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Sponsored: Physical: On your feet
We all know we need to stand more. Now an exciting new partnership between Physical and Teca Fitness expands this thinking into UK gyms and beyond
Physical is delighted to announce a new partnership with Italian strength specialist Teca Fitness, becoming the exclusive distributor for Teca in the UK.
Product development at Teca Fitness is based on a firm belief that there’s no one type of resistance or machine for all users – that within the discipline of strength training, everyone should have the opportunity to train in a way that helps them achieve their personal, optimal results in fitness and sport, wellbeing and longevity.
Teca’s biomechanically-advanced portfolio therefore spans everything from selectorised and plate-loaded machines to multi-planar equipment, from core and lower body stations to a standing circuit and multi-functional bench.
Products are inspired by science and guided by research for a complete, effective, natural and safe approach to strength training. Indeed, Teca prides itself on continually evolving its products as scientific research progresses.
Teca StandUp is an exciting line, bringing something genuinely new to gyms and office spaces alike. Each of the 10 stations – chest press, squat, traction, biceps, rowing, triceps, deadlift and lunge, glute and hips, abdominal and shoulder press – requires just 1sq m of floorspace. On each machine, rather than sitting down and isolating one muscle group – as with so many other pieces of strength kit – you stand up throughout.
It means far more of the body is engaged in every exercise: the core and other muscle groups kick in to support and stabilise the movement and reduce the risk of injury, while the standing posture helps create a natural movement, facilitating the correct alignment of the spine for maximum back protection.
A whole-body approach
“StandUp’s total muscle activation technology uses kinetic chain exercises to train the human body as a complete system,” confirms Elio Carrea, international sales manager at Teca Fitness. “You train for how you should live: standing up rather than sitting down. You train your whole body, not just your muscles. It’s an intuitive, accessible, highly functional approach to strength training that maximises muscle activation and boosts calorie consumption to reduce workout time.”
“Teca StandUp trains the whole body for everyday movements,” says James Anderson, sales and marketing director at Physical, “and the bonus is that it can be used without even having to change into gym kit.
“At Physical, we’ll have it in our reception area rather than the gym. We want to encourage our team, as well as visitors, to use it for five to 10 minutes here and there as a way to introduce movement between calls, meetings, desk time or driving.”
Feel the difference
Anderson adds: “I was really surprised by how different it felt when I first tried Teca StandUp. It’s great biomechanically – really nicely built, with a lovely smooth movement – but because you’re standing up, you really can feel your core engage and your whole body work in a slightly different way from normal sit-down machines.
“It’s a fantastic workout that aligns really well with current consumer mindsets: from standing desks to walking meetings, Apple Watch alerts to the ‘On Your Feet Britain’ challenge, we’re all being encouraged to stand up more often. Why wouldn’t we extend that to the gym environment? It seems counterintuitive that we get people into the gym and then get them to sit down on equipment!"
He continues: “We saw StandUp in action at a gym in Italy, in an instructor-led circuit class. Two things leapt out. First, how full the class was at 11.00am mid-week. And second, the diverse group of members it had attracted: people of all ages and fitness levels were taking part and enjoying the session.
“I also spoke to a PT, who told me he used StandUp at the beginning of every session with every client, to activate the body and get them ready for the workout.
“This is a fantastic range of equipment that trains you for life, and we’re hugely excited to bring it – and the rest of the Teca Fitness portfolio – under the Physical umbrella in the UK. We believe very strongly in the power of partnership. If someone has created a perfect wheel, why reinvent it?”
"Teca StandUp is a fantastic range of equipment that trains you for life" – James Anderson
