Inside iFIT’s AI experiment to reinvent immersive fitness

AI is undoubtedly making it’s mark on nearly every industry — from fitness to food and everything in between. For iFIT, the parent company of popular fitness equipment brand NordicTrack, the new way to reinvent immersive fitness with AI has emerged through the “Realms You Can’t Reach” AI-generated fitness series.

This series takes fitness to a whole new level by leveraging generative AI to take fitness junkies to places they could imagine while working out — from the solar system to ancient Rome to the depths of Atlantis. With this long-form AI fitness series, iFit-enabled treadmills users can walk, run, or jog at any speed in five incredible locations, marking an important shift in the future of immersive fitness.

Where the idea began

From iFIT’s perspective, the decision to launch “Realms You Can’t Reach” wasn’t about chasing a trend, rather about taking members to new places that can’t literally be filmed. “For years, iFIT has mastered the art of filming the real world, sending crews to 80 countries and all seven continents to capture authentic, trainer-led experiences. That remains the core of our brand. However, there is a limit to physical production. We can film Everest Base Camp, but we can’t film a futuristic metropolis or a prehistoric landscape,” says Jeremy McCarty, Chief Subscription Officer at iFIT.

While the brand is known for it’s real-world, destination fitness, the new series represents a strategic evolution leveraging generative AI. “By leveraging generative AI, we are unlocking an entirely new category of ‘impossible destinations’—that provide a different kind of visual engagement and mental escape,” says McCarty.

“These AI-generated experiences are designed to complement our core library. They offer a unique, first-person perspective that focuses purely on the environment and the movement, providing variety for members who might want a cinematic escape one day and a trainer-led interval run in the Swiss Alps the next. This launch proves that AI isn’t replacing our human trainers; it is expanding the canvas they, and our members, can play on, ensuring that iFIT remains the most comprehensive fitness platform in the world,” he shares.

How AI enables more personalized workouts

“Personalization in connected fitness often stops at recommending the next workout. However, with “Realms You Can’t Reach,” we are using AI to personalize the experience of the workout itself,” says McCarty. Combining the immersive, AI-generated visuals with SmartAdjust technology allows the workout to adapt to the individual in real-time. As the member runs through these fantastical landscapes, the incline and speed of their treadmill automatically adjusts to match the terrain they are seeing. In turn, this creates a seamless feedback loop where the visual world and the physical effort are perfectly synchronized to the user’s specific fitness level and heart rate zones.

“What excites us most about the intersection of AI, storytelling, and fitness is the shift from consumption to co-creation. Fitness storytelling has been a broadcast model: we film a journey, and members follow along. With AI, we are moving toward a future where the story adapts to the user. Ultimately, this intersection excites us because it gives us new tools to solve the oldest problem in fitness: motivation. By turning a workout into a dynamic, unfolding story where the user is the protagonist, we can make fitness feel less like a chore and more like an adventure they don’t want to end,” he shares.