BOISE, Idaho — The Super Bowl is over, and your New Year’s resolution has gone out the window with that plate of chicken wings and queso dip.
I’m senior reporter Roland Beres, and if you want to get back on the fitness track, your local YMCA may have the perfect 21st-century tool to build muscle.
Discover how EGYM is changing workouts at local YMCA locations throughout the Treasure Valley
Lifting weights should require effort, after all, that’s how you stay fit. But setting up the machines and using them properly can be intimidating— until now.
“I can run through two of these and don’t have to think about anything. Just go do it,” says Sam Allessi, who regularly uses the new EGYM that’s available at all local YMCAs except downtown Boise.
“Well, my wife and I are doing it, and she needs a little help,” added Alessi.
Matt Davis, fitness instructor at the YMCA, says the EGYM machines are perfect for people like her.
“They’re like, 'What do I do next? How do I do this? How do I do that?' This takes care of that, doesn’t it? This completely takes care of that, so people come up the steps, start at machine one, and their workout routine is set.”
All it takes is a smart bracelet that the machines read automatically.
The initial physical evaluation and bracelet cost about 50 bucks, and there’s a ten-dollar monthly fee.
But then it’s like having everything on the machine set perfectly by a personal trainer.
“That's the other great thing about it, you don’t need a personal trainer, it’s kind of an AI personal trainer,” says Davis.
The program actually monitors your progress and can adjust to your needs.
There are 11 machines in the circuit, and because they’re computerized, you don’t have to worry about someone monopolizing a machine.
“The fact that it’s synchronized, you don’t have any wait time,” says Davis.
So you can get through two circuits in about 45 minutes and get on with your day.
Davis says the Tomlinson South Meridian YMCA has had a 97% retention rate for EGYM users over the past year.
Considering fitness gyms in general see close to 80 percent of people quitting within 5 months, that’s an impressive record.
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