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The Human-Powered Floating Gym

inhabitat.com — Have you ever pedaled on a stationary bike at the gym and thought to yourself: ‘What if this energy I am exerting could be used for something better than just making me sweat?” Well now a new proposal from architect Mitchell Joachim promises to take all that energy expended at the gym to the next level.

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  • greentime, on 07/23/2008, -2/+10This is definitely a gym concept I could get into.
    • selmer, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3Anyone who could fit through the door could get into it.
    • PaulOwen, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1And when people have to pay gym fees to get to the other side of the river AND then power it themselves, don't you think they might resent it a little?
  • thestrongrope, on 07/23/2008, -0/+16This could be pretty cool. Hitting the wake from those tankers that stroll up and down the river, will definitely add some variety to the workout :)
  • nneader007, on 07/23/2008, -0/+7Now this would be cool. I would want to have strong people on my boat though...
  • MommaLu, on 07/23/2008, -0/+16I'm going to run out of reasons why I can't work out if they keep this kind of innovation up.
  • FuryOfThor, on 07/23/2008, -1/+13The idea of being trapped on a boat with multiple sweaty people in cramped settings for however long it takes me to get to my destination is not so appealing...
  • sgtbutterscotch, on 07/23/2008, -1/+3New? "The design won the third place in New York Magazine’s 2005 Create a Gym competition"
  • JasonPeck, on 07/23/2008, -1/+6I think I'd rather go for a run outside than be trapped in this weird little bubble world
  • Jocose, on 07/23/2008, -0/+10So what happens when you need to take a dump?
    • Takfam, on 07/23/2008, -0/+5Your urine stream can spin a small turbine and your solid waste can be burned as fuel.
  • smitas, on 07/23/2008, -2/+2Thank God its human powered till now, not Alien powered :)
  • galvo, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4Completely impractical.
  • Desolite, on 07/23/2008, -3/+16This is f*cking retarded for so many reasons I don't know where to start...

    What if I wanted to take a break?
    What if the guy next to me is a slow bastard and isn't putting in enough effort to get us back to port quick enough?
    What if I'm stuck behind a fat chick?
    What if I'm stuck behind a fat dude?!
    Why not just run around the f*cking city?!!?
    How many tons of people are going to get motion sickness?!?!

    and don't get me started on the logistics of it all.
    • phunlee, on 07/23/2008, -4/+13Thanks Desolite-Downer. I'm so glad you weren't around when other stuff was invented/discovered.

      Fire?! That's so f*cking retarded!

      What if I burn myself?
      What if I overcook my food?
      What if it gets out of control?
      What if it's not hot enough?
      What if San Francisco burns down?
      How many tons of people will get burned?!?!?!
      • ssjbriguy, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2STRAWMAN!!!!
      • xptoast, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2ssjbriguy...
        Saying strawman is a lousy way to defend something. It is a valid comparison to the illogicies of the arguments he was making. The entire thing doesn't need to be human powered. Heck it could be a hybrid system where power is stored by the cyclists. When extra power is needed a generator that uses fuel will power the electric engines to propel the boat. Some of the boat could be passengers and the cost of the passengers offsets the gym cost to make it almost free. Who wins? The company owning the boat as well as the gym members.

        Moral of this is...Saying strawman to something is about as effective and truthful as saying lier or cop-out or sell out or w/e without actually defending your insult with information. Also, if you are in a gym you are going to see some fit people as well as people trying to get fit. Be a bit more considerate would ya? Others could possibly say that you are an a-hole and don't want to be around you more than you want to be around a fat-insert gender here.
      • geoken, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1No it's not a logical comparison.

        Fire = usefull to society. Has functions which make it worth the assumed risk.
        Boat Gym = not useful to society. Has nothing to make it worth the downsides.

        It's a very poor anology. It takes one thing which helped society and couldn't be done with other means and compares it to another thing which does nothing for society and can be carried out in various different ways.
      • phunlee, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Sorry you didn't get what I meant. I don't give a fl*p about this gym-boat. My point was more that there's always naysayers. I bet when fire's usefulness was discovered someone in the group said, 'Don't use it! It's f*cking retarded.' Let people use their little gym boats, if it takes off, that's great. If not, the investors are the only ones that get burned.. I don't care that much, but still.
    • azAZ09, on 07/23/2008, -0/+6"what if get stuck behind a fat dude?!

      This is digg. Odds are about 90:1 that you are the fat dude.
    • Temo1, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2"Why not just run around the f*cking city?!!?"

      If you lived in NYC you'd know why.
    • duffman03, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1You forgot to mention...

      The smell
      The bubble fogging up
      How this would never fit around anyone's schedule, in a time where peopel can't find 30 minutes to work out... let alone the amount of time it take to push that thing across the water.

      I would love to see what would happen during heavy winds or even a storm.
  • Treoinmypocket, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2Cool but seriously impracticle.

