cm X Width – 49cm X Height – 11.8cm
Two units stacked: Length – 73.5cm X Width – 49cm X Height – 21cm
Ramps: Length – 82cm X 45cm

The trainer can easily be separated into two units and ramps for transporting and storage.

Who is the trainer for?

All wheelchair users who want to improve fitness, balance and pushing technique. Users of the Invictus Active Trainer vary from someone who has only been using a wheelchair for a short period of time, someone who is looking to loose weight (burn up to 35o kcal in 30 minutes!) through to GB Athletes who are looking to improve speed and fitness that will be transferred to there sport and give them a competitive edge.

How is the trainer delivered?

The trainer is delivered in a single box – and we currently use DPD 48hr courier service. Instructions are provided and the only assembly is the brakes which requires the handle being attached to each unit.

Who designed the trainer? What’s the background?

The Invictus Active Trainer has been invented by Paul Cooksey and Scott Smith, both full time wheelchair users and was once some rollers and wooden ramps in a garage!

After 12 months recovering from an RTA and Spinal Cord Injury in 2006 Paul knew he needed to get more active and lose some weight, in fact his first goal was to be able to push his wheelchair independently more than 10 metres.

Seeking ways to get more active Paul started to play wheelchair tennis where he met Scott, who too has a Spinal Cord Injury following a tumour in the spine at the age of 9. Paul was starting to get fitter and quicker – and it clearly wasn’t his tennis skills! – what he had created was this concept of being able to push (wheel) your own wheelchair just like you would along a road, but stationary in his garage!

After showing Scott, who has played wheelchair sport for 15 years, he too could see the potential of what this could bring to a new wheelchair user being able to improve strength so they can push up a ramp into a shop – through to a top athlete being able improve their fitness and give them a competitive edge in their sport.

Several prototypes and a few years later we have created the Invictus Active Trainer – no longer with wooden ramps – but lightweight, portable and able to connect to your phone to record speed – and yes Paul still has one in his garage!-

Channel 4's The Superhuman Show

The invictus active wheelchair trainer featured on The Superhuman's Show on Channel 4!

The Superhuman sports challenge showed how fast David Weir could push his chair and they used the Invictus Active Trainer to record the speed. Watch the clip below.