Approximately thirty years ago, after the engineering of a stationary rowing machine by David Smith in his basement, Precor, which is one of todays most respected, popular and successful fitness equipment brands was birthed. Spawning from David Smith’s development of an ergonomically correct and user-friendly rowing machine in 1980, Precor has turned into one of the international leaders in the branding, design, production and marketing of exercise equipment. No more than 3 years after David finished the design of the rowing machine in his basement, Mr. Smith was joined by the bright, progressive thinking opportunist Bill Potts. Potts brought his knowledge of electronic programmability to the table and sought out to integrate unique programming, as well as statistical user-feedback, into the exercise equipment Smith was designing. Potts believed that allowing people to monitor their stats such as speed, time, distance and other readouts, would increase the popularity of their workout equipment. He was before his time as evidenced by his approach to incorporating fun and exciting workouts as well as statistical feedback. Various exercise programs and custom workouts features are one of the main variables leading to the overall increase in popularity and usage of fitness equipment. Potts got it. He figured it out before his peers.
Ultimately, making the exercise equipment more user-interactive, intrigued people because they could monitor their results in real-time. Knowing how fast or long you have to exercise in order to surpass your previous records can be highly motivating and the potential popularity interactive workout programs had begun to see its rise due largely to the efforts of Precor. By 1985, several more additions had been made to the once one man band, and Precor expanded to carrying treadmills, exercise bikes and rowing machines.
National recognition is necessary in order to be the fitness equipment industry. In other words, if a brand is not used at the major health clubs and gyms, then it clearly is not top-of-the-line machinery. By 1990, Precor entered the health club scene, with a series of commercial treadmills, built to withstand all day wear and tear, by gym members of all sizes. There is a major difference in the structural integrity and mechanical capacities between gym quality and residential exercise equipment. Whereas a solid home treadmill can be used at most up to four hours a day, a treadmill that is commercially rated for gym usage, can be used for up to four times as much as non-commercial grade fitness gear. Precor realized that their commercial line of treadmills must have the size, speed and strength in order to compete with the other leading brands in the fitness equipment industry and developed high-powered, heavy-duty, gym grade treadmills.
The year of 1995 was a breakthrough year for Precor, as they invented the first elliptical cross-trainer and put it on the map in the form of their Precor EFX 544 cross-trainer. The Precor EFX 544 was designed with an adjustable cross-ramp and fixed arms. The adjustable incline ramp makes it easy for users to work out different muscle groups in their lower body through the simple adjustment of the angle on the incline ramp. The EFX 544 was so popular that Precor decided to continue their production of elliptical cross-trainers for usage in health clubs and homes. One of the first additions to the Precor line of elliptical cross-trainers was a cross-trainer with moving upper body arms.
After already having the cardiovascular fitness industry in the palm, through the acquisition of Pacific Fitness in 1998, Precor made giant strides towards building a successful line of strength equipment. A result of this merger was the extremely popular Precor Stretch Trainer, that is a favorite of fitness trainers and gym patrons. Precor fitness equipment was dominating the market through Precor’s dedication to developing a large variety of exercise equipment.
In 1999, Premark International, which was parent company of the Precor brand at the time, was bought out by International Tool Works. Soon after ITW acquired Precor, popularity for Precor increased, as their equipment become more affordable and focused on consumer needs. With a bigger bankroll and more steam built up, Precor was acquired by Amer Sports in 2002 as part of a 180 million dollar deal. Amer Sports coming into the picture resulted in Precor changing their primary goals. After years of revolving around industrial products, Precor’s new aim was to become an international distributor of a wider range of fitness equipment and sporting goods.
With all of the success and momentum that Precor had built open over the last 2 decades was great, but they still did not have a dominant and consumer friendly line of strength equipment. That all changed in 2004 when Precor established an Icarian line of strength equipment. Icarian strength equipment can be found anywhere from private home gyms to large health club franchises. The line of strength equipment itself has all home gym products ranging from bench presses, to multi-station and plate loaded home gyms, to weight racks and other strength training machines.
A very popular feature on the Precor cardio line of fitness equipment originated in 2004 as well. The cardio theater feature on Precor cardiovascular equipment, came as a result of their relationship with an entertainment technology firm, ClubCom. For example, if you are familiar with the Precor 956i Treadmill, it can be purchased with a cardio theatre attached to the display console. Having an entertainment center to use when you exercise has proven to allow some people to workout up to 75% more than they did on the same treadmill, without the Precor cardio theater. The year of 2006 also marked the year that Precor introduced its Experience Series line and the Cardio Theater was an option for all Experience Series treadmills and elliptical cross-trainers. After gaining the support of consumers across the U.S., the Cardio Theater went on to win awards at the annual international product design competition, hosted by Business Week.
Around this time is when Precor struck a deal with the Hilton Family, that would make Precor gym equipment the main supplier of Hilton hotels such as the Double Tree, Embassy Suites and The Hilton. Catapulting Precor into the mainstream, the mainstream commercial deal between Precor and Hilton Hotels, cemented Precor’s status as a premier brand in fitness equipment. Consequently, the Precor brand name grew, as a result of people who stayed at the Hilton, calling to buy Precor fitness equipment for their home, after liking the Precor cross-trainer, treadmill, or bike they used at the Hilton.
A great majority of health clubs and gyms have Precor elliptical cross-trainers, treadmills, stretch trainers, exercise bikes and strength machines. Ultimately, the litmus test for whether or not fitness equipment is solid, is whether or not the fitness equipment in question can be found at health clubs and commercial gym facilities. In 2005 & 2006, Precor won the award for “Top Supplier”, from Golds Gym and Anytime Fitness. Since Precor fitness equipment can be found across the United States at almost every major health club, it can therefore be concluded that Precor represents the upper echelon of fitness equipment.
Customer Testimonial
I just wanted to express how happy I am about my new Precor EFX 546. In order to fill the monstrous void in my life, I decided to get off my butt and build myself a home gym. The last thing I wanted to happen was for me to get inferior fitness equipment and then use it as an excuse to not exercise. I believed that with really solid home fitness equipment, I would have no excuse not to workout on a daily basis. For those of you who are unfamiliar with exercise equipment and which companies have the best reputation, I was in your shoes once too, and after lots of research and hard work, it became apparent to me that Precor fitness equipment was the most popular brand after surveying my friends and family (and some randoms) . Precor fitness equipment is the most popular and well respected fitness equipment company today. Their line of award winning crosstrainers, as well as their health club quality treadmills, exercise bikes and other cardiovascular pieces of fitness equipment, is recognized by gym owners and other fitness experts, as the most structurally sound and mechanically correct, exercise equipment on the globe. In order to fully understand the true quality of Precor gym and home fitness equipment, I recommend that you go to a local gym, or fitness equipment store and try out either a Precor treadmill, Precor elliptical, or exercise bike. Once you have experienced the smooth and sturdy performance of Precor fitness equipment, it will be much easier for you to understand how and why precor exercise gear is superior. Other awesome fitness equipment companies include Life Fitness, Star Trac and that is about it. There is no reason to over-think things when buying exercise equipment for your home. All you need to do in order to make sure you are not getting ripped off, is to make sure the company name on your home fitness equipment has a good reputation in the fitness equipment community. Precor has that, and I have been happy!
*Precor history facts from Precor.com
