A diagram showing one of Techno Gym's newest machines, the Crossover, which will be included in the Student Recreation and Wellness Center
Students will get a taste of Italy in their new wellness center — though it will be felt in the presence of aerobics and weight equipment, not pasta or pizza.
Technogym, an Italian company that markets itself as a high-tech, whole-wellness equipment manufacturer, will provide most of the workout machines featured in the new Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center on the Abilene Christian University campus.
“They’re truly a wellness company, not just fitness,” said Dr. Kerri Hart, soon to be the SRWC director of training and fitness programming.
Central to Technogym’s work in installing its equipment in the wellness center will be the inclusion of a wellness key — a device similar in appearance and function to a USB flash drive that will allow students to “log in” to the center and each machine, coordinate workouts and receive credit for classes. [See a brochure describing the key.]
The key would allow students to set a workout plan — either individually or in coordination with Hart, another professor or student trainer — and follow it, down to the settings the student needs to set for each machine.
An excerpt of images from a Techno Gym brochure showing the company's wellness key technology
Hart envisions ultimately a redesign of fitness classes in which the professor would meet with students individually at the beginning of the semester to set up a workout plan, then at the end to test whether the student has reached his or her goal. The “homework” — the workouts themselves — would be logged via the key.
“It could tie back to the teacher of record, telling the teacher who participated, who attended specific workout times,” Hart said. “It’s based on what your goals are. Part of my role is to work with students on their workout goals and work it into their key.”
Technogym, founded in 1983, was the official supplier of equipment to the 2006 winter Olympics in Torino and the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing, and it will supply equipment for the 2012 London games, as well. The company designs and manufactures equipment specially for its clients, which number in the tens of thousands.
Around June 1, about 90 days before the building opens, ACU will tell Technogym to begin making the equipment Hart and others have selected and customized. The company will then deliver and install the equipment once ACU receives its certificate of occupancy in late August or early September and remain on call to troubleshoot any problems after the facility opens, Hart said.
“It’s comforting to know they’re going to do that,” she said. “Not many companies follow you through the entire process.”
The company employs its own architects to design the workout spaces based on ACU’s requirements and the design of the facility itself, Hart said.
“They already know where every piece is going to go,” she said. “They look at the equipment we’ve ordered and our architectural renderings, and [their architects] plan the location of every piece of equipment.”
The technologically innovative atmosphere ACU has created on campus works well with Technogym’s high-tech ethos, Hart said, noting that Technogym sent a representative to ACU’s Connected Summit in early March. The company also shares ACU’s goals for the Student Recreation and Wellness Center to focus on the fourth word of that name: wellness.
“Every person that we’ve had dealings with [has said] Technogym has taken an interest in not just building equipment but building a wellness program,” she said. “They’re going to keep coming back. They’ll be a permanent fixture at ACU as we move forward.”