Premium Partners

Sportsmith

5925 S. 118th E. Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74146
USA
Website:
https://www.sportsmith.net
Phone:(918) 307-2446
Toll Free:(800) 713-2880
Fax:(918) 307-0216
More from Sportsmith
(Photo of California State university, Northridge, by Costea Photography Inc., courtesy of LPA Inc.)
Purchasing Parts for Strength Equipment
The frame of the seated leg curl machine was covered by a lifetime warranty, and when it succumbed to wear and broke the first time, the manufacturer shipped out a new one at no charge. (Not wanting to jeopardize a longtime relationship with this particular vendor, the club owner prefers that all names, personal or company, be withheld.)
Changing Underage
Ensuring the privacy and comfort of your members in your locker rooms is essential for your retention efforts. The challenge is to accommodate minors, their parents and other members, while also taking into account available space and budget constraints.
Tips for Inspecting, Ordering and Storing Your Locker Room Amenities
Don't overlook the small stuff when maintaining your fitness center. Follow these tips for inspecting, ordering and storing your locker room amenities, and your members will be clean and happy.
Are We Ready for Wii?
Though it's designed for home use, with a little imagination and a lot of foresight, Wii could spark dragging personal training sessions.
Locker Room Crime: The Aftermath
There is no perfect way to prevent locker room crime, but by enforcing some basic rules, you can help to protect your facility against liability.A-1 Textiles 800 351-1819; www.a1athletictowels.com Golden Mills towels now have five levels to choose from: Golden Camelot for budget clubs, Golden Jewel and Golden Cam for mid-scale facilities, Golden Touch for upper-end facilities, and Golden Diamond and Golden Elegance for spas and resorts. All towels are constructed to withstand daily use and washings. They're available in white, as well as select styles in beige.
Specialized Equipment/Accessories: Creative Storage Solutions for Fitness "Toys"
Fitness professionals often refer to specialized equipment and accessories as "toys," and it's easy to see why. But every toy needs a toybox, and some of these accessories are mighty hard to store.Aquatic Trends Inc. 800 775-9588; www.aquatictrends.com The Aquatrend Water Workout Station is aquatic exercise equipment for practically any in-ground pool, indoors or outdoors. It provides a platform for toning and strengthening muscle, increasing flexibility and promoting good cardiovascular health for both general health and fitness, and for physical therapy and rehabilitation. The Aquatrend has a compact design and is manufactured of marine-grade stainless steel to provide maximum durability. At only 37 pounds, it can be easily removed for storage, cleaning, etc., at any time. The Aquatrend Water Workout Station provides effective, low-impact aquatic workouts for people of all ages.
Cardio Equipment: The Future Is Now
Cardio equipment with entertainment options and new technology helps to keep your members motivated. Manufacturers are making changes and additions to their equipment with the end-user in mind -- your members. "If it is relevant in the never-ending quest to improve the user experience, then we'll investigate integrating it into our products," says Woods. Read on to find out what equipment manufacturers are doing to improve member usage."The days of four TVs on the wall and everyone fighting over the piece [of equipment] in front of ESPN are over," says Quast of Life Fitness. Personalized entertainment on individual pieces of cardio equipment will soon be the norm.And entertainment options will be seen on all types of cardio equipment, according to Bob Palka, president of Jacobs Ladder LLC, North Tonawanda, N.Y.: "In terms of product development, I think you will see an accelerated increase in options on traditional pieces like steppers, bikes, treadmills and ellipticals -- options like increased entertainment and electronics."Personalization will be key. According to Brad Schupp, president of Sportsmith, Tulsa, Okla., "The entertainment aspect will certainly grow -- it will become more personalized, much like a Yahoo homepage where you can choose your interests and categories. ... Moving away from TVs and headphones, users would type in their personal pin number, and their settings would come up. [Information on] interests such as golf, travel or cooking could be displayed." Educational programming could also be an option, says Schupp. Members who travel frequently could learn key phrases in another language, for example.Keeping the end-user in mindCollins from VersaClimber predicts that equipment will allow users to connect a laptop or PDA to download workout stats. And Palka of Jacobs Ladder thinks "we will also see an increased emphasis on using heart rate to condition properly. Products that make heart rate training easier and more user-friendly will become more popular."Many advancements can already been seen on equipment, such as personalized programs created by a personal trainer, and workouts that can be tracked via a pin number or some type of scanner.NICHE MARKETS. This idea of paying attention to how the body works is catching on among cardio manufacturers. Quast of Life Fitness explains that his company has two different types of elliptical cross-trainers that offer different types of motion, since the "feel of a cross-trainer is subjective." Bell of Precor says that manufacturers are keeping the "whole user" in mind when designing products, including experimenting with stride length on elliptical trainers. Collins from VersaClimber says that his company now offers a reduced step height on its products "for a 50 percent easier workout."Palka of Jacobs Ladder agrees that products will be offered to serve specific markets: "I think we will see product development to service the niche markets. Markets like the deconditioned, kids and anaerobic tools for serious athletes need to be served better than they are today."Sarns also explains that cardio equipment is adapting for another market -- users who are pressed for time: "Cardio equipment is trending toward total-body exercise. People are pressed for time, and desire to exercise their entire body in a shorter amount of time."While much of the changes in cardio equipment are designed for the user, fitness center managers will also reap some benefits. Schupp from Sportsmith says that "the changes [in cardio equipment] will deal with the communication of the equipment ... to the manager and to the equipment manufacturer." This means that the equipment could send an email to maintenance personnel, alerting them about a problem, Schupp explains. Or, for preventive maintenance, it could send an email reminding management about replacing parts, etc. This type of information would also help managers with record keeping.And additional revenue may also be in store for fitness centers. Quast from Life Fitness explains that fitness centers could have a promo channel that runs on every cardio TV screen. When members get on the machine, a short ad for personal training or the pro shop could run.Woods of Star Trac sums it up best when he says, "Any of these innovations simply become a tool that clubs and staff will ... manage in order to improve the experience for their members."Quast also says that entertainment and tracking options will increase membership sales. One YMCA that Life Fitness worked with actually increased membership sales by 50 percent after installing cardio equipment with personal entertainment.
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