Life Fitness Eyes the Future of Cardio With Discover SE4 Console

With the Discover SE4 Console, fitness facilities can boost member engagement through immersive entertainment, connectivity and brand-building tools

A cardio console is no longer simply a sweat-splashed dashboard, but an entry point for entertainment, member engagement and optimized workouts.

Life Fitness is leveraging its five decades of experience to capture the user’s attention with a new, cutting-edge console, the Discover SE4, which provides a multitude of immersive workout experiences and gives fitness facilities the power to create custom-branded content. 

The Discover SE4 Console is a far cry from the low-tech consoles of years past, with a 24″ screen (also available in 16″) that includes items like streaming instructor-led videos, virtual terrains, apps, games, wireless device charging and integrations like Apply Gym Kit for Apple Watch tracking. Today’s well-built gym demands innovation and exerciser-oriented custom technology features that foster community while delivering results.

“SE4 was inspired by research with exercisers and customers with the goal of creating truly immersive experiences to drive member engagement,” said Nick Yogerst, Life Fitness Product Director, Consoles. “We wanted to bring the technologies that consumers expect and utilize in their daily lives into the fitness facility. The large, bright and clear screen of SE4 offers an immersive experience with a wide variety of workouts, content and entertainment to choose from.”

The SE4’s development is a response to the growing expectation of technological integration in every aspect of life, including fitness. The console’s display offers a plethora of workout content and entertainment, all within an easily navigable interface. Its wireless charging feature is a nod to the modern exerciser’s connected lifestyle.

“When developing our wireless charging area we focused on both easy access for charging and for watching personal content,” Yogerst added.  

Sleek Design Elements

The 1080p touchscreen dominates the console’s slim aesthetic, stretching edge-to-edge. Yogerst said Life Fitness chose AIT technology (all in one touch) because it provides the exerciser with a clearer, more vibrant and higher visibility display.

“At the same time, it provides facilities with a more durable display in a dramatically reduced form factor,” Yogerst noted. “Older touch screen technologies can sometimes become out of sync with what is touched and what is displayed. AIT removes that issue.”

In addition, vivid imagery pops and smooth responsive navigation complete the showcase piece, thanks to intuitive touch sensors.

Content Creation Tools

Facility and gym owners can use a custom upload feature that includes the ability to overlay music, branding, titles and descriptions — empowering them to step up as content creators to meet the unique needs of their members. These show up on the console in a carousel for the exerciser to choose from.

“We also created the tools to support customers with filming,” Yogerst said. “This includes an audio-visual production kit recommended by our partners in the fitness content filming industry. It utilizes any smartphone and affordable audio and lighting equipment that can be purchased from Amazon for under $1,000.”

Life Fitness is dedicated to making content creation more accessible for all by keeping it “simple, intuitive, and inexpensive.”

“Think of it as a content management system for cardio equipment,” Yogerst said. 

 Workout Variety & Experience Optimization

Members who crave a challenge and variety have access to Life Fitness’ catalog of over 500 Life Fitness On Demand+ fitness experiences, which is included with the equipment purchase. A subscription is not needed, just an internet connection. The SE4 is available across the full line of Life Fitness Integrity+ and Aspire cardio machines. 

“These experiences are filterable by instructor, difficulty level, duration and language to ensure there is something for every exerciser at their fingertips,” Yogerst explained.  

To guarantee anyone could easily access the SE4’s myriad features, developers focused on usability. 

“SE4 contains a completely redesigned user experience with feedback and insights from extensive user research that helped us define the various core exerciser personas that use our cardio equipment,” Yogerst said. 

“Once we had an initial design direction based on the personas, we validated that through physical demos with exercisers of all experience levels.  This confirmed our design direction of providing all exercisers an easy and intuitive way to experience the content they are most interested in,” he added.

Supporting the new console is our Halo Facility cloud-based web tool that provides the ability to configure the product and simplify manager duties to keep the gym floor running smoothly

Gaining an overview of equipment demand helps optimize layout investments. Halo also tracks and triggers preventive maintenance notices so techs can service machines before costly downtime.

When utilized fully, the Discover SE4 Console helps forge a cardio experience that builds community and crafts an unforgettable gym. For facilities, this investment fuels lasting member engagement and can help future-proof the fitness floor.

 To Learn more about the Discover SE4 Console and how it can help you elevate your cardio floor, visit the Life Fitness website.