The Rack aka Gyrotonic Expansion System
Pop queen Madonna has embraced another torturous celebrity fitness fad.
The 46-year-old is raving about a muscle-stretching exercise machine dubbed ‘The Rack‘, after the medieval torture device.
Clients are strapped on to the £3500 wooden contraption and then pulleys and winches give their limbs a tough workout.
The proper name for The Rack is the Gyrotonic Expansion System, developed by Romanian ballet dancer Juliu Hovath and popular with top dancers and Olympic gymnasts.
Madonna is said to be delighted with the results because the machine helps create long, lean muscles that look toned, rather than masculine bulges.
A member of the exclusive London gym Madonna visits once a week said: ‘It might resemble an instrument of medieval torture but it works miracles.
‘It’s great for your posture and exercises parts of your body other methods can’t reach.’
Mum-of-two Madonna, who lives in Marylebone with husband Guy Ritchie, 35, and children, Lourdes, eight, and Rocco, three, pays £90 for her 90-minute sessions with fitness guru James D’Silva.
Friends say she started visiting him for Pilates but soon became hooked on the new apparatus.
The singer has never been slow to try unconventional techniques and alternative therapies, including Ashtanga yoga and reiki.
She also follows a strict macro-biotic diet, which involves adding wholegrain cereals,pulses and soy products to meals.
Source: Daily Mirror