Fitness club members should be ready to use a bit screen console to record activity, then pipe it to a private health record.

Precor, an exercise machine maker that popularized the elliptical fitness crosstrainer, is at CES this year showing off the combination between the networked, touchscreen consoles on its Preva trainers and the Microsoft HealthVault personal health record system.

The Microsoft partnership that Precor announced at CES is a derivative of its work with Arizona State University, which has installed the Preva machines at multiple campuses as portion of a program to encourage student and school fitness. Software tracks activity as recorded on any of the exercise machines or at the Preva mobile app. ASU encourages users to also synchronize those records with a HealthVault account which can help them build a broader digital picture in their health. With nearly 300 pieces of networked equipment, ASU’s is the most important networked fitness installation on the earth, in accordance with Precor.

“ASU is the primary and largest installation for us,” says Brent Brooks, vp of networked fitness at Precor. “As society is getting more into the ‘quantified self’ movement, ASU is thinking well in front of the typical [fitness club] operator about tips on how to integrate various elements of this system so people can track and get feedback on diet, stress, etc.” The Mayo Clinic can be studying ASU’s experience with the devices to peer whether this sort of feedback could be effective at controlling obesity and other illnesses.

[Want more health gadget news? Read CES: Showcasing The way forward for Healthcare.]

Precor desires to use cloud services connected to the touchpad consoles on its devices as a technique of distinguishing them from the contest, Brooks told us. “It’s getting harder to differentiate treadmill from treadmill or elliptical from elliptical, in accordance with the hardware alone,” he said, so maybe software can do more.

Networked equipment also gives health clubs how to distinguish and brand themselves, Brooks notes. From an administrator’s account, it’s possible for health clubs to customise the welcome screen on their devices with the club’s logo and a message to members. By getting members to set and track goals in the course of the online system, health clubs have a possibility of improving engagement — something that’s much needed in an industry where 30% of members drop out within a year after joining a club, in step with Brooks.

“We realized that after we had this cloud-based infrastructure, shall we do loads of other creative things,” he said. Microsoft have been integrating HealthVault with personal health tracking devices consisting of the Fitbit and wireless scales, but here’s its first integration with this kind of exercise machine, he added.

“The goal of HealthVault is to assist every individual create an entire picture in their overall health and well-being, after which use that information with tools and services that improve their lives,” Sean Nolan, distinguished engineer for Microsoft HealthVault, said in an announcement. “Preva is an excellent example of either one of these — they make it super-simple to trace workouts within the gym or via their mobile app, and so they provide motivation to exercisers through a singular rewards system that reminds them that their exertions is paying off.”

CES attendees can take a test drive of Preva during exhibit hours at South Hall 2 Booth #26923.

David F. Carr is the Editor of data Healthcare and a contributor on social business, in addition to the writer of Social Collaboration For Dummies. Follow him on Twitter @davidfcarr or Google+.

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