GYROTONIC® Pulley Tower

The Pulley Tower has two parts. On the bench you sit at a unit with two rotating handles, which let your whole torso turn and undulate with them. From the tower hang five, ten, sometimes fifteen kilos of weight, spread across cables and pulleys. That weight carries you and gives you counter-pressure at the same time, and it stays constant throughout the movement. It's no heavier at the end of your reach, and no lighter halfway.

Swimming on dry land

You sit astride the bench, feet firmly on the floor, hands on the handles. You turn your legs out and in, your back undulates from arch to curl, and meanwhile you swim forward with your arms and circle back again. Your spine is constantly changing shape; your arms and legs follow and support that movement.

In the variations you place both hands on the same handle and take the arch and curl round the bend, like a spiral. These are natural movements you make every day, such as turning, bending sideways, picking something up and looking over your shoulder. Just a little further this time, so that you reach and lengthen more.

Being carried

Lying on the bench, with the straps round your feet or in your hands, you're carried by the weights. Now you can swim, dive, circle and cycle with your legs, draw figures of eight, and reach further than you normally would. Sitting, you reach, bend sideways and back, paddle a canoe, swim and soar like an eagle. It feels as though you're moving through water and being held up by it.

Your breath sets the rhythm, and an exercise has no beginning or end. One flows into the next, effortlessly and gracefully, as if you were dancing.

Seeing it in action

In this video you see trainers working on various pieces of equipment, the Pulley Tower among them. Watch the cables: they stay under tension the whole time, even at the end of a movement. That's what being carried does.

How you feel afterwards

As if a cup of tea has been stirred: something has been set in motion that goes on resonating, even as you walk out of the door and back into your day. You notice it in subtle undulations, in a balance with a gentle rhythm, in a sense of length and lightness. You reach more easily and take longer strides.

Your mind has settled and your posture is more balanced. You've worked, but you're not tired.

Who this is for

For anyone curious about this way of moving. For anyone who loves swimming but not the palaver of the changing cubicle. And for anyone who keeps running up against the same stiffness when they exert themselves and would like to try it the other way round: supple movement first, strength afterwards.

Meet first, or start straight away

A first conversation is free and commits you to nothing. Together we look at what you'd like to achieve and what would suit you.

If you'd rather begin at once, you can book an introductory series of three sessions. It costs €195.