Engage Members & Build Community at the Y with Team Cardio on the Expresso Bike from Interactive Fitness

Sunnyvale, California – June 10, 2013 – YMCA programs across the nation are learning the benefits of Team Cardio programs on the Expresso Bike from Interactive Fitness, a sure-fire way to engage members and build community involvement in health and wellness programs.

The Expresso Bike from Interactive Fitness is an exciting new way to engage members of all ages, including youth and active older adults, enabling them to meet their health and wellness goals while also enabling the Y’s to increase program participation, especially with the Team Cardio monthly “turn-key” program.

Team Cardio is a monthly challenge that gives members of all ages a reason to interact and connect by aligning their individual goals and riding as a team on the Expresso Bike, making exercise fun with virtual reality workouts so that they aren’t distracted with “outside” video or Internet content.  Team Cardio enables participating members to escape the “isolation cardio” syndrome associated with other exercise equipment, and engage with others in person and virtually.

The Team Cardio program, as well as the full line of products including the new Expresso HD Bike from Interactive Fitness, will be on display in Booth #235 at the 2013 General Assembly of YMCA’s Conference and Exhibition, Thursday, July 18^th and Friday, July 19^th at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. Additional information is available online, at http://www.Expresso.com/YMCA.

Interactive Fitness knows that measuring and evaluating the member experience is of utmost importance to all Y’s.  A positive member experience equals retention, and the possibility of acquiring new members via member referrals.

In addition, the team at Interactive Fitness knows that Y’s are utilizing tools and services to measure and evaluate how members perceive the facility (especially the equipment), the value they get for their money, their participation and engagement in programs, the support and encouragement they get from the staff, and achieving their fitness goals.

A key part of the eLive online technology available from Interactive Fitness is Team Cardio, an automated, turnkey monthly program.  It’s all-inclusive, with members of all demographics and all fitness levels contributing equally on youth, upright and recumbent bikes towards a team goal.  It also works in small groups and communities, enabling the connection of members with other members, and with staff, to bond with their Y.  It’s a great tool for Y staff to engage members with, as well.  Visit http://www.expresso.net/Top100/YMCA to see updated results from Team Cardio programs.

The Expresso Bike from Interactive Fitness is also a proven draw with youth members, and a great way for staff to engage children in turn-key challenges and incentives to sustain their interest and participation.  We also offer automated goal setting, with each child’s virtual “Trophy Room,” which has proven to be a powerful tool for staff to reward each child for their personal accomplishments.

Fun is not just for the young. With members over the age of 50 making up over 25 percent of all riders, the exciting and social Expresso Bike experience appeals across generations.

Y members who ride the Expresso Bike are actively engaged with an on-line ID and profile, enabling them to sustain their exercise routine longer, and this data is available through our online resources to each participating Y.  Interactive Fitness data simultaneously presents a member engagement opportunity for Y staff to interact with their members and personally create a members’ on-line profile, recruiting them to ride for their Y team in the monthly Top 100.

And with word-of-mouth a key to building and recruiting new members, especially in the “Generation Y” or “Millennial” demographic, the social media integration and monthly challenges on the Expresso Bike from Interactive Fitness gives Y programs a new way to build a social media member referral campaign, with real-time challenges and ride-shares on Facebook and Twitter.  In addition, the Expresso Bike from Interactive Fitness gives Y programs a way to improve their technology as well as their online presence, with eLive Internet package and on-line monthly programming from Interactive Fitness. They offer a unique set of on-line tools to directly increase your technology and your online presence.

Well beyond a stationary bike, the Expresso Bike from Interactive Fitness is the one product that does it all.  It enables riders to experience full virtual reality, as they ride through over 40 different “worlds,” ranging from a one-mile speed course to a 20-mile mountain climb.  And it replaces “cardio isolation” by keeping the riders “social” -- every Expresso Bike is connected via the Internet, enabling riders to share their rides, and compete “virtually” with riders in other locations around the country, instantly.  The Expresso Bike features state-of-the-art electronics and features designed to stimulate the mind as well as the body, and enable riders in one location to virtually race against another rider or group of riders in another location.  These “Virtual Races” are stored and remembered, tracking progress automatically as the rider becomes stronger and healthier. 

For additional information on the Expresso Bike from Interactive Fitness, visit http://www.Expresso.com/YMCA.