I recently exhibited at the International Health and Racquet Sports Club trade show in San Diego. It was amazing to see the San Diego Convention center filled with everything associated with building and running a gym. If it's in your local healthclub it was on display there. But what I found more intriguing was how the displays of functional exercise equipment (medicine balls, kettlebells, resistance tubing, TRX suspension training, etc.) accounted for probably 25% of the exhibit floor. 20 years ago this section of equipment wasn't even a blip on the screen in the ever-increasing "Super Clubs" industry. As the sheer size of health clubs has grown over the past 15 years (100,000 sq. ft. and larger)-can you say "Healthclub bubble", so has there dependency on selectorized resistance machines to fill them. I remember after the Nautilus revolution of the 70's ushered in by fitness legend Arthur Jones, clubs would display there shiney chrome machines right in front of the club. This help closed the membership sale after the rudimentary tour. It was similar to going to the car dealership, and seeing the exotic new sports car upfront. It didn't matter that you were there for the economical compact car, not displayed. From the club standpoint in the 70's this is where most people would spend their workouts. The dumbbells and barbells were for those "hardcore athletes", ala Arnold in "Pumping Iron". But as the science of training has grown, so has the knowledge of the personal trainer. Gone are the days of when the local muscle head or fitness model are the busiest trainers. They have been replaced with instructors with national certifications and advanced degress, yes I said degrees! These instructors have the appearance of your fit individual, but sound more like a school teacher. So the exercise routines that are filtering out to the masses have started to center upon functional fitness. The routines have more exercises using medicine balls, BOSUs & kettlebells. They utilize body weight as resistance. You go jump on a 1 foot platform box for 1 minute and come back and tell me how your lungs feel. Another thing that has happened is that the avergae gym-goer has become more educated. They stopped watching the infomercials and decided that there wasn't a magic pill or that a vibrating belt wasn't going to produce a six-pack. I once heard a well respected trainer say that he didn't teach people how to do exercises, that he taught them how to move efficiently. Let's face it, it's a lot harder to figure out how to use the medicine ball as opposed to sitting on that nice shiney machine and just pushing it however it moves. I know that you can do over 200 exercises with the medicine ball and that it uses very little space, but you may have to think. Also that myth about accidents happening using the dumbbell or kettlebell. Most injuries in the clubs happen due to lack of maintenance (frayed cable, bent bar, bad treadmill belt) not improper form while performing an exercise. If you look around the new generation of health clubs, there are rooms with nothing other than a Keiser multifunctional machine (uses compressed air as resistance), dumbbells, bands and balls dedicated to functional training...and they are always packed. Now I don't want to sound down on machines, they do serve their place, but they are limited in what they can do. You typically can only perfrom 1 exercise per machine. I do think that as we continue in this current credit crisis in the US, and health club owners fight for financing for those new shiney machines, don't be surprised if out of neccessity they are forced to fill their facilities with less expensive equipment. To learn how you can download over 600 exercises to your IPod, IPhone, or Blackberry in a few clicks of the mouse, please visit www.ITrainerInternational.com. See you in the gym!