Gizmos for Good Health

American Fitness, Nov, 1999 by Pat Stackhouse

Modern technology is helping to attract new club members and fuel their interest in exercise.

An estimated 13.5 million Americans have coronary heart disease, including almost one million who survive heart attacks each year, according to Michael Horan, M.D., director of the Division of Heart and Vascular Disease at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. If those statistics aren't enough, one in three adults ages 20 to 70 are obese, according to data from the National Health and Nutritional examination survey.

Overweight and obesity are known factors of heart disease, high blood pressure and other health related problems. Doctors state that most could benefit from participating in a cardiovascular program. Many choose a health club. Dr. Prakash Pande, a cardiologist at the Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis calls this "an investment in your health."

Theresa Hunt, head coach at Health Plex, a new health club in Indianapolis, Indiana, says, "Most people join the club to get in shape." Melanie Roberts, director of the health and fitness center at the National Institute of Health in Indianapolis, says, "Most of our membership is for prevention of heart disease."

Some enter under a doctor's orders for health reasons. Take, for instance, John Bonacorsi, 48. He had been jogging to keep in shape, but then suffered chest pains. He went to the doctor, who said he didn't have a health problem. Hearing that, he continued to jog. One day, he suffered a heart attack while jogging. Under doctor's orders, he started working out on new state-of-the-art treadmill equipment for 12 weeks. At the end of the 12 weeks, he was able to go back to his former health program.

Bonacorsi found that working on one of the new state-of-the-art treadmills was an incentive to exercise. Motivated by the new health machine, he easily fell into the exercise program.

Other state-of-the-art equipment found in health clubs are the Recumbent Bike by LifeFitness, which gives more muscle movement than former bikes. Also, it is designed to increase heart rate. The Lifecycle bike promotes elliptical movement without much pressure on the joints.

SciFit's Pro II ALL Body Exerciser is a total body conditioner, an upper body ergometer and a recumbent bike. The optional high support or low cut boots and wheelchair platform allow quick conversion for even the most challenged user.

The Quinton Treadmill is low impact and reduces shock. It has a handrail for safety and a shelf to hold a water bottle or magazine. The Life Step 9500 by LifeFitness has an elliptical movement and is a combination of the stepper and treadmill. The Step Mill 7000 PT, by Stairmaster, can register varying speeds for climbing stairs.

Damian Kart, vice president and trainer of the Franklin Health and Fitness Center in Indiana, says the new cardiovascular machines in his health club motivate people to use them because, "they are something new and interesting. Also, the new health machines are better able to track their heart rate."

According to Roberts, "The new state-of-the-art equipment helps people overcome boredom. It involves different muscle groups and helps avoid injury."

Most of the equipment at the Health Plex in Indianapolis is fitted with Fitlinxx, wherein the user logs on and all exercise data is captured and stored for future reference.

The Virtual Reality Bike by Techtrix adds interest as one can visually see the route they're riding. "The goal of the new machines is to increase the heart rate during exercise," says Hunt. "To target the heart rate is important. This goes according to age. If new on the program, one should start out slower."

"The new machines are heart rate compatible," says Roberts. "On some, you wear a chest strap and the machine picks up the heart rate."

Katt, Hunt and Roberts all call the new machines "user friendly." "The new cardiovascular machines are simple to use," says Katt. "With a few instructions, anyone from ages 13 to 90 can use and understand it within minutes." According to Hunt, some machines have larger screens with larger numbers.

Hunt says the trend in the new cardiovascular machines is the elliptical movement or circular action equipment. The goal is to reduce impact on the joints.

A piece of equipment Katt uses is the Quinton treadmill. The Quinton 612 Plus treadmill reduces impact to the joints while capable of a speed setting of 12 mph and a 15 percent incline capability. It is low impact and partially absorbs shock. It has a handrail for safety and a shelf to hold a magazine or water bottle. Another piece of equipment akin to the Quinton treadmill is the Orbiter Low Impact Treadmill. It has a spring-type of involvement that reduces impact on the joints.

Roberts says, "The new machines are so simple that you forget you are using them. You may take a magazine and a glass of water and find that time flies." She says, "Watching the people on the new equipment makes it look so easy, but it is actually raising their heart rate." Roberts adds, "People may be afraid of the new equipment. It takes some people a couple of days and others a couple of weeks to get used to it. Some watch others use the equipment before using it themselves."