New Gizmos Battle Bulges--and Boredom

Amid a sea of the latest technology in exercise bikes, treadmills and stair-climbing machines, Bruce Coolidge is looking for a competitive edge.

It’s not his body he’s worried about. It’s his business.

Coolidge, general manager of a fitness club in Elk Grove, Calif., was in San Diego recently for one of the nation’s largest specialty fitness trade shows.

Among stationary bikes with Internet access and treadmills with entertainment systems, he was looking for something that would keep his 5,000 members from fleeing to newer clubs.

“You’re seeing a higher level of competition every year,” he said. “You’re always trying to keep one step ahead of everybody else.”

This challenge isn’t confined to Coolidge’s club in the Sacramento suburbs. The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Assn., the industry’s largest trade group and host of the conference, estimates 35% of the nation’s 29 million fitness club members quit each year.

That’s why there were 10,000 fitness club owners, managers and employees at the show and 300 companies displaying their goods.

The exhibitors offered such new toys as a $13,000 electronic rock-climbing wall, a $5,000 device that simulates cross-country skiing and a $32,000 egg-shaped fiberglass pod that measures body fat.

The items seem pricey, but Kyle Sexton, of Gold’s Gym in Salem, Ore., notes that the right piece of equipment can pay for itself.

“Something like this would sell a lot of memberships,” he said, gasping for air as he stepped off a test of the climbing wall--a constantly shifting vertical treadmill.

Some of the more aggressive pitches came from San Francisco-based Netpulse, which sells a $3,000 computer terminal with high-speed Internet access for stationary bikes. The device is already in 300 clubs nationwide, according to the company.

“The reason almost 50% of people leave their health club is because they’re bored,” Netpulse spokesman Adam Handelsman said. “ . . . This gets them on the machine, and you’d be surprised at how fast a half-hour goes by.”

Dick Knight, owner of an 18,000-member club in Bellevue, Wash., says his fitness center may soon install the Netpulse system or something similar. His membership includes some 12,000 employees of nearby Microsoft Corp., who may be more likely to need the high-tech stimulation or constant access to their Internet e-mail accounts.

“It’s part of the service to give them something that’s fun and new,” Knight said.

Not everyone is so sure. Eric Yallen, who sells nutritional food at Milwaukee health clubs, doubts that gadgetry will do much to spur fitness center memberships and says that every year the convention attracts a new batch of farfetched ideas. “There’s more than enough to entertain people. You don’t need the Internet and being able to get your e-mail,” Yallen said.

Not all the equipment is so advanced. The trade show floor included demonstrations of $3 elastic bands for stretching classes.

Richard Cotton, an exercise physiologist for the nonprofit watchdog group American Council on Exercise, said all anyone really needs to keep in shape is a simple weight set and running shoes.

“You don’t have to join a club,” he said. “In fact, it’s more convenient for many people just to exercise from home.”

Cotton, who has helped the council expose dubious or fraudulent exercise devices, mainly available through infomercials, generally liked on the convention floor.

At its best, he said, high-end workout gear and group classes can help motivate people and can provide a real physical challenge.