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Leisure Management - Connected gym floor

Digital

Connected gym floor


The growth of digital options and integrations is opening up new functionality for health clubs, as Frances Marcellin discovers

Members can share triumphs and cheer each other on photo: Matrix Fitness uk / TIMOTHY HUGHES

Tanya Hall: EGym UK
photo: Egym uk
How can we digitise the customer experience?

Digital integration within gyms allows data capture on members’ fitness levels, goals and requirements, so they can have access to personalised training programmes and content designed specifically for them. Members can measure progress and set realistic goals.

Our smart gym equipment provides individual workout analysis and can adjust training in real time. In conjunction with smart machines in gyms, members can also unlock personalisation features through apps and wearables that allow them to book classes online, have access to on-demand online training and be part of online fitness communities – allowing gyms to support their members on individual journeys by providing educational materials.

Gamification is another motivational feature accessible through our solution that helps customers stay motivated and understand the positive effect their training has on their health.

Which kit best offers this functionality?

It has to be EGym Smart Strength machines, which provide a personalised, interactive and motivating strength workout to members, offering beginners maximum support for every set and repetition, while motivating advanced exercisers to perform at their best by setting completely new workouts.

The EGym Fitness Hub enables individual member care, quick onboarding and continuous motivation with intuitive body analysis, flexibility texts and training progress visualisations. The Open Mode helps more experienced users design their own workouts.

Gamification helps customers understand the positive effect their training has on their health
EGym Smart Strength machines can be customised / photo: Egym uk
photo: Egym uk/BenjaminOlszewski
Rob Knox: Matrix Fitness UK
photo: Matrix Fitness uk
What digital features are most useful for customisation?

It’s important to keep members enthused, excited and eager for more by harnessing the power of tech to create communities and keep people connected through exercise experiences that keep things fresh.

We focus the technology of our connected solutions on providing workout tracking, fostering personal relationships and keeping members entertained while they sweat.

Our approach is centred around an open platform – a digital ecosystem that enhances the way you manage your facility, retain and engage members and promote your brand. Using digital features to provide a more personalised approach is key, it’s about using connected solutions to connect as people.

Digital features should create a virtual fitness community that’s always active with fresh ways for members to stay fit, share their triumphs and cheer each other on, all while consolidating member workout data under your brand.

Which products would you propose to drive personalisation?

Our Engage 360 technology helps trainers connect with members in exciting new ways that get results and build lasting loyalty. Staff can access the ever-growing training library, create workouts, assign exercises to individuals and groups, track and monitor progress and ensure members are staying on track.

Our Community 360 app brings all member fitness data together in a single customisable interface so you can offer daily workouts, challenges, motivational push notifications, reward programmes and referral incentives to keep members engaged and interested.

It doesn’t just bring data together, it brings people together, creating connections and building a community.

Our Community 360 app doesn't just bring data together, it brings people together, creating connections and building a supportive community
Members can share triumphs and cheer each other on / photo: Matrix Fitness uk / TIMOTHY HUGHES
Members’ fitness data can come together in a single interface / photo: Matrix Fitness uk
Anthony Radak: Life Fitness
Photo: Life Fitness
How can digital personalise training?

One of the most impactful ways to do this comes from the operator’s ability to deliver video training content and brand messaging, featuring the trainers and support staff that engage with members on a daily basis.

There’s a host of relevant video content that health and fitness operators can produce for their members to provide value – from instructor-led workouts to facility onboarding.

We believe our commercial customers should have the power to personalise the equipment with their brand, their way. If members can consume personalised content from their gym, they’ll naturally form a stronger affinity with the brand and be more likely to consume additional goods and services.

How does that work in practice?

Coming soon on Life Fitness premium touch-screen cardio products – including the new 24” SE4 console – will be the ability for operators to stream custom content for their members to consume while they work out.

Via the Halo Fitness Cloud, operators can upload custom videos to our platform and push them to any compatible cardio product alongside the 500+ complimentary on-demand fitness experiences via Life Fitness On Demand+.  Halo Fitness Cloud and Life Fitness On Demand+ are available free with the purchase of Life Fitness equipment.

If members can consume personalised content from their gym, they’ll naturally form a stronger affinity with the brand
Operators will be able to upload custom videos to Life Fitness On Demand+ / photo: Life Fitness
Hugo Braam: Virtuagym
hoto: Virtuagym
How is tech impacting the gym floor?

We believe the future of physical fitness is a connected and personalised one, driven by technology and automation.

Technology can be used to advise a member on what to do and when, depending on their personal variables, such as health goals, available time, exercise preferences and diet. The member can then track their training progress, body composition and nutrition, and that data can be analysed to provide an updated training experience, thus creating a continuous feedback loop.

Virtuagym enables various sensory sources to feed back into our coaching platform and mobile apps, including wearables, body composition monitors and connected gym equipment. After cardio integrations with Matrix Fitness and Life Fitness, we launched our first strength integration with Matrix Fitness, linking their strength machines to the Virtuagym platform. This contributes to a more meaningful fitness experience, motivating people to reach their personal goals.

What’s the best strategy?

Rather than it being about a particular product or piece of equipment, the key to unlocking a truly personalised hybrid fitness experience starts with a strong mobile app strategy, preferably through an open platform, which enables operators to work with multiple hardware providers, without being locked in.

Braam recommends an app-first approach / photo: Virtuagym
Martin Perry: Technogym UK
photo: Technogym
What digital features personalise training experiences?

Personalisation goes beyond features and in today’s environment consumers are demanding ‘accessible experience transfers’ to support their training experience.

At the very core of this is the digital customer journey, and regardless of whether the user is in a cinema or a gym, the execution of tasks such as booking, or making payments don’t change – the need for frictionless experiences is a must.

or several years Technogym has invested heavily in precisely this – the customer journey – with an obsession about the user’s training experience. For example, operators using the Mywellness CRM have a platform that helps them personalise every individual user training experience inside and outside the facility: from the initial assessment to the personalisation of a programme, the follow-up and ongoing review, and the sale of additional services – both within the gym environment and at home.

From a training experience perspective, Mywellness CRM further helps operators personalise individual user training experiences, thanks to a machine learning AI-based system that optimises, progresses and adapts the training experience based on the individual needs, habits and passions in order to boost engagement and maximise results.

Which systems can be used to deliver personalised experiences?

Nearly all our product lines are digitally connected and can be used to deliver personalised training experiences and challenges, engaging group exercise and motivation, regardless of location.

Connecting product and software is the Technogym Ecosystem, an open platform that can be easily integrated with applications such as membership software, marketing and payment platforms and body analysis and assessment devices that are already in use at the facility. They also integrate with consumer apps and wearables.

The ecosystem can now also be integrated with fitness equipment from any manufacturer using the Bluetooth Fitness Machine Protocol. Additionally, Mywellness, the Wellness lifestyle CRM of the Technogym Ecosystem, helps facilities and businesses accelerate their digital strategy and transformation, improving users’ experiences and increasing ROI, thanks to the surge in attraction, retention, upselling and secondary spend.

Whether a user is in a cinema or a gym, the need for frictionless experiences is a must
Technogym’s Ecosystem connects all its platforms / photo: Technogym

Originally published in Health Club Management 2023 issue 5
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