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COMPETITIVENESS AND MARKET VOLUME
Additional technical parameters, market segment break down, cost and potential annual revenue.
The early sports strength training machines entered the market in the 70s. They quickly gained popularity due to several factors, amongst which was main stream media coverage of muscled individuals in movies and alike. Strength training machines put pressure on traditional barbells, dumb-bells and weights. They allowed the user to exercise a specific group of muscles and also saved time. Strength training machines eliminated the need to change weights plates on a barbell, in order to change the exercises, it was sufficient to go from one training machine to another. In addition, the advantages of performing the exercises with training machines attracted attention not only of athletes but also of non-professionals which was the building block in the development of the fitness industry. Typically, training machines make use of weight stacks in order to produce resistance. Ropes tie the training machine levers to heavy-weight loads sliding up and down along guide rails.
The resistance device in weight stack machines is distinguished by structural simplicity and low cost, which favours their popularity. However, weight stack devices have intrinsic disadvantages which cannot be eliminated. They have a large weight and inertia, the latter poses a major problem. It restricts the speed of performing exercises and, consequently, lowers the efficiency of the exercises; moreover, they pose a risk of injury to the joints and muscles due to a possible jump in resistance during exercises.
All these drawbacks have been known ever since these machines entered the market; hence, attempts were being taken all these years to design resistance devices that can overcome these deficiencies.
Amongst the suggested alternatives there were hydraulic, gas-dynamic, and electromagnetic devices, all kinds of elastic and springing elements, but none of them could qualitatively replace weight stack devices since they could not ensure the forward and self-sustained reverse exercise motion with a resistance of constant (invariable) magnitude.
During this period, only one resistance device was designed which was capable of producing non-inertial isotonic (invariable) load with the self-sustained reverse exercise motion (resistance remains isotonic only when the exercise is performed at a slow rate). It was a compressor supplied air pneumatic device. However, these training machines have a great variety of intrinsic drawbacks that prevent them from gaining wide popularity.
Thus, today, as it used to be 35 years ago, the basic loading device for strength training machines, despite all the disadvantages, is a set of inertia loads. The efforts taken to significantly improve the weight stack devices (e.g., by arranging balance weights) have failed to produce any tangible results. Hence, a search for a new advanced loading device for strength training machines is still a challenge today.
The new vacuum strength training device can win that challenge and penetrate the main strength training machine markets
Let's examine those markets and why the device is able to penetrate them.
1) Professional training machines
With the purpose of enhancing comfort, ensuring injury free operation and training efficiency, high class grade strength training machines are equipped with advanced weight stack devices with weights sliding on guide rods. They need special greases for lubrication and balance weights to decrease weights inertia at the start of motion, etc. This requires the training machine to have more complex and costly maintenance routines. The new vacuum resistance device possesses all the advantages strived for in high class professional weight stack strength training machines. At the same time, the new resistance device has virtually no restrictions as to the maximum resistance levels. The resistance level can be as high as 200 kg (440 lbs) to 300 kg (660 lbs), while the weight of the vacuum device remains comparatively low. For example, the weight of a device that can create resistance of up to 200 kg (440 lbs) will weight approximately 60 kg (132 lbs).
Strength training machines equipped with the new vacuum resistance device provide a better training experience due to a possible unrestricted speed of exercise; they also allow for injury-free conditions due to the absence of weight inertia which is a major factor while exercising with heavy weights. However, if needed, it is possible to transform the resistance produced by the device into a variable one with the use of cams and pulleys, which is sometimes necessary for functional training of athletes. People who perform exercises on professional strength training machines are motivated by results, therefore, they are interested in efficient and injury-free conditions more than other people, and hence they will also be interested in training machines equipped with a new resistance device.
2) Fitness and wellness training machines
Training machines equipped with the new resistance device are superior to weight stack devices in comfort and safety, which is of paramount importance for this group of users. It is important to note that performing exercises on the new training machine becomes more diverse and interesting due to the speed factor, where the speed of exercise is only limited by the speed at which the user can perform them. Maintenance of new training machines is simpler and cheaper than that of weight stack machines since the new resistance device has no massive weights which may wear out the training machine structure and has a much longer service life than weight stack machines.
