Onsite Visit to iFit Corporate Showroom

In the spirit of adventure and the unending pursuit of truth, fellow TreadmillReviews.net editor Jessica Jones and I ventured off to Logan, Utah for an onsite visit to the corporate headquarters of iFit and a hands-on sampling of their lineup in September. Editors and reviewers here spend as much time as possible working with these machines hands-on while doing our reviews.

If you’ve never heard of iFit, you’ve certainly shopped their brands. Known as ICON Health and Fitness up until June of 2021, the company re-branded itself as iFit Health and Fitness to better market its proprietary virtual training app. NordicTrack, ProForm, and Freemotion are the company’s primary brands of exercise equipment, with products ranging from treadmills and ellipticals to smart dumbbells and fitness mirrors. The big value-add of course is iFit, an innovative software package which combines virtual training sessions with both live and on-demand programming with automatic trainer control.

As a fan of iFit myself, that’s a huge plus. This feature allows the program, or live trainers, to actually adjust the machine’s resistance while you exercise. It can be used together with the SmartBeat Bluetooth heart rate monitor and ActivePulse technology and your machine will adjust itself to match your heart rate while re-adjusting to the keep up with the routine. Frankly, it’s amazing. Read here for my in-depth review of iFit for treadmills.

Continuing Education in the Field of Fitness Machines

Editors Brian and Jessica visit the iFit showroom and corporate headquarters in Logan, Utah in September, 2022 for training with their lineup. Photo by: Oleksandr Kosheliev / TreadmilReviews.net

Machines built by iFit have long dominated our Best Buy rankings. But just like the automotive industry, popular models get upgrades each season, and sometimes even within the same year. This means we really need to spend as much time as possible seeing the latest and greatest to keep the consumers informed. Visiting the corporate headquarters, we also got a chance to see and work within the studios where iFit films its on-demand vidoes, which run the gamut from workouts to cooking and nutrition classes. Yes, the iFit showrooms in Logan actually have a kitchen for live nutrition classes, as well as large television-style sets for classes set in the home, garage, or on a big stage.

While in Logan for two days, we and professional photographer Oleksandr Kosheliev had a chance to literally put our hands on every single machine in both the NordicTrack and ProForm lineups, as well as get a gander at the rest of the gear. While being hosted on a facility tour by the sales and marketing department, we were able to see the products disassembled and work them side by side. The iFit team rolled out entire lines of these machines, 36 in all, for us to hop aboard. In addition to the nine exercise bikes, four rowers, and one strength machine, we got to roll out and work on 13 treadmills and nine ellipticals. This visit significantly augmented our reviews of the machines to say the least and makes for a great body of work within TreadmillReviews.net.

One of the big plusses to a showroom visit with the staff is you can ask questions while tearing the machines apart, so to speak, and get right down to the nitty gritty with great comparisons. This translates into better reviews across the board and ultimately spreads throughout our pages into articles about fixing common problems and our comprehensive Buyer’s Guide.

In some cases, such as with the NordicTrack Commercial 1750 and 2450, the most noticeable difference between machines might be the monitor size, but there’s actually more to it in terms of motor size and step-up height. In other cases, there may be a difference in the size of rollers. All of these factors come into play when trying to determine whether a machine is right for you. Jessica does a lot of training with senior citizens and I work with bodybuilders and strength athletes. There’s a big difference in the needs and desires of these two groups, and working with the machines side by side helps us make more specific recommendations.

NordicTrack’s Commercial 1750 and 2450 models have a lot in common, but there are a few key features that make all the difference. Photo by: Oleksandr Kosheliev / TreadmilReviews.net

As an NPC bodybuilder with a background in powerlifting, I tend to use treadmills for incline work and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Working out on the NordicTrack X32i was thus a real treat. In addition to the giant 32″ screen, this unit hikes the incline all the way up to a 40% maximum with a -6% decline. I got a chance to ramp up the speed to the full 12mph and go up 40% and have to say it gave me a real burn in the calves. It’s a larger machine with an in-box weight of 462 pounds, 4.25 CHP motor, and tread belt of 22″ x 65″ instead of 60″. Priced at $3,999 it’s certainly not for the faint of heart, but you have a passion for both extreme HIIT training and a dynamic 32″ screen, this would certainly be the trophy piece in your home gym.

See below for a complete list of other iFit models we had a chance to use.

Treadmills

Ellipticals

Spending more unlocks special features like the 40% incline, 32” touchscreen, and integrated iFit technology found on the NordicTrack X32i. Photo by: Oleksandr Kosheliev / TreadmilReviews.net

A Lot to Learn

The world of home fitness is going more and more online. The iFit organization has certainly grown in that direction with their ever-expanding library of on-demand workouts and live training programs. In addition to cardio, the iFit app also contains workouts for strength, yoga, Pilates, rowers, bikes, ,and pretty much anything you could want. Downloadable onto mobile devices as well as smart televisions, most of the NordicTrack, ProForm, and Freemotion equipment these days comes with an attached screen which works with the program. But that won’t stop you from taking it on the road.

In talking with the iFit executives while at their showroom, it became clear that more developments are in store for the app-machine connection. At present, the iFit community has more than 6.4 million members in 50 countries representing eight languages. In 2021, the iFit program streamed more than 141 million live and on-demand workouts led by 180 professional trainers. That’s a long way from where it first started as iFit Coach just a few years ago.

I’ve been using the iFit program myself on treadmills for about a year, along with other apps and machines we test regularly. But getting a chance to see the studios where the programs are created made a big difference as we discussed their goals for future programming. Whether working in their sales departments, or the company’s top executives, all on-site agreed they’re commitment to this concept of connected workouts with automatic trainer control, AI-workouts, and community-based competitions.