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PITTSBURGH, PA - BodyMedia, Inc., a leading developer and provider of body monitoring applications for clinical and consumer healthcare markets, announced today a multi-year strategic alliance and distribution arrangement with Apex Fitness Group, the health club industry’s leading provider of programs for weight loss and fitness.
Under the terms of the agreement, Apex will have world-wide exclusive rights to sell BodyMedia’s fitness and weight loss products in health clubs. The first product, the Apex Web-based Weight Loss Program will be piloted beginning in July in clubs around the country, and then rolled out nationally late in 2004. The product combines Apex’s long experience in health club-based fitness and weight loss programs with BodyMedia’s innovative body monitoring technologies. The Apex Web-based Weight Loss Program consists of a sleek wearable body monitor and web-based nutrition and coaching software that helps club members and their personal trainers establish and keep track of fitness and weight loss goals.
“BodyMedia is excited to have Apex as our exclusive Health Club partner,” said Dr. Astro Teller, chairman and chief executive officer of BodyMedia. “Apex programs are, without question, the most established, effective and widely available fitness programs in the country. Their commitment to excellence in fitness has a twenty year tradition, their sister organization, the National Academy of Sports Medicine, is the leading provider of certifications for fitness and health professionals in the United States, and their parent company, 24 Hour Fitness, is the leading health club chain in North America.”
“BodyMedia has developed a device that, properly integrated into a weight control program, has the potential to turn the tide on obesity,” said Neal Spruce, CEO of Apex Fitness Group. “Apex Fitness is a leading provider of fitness programming and our partnership with BodyMedia will make our weight control programs ‘bullet proof’ by informing the client exactly how much food they can consume before they store it in all the wrong places. This is the ultimate calorie counting program and users do not need to do anything other than wear the device and weigh themselves once a week.”
One of the many functions of the BodyMedia Armband is the ability to accurately measure a person’s total calories burned in any timeframe, allowing the wearer to view the result and adjust their food intake accordingly. The ability to monitor total energy expenditure enables the program to accurately measure body mass changes and report back to each user and their fitness professional what the user’s total calorie intake has averaged without any individual recording. “For the first time in history,” Spruce states, “people will have the ability to view actual food intake (calories in) and energy output (calories out) ‘on the run’ - putting Apex program users in complete control of their destiny.”
The Apex Web-based Weight Loss Program is personalized according to the user’s eating and exercise preferences. Unlike other popular programs that prescribe a ‘one size fits all’ approach, the Apex program, using the guidelines of the American Dietetic Association, creates an individual program for each user according to their likes and dislikes. As a result, Apex program participants are more likely to achieve a sustainable weight loss change.
Both CEOs agree. “The timing for this product launch could not be more important. Our country is in the throes of a health epidemic related to weight gain. The FDA has recently issued a sweeping dismissal of all the current diet fads - essentially telling everyone to get back to reality and ‘count your calories.’ We believe that through the combined efforts of BodyMedia and Apex, we have created a solution that gives America its best chance of reversing this serious epidemic, while giving each individual a simple but true vehicle to their fitness goals.”
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