West Jordan, Utah (31 July 2006) HOGGAN Sprint Circuit: Magnetic Marketing for Health Clubs and Express Gyms

Elegant, intuitive and non-intimidating strength training equipment uses magnetic technology behind the scenes to attract the boomer, women, junior and senior newcomers to circuit training. Its versatility can pamper the beginner or make a gym rat sweat.

Every club owner wishes they had a "magnet" to attract more members through their doors, and now they can. It's called "Magnatech", the patented breakthrough in resistance and driving force behind the HOGGAN Sprint Circuit. It's a revolutionary design in strength machines engineered from the ground up to remove complexity and intimidation and, yes, attract the huge untapped market yet to join a health club.

Traditional multipurpose health club owners have come to realize the endless, non-rewarding battle of fighting over the "fit" 18 to 35 year-old fitness market, where it takes a great deal of effort and dollars to gain a couple points of market share of the existing 45 million people already attending health clubs.

The real reward is attracting the roughly 200 million Americans not currently frequenting health clubs, who will exercise for "wellness" to achieve greater vitality and disease prevention rather than "ripped" bodies. They are encouraged by their employers and their health insurance carriers to adopt exercise as a regular habit. But to date, they have been disappointed by standard health clubs and have simply shied away.

The existing complicated atmosphere of traditional health clubs has failed to attract this massive market, especially the heavy iron of free weights and weight stack machines, but now there's a totally new concept in strength machines that is inviting, non-intimidating, intuitive, and already a proven concept with juniors, women and seniors.

According to Rick Barnhart, owner of Future Lady Fitness of Jackson, Mississippi, "We installed the HOGGAN Sprint Circuit and several of the HOGGAN Sprint Cardio machines at the 'get go' when we opened our Jackson club at the end of 2005. The equipment is extremely appealing to all of our lady members, but in particular, it is absolutely the perfect equipment for women who are completely out of shape."

A Scientific Alternative to Weight Stacks and Hydraulic Pistons Up until now, the rapidly emerging express gym market has relied almost solely on hydraulic piston machines to remove the intimidation factor in the exploding sector of women-only and co-ed 30-minute circuit gyms. Although they solved the complexity, hydraulic machines have inherent limitations; awkward resistance settings (if at all), jerky back and forth movements, and almost all are devoid of aesthetics.

"We saw the same intrinsic problems with hydraulic and weight stack machines as the express gyms did," said Ryan Dean Hoggan, Executive V.P. for HOGGAN Health Industries, Inc. and director of business development for the company. "So, we totally stopped development of our previous weight stack models, and gave our engineers the task of developing another resistance system that is not weight stack, not hydraulic, not pneumatic, and provides dual purpose double concentric resistance (works one set of muscles in one direction and another in the opposite direction). The system must be easy to use, durable, and meet our high aesthetic standards for fit and finish. Our research team returned with a novel form of resistance that is magnetic."

"After many years of research and development," Ryan went on to say, "We created our current line called the 'HOGGAN Sprint Circuit'. The exclusive line is nine stations of strength training equipment that addresses all critical body parts. The footprints are so compact and efficient, a circuit can be configured in a little as 300 ft2 with room for jogging squares left over. The beauty is, although they're designed to be coordinated in a circuit, members also get fabulous results by using them individually or interspersed with other machines or free weights."

Personal trainer Steve Puryear owns and operates a high end personal training studio called Professional Health & Fitness in Short Hills, New Jersey. Located in an affluent suburb just outside Newark Airport, he caters to high demanding professionals and their spouses. Puryear has clients that have been with him since he opened the studio seven years ago and is constantly striving to keep them challenged with fresh and innovative modalities, the latest being the HOGGAN Sprint Circuit.

After careful scrutiny, he chose the HOGGAN Sprint Circuit with Magnatech technology over hydraulic machines. "Hydraulics never seem to hold up. I don't like the feel of them. The best way to describe the HOGGAN Sprint Circuit is it feels 'liquid'. It has a really smooth forward and back motion", he explained. "Hydraulics do not because you push it and it stops, and then you have to force your way to bring it back. It's a snappy jerky kind of feel to it, but again the HOGGAN Sprint Circuit just flows really well."

He added, "It is probably some of the best equipment I have ever purchased. I love it, I really do, my clients love it, my trainers love it, it's something you can get in and out of quickly, you're not setting it, and you're not adjusting it. It's a turn of the dial and go. "

"I particularly like the double concentric resistance since you have to do the work the entire time. With a weight stack machine, if I use my energy to push the weight away from me, gravity brings it back for me. With Magnatech, you actually have to pull it back, so I'm working the whole time, not half the time. It goes above and beyond what most pieces of equipment do."

As a personal training studio, Professional Health & Fitness in Short Hills doesn't offer "open club circuit training", but Puryear uses the HOGGAN Sprint Circuit machines as advanced training devices. "You can take anybody that's in great shape and put them on the HOGGAN and they'll say 'Oh my God, that was a great workout!' said Puryear. "For about 8 weeks, all I did was use the HOGGAN machines for all my clients. Endurance wise there's no match."

