Indoor Cycling Goes High Tech

Home > Articles > Norma Shechtman

Indoor Cycling Goes High Tech…Continued

MYTRAK Success Coach for Indoor Cycling

MYTRAK Health has been providing leading edge technology that transforms an array of exercise equipment into intelligent training systems to improve human performance on every type of exercise device, and soon to be indoor cycling.

Via a small radio frequency key tag, MYTRAK automatically recognizes every user, retrieves their profile from a central computer, then knowing their goals and their prescribed optimal level of exertion, provides the feedback coaching to keep them in their optimal zone during their workout.

MYTRAK is now adapting their technology to indoor cycling. Each bike will have a success coach, an ultra-small computer console, that communicates wirelessly with a central computer in the club. This allows the cycling instructor to focus on motivating the class as a whole, while MYTRAK gives each student their personalized feedback as to whether they are training too hard or too easily for their profile and goals.

The MYTRAK success coach (above) displays the cyclist' cardiovascular data and exertion force data. It uses a simple red, yellow, green metaphor. This same device can be attached to every machine in the health club and aggregate all of the users data into one simple performance index.

The feedback is given via small indicator lights. The lights use a simple red, yellow, green metaphor; green means students are cycling in their optimal zone. The slogan "Go for Green" keeps effective exercisereally simple and attainable. This will be a boon for clubs to attract novices into the cycling studio - what could be simpler to understand than keeping a light green and you're in your zone.

An Intelligent System for the Entire Club

The chief benefit to health clubs, is that MYTRAK is a portable technology. In addition to indoor cycling studios, it can be installed on virtually every piece of machinery in a health club, be it strength or cardio.

MYTRAK engineers have developed sophisticated sensors that are attached to critical moving parts on different types of machines to monitor levels of force. Depending upon the machine, it could attach to a wheel, a hydraulic piston, or a weight stack. The speed and force of movement picked up by the sensor is quickly calculated to a measure of human exertion.

Users may also wear a heart rate chest belt. The success coach will also give feedback as to whether the user is in the cardiovascular zone. Again, it uses the red, yellow, green light metaphor. What is unique to MYTRAK is its human exercise performance Index which is a measure of fitness state ranging from one to 1,000. A person with a performance Index or PI of less than a hundred is your typical couch potato. A person with a PI over 800 is in the elite athlete range. A great motivator for club members is to watch their PI level rise, as they get more and more fit.

The Way We Train is About to Change

For the Cycling instructor this opens up a whole new arena of training. From either a laptop computer or on a screen projected on a wall, the instructor can see at a glance who is working within their personalized goals. Colored lights on the computer display indicate heart rate, heart rate zones and intensity. Privacy issues allow the user to turn off the large screen and just allow the instructor to view their output.

Using the projected outputs of each cyclist on the wall opens up a whole new dimension for competitive games. Or, the entire class can cooperate and attempt to all light their individual lights green, even though they all vary in levels of fitness. This would be heartwarming to an instructor to know that everyone had an optimal workout.

An instructor can pre-define their cycling class profile from the unique programming section in MYTRAK. She can set a profile, establish rpm's and give suggested heart rates to the members. The profiles can be stored to be used again for other classes.

At the completion of the exercise session, all collected data is sent to a central computer in the club for comprehensive analysis and reporting. Members can either view their progress and charts at the club's kiosk, or check their results with a home computer over the Web.

Indoor Cycling is definitely going HIGH TECH!! What will be next?

MYTRAK Contact Info

Go to MYTRAK Info page.

About Norma Shechtman

Go to About Norma Shechtman.

More Like This…

Ontario Racquet Club Offers Exercisers Instant Feedback with MYTRAK by Al Valente

Yoga For Cycling And Spinning by Beth Shaw

Star Trac Serves up a Winning Combination of Cycling Program and Bike That's Sure to Gratify Your Cardio Members

Schwinn Out of Spinning Business, Mad Dog Takes Over Sale of Bikes

Back to Articles

031407