The first Life Fitness Global Summit, held last month in Las Vegas, attracted 300 global health club customers and 400 Life Fitness representatives, dealers and distributors for educational sessions, social activities and product introductions. Photo courtesy of Life Fitness.

SCHILLER PARK, IL -- At last month’s first-ever Life Fitness Global Summit, Life Fitness, Schiller Park, IL, introduced a new concept in how to lay out equipment at a health club.

The concept, called Life Fitness Journey, merges practices from clubs around the world to create a different fitness experience, according to the company. The program uses non-traditional equipment layouts and stimulating visuals as part of 20 exercise areas, called Life Fitness Journey Spaces. The Circuit Space, for example, targets people who are new or are returning to exercise. The Running Space positions treadmills in a half or full circle to encourage social interaction. The concept was created to offer variety to workouts, promote progression and encourage social interaction, according to Life Fitness.

The McGrath Family YMCA in Rancho San Diego, CA, is the first Y to implement this concept. Its walls feature murals of a runner in the mountains and hikers on a beach.

The Journey concept’s introduction came at the four-day Life Fitness Global Summit last month in Las Vegas, where 300 global health club customers and 400 Life Fitness global sales representatives, dealers and distributors heard from experts in fitness technology, social media, demographic data, facility management, marketing and exercise biomechanics. The group gathered for roundtables, social events, educational sessions and previews of new products and services.

In addition to Life Fitness Journey, the company introduced the next phase of compact machines in its Signature Series Plate Loaded Strength Line, which comes in candy apple red. The company also unveiled new Optima Series Strength dual machines, which offer multi-exercise options in a more space-efficient machine.

Life Fitness also introduced new enhancements to its Virtual Trainer Website. Now, users can manually track their cardio and strength workouts, create their own workouts, and track the amount of weight they’ve used and repetitions they’ve done. They also can search through results by date and year. With the buddies feature on the Virtual Trainer, personal trainers can now view results of their clients and track their progress, plus owners can view the number of members from their club who have registered.

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