Clubindustry

Although San Francisco is a great city and the show was great –jampacked with sessions, events, and plenty of products to see and try — sometimes there’s nothing better than going home. On Saturday afternoon, Pam, Stuart and I boarded our flight back to Kansas City, MO, satisfied with time well spent at the show. For more on the show (including photos), be sure to check out our April issue. –Jennipher

For my last early morning workout of the trip, I decided to hit the trade show floor and try as many cardio pieces as I could in 50 min (I wanted a bit more time but hit snooze too many times…zzz). First, I jumped on the aforementioned Ascent Trainer for 10 (nice, smooth), followed by a one-mile jog on Life Fitness’ latest tread (so mad that in my rush to get out of the hotel I forgot my ipod which can directly plug in and charge on this piece of equipment), 10 more minutes on the Cybex Arc Trainer (feels like moon walking to me, which I really like), and a final 10 minutes on Technogym’s Cardio Wave (a funky, fun, lateral, side-stepping stairmaster/elliptical machine).

Covered in sweat and happily out of breath, I grabbed a cup of coffee, a bagel with light cream cheese and enjoyed my well earned breakfast on the way back to the hotel. –Jennipher

To borrow a phrase from our regular column at the back of our magazine, here‘s “one last thought” about our trip to the IHRSA show in San Francisco:

I met personally with two manufacturers - Body-Solid and Octane Fitness - at the show. I think what Body-Solid, which introduced a multi-station strength machine, and Octane Fitness, which introduced a new elliptical machine, had in common was offering people an opportunity to multitask. You see so many machines all over the show floor, and most of them kind of run together over a period of time. The key for these companies is to find some way to connect with people to make them feel better about exercise and make it easier for them as well.

I didn‘t get on the Body-Solid machine, but I did go back Saturday morning to try the Octane Fitness elliptical. It wasn‘t bad, but after 10 minutes, I was ready to throw in the towel (and throw up). They offered me a muffin afterward, but I declined, thinking that I might toss up the muffin I had before the workout.

From all the speakers I heard, they all had one commonality in their messages: take risks; don‘t be afraid to fail. No one wants to fail or even attempt to fail, but it‘s more gratifying to know that you tried and did not succeed rather than not trying at all, especially if you try again, and it‘s an even bigger success. The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. This applies to all walks of life.

Overall, it was a great show. The folks at the Moscone Center, where the show was located, did a great job, too. I learned during the show that the Moscone Center was named after former San Francisco mayor George Moscone, who was assassinated in 1978 along with another city official. I found this out when I read the obituary of Moscone‘s press aide, Mel Wax, who died Thursday.

One last thought about celebrity sightings. After seeing Clint Eastwood on Thursday, I saw Fabio on Friday. Fabio was in the Fitness Business News booth, probably because there was story on the new magazine‘s cover about him and his new 365 Fitness franchise. I don‘t think Fabio visits every publication that writes a story about him. Just a guess.

The weather, by the way, was chamber-of-commerce-esque. San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities I‘ve ever visited. I‘ll have to come back another time, with or without an IHRSA show. –Stuart