Concerns over the closure of the gym over the past two years and the spread of COVID-19 to the community have led to a surge in smart home gym equipment. Many of these technologies are innovative, award-winning and promising for the future. That’s a very good thing.
But much of this technology is a basic machine that has been around for years. To make matters worse, the feature is locked behind any subscription service, and without subscription, the device is nothing more than a heavy and expensive bricklayer.
And that’s just stupid.
The rise of pay-to-be-fit culture
Exercise equipment is expensive. That was always the case. In fact, there are many words about the spartanness of buying second-hand exercise equipment to reduce costs. A quick search will show you a very basic treadmill available for just over $ 160, but if you need a machine that can train hard for the marathon, you’ll have to spend $ 300 or more. After all, you don’t want it to shatter after some footprints.
People who buy exercise equipment are not afraid to spend money on it, but they buy it in the hope that they will be able to use it. Smart home gym equipment has changed the paradigm. Instead of paying once for a machine that is always available, you now pay once for the machine. Also, I’ve started paying for my monthly subscription over and over again. And without that subscription, the machine won’t work.
Which part of it sounds wise?
This model is suitable for certain devices such as mirrors. Its purpose is to connect users to guided classes that help improve forms and techniques. Doing this without a subscription is not easy, especially as one-on-one training is possible.
When it comes to exercise bikes, it’s ridiculous to lock that feature behind a subscription. I’ve tried a few and each tracked distance, heart rate, and other health indicators during class, but outside of class I could pedal all day and no information was recorded. did.
At that point, it’s wise to ride a real bike rather than strapping your fitness watch (or just using your iPhone with the Strava app) and spending over $ 1,500 on regularly charged equipment. I felt that.
If you want to keep track of your health and fitness scores, you have to pay. In a world where physical health is being scrutinized more than ever, it seems counter-intuitive.
You pay for the class, but the metrics must be free
Gym facilities connected to guided classes are great, especially if your friends also use them. It adds a competitive element that helps you maintain motivation and effort for a better score, and it certainly has a place in the world of smart gym equipment.
However, I feel greedy not to provide metric tracking for free. Standard non-smart devices show heart rate, distance traveled, and can estimate calories burned at half the cost of a smart exercise bike. Smart exercise equipment that costs over $ 1,500 should offer the option to cancel your subscription, essentially without having to brick the entire machine.
Another aspect of the problem lies in the available content. From time to time, I want to jump on an exercise bike and run a few miles without watching a class or cycling to the beat of music. From time to time, I want to launch Netflix on my cell phone and watch the show with a little aerobic exercise. In some cases, it’s still not an option.
If the machine offers guided classes and training, it should also offer unguided training. All machines require a free roaming feature to track your heart rate. When cycling, you don’t have to take a virtual tour of a special background or distant land. Please tell me the black background including all the relevant indicators. This is a simple question.
Between apps like MyFitnessPal, dozens of different exercise-specific tracking apps available on both the App Store and Google Play, and smart fitness wearables, other parts of the world will make it easier to keep up with your fitness. It looks like you’re stuck. Why do exercise machines, even smart ones, still feel far behind?
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