Review: MYZONE at Velocity

Keeping motivated for exercise doesn't always come easily. When you do get the drive, how hard are you actually working? Enter MYZONE, a tool in Swindon Village Urban Resort's Velocity gym, that ensures you’re making the most of your workouts! We sent one of our Editors, Emily, on a four week trial. Here is how she got on...

MYZONE is a nifty piece of kit, a small sensor on a band that sits discreetly under your clothes to monitor the amount of effort you put in when you’re working out. Using your stats and heart rate, the device gives you colour coded workout results.  Velocity has incorporated MYZONE into all of their studios. This means, when you're working out you can see live, on their big screens, the percentage effort you're putting in – but don’t worry, it doesn’t show any info other than your opted nickname! Your effort level shows alongside any other MYZONE members in the room. You can also view your workouts online, so you can assess how your workouts are going week by week. 

Week One:

I went along to Velocity to get set up with MYZONE. I was really excited as I have never tried anything like this before. I was greeted by Huie; he was really friendly, knowledgeable and encouraging.  He set up the belt for me, showed me how to use the website (which was so easy!) and gave me a tour of the gym – which was fantastic. It’s a really lovely gym, it’s clean and modern and feels very personal - it feels like somewhere you actually want to be!

After my tour I had my first workout. The MYZONE was fantastic, I felt myself continuously looking at the screen and pushing myself that little bit further. You can wear the belt outside of the gym too, but you need to be in the gym for the data to upload to the website. Needless to say, as soon as I got home I was really keen to see just how hard I had worked.

That week, I also had an induction with their PT Ryan. I cannot praise Ryan enough. He was really great. He spoke to me about my objectives and guided me through a programme tailored exactly to my needs and goals. Sometimes, PT’s can be a little bit intimidating but Ryan wasn’t.  He explained a little further about the MYZONE and the ideal effort zones I needed to be in, and for how long, to get the results I was after.

I went to the gym three times in total that week, and I really enjoyed it! I felt motivated and couldn’t wait to check out my result after each session.

Week Two:

I had my assessment with Jodie this week, she was great. I am not going to lie, I was feeling a little sheepish at the thought of sharing my body fat ratio but she made me feel completely comfortable. Jodie was able to update my info onto the MYZONE website for me so it would be even more accurate. They used a rather high-tech gadget to measure your percentage– to my relief no calipers in sight!

A week into the trial and I was still feeling motivated. This was great! I did forget the belt to one of my sessions. I was genuinely disappointed as I wouldn’t be able to see myself being pushed or see the record on my weekly report. Needless to say, I still worked out for an hour and a half and treated myself to a sauna and steam after!

Week Three:

I love my MYZONE, I decided to wear it out for a run and whilst mowing the lawn this week - to see how hard I was working. Although I couldn’t see my effort level in real time, I was excited to get to the gym to upload my results. I was really impressed to see that mowing the lawn actually burnt over 400 calories!

I continued to go to the gym and drive myself into training in the 90% effort zone.

Week Four:

Most importantly this week, I was still pushing myself in my workouts. I could see the results clearly, over the four weeks as my workouts have improved. I was working out for longer and spending more time in the 90% effort zone than I had in my first week.  I also jumped on the scales and was pleased to see I’d lost just short of 5lbs! I really rate the MYZONE belt, combined with the support from the team at Velocity, it really is a winning combination. I was gutted to be handing the belt back to them and I am really tempted to sign up after such a successful trial. 

To find out more about MYZONE or for Velocity membership enquiries, call the team on 0871 222 4620.