Fitness Fundamentals

Maria Nardini, director of the Duke Health & Fitness Center, talks about how to select a health club and talks about equipment at Pepsico Fitness Center.

New Nano Not Banned By Health Club Chain

New iPod Nano, equipped with video camera, might not be welcome at Twin Cities gyms

Jessica Pearson of Roseville listens to music on her older iPod Nano while running six-plus miles on a treadmill at the Skyway YMCA in St. Paul on Thursday September 17, 2009. (Pioneer Press: Richard Marshall) (Richard Marshall)When Brandon Layland works out at Life Time Fitness in Wayzata, he often carries his iPod Nano. Like many other gym rats, he regards his ultracompact Apple music player as essential workout gear.

But Layland, 18, might have a problem if he upgraded to the newest Nano, recently released with a video camera.

The video-taking capability has forced Chanhassen-based Life Time to restrict Nano use in its 84 facilities in 19 states for privacy-related reasons. Other fitness centers in Minnesota are considering similar Nano restrictions.

Compact camera-equipped devices, such as cell phones, have been gadgets non grata at health clubs for years. The Life Time chain, for instance, has long forbidden their use in locker rooms because of the potential for compromising photos or video footage to be distributed online.

And with the new Nano fitting this category, its use in locker rooms for any reason is forbidden, said spokesman Jason Thunstrom. Discerning whether someone is taking video or just queuing up a music mix can be difficult.

The new Nano's use for music listening would be tolerated in workout areas, Thunstrom added, but shooting videos with it while exercising is a no-no.

As other Twin Cities health clubs learn about the Nano's video features, they are beginning to formulate rules regarding its use.

The YMCA of Greater St. Paul and YMCA of Metropolitan Minneapolis restrict photography to the lobbies except during family events monitored by staffers,

The hot button topic of the day among Apple (AAPL) obsessives was the theory that the new video-camera equipped iPod Nano might be banned in health clubs. That would not be good news, given the number of people that buy iPods specifically to listen to music while working out.








The buzz was apparently triggered by a story over the weekend in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, which said that the video camera feature of the new Nanos has “forced” Life Time Fitness (LFT), which operates 84 health clubs in 19 states, to restrict their use for privacy reasons. The rumor mill got a hold of that, and turned “restriction” into “ban.”






Jason Thunstrom, a spokesman for Life Time Fitness, said in an interview with Tech Trader Daily this afternoon that Life Time for several years now has had a ban on the use in locker rooms of phones and other devices that can shoot video or still images, due to the obvious potential for misuse. The company also has a policy that bars shooting video or pictures in other areas of their gyms without permission.






The company isn’t making any new policies for the Nano. They don’t want them used in locker rooms. And they don’t want you shooting video anywhere else in the clubs. But if you want to use the new Nano to listen to music while working out, no problem there. In fact, he seemed pretty upbeat about the FM tuner in the new Nanos; the Life Time clubs have banks of TV monitors with the sound off - to hear them, you need an FM radio tuner.