Before I go into the ‘fluffy stuff’ on how great this new treadmill is and all it’s patent’s pending etc., I first have to say myself, that, in my opinion, “SKILLRUN™ is disruptive technology before our very eyes, and it’s an industry game changer”.
On first glance you may think you’ve seen this piece of equipment before, and for lack of the curve, you would be correct, as it looks a lot like it’s non-motorised sister, the SKILLMILL™.
Approach the SKILLRUN™ though, and you’ll notice things are different.
Firstly you’ll notice the crossbar with a centrally positioned red STOP button, an elevation control lever to the left (with an impressive -3% to +25%) and a speed control lever to the right (also with an impressive max. speed of 30km/h). Next, and more excitingly, you’ll see the large console hosting what looks like a multitude of interactive and real-time feedback goodies (more on those later). Whilst its non-motorised sister, the SKILLMILL™ does offer a console on two of its three models (the CONSOLE and CONNECT), the SKILLRUN™ is equipped with the UNITY digital interface, designed to deliver a more personalised training experience, allowing you review, monitor and record all your workout efforts.
Tick that box, but we know that a lot of commercial cardio now offers connectivity and/or smartphone guidance via an app, PLUS a host of cool workout parameters we can ‘save to the cloud’ to help us stay motivated en route to achieving our weekly target or reaching a specific goal. (Wouldn’t it be great if cardio machines in the gym could talk to our fitness trackers and record ‘all‘ of our fitness activity – indoor and outdoor? Oh wait, we announced that technology last week – Australia Leading The Future Of Fitness).
Anyways, back to the SKILLRUN™. What I think makes this treadmill so awesome is the ability to perform a variety of cardio and power workouts and receive real-time feedback relevant to each of those workouts.
From a regular running session with all your main running parameters to performance training using the SLED TRAINING function (power and acceleration) to PARACHUTE TRAINING using the optional training kit (speed resistance) to agility drills using the CADENCE TRAINING (neuromuscular coordination).
For sure this a performance piece of equipment, but introduce the SKILLRUN CLASS and the SKILLMILL BOOTCAMP and it rounds off an exceptional proposition for a piece of commercial cardio equipment that every gym should seriously consider.
Is the treadmill about to regain its position as the most used piece of equipment in your gym?
As a marathon runner myself, I crave performance feedback from my Garmin after an outdoor run. With the SKILLRUN™ I can now get that feedback (cadence, ground contact time, propulsion time and step length) from a run on the treadmill. I’ll be asking my local gym to get one of these!
Decide for yourself, here is the official press release for the new Technogym SKILLRUN™…
Get more more information about the new Technogym SKILLRUN™, enquire below or click here.