WOODWAY NEWS

Athlete Fit 4 Mile Challenge

Innovative Sports Performance Training With The CURVE



Scott Moody (pictured second from left) has trained thousands of athletes at his Overland Park, KS SoccerFIT Academy, which is part of the larger AthleteFIT (www.athletefit.com) web based training resource for team sport athletes coaches and parents to train and track progress over time. AthleteFit uses a 4-T Philosophy for developing athletes, the 4-T's are:

Numbers 1 and 4 are paramount to the process, being able measure and track improvement serves a number of purposes, mainly building motivation and confidence in athletes, seeing measureable improvements proves that the hard work and dedication are paying dividends. This brings us to the point of the AthleteFIT Curve 4 Mile Challenge.

Scott and SoccerFIT's trainers use the Curve in combination with other cardio, strength and open field work to develop athletes. One of the fun or not so fun (depending on who you ask) methods they have implemented for testing is a rather simple interval based protocol that involves covering 4 miles on the manual Curve treadmill in the shortest ammount of time. Here is the Curve 4 Mile protocol:

• 2 - .50 mile runs on the Curve with a .05 walk after each for recovery
• 4 - .25 mile runs on the Curve with a .05 walk after each
• 6 - 200 yard or .12 mile runs on the Curve with .03 walk after each
• 8 - 100 yard or .07 mile runs on the Curve with .03 walk after each
  
  

Here is what it looks like on our Curve Workout Cards: Curve 4 Mile Challenge


Leading up to the holidays Scott put out a Curve challenge to his athletes, challenging them to improve their times, only this time with a twist. They were allowed to complete the Curve Challenge in teams of 2. The results were off the charts, the bar for the quickest time was lowered over and over. Here is a short video of what it looks like:

The female record was broken 4 times in one day starting at 30:26, 30:20, 30:06 and finally the new record holder 29:29. Congrats to Kat Retz and Megan O'Hare both 15 years old!! The male record stands at 27:30 but we think it is technically cheating, Scott and fellow trainer Zak set the mark. The younger boys came very close though, coming in at 27:33. Definitely something to shoot for, keep putting pressure on them fellas! Woodway is throwing in a little extra incentive by sending some Woodway Swag your way, but you need to earn it. Ne freebees here, see Mr. Moody to get the details on just what it will take!

Pictured: a few of the athletes competing in the Curve Challenge.


The challenge is definitely a great way to develop both cardiovascular and leg strength, check out this screen grab of the heart rate graph, reaching 90% of max HR on every single interval and nice recovery HR as well.

So the real question is are you ready to take the Curve Challenge? Find yourself a Curve and get to it! Be sure to post your results on our Facebook (www.facebook.com/woodwaytreadmills1) and Twitter feeds (@woodwaytreadmil). And be sure to tag @athletefitcoach and tag #4mileinterval.

For more informaiton on the AthleteFIT Curve 4 Mile Challenge please visit athletefit.com.

If any other facilities are finding success with our products we would love to hear from you, shoot us a note info@woodway.com and tell us about it.

RHP Training of Canada Opens New Skating Center

Blade Skating Treadmill Highlight of New Facility

Article from SaultStar.com

It may seem unusual to pull on shorts and a sweatshirt, then lace on your hockey skates for a workout.

But that's one of the advantages a new state-of-the-art training facility offers local hockey enthusiasts.

RHP Training Centre officially opened the doors to its 1,000-square-foot facility on Thursday in the John Rhodes Community Centre, during a small ribbon-cutting ceremony presided over by Sault Mayor Debbie Amaroso.

The highlight of the development teaching facility is the Woodway “Blade” Skating Treadmill, which allows hockey players of all ages to improve their stride while they get stronger and faster.

Trainees don a harness and are hooked up to a beam positioned over the eight-foot-by-eight-foot skate treadmill.

They skate on the synthetic surface as it revolves — fast or slow, up to 20-miles-per-hour —while watching themselves in a huge mirror mounted on a wall directly in front of them, under the supervision of a personal trainer.

“You can watch yourself improve. You can see what you’re doing, not just feel it,” said RHP vice-president Scott Murray.