3) Medical and rehabilitation training machines
An ideal medical rehabilitation training machine should have the following characteristics
Constant resistance level (i.e., isotonic resistance). (if necessary, the isotonic resistance can become variable with the integration of cams and pulleys).
2. Absence of spontaneous resistance variation throughout the course of the exercise.
3. Exercising at any pace. At the same time, the pace of exercise execution cannot affect the level and the quality of the created resistance.
4. Provide a small resistance variation step.
Today, strength training machines most frequently employed as rehabilitation sports and medical strength machines are weight stack and pneumatic machines operated by compressed air from a compressor. Weight stack devices are hardly appropriate for rehabilitation purposes. Heavy weights which create the resistance have inertia, hence, such training machines pose potential injury hazard. Weight stack devices do not meet all the above set requirements.
Pneumatic compressor-driven training machines which create non-inertial loading are considered to be the best for rehabilitation purposes. These machines more or less meet the above set requirements, but they have a great deal of deficiencies related to the complexity and inconvenience of their maintenance. Moreover, the quality of loading leaves much to be desired – these exercise machines cannot ensure constant resistance with high accuracy.
A training machine equipped with the new vacuum resistance device is superior to all the pneumatic training machines (Keiser, HUR, Enraf Nonius, AirMachine) practically in every engineering and operating parameter and, consequently, is much simpler for operation and maintenance. Besides, the new training machine can be single-functional and also multipurpose (universal) (e.g., refer to photo), but as of today, there are no producers of such multipurpose pneumatic (compressor-driven) training machines.
4) Home versatile strength training machines
Practically all of the home versatile strength training machines are equipped with weight stack resistance devices. One might argue that among these machines there are also exotic ones with the operation principle based on gas shock absorbers, metal, rubber or other elastic elements. But these training machines cannot provide an isotonic resistance, thus, they are less effective for trainings than weight stack machines.
The distinctive feature of the market of home versatile weight stack devices is that all of them, regardless of the price and the manufacturer, are more or less identical. There is practically no significant qualitative difference between training machines ranging in price between $600 and $2,000. These training machines have nearly identical performance, and differ basically in design and the brand name.
The existing treadmills differ noticeably in their performances and their price range varies from $300 to $15,000 (50 fold difference).
The demand for strength training machines and treadmills in the market (sales volumes) is known to be nearly equal. High prices of treadmills indicate that consumers are ready to pay a high price for a high-quality product. But they are ready to pay not only for eye pleasing design or the manufacturer’s brand name, but also for a training machine which will surpass other products currently offered on the market in engineering and operational characteristics. Today such an opportunity has presented itself. Equipping training machines with the new resistance device will set a new standard of quality and offer new opportunities for training machines which are currently missing key qualities, namely: light weight, high pace of exercises, high efficiency, comfort and safety. The cost of the new resistance device is higher than that of a conventional weight stack device, since home training machines must be stocked with in-built compact pumps (the price of a pump being ~ $500 - $700 of the shelf, significantly lower in quantities). But treadmills have shown that a buyer is ready to pay for high quality.
The potential volume of the market of training machines equipped with the new resistance device is 10%, in view of their higher cost as compared to home weight stack weight machines. This market share translates to approximately 600,000 training machines per year. A tentative annual turnover of the potential market of the new training machines is more than $2 billion.
Today the home segment is dominated by machines based on inertial weights, offered by numerous companies. There is a pricing rift between inertial weights based machines at 400$ - 3,500$ and pneumatic machines at 6,000$ - 10,000$. It is safe to assume that due to the superior technical qualities and competitive cost (about 3,500$) of vacuum pneumatic machines they will penetrate the market and gain a significant market share. Practically no pneumatic home fitness machines are currently in production, probably, due to excessive complexity of their design and very high cost. The cost of vacuum pneumatic machines will be higher than the average price of machines based on inertial weights but the quality of new machines will be much better. We estimate that vacuum pneumatic machines may cover 2 - 4 % of the overall volume of the world market. With regard to the amount of these devices, we expect it to run up to 120 - 250 thousand devices/year. New training machines, using vacuum technology, will easily and naturally fit in the market since their design can be based on existing machines. Vacuum pneumatic machines will offer the user a blend of comfort, safety and resistance quality unattainable with any available machine.