Exercise-Powered Electricity: Really Not that Crazy

Remember the Flintstone cars that were powered by their legs? Maybe that’s not such a bad idea. Not literally, of course, but the idea that modern machines can be powered by human energy. If that were possible, think about all of the energy that is expended in your facility in one day. Not by the equipment, but by your members.

Since Earth Day was celebrated this month, and since rising energy costs are on most everyone’s minds, I think the time is ripe for a radical idea: Harness the energy of humans exercising to supply electricity.

This idea actually isn’t that crazy. There is currently a cycle stand on the market that has a battery pack that saves the energy created from cycling into a battery. Currently, most indoor cycles use human energy to power the electronics on the actual cycle. This could be taken one step further, so that any extra energy is stored, or used to power other things in the fitness center (maybe the treadmill next to the cycle?).

For treadmills, strength training and even group exercise, willing participants could have a device attached to them (maybe on their wrists and ankles – I’m making this up, here) that would store the energy created by movement – like those flashlights that are powered by shaking them. This power could be stored in some sort of battery to be used later.

I know it’s a bit of a leap to go from a shakable flashlight to powering a treadmill, but the technology is out there. Someday, fitness centers will be completely powered by the physical energy created by their members. And you heard it here first!

Bally’s to be “Speared”?

Now I think I’ve seen it all. As if Bally’s hasn’t had enough problems, a recent blog on iVillage reports that the company is considering making Britney Spears its next spokesperson.

Is this a joke? I can’t think of a worse spokesperson for a fitness facility chain than Spears. With all of her boozing, drug use, lack of morals and just plain loser of a persona, is this the kind of image Bally’s wants to associate itself with? And, don’t they realize that by Bally’s associating with Spears, it translates to Spears being associated with the fitness industry as a whole?

I get the reasoning behind health club operators wanting to associate their brand with a celebrity, but while Spears’ name may be big, it’s big for all the wrong reasons. If Bally’s execs think that she’s really going to make a turnaround just because she’s working out every day, they better not count on it. And, even if she did, her reputation is what it is, even if a bunch of foolish young people do consider her an “idol.”

Maybe this is all a bunch of hype with no truth to it, and let’s hope so. Because this could be another “spear” in the back, not just for Bally’s, but for our industry, as well.

A Fitness Fortune

A wise person once said, “Personal trainers are like surgeons. How they’re educated matters not as much as how they operate.”

Okay, it was me. I said that. I am, on occasion, wise, and I was speaking from experience when I uttered the above sentiment. Sure, it’s the kind of thing you’d read in a Fitness Fortune Cookie, if there were such a thing as Fitness Fortune Cookies. But it’s also true.

My wise thought occurred to me while reading an article about fitness trends in 2008. “Many people have had experiences with bad personal trainers," said Dr. Thompson. But Thompson says more and more gyms are demanding certified instructors, so this presents a win-win for both client and club.

I’d agree that certification is a win-win for all parties involved, but it’s not the only game worth playing. A personal trainer’s bedside manner, if you will, is just as big a factor in his or her professional success as the degrees on the wall.

Brow-beating, red-faced trainers make good television (see: Sgt. Harvey E. Walden IV of Celebrity Fit Club, and the Biggest Loser trainers), but in real life no one wants to pay someone to yell at them. Those people you see on the screen? The ones taking all that abuse? They’re getting money for that, not the other way around.

On the flipside, a lackadaisical, gum-chewing trainer more interested in his hangnail than the sorry state of my abs is not someone I want to pay, either. Nor is the trainer who smirks when I proffer my weekly food log, barely able to conceal her disbelief in my calorie intake estimates.

Certification is definitely the first step toward elevating the status of personal trainers in a fitness facility. But in an industry where technology has an ever-increasing presence, the small moments of interpersonal interaction members get in a club must be more meaningful. Personal trainers are the keys for clubs that want to go high tech with a human touch. Certification in important, but it’s not the only thing that matters.

Technology: The Latest Fitness Craze

I’ve gone to many trade shows over the years, and seen many fitness companies and products come and go. Manufacturers are always looking for the next big thing (remember when the elliptical trainer came out?), and facility owners are always looking for the latest and greatest product to get members in and then keep them coming back.

More than a few times, I have seen products at trade shows and thought, “This product will never make it. What were they thinking!?” (To refresh your memory on some of these, read Top 20 Product Trends from the Past 20 Years.)

Despite past mistakes, I think manufacturers and fitness centers (by way of their wallets) got it right this time. Instead of trying to come up with some new-fangled cardio machine, most of the major manufacturers have focused, instead, on making improvements to their existing lines. The major addition I saw at a recent trade show was in technology. Cardio machines now feature personal viewing screens, plug into iPods, and can track workouts with a USB stick or the Nike+ system. Now, these are things that members will actually use!

A recent article about the newest fitness equipment says, “The future of exercise is here — and it’s heavy on the techno. Fitness equipment is catching up with tech-savvy, gadget-loving exercisers.”

Members can now keep better track of their workouts, or simply have more distractions from their painful miles on the treadmill with movies, music and television right on their console. “Watching a bank of communal televisions is so five minutes ago,” says the article. Technology and fitness manufacturers have finally caught up to the ideal of a totally personal and individualized exercise experience.

Of course, there will always be the dreamers who come up with some strange gadget that they think will be the next best thing. And, more power to them! They always make trade shows more interesting for everyone.