This press release was provided by Technogym. The Club Industry editorial staff was not involved in the creation of this content.
It was 1983, the golden age of body building and hedonism. The US-branded stereotype of hyper-muscular fitness à la Sylvester Stallone and Jane Fonda was all the rage world-wide. In Cesena, Romagna, Italy, young Nerio Alessandri thought differently: to him, physical exercise meant a lot more - the essential condition to guarantee a person's wellbeing. This insight led to the concept of Wellness: a 100% Italian lifestyle with its roots deep in the ancient Roman saying of “mens sana in corpore sano” - based on regular physical activity, healthy eating habits and a positive mental attitude.
Guided by his vision, Alessandri – who had found a way to combine his passions for design, technology and sport – designed and built his first equipment in his home garage. Today, 30 years on, Technogym is world leader in the field of fitness and wellness and official supplier to the last 5 editions of the Olympic Games. The company currently employs some 2200 workers, exports 90% of its output to over 100 Countries, and has equipped 65 thousand Wellness centres and over 100 thousand homes world-wide.
In the transition from Alessandri's home garage to the Technogym Village, the Wellness campus that opened last year in the presence of the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and of Bill Clinton, perspectives, objectives and technologies have changed, but the approach is still the same: to associate dreams and vision with day-to-day commitment and focus on each and every detail.
Research and innovation have always been the driving force behind Technogym's growth - with innovation applied to everything from products to services and to the company's business model. Technogym recently launched “Wellness on the go”, a new vision of fitness and wellness allowing access to one's personalised training experience everywhere in the world and at any time, thanks to Technogym Ecosystem: the ecosystem created by Technogym to integrate equipment, dedicated mobile apps, the digital platform mywellness cloud as well as specific content, programs and services.
A strongly-felt responsibility as the promoter and diffuser of wellness has always guided the company in its business dealings. “Wellness is a social opportunity for everybody: for governments to reduce health costs, for companies to increase productivity and realise their staff's full potential, and for society as a whole to improve people's health and daily lifestyles”, this is the thinking behind Nerio Alessandri's Wellness Foundation, the non-profit organisation started 10 years ago to help create a more sustainable society, making the most of the experience and knowledge acquired in 20 years of Technogym activity world-wide.
On an international scale, thanks to the commitment of Alessandri and the Wellness Foundation, Wellness now features as a fixed item in the agendas of the World Economic Forum of Davos and was even at the centre of an initiative sponsored by the United Nations in New York. Sparked off by Alessandri's intuition, the Wellness Valley project was born, aimed at creating in the Italian region of Romagna the first wellness district in Europe: a 'laboratory of experiences' to raise the bar of personal quality standards and leverage wellness as an opportunity for local economic development.
Here is a brief overview of the company milestones:
* 1983 - 20th October: in his home garage, Nerio Alessandri creates Technogym, a brand that is a combination of two souls, “Techno” for technology and innovation and “Gym” for exercise and movement.
* 1986 - Launch of Unica, a complete gym in one square metre. The first gym machine to be also a piece of designer furnishing.
* 1990 – The age of cardio training begins with the first medical and scientific patents such as the CPR “constant pulse rate” system. For the first time, workout intensity is regulated by the equipment user's heart rate.
* 1992 Michael Schumacher becomes the main ambassador of Technogym. F1 trainer, a machine specially designed to train a racing driver’s neck, and “Technogym Truck”, a travelling gym, are with the F1 star driver at each Grand Prix.
* 1994 Launch of the XT line, a complete range of machines and solutions for cardiovascular training.
* 1995 During the ‘90s Technogym develops a relevant international network with the establishment of 6 direct branches in Europe and United States.
* 1996 Presentation of Technogym System, the integrated technology system to manage training programs and gym activities.
* 1998 Launch of Forma, the treadmill for home use. Presentation of Biostrength, the revolutionary strength training line.
* 2000 Technogym is the official supplier to the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic games.
* 2002 Launch of Wellness TV, the first on-board television built into the fitness equipment, a healthy way of enjoying all-round wellness programs and solutions.
* 2002 Launch of Excite, the new cardiovascular line designed and developed to focus on all five senses.
* 2004 Technogym is the official supplier to the Athens 2004 Olympic and Paralympic games.
* 2006 Technogym is the official supplier to the Turin Winter Olympics and Doha Asian Games, and the official supplier to the Alinghi America’s Cup sailing team.
* 2006 Presentation of Kinesis Personal at Salone del Mobile, the International Furniture and Furnishing Accessories exhibition in Milan. Kinesis is the first interior design object for light workouts designed by Antonio Citterio. It is a revolutionary piece of equipment conceived around the user, enabling one to rediscover natural movements thanks to the Technogym “FullGravity” patented system.
* 2007 Official supplier to the Pan American Games of Rio de Janeiro, presentation of Active Wellness TV - the first healthy way of watching television. Launch of the Purestrength line, the strength training line “designed” by champions. Presentation of FLEXability, the only product line specifically designed for guided stretching.
* 2008 Official supplier to the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
* 2010 VISIOWEB, an intuitive touch screen complete with simple visual applications, enabling users who wish to work to connect directly to their e-mail services, and those who wish to relax andenjoy entertainment options on-line to access their favourite websites and social networks. Additionally, the VISIOWEB display enables one to watch TV, connect to one's iPhone and access a wide range of entertainment programs.
* 2011 Launch of Cross Personal, the first elliptical trainer which allows one to exercise and surf the net, created to complete the Personal line styled in conjunction with Antonio Citterio. The line, started in 2006 with Kinesis, also includes Run Personal and Recline, leading to the company being awarded a number of prestigious prizes including the Red Dot Design Award.
* 2012 Official supplier to the London 2012 Olympics.
* 2012 Opening of the Technogym Village in the presence of the Italian president Giorgio Napolitano and former US president Bill Clinton.
* 2012 MyWellness Cloud, the first cloud computing technology for the fitness and wellness industry able to offer professional operators a complete system of web and mobile applications to connect their club and equipment to partners inside and outside the facility.
* 2013 Launch of UNITY, the “Android 4 open platform” display, a new interface open to millions of developers who, thanks to dedicated APIs, can design their own apps. All the applications will be available for operators from the UNITY STORE, the professional application developed by Technogym to connect industry operators and user applications everywhere in the world. Users can connect to UNITY and access their training programs, data and content, social networks, etc. Additionally, UNITY is the only interface in the market equipped with a web camera to allow for user/trainer interaction aimed at providing “guided” training.
* 2013 ARTIS, the revolutionary, complete line of cardiovascular, strength and functional equipment, combining connectivity, eco-sustainability, design and movement to offer a personalised “WELLNESS ON THE GO” experience, which includes accessing one's training programs, data and content from any Technogym machine, anywhere in the world, by using a smartphone, tablet, mywellness key, smart TV, PC, etc.