    IF used as a commuter vehicle the most obvious are how many people do you need to run it and then ask yourself - ever skip a workout?

    Where am I going to shower and change for work?

  • computerusr, on 07/23/2008, -3/+5Have you ever pedaled on a stationary bike at the gym and thought to yourself: ‘What if this energy I am exerting could be used for something better than just making me sweat?”

    No.
  • superfusion, on 07/23/2008, -0/+15Once, I used a stationary bike that had two wheels and travelled overland. I was able to not use my car that day and transfer the exhertion of my workout into motion that brought me to work.

    Someone called it, "bike commuting."
  • Takfam, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4Why not just have gyms at the departure points to charge batteries and then change the depleted batteries for freshly charged ones at each stop?
  • D14BL0, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3What a waste of perfectly good energy.
  • PresidentSoup, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1I agree that there are many problems. Take out the floating aspect and just have the gym run on people power is a much better idea. I don't know how much power the average gym could produce at any given time, but if it is more than what is needed to run the gym itself they could perhaps outsource the excess power for uses around the city.
  • MortalynFlux, on 07/23/2008, -0/+10Why not put everybody underground and attach them to pods and use their thermal energy instead?
    • xptoast, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1pttt who wants to do that...wait would I get paid?
  • DiggzDE, on 07/23/2008, -3/+2Why are architects such ***** morons? This will never work. I workout for my own benefit, not to pool together my energy to push a glorified boat around a river.

    BTW: What do you do when you are done with your workout and you are stuck pedaling in the middle of the river? Jump out and swim back? or work out more simply so you can get out of the gym? With that same thought process, what do you do when you are the ONLY person working out at the time? Does the gym just move really really slowly?
  • gmwjake, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1I can see it now, "BREAKING NEWS: Floating gym capsizes in freak wind storm and kills all 10 people who were workin on their fitness at the time"
  • zephc, on 07/23/2008, -0/+6all you people exercising so much are just contributing to the heat death of the universe!!1
  • bhdakanat, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1And what if you feel like taking a shower before going to work? Good concept, but there are better ways the energy you are expanding can be put to use.
  • elfuego, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1Or we could, you know, use that energy to feed back into the power grid, reducing demand for energy and fossil fuels while encouraging people to stay healthy.

    But wait. We could use that energy to mindlessly piddle around the East River instead? SIGN ME UP!
  • slickrocktrail, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1"The monthly membership fee is only $900 and they donate 10% to green causes." I am sure that statement is in the business plan for this fantastic idea.
  • DoubleTap84, on 07/23/2008, -1/+3This is the dumbest ***** i have ever head of...

    BETTER IDEA: Convert the Kinetic energy created by the treadmills and bikes into Electrical and use it to power the lights and tv's that every gym is full of. The bikes already do this to power themsleves, why not tap the excess for something useful!
    • JinnRikki, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1Absolutely! Great idea, I was going to say the same thing. With our current energy problems I would think using this otherwise wasted energy to generate electricity would be a no-brainer.
  • selmer, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1Looks like Mork from Ork's gym
    BTW, I have NEVER pedaled a stationary bike and thought "What if this energy I am exerting could be used for something better than just making me sweat?” I have, however, thought "what the ***** am I doing??"
  • emt1451, on 07/23/2008, -1/+5Why don't they use that energy for something useful such as powering gym's lighting or A/C?
    • Justice101, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1People would definitely pedal there ass off, if they knew it would power the A/C, and the electric bill for the gym would be lower so the membership costs would be reduced. If there wasn't enough people to power it, the A/C would run off normal electricity.
  • abajaj2280, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1What happens at night? It just sinks?
    • Justice101, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1*face palm*

      The concepts of water displacement and buoyancy escape you young padwan.
  • nimadude, on 07/23/2008, -0/+0I was thinking about using exercise energy for benefits the other day! I think we should make gyms power electric generators so we do less harm on environment from powerplants
  • bcamp1973, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1This is quite possibly the dumbest ***** "green" idea i've ever heard of! I want the world to be green as much as the next guy but the lack for forethought in this concept is so vast it makes my head hurt. I have a better idea. take the energy generated from exercise equipment at the gym and push it back into the grid. The gym's costs go down, so do their fees, less electricity is used, no big investments need to be made and everyone's happier....and no stupid little bubble boats are breaking down in the harbor and getting creamed by supertankers...
    • wunksta, on 07/24/2008, -0/+0thats what i thought as well
      another thing would be installing it in homes if youre going to do it anyway.
  • macrumpton, on 07/23/2008, -0/+0A world class athlete can put out 300 watts for a limited time, and 200 is closer to the average person, so you basically have two lightbulbs worth of energy per person to work with. If you spent the cash to do this on upgrading the AC and insulation and other energy saving ideas you could save that amount of energy for half the price, and it would be much less complex to maintain.
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