Treadmills Plus

Through this piece I wish to attract the attention of the manufacturers and designers of treadmills for indoor walking or jogging (cardio exercises). I am presenting an idea that might give a value addition to a treadmill. It will be good both for the manufacturers as well as the well healed customer in a pair of Nike, Reebok or Adidas.

Presently the treadmills have a small window displaying various parameters like distance run, user’s plus rate, blood pressure, calories burnt etc. This is other than basic stuff like changing its speed. Recently I have seen the surface of the belt getting an incline with the press of a button, for a climb up effect. Exercising alone day after day inside your house may not be a very exciting experience. Soon people start suffering from monotony of practice. This can result in boredom sneaking in someone’s life, which in turn can go against the will power of the person to get up and work out. Music is very helpful for keeping the mood bright, but again there are chances of suffering from monotony.

My idea here is to include some ‘audio-visual’ files in the movement of a treadmill, just like a car racing game. In car games the ambience moves as the car races ahead with the press of a button or a stick. The speed of the scenery going back depends upon the speed of the car. The car moves through a variety of land escapes like a bridge, a narrow road, an 8- lane high way or down town. Similarly a variety of ambience could be planned and synchronized to run along with the movement of a treadmill belt. These visuals could be seen by the user of the treadmill either on a TV placed in front or it could be project on the front wall covering a larger area for better effect. If the wall in front has a curvature then the edges of the projected picture could get curved to give a mini 3-D feel on both the sides of the screen. The projector could be fitted at a suitable point in front of the treadmill or on the ceiling, from where uninterrupted projection can be done.

Of course sound effects too are not to be left out of this experience. A matching sound track can easily be designed to accompany various ambiences. Designing technicians should also create footstep-sounds of the treadmill user. It would be great for authenticity. They (designers) could work on making interesting audio-visual themes. One of themes for example, could be called a ‘forest’. So every visual in this will have to be an authentic part of the forest. The path, on which the user will feel he is running on, will be narrow and will be made of dirt/mud color. On its sides could be grass and small plants with flowers. Both sides will have large trees passing. Creepers could be hanging from trees. Sounds of jungle birds will be a constant companion. Bats may whiz pass in various directions with their squeaks traveling on stereo speakers (or even 5.1 home theatre). Small animals like jackals or rabbits may be seen on the path at a distance and then run away across into dense bushes. Sun light may play hide and seek from thick trees.

To give the idea of the distance covered while jogging on the treadmill, mile-stones should also be placed at the right time when the right distance has been covered. There could be a mile-stone every 100 meters and then a little bigger and different one for each kilometer. The look of the mile-stone too must match the theme of the forest. To go further there could be many kinds of forests, like rain forest, Redwood or any other. Spiders, bugs or scorpions could also be played with.

Another theme could be ‘urban’, like a city road. If it is early morning in Manhattan, tall buildings with a sun-rise would look good. Other animated joggers could be passing by. As the animated person approaches the treadmill user, a sound of ‘hi or good morning’ may be a good idea.

For young and bold there could be an ambience of haunted area. One could see skeletons hanging or lying around. Creepers could be moved around trying to entangle the animals.

Mile-stones could be in shape of skulls. The alphabets and numbers (e.g. 5 Kilometers) on them should be written in matching fonts of the theme used.

Another theme that comes to my mind is that of a ‘beach’. There could numerous variations in this too. We could play with visuals of beach bed, making it narrow or wide; low or high tides, sounds of crashing waves and sea gulls etc. There could be other people like kids playing, women sun bathing and some others doing various beach activities. The treadmill user could chose to run in the shallow of the water. Authentic splashing sound of footsteps in shallow water will be very interesting.

It will be very effective if the steps of the user on the treadmill belt could be synchronized with the sound effects of the steps in the A/V.