clipped from seattletimes.nwsource.com

Fitness equipment is catching up with tech-savvy, gadget-loving exercisers who are downloading workouts onto their iPods, wearing heart-rate monitors and logging the miles they've run to fine-tune their workouts.

For gym rats, the latest cardio and strength machines will do much of the work for them, allowing users to customize workouts and compile their fitness data on home computers so they can keep a close watch on their progress.

For example, someone could plug a USB stick into an elliptical trainer, work out, save the information to the USB and download that into a home computer.

By tracking workouts, exercisers can see whether they're progressing or need to work harder.

And for some — say those who simply want to exercise without knowing how many steps they climbed — touch screens can morph into television screens. If there's nothing good on TV, members can plug in iPods and download their own music or video content. Watching a bank of communal televisions is so five minutes ago.