I know, I know… this is old news. I started writing this on January 22nd when I heard that the parent company to Life Fitness was acquiring Cybex as well. It was a big shock because I’m close with the West Coast reps for both of those companies and we’ve been working on outfitting the new facility we’re building with enough equipment to fill a 7,000 square foot strength training and cardio area. I thought… this might have some serious implications.
For those of you who don’t know, Cybex and Life Fitness are two of the three big companies in fitness equipment, with Precor being the third. Matrix, Nautilus, Techno Gym and many others are still out there, but they aren’t as relevant right now. Rogue is another brand that has become popular in the Crossfit community, but it’s only been around for about 10 years and still hasn’t made its way into the industry, largely in part because they’re going for certain niches.
If you’ve gone to a 24 Hour, LA Fitness, Gold’s Gym, YMCA, or most of the other largest fitness facilities in the country, they have either Life Fitness, Cybex, or Precor equipment. Hammer Strength is a line of Life Fitness and a name you’ve probably seen because of their top of the line plate loaded equipment. Either way, whether it’s a piece of strength training or cardio equipment one of those three probably made it, unless it’s a Stair Master.
So why is this a big deal? Because we don’t know what this means. Or I do, but I can’t say anything because it’s top secret. Life Fitness could keep this off the grid and just continue to produce and distribute both brands or they could move the best of Cybex into Life Fitness, which is a much more user-friendly brand name. Life Fitness currently has the best strength training equipment in the industry and Precor has the best cardio equipment. Cybex has one of the single best machines in the ARC Trainer, which could boost Life Fitness’s cardio selection significantly.
We most likely won’t see anything out of this for a year or so, but if you’re a fitness enthusiast, you might start to see a change in landscape at your facility. If you’re a fitness professional, you might start to see the same as well and if you’re a facility owner or manager, this could affect your maintenance, repairs, and purchasing in the future. No matter what the outcome is, it’s a fun and exciting development in the world of fitness. We’ll keep you in the loop to help you stay hungry and fit!
