GymKit Availability Expands to Equinox Gym in Toronto

We reported on Apple’s GymKit availability a few weeks ago, but availability has now expanded to Canada.  While Canada is a pretty big place, GymKit is only available using Life Fitness equipment at the Equinox fitness club in Toronto.  In general, I’m a bit disappointed with how many gyms are offering this globally.  I do realize that you can’t just snap your fingers and this is available, but I feel like Apple put the cart before the horse a bit when it comes to this technology.  Sure, the technology is available and we are able to use it with our Apple Watches, but it isn’t compatible with anything, so it’s kind of a waste, isn’t it?

Life Fitness, the global leader in commercial fitness equipment, announced that it has partnered with Equinox, a leading high-performance lifestyle destination, to launch the first Apple GymKit-enabled health club in Canada. Equinox’s Yorkville location in Toronto is the first club to add the new equipment, with others following later this year. […] Life Fitness also showed the technology at recent fitness events in San Diego, U.S., and Cologne, Germany, alongside the company’s newly unveiled Halo Fitness Cloud, a revolutionary software offering that enhances the exercise experience and simplifies fitness facility management.

Toronto is a big place, so having it available only in one gym is kind of depressing.  So what is the hold-up?  I think just the fact that you’re dealing with extremely high-end workout equipment.  While I think this process should be moving a lot quicker, I think I might be a bit aggressive with my viewpoint.  That said, Apple originally highlighted seven partners who were committed to supporting GymKit including Life Fitness, Cybex, Matrix, Technogym, Schwinn, Star Trac, and StairMaster.  Which is a big chunk of the fitness equipment market.  But are gyms in the market for new equipment right now?

In my previous post, I talked about my own gym and the fact that there are tons of possibilities for this technology.  But the equipment is in decent shape, so why update the equipment just for the sake of GymKit?  I wonder if Apple should also have some kind of way to “add-on” to a treadmill for example, rather than requiring the gym to upgrade the equipment itself.  Retrofit, instead of building something new.

I’m sure that the gyms themselves won’t have to pay retail for one of these units, but to put this into perspective, a treadmill with GymKit can cost $14,000 if you wanted to buy one yourself.  So maybe that’s what the hold up is after all.  It’s not just about gyms not wanting to purchase the equipment, but the sheer cost of the equipment itself is astronomical.  Over time, that number is expected to decline and, in theory, you could have a GymKit enabled treadmill in your basement for maybe $1,500.  A fraction of the cost.  The bottom line is that this technology is now available at one gym in Toronto.