Life Fitness products have been a staple in fitness facilities for more than 27 years. Life Fitness is a brand name owned by Brunswick Corporation, better known for manufacturing bowling balls, pins, and billiards equipment.  Keep reading for more on Life Fitness Exercise Equipment.

The product that started Life Fitness, the Life Cycle exercise bike, was the first computerized stationary bicycle. The bicycle was developed in the late 1960s by California chemist and inventor Kenne Dimick, PhD. Dimick partnered with health club pioneer Ray Wilson. Wilson eventually bought the rights to the bike and established Lifecycle, Inc. in 1977 with partner Augie Nieto.

Wilson and Nieto were inspired by the Life Cycle to create other innovative products that featured technology. The introduced an entire cardiovascular product line,including the touchpad console, solid state circuitry, motivational feedback, Lifepulse digital heart rate hand sensors and Zone Training+ Workout.

Bally Manufacturing Corporation purchased Lifecycle in 1984 and renamed it Bally Fitness Products, Inc. Bally’s financial backing allowed the company to grow steadily over the next decade to become the world’s largest commercial fitness equipment manufacturer. By 1987, the company had changed its name to Life Fitness and was acquired again, this time by Mancusoc & Co. The acquisition of High Tech Professional Systems added strength training equipment to the Life Fitness product line.

Life Fitness was acquired yet again in June 1997 by Brunswick Corporation who owns it to this day. Brunswick Corporation is a Fortune 500 company and the active recreation market leader. Hammer Strength was also acquired at this time. Hammer Strength produced plate-loaded exercise equipment. With this acquisition, the company expanded its offerings to core health club markets and confirmed its presence in the college, high school, professional sports, and body building athletic arenas.

The Life Fitness company is currently headquartered in Schiller Park, Illinois, has eleven global subsidiaries and provides a variety of products and services to more than 120 countries. Life Fitness is known for their high quality home and commercial fitness equipment, in particular their treadmills, elliptical trainers and exercise bikes. Life Fitness puts a lot of effort into research, design and development. One area of research where Life Fitness has excelled is in biomechanics. The Life Fitness biomechanics team studies how exercisers move and interact with Life Fitness machines. They examine whether or not exercisers are able to move naturally when using the machine, if they are able to easily use the machines functions and settings, and even just the simple question of whether or not a machine feels comfortable and safe while in use.

Life Fitness commercial fitness equipment is top of the line and many machines include features like individual televisions and highly interactive consoles. Life Fitness still offers commercial weight training equipment under the Hammer Strength name, which includes products like weight benches and racks, plate loaded machines of all sorts (e.g. leg curl), as well as Motion Technology Selectorized (MTS) equipment that utilizes non-manual weight stacks. Life Fitness commercial equipment is used in gyms worldwide, including United States military base fitness centers. Commercial grade equipment can also be purchased for home use by contacting Life Fitness.

Address:

Telephone: (800) 351-3737

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