It?s been an hour since Vidur Kohli started his daily workout. After the treadmill, pumping iron and cycling, it?s now time for 20 minutes of weightlifting. Finished with that too, he turns to the black computer screen kept in a corner of the gym. He reaches out to the touchscreen and enters his membership code and password. The machine shows Kohli a couple of colourful graphs, making him feel more tired. ?There is still much to be done. I have not improved on my fitness level since the past three weeks. The lapse is due to missing workouts last week. Earlier, my rating was the highest among all the members in the centre. Now, it has fallen badly,? says the vice president & IT head at IBM India, scrolling through the data on the machine ? his new fitness trainer.
A few kilometres away, Siddharth Bhattarcharya, a trainer at the fitness centre at Delhi?s Ashok Hotel, is busy checking how his clients have been doing at the gym. The fitness system here, built by Technogym Italy, has bio-strength and cardio-training equipment managed by an interactive software platform that automatically adjusts each machine according to the user. ?These details help me in planning the workout schedules better,? he explains.
So, for those trying to fool their families, fitness trainers and themselves, gyms today have changed. Now every exercise you do, whether at the fitness centre or even outside, can be tracked. A regular practice in developed countries, gyms in India are becoming IT savvy with smart software and customised fitness equipment.
?Technology has crept into the fitness world. Today, it?s more than just Excel, PowerPoint or web, used earlier to handle basic management at a centre. The new programmes streamline one?s day-to-day operations, eliminate unnecessary redundancy, and generate better reports. Tracking client progress has also become more scientific,? says Dinaz Vervatwala, master trainer at Dinaz?s, Hyderabad.
F Chisel, a fitness and spa centre in Bangalore, uses software that analyses the test results of its members to come up with a customised exercise programme. Says Satya Sinha, managing director, F Chisel, ?This personalised programme is prepared after taking into account the individual?s physical strengths and weaknesses. Also, individual lifestyles and goals ?whether it?s being just fit, strength building or body-sculpting is kept in mind while designing the programme.?
The gyms store the vital statistics and the objective of the members in the central database. On the basis of their body type and what they want to achieve, the programmes are laid out. Each member is then given a login id or key, which when fed in the system tells him his workout for the day. ?As each machine in the centre follows the software, there is no way a member can lie about completing the workout,? says Bhattacharya.
?At Technogym, the data is stored onto a microprocessor chip based key (TGS key), which we hand over to the members. All that a member has to do is insert it in the TGS key slot on the equipment and start working out. The workout instructions are pre-loaded onto the key, which guides the member. After the workout, the trainers get the results and can alter the charts as per requirement. It saves time for the trainers, club owners and members,? explains Pankaj Arora, managing director, Geospafitness/Technogym.
The Technogym programmes can also store the information in members? PDAs in case they are travelling. ?As IT frees world barriers, our members can access their current fitness schedule from anywhere. The TGS keys can be carried by the members with the workout data to any site in the world where Technogym cardiovascular equipment are available,? says Arora.
Then there is the FitLinxx software. Used by Elemention in Gurgaon, where a one-year premium class membership is for Rs 60,000. Its software works on three key elements ? intelligent equipment, intelligent network and intelligent website. The intelligent network has each machine networked to a database that allows users to see their progress, helps provide feedback to members and gives management tools to monitor and compare performance. The intelligent website on its part, from where members check their progress, and enter workout results, ensure they stay committed to exercise and to the centre, even when they travel or exercise off-site. ?The machine remembers each user, coaches each user on proper form, and eliminates ?exercise anxiety?, thus giving us higher satisfaction and less new-member dropouts. Besides giving management tool to support and monitor staff so that they can implement and benchmark best practices, FitLinxx provides a content-rich website to users, helping them stay connected from home, the office or on the road,? says Vidur Sodhani, managing director, Elemention Health and Sports Pvt Ltd, which imported the software from the US.
A frequent traveller, TechTribe CEO Rohit Agarwal does not miss a visit to his gym Crunch Fitness at San Francisco. ?Health is a great place for technology to play a role. With the gym cardio equipment going hi-tech with sensors, it has become very easy to measure one?s performance at the gym. One can focus on the distance, the burn rate of calories, even as the technology prevents one from trying to over-reach. Key to technology adoption is measurement, and we are at a stage where one is able to measure every aspect of one?s exercise plan, along with the diet ?- leading to better health planning and goal achievement,? he says.
While various software solutions are available, human intervention is still necessary. Monitoring by a trainer continues to be important. Fitness expert, Dr Virendra Sherlekar, ED, Talwalkars, says India is at least half a decade away from a scenario when fitness software programmes become an integral part of a gym regimen. ?Though many software programmes have been developed in the US, we are developing our own modules that are tailored to Indian conditions. Moreover, fitness levels of clients here are generally much lower and many of them are not tech savvy. They would still prefer to sit with a specialist and decide on their fitness plan.?