One month after notching its best sales day of 2020, Chattanooga-based Echelon Fitness is rolling out a treadmill that expands the company's offerings beyond at-home bikes and rowers.
"We continue to diversify our connected fitness offerings by rolling out new live and on-demand classes exclusively for our new smart treadmill, the Echelon Stride," said Lou Lentine, president and CEO of Echelon Fitness Multimedia LLC, in an announcement of the new workout device Monday.
The business sold more bikes and rowers this past Labor Day than any other day of 2020 so far, Lentine said in September. Lentine, whose company markets spin bikes and other fitness equipment along with online training, said then that he expects revenues to soar 600% this year over 2019.
Lentine, a serial inventor and promoter from New Jersey who brought his Viatek Consumer Products to Chattanooga in 2011, created Echelon in 2017. Echelon Fitness films nearly 2,000 classes a month from their four studios in Miami, Florida and Chattanooga, according to the news release.
The new treadmill folds up to make it easier to move and store, and has a retail price that starts at $1299. It offers connectivity with thousands of live and on-demand fitness classes, enabling consumers to workout independently or virtually from home.
At-home workouts have seen a spike during the pandemic, benefiting businesses that produce classes and equipment for cooped-up fitness enthusiasts.
Nearly 90% of people who exercise regularly say they will continue with at-home workouts even after they feel comfortable returning to a gym, according to a July survey of 1,000 adults from Beachbody, a Santa Monica–based health and fitness company.
Staff photo by Tim Barber/ Adjacent to the main lobby inside the Chattanooga Choo Choo, Lou Lentine, president of the Chattanooga-based fitness company Echelon, stands with one of the many machines in 2019.