Strength Training is Where Connected Fitness shines

It's interesting that the world is connected fitness started so much on the cardio side. Because to some degree, the advances in connected fitness are much more suited to the strength side of the fitness equipment world.

 

Sure, in either type of workout it's nice to have a coach, or a guide, or something to distract you.

 

But really, when you are strength training, you don't want to be distracted. So that's already a point in the favor for connected strength.

 

But one of the big differences is that connecting content to your cardio workout doesn't really change your workout from how much value you'd get if you did the same amount of time on a machine. You are still doing the same things. But in strength equipment, with a lot of the newer machines that use motor driven resistance, you can *literally get a better workout* on the machine then you would if you used traditional weight stack or free weight equipment.

First of all, the ability to change resistance minutely, and to have concentric versus eccentric weights, the ability to add resistance throughout the range of motion, or the ability to create different resistances based on speed, these are all huge advantages over traditional strength modalities.

 

Secondly, there's only so many different ways to use an elliptical machine, or to use a treadmill, or especially, to use a bike. You can work harder or not as hard, there's a few other things to change, but there are not that many different ways to use the piece.  But having a directed work out on a connected strength piece that has you doing squats one day lunches the next day adductor and abductor work combined with good mornings on your third workout day... The tremendous variety as well as the effects of using that variety is so much more given to connected fitness than cardio workouts.

And third, there is the safety aspect.  Connected Fitness allows a lot more safety features, such as automatic and gradual safeties that cut the resistance, unlike weights that can fall on a client.  Not to mention the extra help in detecting good or bad form.

 

So while we may be seeing some ebbing of the enthusiasm and the fortunes of the connected cardiovascular pieces, I'm not surprised to see the improvements in the quality of the connected fitness strength machines. We're starting to see some second generation machines that are definitely better made and that will hold up to more serious use, as well as commitments to customer service and warranty that are a little bit more in line with the rest of the fitness equipment world.

 

 

It's always easier to look backward at it, but when you have a two-way feedback loop and the ability to make all these changes to the resistance, it only makes sense that connected fitness strength should be the Center Post of the tent of connected fitness.