“You have an instructor that’s always five-feet away. So it’s tough to replicate this anywhere on the ice or wherever.”

The philosophy of the large treadmill is to make players, especially younger hockey players, more efficient skaters, said Murray, whose business is based in Sudbury.

It is designed to isolate an athlete’s skating technique and improve stride efficiency, stride length, recovery and leg power.

However, the training is not limited to only young players. Everyone, regardless of age or ability, can benefit from treadmill training.

“Beginners from three-years-old, right up to pro skaters, even speed skaters … It will make your stride better,” Murray said.

Three young hockey players were on hand to demonstrate the treadmill during RHP’s grand opening Thursday afternoon.

To read the entire article please visit SaultStar.com

To learn more about RHP Training Centre please visit their website http://rhptraining.com/

WOODWAY PARTNERS WITH LIFE TIME FITNESS — CHALLENGES AMERICANS TO COMMIT TO A HEALTHY WAY OF LIFE IN 2013

Woodway Pledges to Sponsor 250 Entries to Commitment Day Events Taking Place New Year’s Day across 29 Cities

Life Time--The Healthy Way of Life Company is producing the first ever Commitment Day, a fitness revolution urging all Americans to commit to a healthy and active way of life. On January 1, 2013, hundreds of thousands of Americans will kick off the New Year by participating in a simultaneous 5K-run/walk event spanning 29 cities.

“Commitment Day is about millions of Americans committing to healthy, active lifestyles for themselves and their families,” said Bahram Akradi, Chairman, President, CEO and Founder of Life Time. “It will be a day of epic proportions as hundreds of thousands of individuals join together in support of healthy people, a healthy planet and a healthy way of life. At a time when our nation is at a breaking point with ever-rising obesity rates, a generation of children facing serious health consequences, escalating health care costs and controllable diseases spiraling out of control, the time for us to take action is now.”

Here are just few of the troubling facts affecting our nation:

-Two in three individuals are considered overweight or obese, generating $190.2 billion in health expenses in year and quickly becoming the number one killer of Americans
- Our children’s life expectancy is now less than ours
- More than 105 million Americans have cardiovascular disease
- The average child spends more than 30% of his/her day in front of a screen
- Due largely to obesity, 25.8 million Americans have diabetes
- Ultimately, we are living a lifestyle that will destroy us

Woodway is proud to join in the launch of Commitment Day, promoting a healthy lifestyle revolution.

“As an organization Woodway has focused on creating innovative products that help users reach their fitness goals and lead a healthy lifestyle,” said Eric Weber, Director of Sales and Marketing of Woodway. “The opportunity to partner with an organization such as Life Time and reach so many individuals to promote these initiatives is certainly something we are very excited about.”

People of all ages and physical abilities are encouraged to commit to a healthy way of life, and extend a helping hand to others to do the same. It’s a movement to unify the nation around a cause for much needed change, before it is irreversible.

“Addressing these devastating trends requires each of us to personally engage and take positive action, while encouraging others in our communities to do the same,” said Jeff Zwiefel, Life Time Executive Vice President and Chief of Operations. “Even more important than the Commitment Day starting line is the finish, which represents the launching point for us all to join together in creating a sustainable healthier America.”

All Americans are invited to share their personal pledges toward better health at www.CommitmentDay.com, a new site dedicated to sharing the power of positive change.

Commitment Day events will take place January 1, 2013 (11:00 a.m. ET, 10:00 a.m. CT, 9:00 a.m. MT and 8:00 a.m. PT) in the following cities:

For additional information about Commitment Day 2013, please visit www.CommitmentDay.com.

The Continuum treadmill is the culmination of years of medical research and development, Woodway has worked closely with medical professionals and rehabilitation specialists to design a purpose built treadmill that will provide the ultimate rehabilitation platform for patients and practitioners.

"It is all about enhancing the patient experience," explains Mark Milligan - Medical Market and Research Manager for Woodway. "With the Continuum, medical professionals can offer their patients the most comfortable running surface on the market. Their patients will feel confident and safe in their rehab with the absolute zero start speed and increments of 0.1 MPH."

