The fitness industry and technology usually aren't known for going hand and hand. However, the recent release of Apple's iPad may change the fitness industry forever. In this first article exploring this topic, I will take you through a scenario that may come true in a few years.

Mr. Smith's iPad Workout

Imagine a gym where you walk in and your trainer hands you an iPad and tells you:

Hi Mr. Smith, I have already loaded your workout for you, hit the 'Page' button on the home screen if you'd like anything.

Mr. Smith takes the iPad and reads the trainer's summery of his workout. His trainer has selected a specific workout for Mr. Smith's aching back, which he indicated on his last post-workout survey he took prior to returning the iPad. Mr. Smith goes through the list of equipment as indicated by pictures on the iPad. He also selects his desired music mix based his preferences. The music he selects mixes all the exercise cues straight into the music, this keeps his workout moving along efficiently. The music is transmitted wirelessly to his bluetooth headphones. All the descriptions, videos, pictures, sets, repetitions, and specific instructions for each exercise are right in front of Mr. Smith, he simply follows along. As Mr. Smith completes each exercise, he indicates the quantity of weight, reps, and enters any notes he may have.

Did I mention while Mr. Smith is going through his workout, his progress and workout details are streaming instantly his trainer's iPad? The trainer can monitor multiple clients' workouts in real time. The trainer can even update or modify Mr. Smith's workout based on his progress of his current workout.

Mr. Smith has a problem, an exercise he is doing doesn't feel right. He hits the 'Page' button on the home screen. An alert comes up on the trainer's iPad. As the trainer is walking over he can review where Mr. Smith is at in his workout. The trainer notices that Mr. Smith's aching back isn't going well with one of the exercises. So, the trainer hits the 'swap exercise' button on Mr. Smith's iPad, this brings up a dialog box that asks what is the problem with current exercise, the trainer hits the 'sore back' button and the iPad automatically replaces the exercise with a back friendly exercise.

Now imagine the gym has a program that allows Mr. Smith to rent an iPad. (I'll explore the logistics of this in a future article) Along with the workout request, the iPad also has a food log request that also streams real time to his trainers iPad. Mr. Smith has the capacity to take his iPad home and enter all of his food he has eaten. Forget the logistics of how all this works and imagine the efficiency this brings to a gym or a personal training studio. As well as, how cool would it be for a gym or a studio to market iPads as one of their benefits. This is just a dip into my imagination on how an iPad may be integrated straight into a gym environment. Read there are many other iPad applications that I will explore in future articles.