But today it was a Fitness First gym, in the centre of Sydney’s CBD, that played host to Apple’s latest worldwide release.
And if you’re the type who enjoys a good sweat on the elliptical, and you own an Apple Watch, it means you can keep a far tighter track on your performance. (Elliptical: as an unabridged non-gym goer, that sounds like it could involve something roundish).
Apple’s new innovation is called GymKit, and operates from the Apple Watch.
In the olden days of electronic powered cardio equipment (which in digital terms would be last week), you would have to enter your personal data, like weight, height, age and sex, before jumping on the machine.
At the end of your session, it would be up to you to note the details of your performance, if you were keen to keep tabs on just how much healthier you were getting.
But GymKit, via Apple Watch, will already be loaded with your personal fitness details. With just a simple touch, fitness data is gathered and collated, then finally sent back to your watch.
If you’re a workout fanatic that is intent on filling in the three rings of health in Apple’s fitness software, those details will be gathered automatically with every session.
The digital influence on health and fitness is such a growing industry, that equipment manufacturers around the world have been quick to fashion their machines to “speak” with Apple’s software from the watch.
And the implications grow for its use in fields such as medicine, with doctors being able to examine the data in older patients on a prescribed fitness program.
This new era in exercise will begin quietly, with major Fitness First gyms in Sydney and Melbourne the first to adopt the technology; but given the take up experienced with other Apple products and software, it’s hard not to imagine the new exercise machines spreading through gyms quickly.
After all, the Apple Watch is now the biggest selling timepiece in the world.
