You could mistake the Exercise Coach for a travel agency, minus the posters of endless sand beaches. It's in a storefront in an Eden Prairie strip mall. When you walk in, you're not met by a blast of techno music, instructors shouting "Five more seconds!" or the stench of sweaty bodies.
Instead, the quiet, compact gym is pretty businesslike. And that's the point.
What is it? A personalized workout that uses computerized, bio-adaptive machines instead of treadmills, dumbbells or traditional weight machines to deliver an intense, effective, low-impact workout.
"We decouple impact from effort," said Jesse Hudson, owner of the Eden Prairie franchise. "It's about getting the whole effort with low impact."
What's the approach? The motto here is "muscle quality over movement quantity." Instead of relying on high weight, lots of reps or speed, the machines are programmed to provide a consistent challenge for a short period.
Trial run: Hudson set me up on what looked like traditional weightlifting machines (lat pulldown, leg press, etc.) by testing my range of motion and current level of strength for each lift. He entered the results into the computer connected to each machine. Then we ran through a couple of sample sets.
Instead of pulling a weight stack, releasing and doing it again, my goal was to keep my effort constant for an 8-second rep, then repeat the rep eight times.
My muscles were engaged for just over a minute, but it was harder than it sounds — and a lot more fun. Instead of straining through each set, I was focused on the computer screen. (It was kind of like those old arcade games where you try to keep your car on the road.)