Woodway engineers sought out to design a platform which offers a lower step height, allowing lower functioning patients ease of access. After years of development they were able to lower the running surface a full 4" from the standard fitness treadmill line while still maintaining a 0-25% elevation range which is critical for testing and medical protocols.

In addition to the low profile running surface, the Continuum also offers a fully revamped display console available with 25 ACSM pre-loaded protocols so medical practitioners can work efficiently and focus on patient care and new medical grade parallel handrails.

For more information on the Continuum please view the product page of the medical.woodway.com website

Nike’s Glowing Olympic Camp Teases The Sci-Fi Future Of Sports

Walls of lights. Hard data. Nike is redesigning recreation for the electronic age.

Written By Mark Wilson

We’ve seen Nike’s new thesis developing over the last few months. It’s not just about shoes anymore, and it’s not just about logging your last run. It’s about counting everything we do, building our apparel into sports sensors and creating a cloud-based infrastructure that keeps it all straight. It’s digitizing performance.

During the 10 days of Olympic running trials, Nike planted a flag in their hometown of Eugene, Oregon. Enlisting design agency Hush to work with architectural partner Skylab (along with a slew of other collaborators, including AV&C, Red Paper Heart, Antfood, and Big Giant), the two companies spent eight months conceptualizing and building “Camp Victory,” a culmination of Nike’s new wave of products along with a few that don’t quite exist, offering us a taste of the techno-athletic, not-so-distant future to come.

The 100-meter Speed Tunnel featured a 15-foot-tall LED wall that depicted the fastest runs from the Olympic trials--a giant, 1:1 representation of just how fast the world’s fastest are. Head-to-head treadmills allowed runners to face off in the virtual world, creating a gorgeous leaderboard (complete with portraits) by time. Nike+ heat maps built from local runs combined to depict a giant topographical map of the local Oregon terrain, explorable in 3-D.

The scene had an absurd, larger than life scale, a 10-day sci-fi epic with a budget that would make Ron Moore green with envy. LEDs were too bright. Casual sprinting was taken too seriously. And that was entirely the idea.

More and more, I’m realizing that Nike intends on bringing all of the addictive absurdity of pro sports--the constant over-analysis, the eye-melting media interfaces and the wildly hyperbolic celebrations--to the everyday consumer on their morning run. You may be playing basketball at the Y with an eight-inch vert, but with the right pair of sneakers and Nike+, you get to feel like Lebron James. And maybe that’s not such a bad thing, if it gets us taking our own health more seriously--you know, almost as seriously as we take all of the Olympic competition we’re about to watch from our collective couch.

Read Original Article at

After a Stroke, Therapy Gets Faster

Amy Bastian, right, with co-authors Pablo Celnik and Gowri Jayaram, rear left. (Steve Parke/ Kennedy Krieger Institute)		Grad student Andrew Long demonstrates the split-belt treadmill technique. (Steve Parke/ Kennedy Krieger Institute)

Using insights into how the brain is wired, scientists are exploring better ways to help stroke and other neurologically impaired patients regain motor skills, such as walking.

One technique uses a treadmill split in two to force patients' legs to walk at different speeds, in a movement like limping. A study published June 1 in the Journal of Neurophysiology found this treatment in the short term helps rewire the brain to correct uneven walking, especially if the patient's brain receives electrical stimulation in a particular region at the same time.

Millions of individuals need physical rehabilitation each year after impairments that result from damage to the brain. Stroke survivors in the U.S. number four million, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Only about a third get any kind of rehab, according to the 2005 Washington Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, the large telephone survey.

There are many forms of mainstream physical rehab but no consensus about which work best for which patients. "We know it's important to be engaged and to be practicing, but we don't know exactly what you need to be practicing," says Walter Koroshetz, deputy director of the institute, which funds other trials on rehabilitation but not this one.

In traditional rehab for lower limbs, known as "overground" training, a patient practices repeated movements, whether on a treadmill or other equipment or in a pool. It can take a lot of effort to walk for people whose gait isn't smooth, and they are more prone to falls, according to Amy Bastian, director of the Motion Analysis Lab at Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore.

In the study published Friday, Dr. Bastian, Pablo Celnik from Johns Hopkins University and colleagues studied healthy individuals and whether brain stimulation and split-belt treadmill training, used simultaneously, can speed up progress in smoothing out walking gaits.

