Home Victory!

Posted by Nell Mead at 16:00 on 23 Sep 2010

Well, Sacha and I are now heading back home after a successful trip to Birmingham for Leisure Industry Week, the trade show for the health and fitness industry.  We've made some great contacts and been inspired by some good speakers in the workshops and seminars, and some really innovative bits of kit.

Some of the things I really liked: 

• Octane's seated and standing elliptical trainers.  These are extremely popular at Headley Court.  The great thing is that they are fully adaptive.  You can train on the seated version using both arms and legs, or just one arm or one leg if necessary.
• Keiser's functional trainer.  This is the Y-shaped creature in the picture.  The "arms" are moveable and are the starting point of 12-foot cables.  The functional trainer is designed to provide very precise resistance along the line of the cable, and there are a variety of hand grips, including boxing gloves so that you can punch against resistance, and a tennis racket handle, which Sacha used to accidentally wrap the cable around herself while practising resisted backhand swings!  Because of the length of the cables, the Functional Trainer is incredibly adaptable and can even be used to practise sprint starts against resistance.
• The VLT Compact Rope Climber.  This replicates the rope climbs we used to do in the gym at school, but with variable resistance; and no matter how hard you try, you'll never get off the ground.  It's genius for building and maintaining upper body strength and endurance, and the seat is removable for wheelchair users.
• The Freedom Climber.  Rock climbing is awesome for core strength and flexibility, but for most climbing walls you need ropes, belaying equipment, hard hats and specialist supervision.  In contrast, the Freedom Climber is a rotating climbing circle that sits on the wall.  The faster you climb, the faster it rotates, so you're never more than a couple of feet off the ground: no hard hats required!

Poor Sacha!  I truly don't know how she puts up with me at times: I was like a kid in a sweet shop with all this funky equipment to play with, and if by any chance we're able to afford the enormous wish list I've given her, I will be hugely impressed if we can fit it into Victory's gym.  But I can't wait to try!

Away Victory!

Posted by Nell Mead at 15:00 on 20 Sep 2010

This afternoon, Sacha and I are taking a trip to Birmingham - the NEC to be exact.  We're spending the next three days in a whirl of activity at Leisure Industry Week, which - as it says on the tin - is the trade show for everyone involved in the leisure industry.  

We're heading up there so that we can get a really good overview of all the different types of gym equipment, and meet and network with the suppliers, because of course we want to make sure Victory's kit is absolutely right.  Naturally we've been taking advice from some top people, including the very lovely WO2 Lee Davison, who coordinates the equipment at Headley Court and was heavily involved in fitting out their new Help for Heroes gym.  In fact, we're hoping to see him in Birmingham.  But we also want to see things for ourselves and make final decisions on how the Victory gym will look.

One of the things that's really important to me about rehabilitation and training is that it should be functional.  I don't see much point in static weights machines - humans aren't designed to move in straight lines as machines are - so I am looking to be impressed by machines such as the Keiser functional trainer, which allows you to move and even run in any direction, against very specific hydraulic resistance.

Sacha - a pro at visiting trade shows - has been hard at work producing a timetable for each of us, with military precision, to make sure that we get round all the suppliers we want to meet.  And I'm really looking forward to it: a chance to meet and talk to interesting people and play with fun kit - what's not to like?

I'll let you know how it goes, and what we decide on, when we get back.