The Patti & Allan Herbert Wellness Center at the University of Miami accommodates more than 600,000 total visits each year from roughly 12,000 students. To keep up with that demand, director of wellness programs Andrew Jones turned to Matrix and its lineup of cardio equipment.
“I’ve always bought Matrix cardio,” says Jones, whose career path has included stops at the University of Western Kentucky, the University of Houston and the University of Tulsa, adding Matrix equipment to every strength and cardio space along the way.
For the recent equipment upgrades at Miami, Jones purchased 20 Matrix treadmills, including the slat-belt Performance Plus and the Endurance Series, as well as several Matrix ClimbMills.
"The Matrix ClimbMills are cool because they have really easy access to the side panels,” Jones says. “People love dropping AirPods inside the ClimbMill, so that side panel makes it easy for periodic maintenance and to retrieve the things that people drop into it.”
Jones notes the ease of maneuverability for both machines as another Matrix advantage. “They’re really easy to move. Some machines are like moving a refrigerator,” says Jones. “These, you just tug on the frame, and it goes onto two wheels. Then you can move it around really easily.”
That maneuverability came in handy when Jones and his team hosted a recent HYROX-style event and reimagined the fitness area floor as a miniature HYROX course, complete with Matrix treadmills for the running portions and space for all the other challenges. Jones says the event was a hit, and the biggest win for him and his team was that the equipment held up under the pressure.
“We offer a monthly challenge, and there’s a HYROX event coming up in Miami that we have students competing in,” Jones says. To build support for that program, the wellness and recreation team partnered with popular athletics apparel company GymShark to offer a HYROX event. “It was like a mini version. We did it indoors and everyone got exposure to what the challenges are in a HYROX race. People had time slots they could register for and a partner they raced against. They went from station to station, and the running portion was done on the Performance Plus treadmills.”
When the fitness area floor is not reorganized as a HYROX competition, it is a sea of Miami’s iconic green and orange ‘Split U’ branding. Matrix cardio equipment feature Premium LED consoles that can be customized with university logos and branding, and Jones took full advantage.
“You can give them a logo and they’ll make it show up on there,” says Jones. “All our cardio equipment that is from Matrix has the same Premium LED console with the ‘Split U,’ so it looks pretty cool when you see them all in a row.”
Looks are one thing; performance is another. “Getting hands on equipment is always important before you invest in it, because you’re married to that equipment for five to 10 years,” Jones says. “Make sure that you know the parts that you’re looking at are robust enough to handle what your demand is.”
At the University of Miami, demand is high, and Jones will continue to rely on Matrix cardio equipment. Cardio equipment “tends to be the most fragile of all types of fitness equipment,” says, Jones who has no complaints about the durability of Matrix treadmills and ClimbMills. “No news is good news, especially when you work with cardio equipment.”