HOGGAN Health Industries: 45 Years of Innovation The innovative features of the HOGGAN Sprint Circuit didn't just appear overnight out of the blue. HOGGAN Health Industries, Inc. has been in existence since 1961, designing not only fitness products but advanced medical and ergonomic products as well. The design of the HOGGAN Sprint Circuit had been incubating for years in the HOGGAN labs.

Over the years, HOGGAN engineers have analyzed biomechanics from a number of viewpoints: musculoskeletal testing to identify areas of muscular weakness or loss of motion due to injury or disease, ergonomic measuring devices to determine the amount and direction of force it takes a human to push or pull a heavy object. All of this adds up to a highly concentrated skill set and knowledge base about all human movements.

HOGGAN Health Industries was actually an early leader in circuit training and first introduced their weight stack version back in 1985. Thus, they are no strangers to the concept of strength training and are particularly keen on proper design of circuit stations.

According to Ryan Dean Hoggan, "Some hydraulic manufacturers are brand new to the business, they've only been doing it for two or three years and many are machinists, not scientists. With HOGGAN, there are inhouse engineers comprising hundreds of man-years of biometric experience over our 45 years of design and experience in the health and wellness industries."

Most club owners will recognize HOGGAN for its advanced line of cardio equipment designed for circuit training. They offer a complete line from treadmills to ellipticals and recently pushed the envelope with their development of the "Airbounder".

Intricate Resistance Settings Club owners would generally agree a strength training machine needs to be functional to a wide array of people with different training goals and different levels of strength. This diversity amortizes the investment over a wider group. Progressive resistance is additionally required to prevent members from reaching the dreaded "plateau"; when they stop getting results, and they stop belonging to the gym.

Like hydraulic pistons, the Magnatech system also resists proportionally to the force being placed upon it. According to Puryear, "The harder you try to push, the harder it will push against you."

Adjustable Resistance Settings From The Seated Position Beyond just the mechanics of the proportional resistance of the system, the essence of the HOGGAN Sprint Circuit lies in its adjustable resistance setting. This is where HOGGAN sets the new gold standard. A knob selector has infinite settings going from minimum of 0 to maximum of 10. The low numbers are ideal for beginners, women, juniors, and seniors. The very high numbers are for athletes and advanced trainers.

Thanks to Magnatech technology, there are an infinite number of settings between the scale of 0 to 10, all a user has to do is turn the knob slightly to get a slight increase in resistance. Thus, users can progress at their own speed.

As to how it all works, Ryan Dean Hoggan explains: "When you turn the knob, you're changing the position of the force field. The knob is very easy to turn as well."

The adjustment knob on the HOGGAN Sprint machines is conveniently located within easy reach of the user when sitting on the machine. Those few hydraulic machines that do have adjustments on their pistons generally have them near to floor, which is not very user friendly.

According to Barnhart, "Yes, on hydraulic machines, to make adjustments, you have to lean way over or reach behind you, making it difficult to use. With HOGGAN it's right up front."

Since machines can't service members when they're out of order, Magnatech offers great news to club owners. The resistance is provided by a force field. Consequently, there is no rubbing or friction to wear out a seal or a piston. "The Magnatech resistance is a friction-free resistance system, it's nothing people will have to service, lubricate, or worry about leaking on the floor," said Ryan Dean Hoggan.

Optional Biometric Feedback System Club owners also have the option of adding an electronic feedback system to their HOGGAN Sprint Circuit, which provides members vital biometric feedback, with the screen located adjacent to the adjustment knob for accessibility. The system tracks and displays total repetitions, time per rep and heart rate using a telemetric chest belt, providing a convenient way for members to track their progress and to continually monitor their heart rate to stay in their training zone.

No Seat Adjustments Necessary, Just Sit and Go Probably daunting to a first time user after seeing weight stacks and pins and all those pulleys are the seat settings. On many machines, there is one setting for elevation and another for the angle of the back, all pretty confusing to a neophyte.

HOGGAN solves this problem with a cleverly designed stationary seating position that caters to all body types. According to Puryear, "One seat position fits all. You just sit in it and go. HOGGAN had that for a long time, even before Magnatech. You slide your body on, it's in the right position, and you can go. That's what I like. With other types of equipment, you have to elevate the seat, move the arm bar, and adjust the back. Which pin is it? You spend half the time just adjusting the machine."

According to Barnhart, "The movement is a 'strict movement'. With the HOGGAN line, it doesn't allow you to cheat and it doesn't allow you to bend a body part or move to hurt yourself because it's on a guidance system. You can put totally inexperienced individuals on the machine and it's pretty self explanatory. You don't have to worry about them hurting themselves, just teach them how to breathe, and show them the pace of the movement so they get the resistance they need and the amount of reps required for what they want to accomplish."

