Craig Lewin and Hut Allred are back…
…showcasing another fine piece of home fitness equipment, the Life Fitness Club Series Elliptical.
Did you know that Life Fitness products are Made in the U.S.A.?
Craig recently visited the Life Fitness headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, and brought back some great information.
Watch Hut & Craig’s video presentation or read the transcript below!
Hut Allred:
Hello—this is Hut Allred with New Wave Fitness. I’m here again with Craig Lewin of Busy Body and Fitness HQ. Last month we missed you, but that’s because Craig was traveling all over the country. Tell us a little bit about your adventures.
Craig Lewin:
First I want to say, I dressed up a little bit for today. I’m usually in my slacks and t-shirt, but I look pretty good. I hope you think I look good. My wife thought I looked good. We were doing quite a bit of traveling and in fact, one of the places that quite a few of us went to recently was out in Chicago where the Life Fitness factory is.
It was amazing, some of the things we saw out there, what they did to make the products. I didn’t even know this, but a lot of the products, like this elliptical that we’re going to show you today, is made in Chicago. It was pretty amazing to see their assembly line and how everything get put together and what goes into it.
Hut Allred:
So they actually have an assembly line?
Craig Lewin:
It’s amazing. Those guys have their act together. Life Fitness is one of the biggest brands out there. In fact, they sell more equipment to health clubs and homes than anybody in the world, so they’re really out there. People know the name—it’s a very strong name. They’ve got their act together there.
They have tons of different assembly lines, testing stations, all sorts of things. The stuff I saw really blew me away when you think about the quality. We never tend to service a lot of these higher-end products. Why is that? Then you see that when a product is made here in the United States like that, the quality of it is that much better. It’s why we’re not servicing them. Sometimes things tend to break down, but it’s a big difference.
Hut Allred:
I tell folks you pay for what you get. When you invest in a product like Life Fitness, you don’t have a lot of those issues that you do with other lower-end models.
Craig Lewin:
Yes, it makes a huge difference. One of the biggest reasons we wanted to get together today is going over some of the exercises and some of the machines that could be for people who need something a little bit lower impact—someone who has knee injuries or someone who comes into the store and says, “I love running but I can’t do it anymore because it really hurts my knees,” I think that’s where this comes into play.
Hut Allred:
As you can see, we’re not in one of the fitness stores; we’re actually at corporate, Fitcorp USA. We wanted to change it up a little bit. Let’s talk about this particular Life Fitness elliptical and how someone would benefit from investing in equipment like this.
Craig Lewin:
The biggest thing is that people are very used to this style. I think a lot of people have been in health clubs, they’re used to seeing this Life Fitness Club Series line, and people are used to the feel. It’s probably one of the most natural feels of anything that you’re going to get on. They do a lot of work in taking that person who’s doing a light jog around the neighborhood and mimicking that exact same motion so it follows the natural foot path for us and takes the pressure off of our joints.
It’s very easy to get on and off. The great thing about the product is it’s got very close pedal spacing so it makes for a very natural motion. The flywheel has always been in the back with Life Fitness. One of the biggest things you’ll notice (and I think this is one of the things Life Fitness prides themselves in) is there are actually no wheels on here. There are no points of friction whatsoever so there’s nothing wearing out, so that’s really big. All it is, is linkage arms, and I think that’s something that makes a huge difference just when you talk about longevity.
Upper-body is build into the machine as well, as you can see. We’ve got pulling and pushing, which is great. They put a lot of time and energy into where these arms are so it feels very natural, doesn’t put any pressure on my rotator cuff.
Something that’s pretty cool—Life Fitness did a good job integrating this iPod technology in here as well. You can take your iPhone, iPod, whatever, plug it in here, and then you’ve got a jack for your headphones right here so that way you can listen to it and you don’t have to worry about your iPod falling off and getting on the floor because you have it clipped on your pants or something. It’s docked right there, which is great. They’ve really done a good job.
Hut Allred:
That’s good. We’ve worked with a ton of clients with Life Fitness and you always see folks that are very excited about this type of equipment and the results you can get, especially not putting all the stress on joints and ligaments, which as we know, as we get older, that’s very important.
We’re at corporate today, but you can go to any of the stores. This one will be at Fitness Headquarters. Go check it out. All the store managers and staff are very helpful. We’re here to help solve problems and help find equipment that fits into your home so that you can stay consistent and get results.
Craig Lewin:
I think you hit the nail on the head. Life Fitness is an exclusive brand to our Fitness Headquarters stores in Dallas. It’s definitely their staple piece and they’re proud of that. They do a great job. Come in the stores. Feel at home.
Come in, take your shoes off if you want to. You can tell them, “Craig said I could take my shoes off.” Just be comfortable in the store and get on whatever you want. It’s up to us to try to find a piece of equipment that’s really going to fit you.
Hut Allred:
That’s a great point because you look at equipment, and it’s not until you really get on it that you see if it fits you. That’s the good thing about being able to go into one of these stores—you’re not buying it online. You can go in there, do a workout and find out if it’s something that you could continue using for the next 10-15 years. This type of equipment will last that long and beyond, so you definitely want to make the right choice. Coming into the store will help you do that.
Craig Lewin:
I think the equipment is going to be something where the quality is a lot better. I think people need reliability. They want to know that every time they get on that elliptical, they’re not going to go, “Oh, man, this is broken, that’s broken,” and that’s what an elliptical like this gives you. It gives you reliability, and I think that’s really important.
Hut Allred:
Great. That is the Life Fitness Club Series. Again, if you want to come and check it out, you can at any of the Fitness HQ stores. We look forward to bringing you another piece of equipment, and we have tons of them, so we’ll be doing this for a while, and next month, as long as Craig is in the country.
Craig Lewin:
And Hut.
Hut Allred:
He got me. Good stuff. Thanks!