Equipment catching up with exercise fans

A glimpse of what might be coming to a gym near you:

— Computers are an exerciser’s new best friend. Life Fitness’ Elevation series of cardio equipment allows users to save their workouts to a USB stick, then download that information into a special Web site where they can monitor the workout length, distance and intensity. They also can customize workouts by pre-programming the same variables on a computer, then downloading those into a machine. Music and videos from iPods can be downloaded into the machines as well.

Star Trac offers software with a series of pre-designed cardio and strength programs that allows users to track their progress. Gyms will sell the software-loaded USB sticks to members, who can plug them into Star Trac’s E Series cardio equipment and its new Koko strength-training machines, then download the information at home on their computers. Those Koko machines also contain video screens that show users how to do exercises with proper form and speed.

The Nike Plus system is being expanded to include indoor exercisers. Nike already has footwear containing a sensor that relays information to the exerciser’s iPod Nano, which can then be downloaded into a computer to track progress. Until recently it was used outdoors only. Now Life Fitness, Star Trac, Precor and Technogym have incorporated the technology into select machines so that workouts can be monitored in the gym as well.

— Elliptical trainers have long been one of the favorite pieces of cardio equipment among gym rats — so popular that veteran users are getting bored doing the same rotating movements over and over again. A few years ago some machines were engineered to allow changes in stride length, but transitions were jerky and uncomfortable. Now kinks have been worked out, and machines run as smooth as butter.

They can do other things as well. True’s new CSX elliptical allows users to step off the pedals and onto fixed side panels, then move just the handles back and forth to get a better upper-body workout.

It joins Precor’s Adaptive Motion Trainer, which features variable pedals that can go from a traditional elliptical rotation to more of a marching motion.

— Johnny G, the father of Spinning, has come back into the gym with the Krank cycle. It looks like a Spin cycle but — instead of pedals — has hand cranks that can be turned together or independently. Kranking, says Jim Karanas, who led classes at the show, provides a great cardio workout while toning the upper body and working core muscles. He says it’s also useful for the extremely obese and people with lower-body injuries.

Veteran gymgoers such as Drake can’t help but notice the popularity of iPods and other techno-gadgets becoming as much a fixture in gyms as dumbbells. “We’ve felt a certain critical mass happening over the last 18 months,” he says, “and we love the evolution of it.”

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