Making and correcting errors is important to how the brain adapts to a new task. In split-belt treadmill training, two bands moving at different speeds induce or exacerbate errors in walking. As an individual continues to walk, studies have shown, the brain eventually self-corrects errors and evens out the gait.

In the majority of stroke patients, damage is to the cerebrum, which governs speech and thinking; the cerebellum, which governs "lower order" functions like movement, still works. In theory, that means these stroke patients should respond to split-belt treadmill training, Dr. Bastian says.

The study exposed 40 healthy participants with a mean age of 27 to two minutes of slow split-belt walking, then to a 15-minute period in which one belt went much faster than the other so that participants began to drag one foot, simulating a limp. Typically participants corrected the limp within 10 minutes.

The subjects were randomized into five groups and received a mild, noninvasive electrical current, via a cap and electrodes, running either to or away from the part of the cerebellum that controlled either the faster or slower leg. The fifth group wore the cap but got no current.

All participants adapted to the different speeds, but the ones who received electrical current to the part of the brain corresponding to the leg that eventually changes its pattern adapted faster.

A study, conducted at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and published Monday in the journal Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, found that a noninvasive brain-stimulation technique alone, administered to a motor region of the brain, was effective at improving gait in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Researchers question how much effect new rehab treatments have, how long it will last and whether lab training translates to the real world, says Edward Taub, a researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who wasn't involved in Friday's work. In an unpublished study of post-stroke patients, Dr. Bastian and collaborators showed that four weeks of split-belt treadmill training led to improved walking gait for three months.

T. George Hornby, professor in the department of physical therapy at the University of Illinois at Chicago, says it's rare for a therapist to push a patient to the point of nearly falling. But making such errors can help accelerate treatment if the patient can learn to correct them. In a preliminary study he conducted in 22 post-stroke patients using error-type training, he found 15 consecutive days of intense treatment yielded as much improvement as what patients got from intense conventional treadmill training two to three times a week in 10 or more weeks. He currently is recruiting post-stroke patients for a randomized, controlled trial comparing error-type treatment to intensive treadmill training.

Read original article at Wall Street Journal Online

Gear: Cardio exercise machines add fun features

It runs on you

Woodway EcoMill: Curve-shaped manual treadmill with no motor, no buttons and a running surface made of 60 tank-tread-like rubberized slats that travel around a track, rather than a conventional, continuous tread belt pulled over a hard deck by two rollers. Your steps spin an on-board generator that powers the control panel readouts and can charge your cellphone through its USB port.

Likes: You use no electricity - in fact, you generate enough to power several 100-watt light bulbs; after-market products even allow you to hook it up to the grid. The running and walking experience is far more engaging, natural and joint-friendly than on a motorized treadmill. With the exception of the generator and a bit more resistance, the EcoMill is identical to the Curve model ($6,950; formerly the Speedboard) that got a rave review in this column two years ago. Woodway claims that both make you fitter than normal treadmills, burning 30% more energy at the same level of perceived exertion. For safety, the EcoMill allows you to set a maximum speed from 1 to 15 mph.

Mayo Clinic team to explore body's limits in lab on Mount Everest

Bruce Johnson is a soft-spoken man who's drawn to extremes.

He once camped on the edge of a soaring cliff in Argentina, with 40-mile-per-hour winds threatening to blow his tent away. "Like sitting behind a jet plane," he says.

As a scientist at the Mayo Clinic, Johnson has gone to some of the most forbidding places on the planet (including the South Pole) to explore one question: "What are the extremes that the human body can endure?" Monday, he takes his quest to Mount Everest.

Johnson, 54, is leading a team of scientists to "the promised land," as one colleague calls it, to study the extraordinary ways the body can change on the highest mountain on Earth.

In Nepal, Johnson and his colleagues will trek on foot for 10 days, to an elevation of 17,500 feet, to set up a Mayo outpost at Everest's base camp.

"We're bringing 1,300 pounds of medical equipment on the backs of yaks," said Johnson. "We're essentially creating a remote laboratory up there."

