| IHRSA Report | Member News Value Proposition VersaClimber
This company’s unique take on cardiovascular conditioning puts it in a world apart and provides it with endless opportunities
California, company began developing a functional prototype of a heart-rate wristwatch tool; two years later, it was awarded an exclusive patent to further develop the capacitive electrode used in the NASA space program. The sensor was specifically designed to acquire high-quality ECG signals during space flights. At that time, many wristwatch, medical, and sports equipment companies weren’t convinced that heart-rate moni- toring promised to be a viable business, so they declined to provide funding. Faced with a lack of financial backing, Charnitski turned his attention to devel- oping a total-body exercise machine.
I Good Vibrations
n 1978, mechanical engineer Dick Charnitski incorporated Heart Rate, Inc., with the goal of creating a tool to gauge exercise intensity at every level. The Costa Mesa,
garage in 1981. In addition to being the first exercise machine to incorporate heart-rate monitoring—making it the first commercial exercise machine that used heart rate as a speedometer of exercise—it has spawned a range of complementary products across the commercial, home, and rehab markets, including the VersaPulley, ExerVibe Climber and Stepper, VersaRower, Ver- saTrainer, and other inertial and vibra- tion products.
VersaClimber’s latest innovation is in the whole-body vibration category (WBV). Instead of employing a standalone vibrating platform, the manufacturer has integrated the stimulus into its existing product lines and created the ExerVibe Total Body Vibration Climber and the ExerVibe Stepper. These models enable the distribution of vibration input directly to various parts of the body from the machines’ foot pedals, handgrips, seat, and side handrails. —|
Charnitski’s vision was, at least in
part, driven by the ongoing popularity of climbing. His goal was to bring the ben- efits of climbing indoors, while offering a workout as valuable as cycling and running. The VersaClimber, perhaps the forerunner of today’s total-body machines, came to life in Charnitski’s
100 Club Business Internat ional | MAY 2011 |
Competitive differentiation “What truly sets us apart from our competitors is the uniqueness of our product line,” asserts Brett Collins, VersaClimber’s vice president of sales and marketing. “We don’t try to come out with a better treadmill or weight- stack machine, putting us in direct compet i t ion wi th other companies. We’re always devel- oping new patented technologies that produce superior results for the user. VersaClimber, the only cardio climber of its kind, offers a unique product design with true, effective total- body results. We’re also among the few
companies that manufacture all of our equipment solely in the U.S.” After three decades, VersaClimber
remains a small family-owned company with just 23 employees. Rather than being a detriment, the size of the company has proven among the keys to its ongoing success. Collins notes that
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VP Brett Collins » “What truly
sets us apart from our competitors is the uniqueness of our product line. We don’t try to come out with a better treadmill or weight-stack machine, put- ting us in direct competition with other companies.
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