New High Tech Fitness Equipment At The Shady Grove YMCA
So I’ve been working out every day lately at the Shady Grove YMCA, but just this morning noticed a lot of new technology in place. There is a set of new Life Fitness treadmills (I don’t know how long they’ve been there, but not too long) that have interactive color touch screens complete with a view of how far you’ve run that can be shown as a track, mountain hike, or nature trail, a virtual personal trainer, and an interface for your iPod (you can plug your iPod into the docking cable and you can scroll through your playlists on the treadmill screen!). I keep my USB flash drive on my keyring, so I was also able to insert that into the provided slot at the end of my workout and it saved my workout information. Nifty!
Next, I went up front to discover three new interactive stationary bikes by a new start up company called Expresso Fitness. These bikes allow you to sign in to track your progress and then select a myriad of different road courses of various levels, change gears on screen, and you’re given a pacer to keep up with, all on a big 17 inch color screen. I was much more motivated to go faster and farther by being on a virtual course and having other bikers to keep up with on screen than I would have been if it was just me on a traditional stationary bike. This is a very cool concept and I think this company will do very, very well in the fitness industry as they grow and expand.
These are some great new fitness technologies and it’s really cool that the YMCA has invested in them to bring a new dimension to working out.
Thanks for the kind words. I actually work at expresso fitness as an artist. I just wanted to let you know that you can track your workouts with our equipment as well. If you sign up for an ID you can save your last ride and race against your ghost the next time you ride that track. If you upgrade your membership, you can save a ghost for every route in the game and race against them as well. We even keep all your workouts and post you on to our leaderboards at http://www.expresso.net so you see how you stack up against everyone else in both your club and around the world.