Computer program offers a glimpse of future fitness
When it comes to achieving fitness goals, seeing is believing.
Thanks to a new computer program at Gold's Gym in Palm Springs, fitness enthusiasts can see the results of working out before they lift a barbell or step onto a treadmill.
The gym recently rolled out Visual Fitness Planner, a tool that shows clients a prototype of themselves on a computer screen. The 3-D image - a figure in blue shorts for men and a white unitard for women - grows wider in the waist, buffer in the pecs and slimmer in the tummy based on information clients enter into the computer about their bodies.
"Eighty percent of the people who start out this way are more successful," said Aaron Wallo, Gold's regional manager.
The program also calculates an individual's health risks for disease, predicts one's health age as opposed to the actual age, and estimates how long it will take for a person to achieve their fitness goals.
It also provides clinical information, explaining certain health risks and providing ways to prevent them. New Gold's clients are automatically introduced to the technology, and existing gym members are encouraged to get started on the system, Wallo said.
"We have a lot of members who have been coming (to the gym) for years without any results," Wallo said.
To help achieve their fitness goals Wallo recommends that clients sign up for at least 12 sessions of personal training. But the most popular package is the 54-sessions plan, he said.
Since the program was launched April 1, fitness director Joe McDonnell said the average member who uses the program has lost anywhere from "15 to 20 pounds in two months."
RaNeeka J. Claxton
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