The design parameters of the HOGGAN Sprint Circuit are highly intuitive and eliminate intimidation; in that regard, they scored high praises. "When my members sit on the HOGGAN piece, it just fits them; the movement is simple to figure out. Although we do, we wouldn't even have to show them how to use it, they can figure it out on by looking at it, that's how simple it can be," says Barnhart. "If you actually came in our gym and watched for half an hour and see how the members respond to the equipment, they're not intimidated by it. That's the big thing."

Superior Look, Fit and Finish The finishing touch of the HOGGAN Sprint Circuit is to make it extremely attractive and to hide the advanced mechanics "under the hood". The engineers went through great effort to maximize the biomechanics while not compromising on appearances.

The company did a lot of testing and research on what designs were considered attractive to the general population. The body and design was a big part of the look, fit and finish and overall core purpose of the line. With designers on staff having experience in the consumer business, the HOGGAN Sprint Circuit was designed from the ground up for consumer satisfaction.

"Even though hydraulic machines are a step up from weight stacks in removing at least some of the intimidation factors, they still have a cylinder that's moving up and down and have exposed welded frames that look convoluted. They still come across as looking really basic, scary and intimidating," said Ryan Dean Hoggan, "Our engineers have incorporated a lot of round curves and made a very sleek design. There's absolutely nothing on the outside of the machine that's intimidating."

For those clubs that wish to personalize their equipment, or want matching decor, HOGGAN does customization on the colors, branding and labeling as well.

Ideal for Independent Gym Owners Not only are the HOGGAN machines fully functional to the users, they also help to sell memberships. "I see the independent gym market having to compete with the franchises with strong brand awareness. If the independents are using superior equipment that has eye appeal, they can win those competitive battles with differentiation," said Ryan Dean Hoggan.

Nowhere are the battle lines more competitive than in the express gym arena. The independent express gym owner shunned franchising to offer more amenities and get more results for their members than following the strict cookie cutter approach laid down by franchisors.

Since franchisors also force their franchisees to purchase only their equipment, this is where the independent express gym owner can gain a tremendous competitive advantage. With HOGGAN, they can offer a superior looking and performing set of machines. With the resistance adjustment made by a simple turn of the knob, members can keep advancing their fitness by progressive resistance.

Furthermore, many independent gym owners shun the idea of sending portions of their monthly profits to their franchisor. HOGGAN Health Industries, Inc. offers complimentary consulting with clubs to develop a configuration that will fit their target audience and their space. They have designs for rooms as small as 300 ft2 on up.

Ideal for Co-Ed Gyms Just about every reputable hydraulic machine maker offers two sets of circuit training equipment; one for the women, and a larger bulkier machine for the men. This makes it difficult for co-ed gyms with limited space. With the HOGGAN Sprint Circuit unique sit and go design and variable resistance settings, the machines are suited for both the most petite woman to the burliest man.

Puryear uses his HOGGAN Sprint Circuit to train kids, women and men ranging in ages from 7 to 85. "I have a brawny male client who weighs over 400 lbs. who uses the HOGGAN Sprint Circuit, he fits in it, and he gets a strenuous workout on it," said Puryear, "I also have guys that bench press over 300 lbs. that love the HOGGAN equipment. You can get a heavy duty strength workout out of it, or you can get an endurance workout. It depends on what you're trying to do."

Attractive to Boomers When all the features are added together, Magnatech, adjustable resistance, sit and go, aesthetically pleasing and non-intimidating design and functionality, you have a very versatile line that can service innumerable members. However, at its very heart is its ability to attract the expansive boomer market.

The boomer segment is over seventy-eight million strong and consists of people aged forty through sixty. In fact, the over-fifty crowd is fastest growing segment that is taking up fitness, totally eclipsing the eighteen to thirty-five segment that health clubs have traditionally focused upon.

This elusive market has the desire and the money to exercise, but it will take a new model to attract them – HOGGAN Sprint Circuit was designed with the actively aging in mind.

The boomers are not the only segment the HOGGAN Sprint Circuit is capable of attracting. HOGGAN prides itself in offering products for all segments, the seats and movements are designed for all sizes and ages. In fact, their dictum is "Fitness for the People." According to Ryan Dean Hoggan, "The HOGGAN Sprint Circuit is truly fitness for anyone; we have people from ages 7-99 using our equipment."

With that said Ryan feels the equipment will have particular appeal to the 30-year-old to 80-year-old segment, both men and women. The traditional gym rats may favor free weights, or weight stack machines, but the masses will be attracted to machines that are simple, save, fun, and easy to understand and to use.

Post Script Finally, in deference to our friends south of the border in Mexico who manufacture a lot of the pistons used on hydraulic circuit stations, each HOGGAN Sprint Circuit station is proudly designed, manufactured and assembled in the U.S.A.

As to the economic viability of the HOGGAN line, Rick Barnhart gave the last word, "We're going to be doing another club real soon and HOGGAN will be the first thing that we buy." # # #

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