As part of the research, Mayo scientists will get up close and personal -- very personal -- with the members of an expedition cosponsored by National Geographic, the North Face and Montana State University. The plan is to hook everyone, climbers and staff, up to tiny sensors that will track their heart rates beat by beat. They'll test their oxygen levels, blood and urine. Even their sleep will be measured; if they wake up after a nightmare, the scientists will know it.

With luck, Johnson will return with a mountain of data -- and some lessons that could benefit patients with heart disease and other chronic conditions.

Much of the study will be broadcast live. The professional climbers are blogging about their adventures as "lab rats" for National Geographic (www.startribune.com/a1215); Mayo is sending a member of its communication staff to cover the story online (mayocliniconeverest.com) and on Twitter. If all goes as planned, even the climbers' vital signs will be posted on a website for all to see.

To some extent, the scientists already know what they'll find. "Any time you go above 10,000 feet," says Bryan Taylor, 29, a Mayo physiologist from Scotland, "it's putting the body under a lot of stress." At sky-high elevations (Mount Everest's peak is 29,035 feet), the effects of the cold and atmosphere are extreme: Dehydration. Fluid on the lungs. Headaches. Digestive problems. Swelling of the feet and hands. Apnea.

Many of the effects mimic the symptoms of heart failure and other chronic conditions in the elderly, Taylor said. So what they learn on the mountain may shed new light on those conditions, as well.

They're also testing a miniature heart monitor that will be embedded in the climbers' clothing. "If these devices work in extreme conditions," said Johnson, "you can probably trust them to use in [someone's] home."

Derek Campbell, 41, a North Face executive from California who's joining the expedition, got a taste of what's to come when he and a colleague arrived in Rochester in early April for preliminary tests.

Campbell's stint as a guinea pig began at night, when Mayo scientists attached electrodes to monitor him while he slept in his hotel. The next day, he was at the clinic for a battery of medical tests. By midmorning, he was racing through a series of video games designed to measure mental acuity.

He aced the games at St. Marys Hospital (elev. 1,166 feet) but knows that may change on the mountain. "I wonder what this is going to be like at high altitudes," he said. "When you're there, you know you're not functioning normally."

A few minutes later, he was covered in electrodes, with wires protruding from all sides and a snorkel-like tube in his mouth, climbing on a treadmill. "Walk as long as you can," Taylor told him. The plan was to crank up the speed and incline every three minutes. "Just go until you cannot do it anymore," Taylor coached him. "Cuss words are allowed."

Campbell, an avid hiker who has climbed peaks in Ecuador and Mexico, didn't seem worried. As the speed increased, the scientists watched his blood pressure and heart rate climb. After 11 minutes, he broke into a jog. "This is it," said Taylor. "Keep going until you're absolutely exhausted." At 14 minutes, he finally jumped off, panting. "Good job, Derek," said Taylor. "Well done."

The scientists plan to repeat the tests on the mountain (in this case, with a step-stool instead of a treadmill), and then again after the expedition returns. A month on the mountain will take a toll on their bodies; most will lose at least 20 pounds.

In this case, the scientists will face the same challenges as their study subjects. Most have scaled mountains. But Amine Issa, a pony-tailed research fellow and the team's device expert, laughed when asked if this was his first Everest trip. "First time climbing a mountain," he said. "I'm hoping I'm not the one that gets sick and has to be baby-sat."

Article Taken from Minnesota Star Tribune - View Original

14 NFL 1st Round Picks Trained on Woodway Treadmills at Athletes' Performance

The first four athletes selected in the NFL Draft and fourteen of the top 32 trained at an Athletes' Performance facility, utilizing a variety of Woodway treadmills to improve speed and power.

Athletes' Performance exclusively uses Woodway treadmills to train their athletes including the Desmo, Force and Curve. “We want to give our athletes the World class edge and that is why we rely on Woodway," states Mark Verstegen - Founder of  Athletes' Performance. Woodway treadmills rubberized slat running surface is softer on joints and connective tissues while also providing unique training capabilities for athletes seeking to improve speed and power.

In all total 94 NFL prospects trained across the country at Athletes' Performance locations in preparation for the 2012 NFL Draft.

Pictured: Second overall pick, Robert Griffin III training on the Woodway Curve at Athletes' Performance.

