Planning a fitness facility under perfect circumstances is complicated. Planning a fitness facility while the market is fluctuating feels daunting at best. Which is why we’re here to help. Selecting the right equipment for your gym and its exercisers is paramount - from bikes to treadmills, low impact to functional fitness options. At Advantage Sport & Fitness, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on some of our best selling fitness products and gym equipment to assist your planning process - no matter the market.
How to pick an exercise bike?
Let’s start at the beginning. Evaluating the needs of your exercisers will help you select the best exercise bike model for you and your facility. The recent rise in Peloton popularity for home exercise biking has piqued gym goer interest in finding similar interactive biking experiences at their gym. Our favorite bike models marry cutting-edge technology with best-in-class design, including:
Expresso Bikes
Enter Expresso Bikes. Known for delivering immersive, custom rides for bikers, Espresso Bikes offer pivoting handle bars, large 26.5” retina displays, and road biking terrain simulations. Each interactive and engaging virtual ride changes the game for a traditional stationary bike experience. Let your riders bike through windy mountain roads, explore local city streets, or even race one another side by side.
Echelon Bikes
Echelon Bikes deliver connected smart bike technology. Every bike is equipped with a 21.5” or 24” touchscreen that delivers thousands of heart-pumping classes. The screen flips 180°, allowing riders to complement their cardio with yoga, strength training and more. Live and on-demand rides with dozens of instructors mean exercisers can choose the personality and workout style that matches their needs.
Spinner Indoor Cycles by Precor
With weighted flywheels, Morse taper pedals, and LCD consoles, Precor’s line of spin bikes is in a class all of its own. Spinner Indoor Cycles by Precor are constructed in your choice of steel or aluminum frames, and backed by more than 20 years of industry testing.
What are low impact exercises?
According to Sweat.com, low impact exercises increase your heart rate while minimizing the amount of stress and impact on your joints. In serving an array of markets and gym goers, it is important to carry a variety of fitness equipment that meets different needs and expectations. Below we’ve listed a couple of our favorite equipment pieces to provide low impact options at your facility:
Adaptive Motion Trainer
If you are interested in a versatile piece of equipment where you can walk, stride, run or climb, the Adaptive Motion Trainer (AMT) is the perfect option for you. The AMT intuitively allows walkers - or runners - to change and customize their workout simply by altering their stride.
Precor’s Experience Series
Precor’s Experience Series 800 Line touts 8 different models with mix-and-match console options. Their top-of-the-line ellipticals feature adjustable cross ramps and your choice of fixed or moving handlebars. This series includes low impact options from treadmills to ellipticals, cross trainers to stationary bikes.
What is functional fitness?
According to Opex, functional fitness replicates activities that many of us do in our everyday lives, such as lifting, squatting, and balancing. Functional fitness helps train muscles to provide better stability, as well as increases overall upper and lower body strength. Integrating functional fitness elements into your facility not only offers your exercisers a variety of meaningful gym options, but offers a flexible footprint that meets social distancing needs. Options include:
Escape Fitness Step and Riser
This tool is one of the best pieces of functional equipment for a gym of any size. Due to its compact footprint and multi-use nature, gym users are guaranteed a great workout. Seeking to raise the level of difficulty? Strap in the Escape Fitness Step and Riser’s additional resistance band underneath or combine multiple risers together to keep your body guessing and your workouts different every time!
Escape MARS Screen
The Escape MARS Screen brings technology to the forefront with self guided training options and a large workout library. An interactive screen that mounts to a functional training frame or storage unit, this option is particularly great for smaller multifamily apartment gyms. The MARS Screen provides access to a library of exercise videos, preloaded workouts, and step-by-step video text instructions that appeals to any level of workout.
Ammo Box
Another great option for multi-family gyms or weight rooms is the Escape Ammo Box. Ammo Box combines all the agility and strength equipment you need to provide a full body workout within a condensed footprint. Self contained and easy to move, the Ammo Box is made from 95% carbon steel to ensure that your gym floors are kept safe and clear from stray fitness equipment once a workout is complete. For more information about this all in one staple, contact our team to find out if it’s right for you.
What about the best cardio equipment for indoor exercise?
Traditional cardio equipment continues to be a tried and true gym staple. Often connected to immune health, maintaining weight, lowering blood pressure, and stabling blood sugar, cardio is a great way to get your blood pumping and your body moving. Here are some of our favorite cardio equipment recommendations to consider for your next gym build:
Precor Treadmills
Precor Treadmills are some of the best in the world, offering Ground Effects® Impact Control technology that absorbs high impact movements and supports a solid and controlled push off. Depending on your facility’s needs, Precor’s TRM 781, TRM 661, and TRM 885 models suit a variety of price ranges and fitness settings. Precor’s line of treadmills allows users to adjust their speed and incline to create a customized end-to-end workout.
Aviron Rower
As full-body rowing exercises continue to rise in popularity, cardio options such as the Aviron Rower provide multipurpose gyms a leg up on the competition. Interactive rowing workouts, competitive games, and data-driven insights provide a custom rowing experience on dry land.
Mix-and-Match Console Options
No matter the Precor cardio line you choose, the Mix-and-Match Cardio Philosophy by Precor can be tailored to fit your selection. Compatible with any of the Precor Experience models, the mix-and-match consoles provide the best in-workout entertainment, cardio monitoring, and interval training options.
Need help choosing the very best equipment for your fitness center? Contact us for a free consultation!