The arrangement of strength training equipment on this fitness floor has been carefully planned by our fitness experts to optimize your workouts. The FitMap system reveals our two guiding principles for the equipment layout—flow and progression.

Flow (left to right axis on the FitMap chart)
This means that, as much as practicable, the equipment on the fitness floor is grouped and aligned according to the muscle group being worked. With this arrangement, your workouts can easily flow from one major muscle group to the next, or from one exercise within the same muscle group to the next. In the chart below, each grouping, or body part, appears as a column heading with the names of the equipment available for that group listed below. A corresponding nameplate is affixed to each piece of equipment on the fitness floor.

Progression (top to bottom axis on the FitMap chart)
The color-coded label on each piece of equipment indicates the degree of control you have over the weight and the path it travels when you perform the exercise. The less control you have, the more muscles you call into play during the exercise. For example, when you use a dumbbell (free weight) to perform a curl, you are in complete control of the motion, or path, the dumbbell travels. In contrast, when you use a seated bicep arm curl machine, you curl your arm and the weight along the same fixed path each time. The machine helps stabilize and control the weight for you. With free weights you have no help: you must stabilize and control the weight yourself. This takes practice. The FitMap chart (PDF 97kb) indicates each piece of equipment’s relative stability rating and, therefore, it’s relative difficulty.