Video: Third overall pick Trent Richardson spotlight featuring Woodway Curve at Athletes' Performance.

Read more about NFL Draft prospects at Athletes' Performance Blog: click here

World Record Attempts at Boston

Before a step is run on the streets between Hopkinton and Boston on April 16, two world records may have fallen already in Boston.

At the Outside Interactive booth at the John Hancock Sports & Fitness Expo, ultrarunner Michael Wardian (right) and Olympic Trials marathon qualifier Kim Duclos will attempt to set world records for the fastest marathons on a treadmill. Both runners will be using the company's "Hopkinton to Boston 26.2 Mile" video and Virtual Runner software to show where along the storied course they would be at their current pace.

Wardian will begin his attempt to recapture the record at noon on Saturday, April 14. He previously set the mark by running 2:23:58 on December 11, 2004. The current record stands at 2:21:40, set by Eric Blake in 2006.

T here is no women's best time on record, so Duclos will be looking to set the initial mark by completing 26.2 miles at noon on Sunday, April 15. Her best time for the distance is 2:38:21, set in 2009.

Outside Interactive's Virtual Runner software syncs your pace to a high-definition video of a course by way of an ANT+ compatible foot pod, to show where along the route you would be given your time and distance. If you speed up or slow down, so does the playback of the video.

In addition to the "Hopkinton to Boston" DVD, the company offers a seven-mile run along Boston's Charles River, a 10-K through Central Park in New York City, and the courses of the Falmouth Road Race and the Beach to Beacon 10-K.

Read Original Article at www.runnersworld.com

The treadmill they will be using is a Woodway Desmo with a maximum speed setting of 15 mph.

Woodway treadmills have been used in a number of other world record treadmill runs and attempts.

Put The Fun Back Into Cardio

t’s time to get the obesity epidemic running for the door. At least that’s one way clubs can assist in the fight, and help members drop extra pounds — get the member running, walking, climbing or just moving. Cardio equipment can do all of this for your members. We took time to interview some clubs we thought were combining technology, entertainment and fitness to make cardio, not only more appealing, but most importantly — fun to members.

Arliss Fernandez of Fitness Factory Health Club discusses adding the Woodway Curve to their facility:

The Woodway Curve is one piece of equipment that has allowed him to gain an edge and provide for his members. A self-propelled treadmill, the Woodway Curve burns up to 30 percent more calories than a normal treadmill due to the fact that “instead of the member keeping up with the treadmill, the treadmill keeps up with the member,” said Arliss Fernandez, the manager of the Fitness Factory Health Club, Edgewater, N.J location. “The Woodway Curve is great for long distance runners since the treadmill reacts to the runner’s speed. It’s one constant flow where the runner can run inclines, declines or one flat surface. If the runner slows down, the treadmill slows down, if the runner speeds up, then the treadmill speeds up, all at the runners pace. When you are on a traditional treadmill, you are always ‘catching up’ with the treadmill, almost always catching your bearing. With the Woodway, it’s as simple as getting on and running.”

Read the entire article at clubsolutionsmagazine.com

Coming Soon!

Woodway Debuts all new treadmill at IHRSA 2012!

New EcoMill Video - How To Use The EcoMill Manual Treadmill

New Curve Video - How to Use the Curve Manual Treadmill

Behind The Scenes Video of Woodway's 2012 Photoshoot

Kourtney and Kim Take New York - Training at Barry's Boot Camp With the Desmo Treadmills

Since 1998, Barry’s Bootcamp has been delivering “The Best Workout in the World” to a legendary following, including many celebrities. Our no-nonsense, results driven reputation may intimidate some newcomers, but they quickly discover that Barry’s Bootcamp delivers an affordable, efficient and fun workout in a night club party environment that is nothing like the cliché boot camps found in every town.

Come find out why Barry’s Bootcamp has been voted “The Best Celebrity Workout” by ALLURE, LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE and many others. You will burn 1000 calories in one hour and, most importantly, see and feel results right away!

New Curve Training Videos

Woodway has been working with the performance training specialists at Athletes' Performance to create a video series that details the many rehabilitation and performance training applications of the Curve treadmill. Visit our Curve Training Videos page to view them all.