The Matrix 7XE line of cardio equipment comes with a virtual reality video option to keep members engaged in their workouts. Photo courtesy of Matrix.

Most club members come to fitness facilities for exercise and socialization. But what if they could also come to experience a run through another part of the world?

That’s what club members get when they jump on Virtual Active-enabled 7XE cardio equipment from Matrix. The company’s treadmills, Ascent trainers, bikes, ellipticals and steppers allow users to experience a virtual run or walk through various parts of the world, such as the Las Vegas Strip or the streets of Italy. The videos, taken on actual runs by Virtual Active CEO John Ford and other Virtual Active staff, include ambient sounds and historical information about the locales.

The interactivity doesn’t stop there. The Matrix equipment is synced to the video so when the video shows a terrain change, the equipment inclines or declines and when users slow their gait, the video slows.

The video, but not the interactivity, is also available on MyRide bikes, which Matrix distributes.

Through Netpulse, other equipment manufacturers will soon be able to offer the video but not the interactivity, according to Kurt Weinsheimer, vice president of business development for Netpulse, San Francisco. Netpulse recently signed an agreement with Virtual Active, San Francisco, to offer the videos as part of its entertainment platform, which is Internet based.

Virtual Active was looking for a way to get its video content to more members, and Netpulse’s Internet-connected network was the way to do so.

“Our platform opened the door to a new age of personalized content delivery,” Weinsheimer says.

Members at Gainesville Health & Fitness Centers, Gainesville, FL, are fans of the videos and the interactivity they get with the Matrix equipment. Pete Dougherty, facility operations manager at Gainesville, installed the first of this equipment last May at Gainesville’s main facility. Now, the facility has 15 treadmills, 12 Ascent trainers, four stair steppers and one demonstration recumbent bike, all with the Virtual Active technology on it. Dougherty says the next purchase will probably be more of the bikes.

This interactive equipment typically has users lined up during busy times while machines without the technology are often open, Dougherty says.

Gainesville has 29,000 members at its three clubs. Those members run the gamut from young to old, fit to deconditioned, Dougherty says. And every type of member seems to be drawn to this virtual reality workout.

“I have a lady who walks with a cane, and I help her onto it each morning,” Dougherty says.

Gainesville management wanted equipment that would engage members more after observing that people didn’t stay long on cardio equipment. With the Virtual Active technology, members are staying on the equipment longer because they are so immersed in the experience, Dougherty says.

A pilot study by Virtual Active found that 18 out of the 20 people surveyed felt the videos reduced the perceived time they were on the machine.

“The other two people hated the music we had chosen,” Ford says. Still, that’s a 90 percent approval.

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