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From Health Club Management 2015 issue 11

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Technogym

Technogym’s Pure Strength range is meeting the rising demand for performance training, and enabling regular members to train like elite sportspeople

There’s a growing interest in performance training among the public

A scan of NFC or QR points on Pure Strength gives access to tutorials

Only a few years ago many gym spaces around the UK were governed predominantly by rows of cardiovascular machines and fixed resistance equipment. New trends are constantly emerging on the gym floor, creating an expectation for operators to provide the latest in equipment, training methodologies and programming to satisfy a wide range of member needs and interests.

The functional training area continues to grow in popularity, with many operators looking at how they can develop dedicated spaces within their facility. This need for functional space has demanded the creation of wide open expanses with a collection of small functional tools and training rigs offering personal trainers a variety of options for specialist programming and fast classes. So what is next?

Technogym is seeing the rise in strength and conditioning, and sports performance training establishing a real presence on the gym floor. This is no longer exclusively confined to the world of the professional athletes or the hard-core users; the growing interest in performance-based training is bringing strength and conditioning into the arena of the everyday user. Andy Knight, Group Manager for Physical Activity and Healthy Lifestyles at the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, has seen a significant growth in demand from members for strength and conditioning: “We’ve listened to customer feedback and are in the process of increasing our strength and conditioning space within the gym by 50 per cent to meet the needs of our members, attract new members from the community, and stay ahead of the latest trends in the market. We’ve chosen to install Pure Strength equipment for this area based on its scientifically-validated, robust design. We believe that it’s the best-designed equipment in the market, and will make our offering the most compelling in a very competitive marketplace.”

Designed by Champions, for Champions
This year Technogym unveiled five new pieces for the Pure Strength range, to create a full complement of plate-loaded equipment. Technogym has over three decades of expertise in this field, with extensive research in science and movement in order to offer advanced solutions to maximise sport performance. As Official Fitness Equipment Supplier to six successive Olympic and Paralympic Games, including next year’s Rio 2016, Technogym has historically been linked to the highest level of sport performance. This has provided valuable feedback from the world’s leading teams and athletes, and gives Technogym the unique knowledge required to constantly improve the solutions so that all users can achieve their full athletic potential.

Unique features
All Pure Strength models incorporate the unique features, quintessential to the Pure Strength range, which maximise comfort, stability and ease of use. These include yellow visual flags to demonstrate correct body positioning to the user for maximum training effectiveness; high-density padding to improve stability and comfort; and ergonomic handgrips to increase the user’s grip, making their movements more effective.Safer and more accessible

Through Technogym’s digital innovations the equipment becomes safer and more accessible for all members. A simple scan of the NFC or QR technologies on the Pure Strength equipment, allows members to obtain video tutorials through mywellness cloud, which demonstrate safe and effective use. The integration with mywellness cloud, also makes the Pure Strength range easier for goal-oriented users to track their progress.

Maximum muscle activation
Technogym works with prestigious partners from the worlds of science and academia to develop products that apply the most advanced biomechanical principles, ensuring the best movement trajectory and best workload distribution.

Designed to last
In the Technogym labs, more than 188 intensive tests are carried out on Pure Strength machines and components for a total of 54,262,581 cycles. Products are stressed well beyond their normal usage to ensure they offer maximum durability and reliability.

Neil Parsley, strength & conditioning coach

Neil Parsley is one of the most sought-after strength and conditioning coaches in the UK. His 15-year career has taken him to two Olympic Games and he has spent the last three years working with England Rugby. “After I achieved my goal of playing rugby professionally [with Warrington Wolves] I wanted to continue working in elite sport,” says Parsley.

“The physical side of training and preparing for games always fascinated me so this motivated me to do my degree and continue in the field as a career.”

Parsley spent 10 years as Strength and Conditioning Coach at the English Institute of Sport, where he helped athletes prepare for a variety of Olympic sports including wrestling, boxing, athletics and swimming. He also led the strength and conditioning for the successful GB Taekwondo team for the London 2012 Olympics, which included Olympic gold medallist Jade Jones.

The Underground Training Station (UTS), Parsley’s unique training facility, brings to life his philosophy that ‘all humans have the potential to be athletes’. He says: “My partners and I set up UTS six years ago as we felt that there was a gap in the market for providing the average person with a world-class service at the gym, helping them to achieve their fitness goal, whatever that goal may be. At UTS we offer education and coaching at a high level in an environment that encourages you to want to get better.”

The very existence of a facility such as UTS demonstrates the public’s growing interest in performance training. “There’s a definite change as your average person has started using training methods that used to be solely used by elite athletes,” he says.

In a performance-based facility like UTS, the equipment is key to being able to deliver results. Neil explains: “The equipment has to fit your philosophy of training, as well as being robust and hard-wearing.” Technogym’s Pure Strength equipment was selected by Parsley for UTS to offer the best possible opportunity for members of all fitness levels to fulfil their goals. He says: “The Pure Strength range was the obvious choice as they’re all extremely well-made pieces of equipment that allow our tribe (users) to perform key compound exercises in a safe and effective manner. They also look awesome!”

Pure strength is designed to maximum comfort, stability and ease of use

PHONE: +44 (0)1344 300236
EMAIL: UK_info@technogym.com
WEB: www.technogym.com

Originally published in Health Club Management 2015 issue 11