| "Sonny Tran, who normally works as a corrections officer, guards the new Nautilus One (covered at left), as the minutes count down to its unveiling at the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association convention in San Francisco. " "The gym of tomorrow was in full swing -- and crunch and shake -- at the Moscone Center in San Francisco." "The huge hall was pumped up in spandex, warm-up suits and swooshes during the 26th annual International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association's 2007 convention and trade show in late March." "Amid a charged-up mix of endorphins and sales pitches set to a dance-club tempo, more than 400 companies showed their latest shiny artillery, battle-ready for the war on flab, to more than 10,000 fitness trainers, fitness buffs, club managers and owners." "The quest for fitness may come wrapped in digital readouts and other high-tech finery, but it's an enduring one, complete with its subtexts of torment, discipline and redemption. Sisyphus would have fit right in with all the folks going nowhere fast while furiously pedaling, striding, jiggling and climbing." "But today's striving also provides a lot of marketing theater, including champagne and little exercise balls handed out to observers during one staged workout. Security guards in black suits, sunglasses and Secret Service-type ear wires protected draped shapes as a digital display counted down the hundredths of seconds till the debut of new Nautilus equipment." "All together, the thumping music, swirling lights and smiling, hard-bodied exercisers were enough to make cellulite quiver in fear of the coming assault." "There were lots of recognizable machines, from weight-lifting equipment to treadmills and rowers, but there was much that was far from familiar to most gym-goers." "Here's a look at some of the more remarkable machines that you may work out on in the future at a gym near you. Bear in mind that most of the prices are for club equipment rather than home versions." "You stand on a treadmill with tenting that seals at your waist. Air is pumped into the tented area, creating upward pressure that lowers your effective body weight by as much as 80 percent. Perfect for feeling as though you're running on the moon or some low-gravity planet." "It is a variation of a machine developed to allow astronauts to work out. For the outer-space version, air is pumped out of the tent to increase effective body weight." "This high-tech training device lessens weight on healing joints and has been used by the NBA's Washington Wizards and Houston Rockets. Yao Ming of the Rockets reportedly used it to help keep fit while recovering from a broken bone under his right knee." "Yvette Molinaro, an attorney from Los Angeles who came to the convention with personal trainer Todd Anthony, tries it out, looking like a robotic centaur -- half- human, half-machine." "Molinaro is an extraordinarily taut-looking woman who says she works out "two or three times a day." In other words, she fits right in with this crowd." ""It felt like I was being supported and I could run faster," she says after trying the machine. "But you feel like you're getting a little bit of a wedgie."
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