“Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and

creative intellectual activity.”

-John F. Kennedy

The gym of the future should be personalized, seamless, trackable, user linkable and integrated.

___________

I was inspired by my friends' and my current frustrating experiences at the gym to design a

conceptual interactive gym experience.

Each gym member has a card which is scanned upon entry. Why not use this card to connect and track the

user's workout, live progress and make the results available to them in real time?

Why not connect gym users to each other and allow them to motivate and challenge each other as well as track each other's progress? Let the gym system be intuitive enough to allow users to adjust for goals,

injuries and broken machines so that all data is accurate and present.

Allow the machine to connect to the user's home media such as iTunes and Tivo for seamless media integration

and a gadget-less workout.

The Big Idea

Sketching the Screen

connected users

personalizedworkout tracker

currentprogress

dietary tracker

manual data entry

health monitor

future/pastgoals

personalizedmedia

Workouts are often compartmentalized, untracked, impersonal and de-motivational. They aren't saved in real time or aggregated as data that can show issues and actual

gym progress. Gym equipment such as cardio machines and treadmills are poorly designed, require a user to constantly re-enter their information. Gym TV and music are not personalized or motivational, or even good. Members often do not interact with one

another and have no means to challenge themselves or encourage each other and share their fitness information, goals or setbacks.

Fitness and health data lives in various apps or journals and requires significant time to update and that also happens after the fact. The very place

responsible for fitness isn't tracking it. Machines are underutilized and once upgraded, have the potential to do more for people and benefit the gym

while improving the user experience and most importantly, health.

Problem

Digitize the gym member pass to be usable in all gym machines by inserting it into a card slot much like a USB or a memory card. The pass is recording live data as the person is

working out and then pushing the data to the user's personal gym site. All this is seamless and effortless, requiring little time or action from the already busy user.

Make the data shareable with other gym members and friends to track progress and most importantly, challenge and motivate each other. Allow for a function to track users

with a similar workout schedule and goals and do optional live challenges (even anonymously), much like in gaming. Allow the users to link to their own personal digital libraries for movies, music and reading so there are no extra gadgets to bring and the

entertainment is exactly as the user wants.

Solution

Mike joined the gym to get healthy and possibly train for a marathon. When he joined, he was given a card with a magnetic strip and a barcode that gets scanned every time he enters the gym. Each time he uses any machine at the gym, he plugs the

card into a slot and lets it seamlessly record everything he is doing.

When he steps on the treadmill, he is automatically greeted with his name, his past performance, and his future goals. If he needs to make any adjustments, he uses the keypad. Any changes he enters into the machine along with new goals he hits or misses, are recoded unto the card and emailed to him when his workout has ended.

Even if Mike forgets his card, a temporary card can be linked to his existing account. Any other workouts where data cannot be recoded can be added at the data stations

at the gym or skipped all together.

Scenario - Mike

“Lets face it, the gym isn't fun and if I am going to be in pain, at

least the entertainment could be fun!”

-Tamik J., former Pace classmate

Scenario - Patty

“Great idea! But make sure it adjusts for injuries so you do not hurt

yourself while healing.”

-Wendy R., my physical therapist

Patty also happens to be training for the same marathon. She does not know Mike, but using the new machine and the all data her key card has been collecting, she can see

that someone with the same goals is plugged in. As Mike made his profile public, Patty can track him and see how she is doing on her goals compared to his. They can

also directly connect to discuss the marathon and training, if need be.

Patty has now joined a network of marathon trainers across the nation and they can all work out simultaneously while observing each others progress on their own

machine's screens and sharing data afterwards.

Patty also has a bad knee, so the machines never suggest any exercise with too much knee strain. Any other new injuries or changes, Patty can adjust her info and let the gym do all the data work while she works to meet her goals. To stay motivated, she

also logs into her Pandora radio account and listens to the music that she wants without having to bring any gadgets.

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