Is Rumble Training Safe?
Photo: Rockyt
The masterminds at Rumble—purveyors of boutique boxing and HIIT classes—clearly think a lot about design. Everywhere you look in a Rumble studio, there’s another photo-worthy element. Each location has unique artwork, the lockers have branded collages and power outlets, the weight benches are custom fabricated; even the speakers are emblazoned with Rumble branding. But, according to former Rumble trainer Alvin Holden, the company overlooked safety when designing its treadmill layout for the San Francisco Rumble Training studio.
“In my honest and professional opinion, Rumble Training—as it sits right now, in its current configuration, in San Francisco—it is not safe. You should not take that class, you should not run in there... That room is dangerous. You can get hurt,” Holden said in a video posted on his Instagram account.
Rumble currently operates studios featuring two workout concepts. Rumble Boxing, the OG, is a 45-minute, 10-round boxing workout where clients split their time between punching Aqua Training Bag and lifting weights at benches. Rumble Training replaces punching bags with customized TechnoGym Skillrun treadmills, and clients split their time between interval running and weight training.
The combo isn’t unusual; both Barry’s and Orangetheory use variations on treadmills-plus-weights for high intensity interval training (HIIT) classes. Holden, however, says Rumble’s San Francisco Training studio does not leave a safe clearance distance between the foot of one treadmill and the front of the next treadmill—a detail he said he began highlighting to corporate leadership in 2018, soon after he joined the company.
Holden said he broached the clearance issue multiple times with leadership between Summer 2018 and Rumble Training’s October 2019 opening, both in conversations with executives and via email. Holden’s concerns were two-fold: first, clients could get injured if they were ejected from the back of the treadmill, and, second, the room layout would make maintenance on the treadmills difficult.
Holden grew frustrated with the C-Suite’s refusal to address the problem. While he said there was talk of “some sort of a shield they were designing” to prevent ejected runners from colliding with the treadmills behind them, Rumble launched the San Francisco Training studio without a shield or increased space between the machines. On Tuesday, January 7, Holden announced on Instagram that he was no longer working with Rumble. He followed the announcement with an Instagram TV video on Friday, January 10, explaining that one of the reasons he left was the treadmill clearance issue.
“I just want the shit fixed and I need people to be aware,” he told Rockyt.
The Distance
There are four rows of treadmills in the San Francisco Training studio. Holden said the blueprints for the space only provided for 36 inches of space behind the treadmills on Rows 1, 2, and 4. The third row is the outlier from the 36-inch row design; because there is an exit door at the end of Row 3, the space is slightly wider.
In the studio, there’s also a short casing that runs the length of each row to house the cords for the treadmills; Holden added that he has not personally measured to determine if the 36-inch clearance includes that casing, but said that—even if those cord casings provided another 3-4 inches of space between the rows of treadmills—it still would not be enough space for safety in his professional opinion as a trainer.
The recommended clearance diagram from the Technogym Skillrun 5000 user manual.
Holden’s view is consistent with the manufacturer’s recommendation. According to Technogym Skillrun user manual, the clearance behind the machine should be 2 meters deep by 1 meter wide.
Rockyt contacted Rumble for comment on the Training studio layout and Holden’s concerns about the treadmill clearance space. As of publication time, Rumble had not responded.
Industry Standard
How much space is enough space behind a treadmill? It really depends on whom you ask. Fitness, sports, and recreation safety expert Laura Miele-Pascoe, Ph.D., who testifies in court cases about these injuries, tells Runners World that fitness facilities must allow 48 inches of clear space behind a treadmill in case a user falls off. According to Recreation Management, an industry trade group, the answer is 72 inches. CPH & Associates, a liability insurance provider, says it’s 78 inches. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) has issued guidance ranging between 39 inches and 78 inches.
No, Really: What’s the Required Distance?
In short, there isn’t one. But there is a California case that offers some guidance as to how gyms’ liability waivers will be interpreted in these types of cases.
Hang on. This is about to get legal.
In 2011, a California woman named Etelvina Jimenez fractured her skull after she was thrown off a Precor treadmill at a 24 Hour Fitness gym. She sued, 24 Hour Fitness invoked her liability waiver, and a lower court sided with the gym. A state appellate court reversed that ruling, saying the case should go to trial.
Jimenez argued that her liability waiver shouldn’t shield 24 Hour Fitness because, among other reasons, 24 Hour Fitness didn’t leave Precor’s recommended 6 feet of clearance space between the back of the treadmill and the next piece of exercise equipment. Further, she claimed the industry standard was also 6 feet; 24 Hour Fitness had only provided 3 feet, 10 inches of space. Combined, Jimenez claimed 24 Hour Fitness’s actions constituted gross negligence that invalidated the waiver.
The appellate court said Jimenez may have a point, and it should be up to a jury to decide if 24 Hour Fitness’s treadmill placement was grossly negligent. We never actually got an answer on that front because the parties eventually settled.
Applying the same reasoning to the Rumble Training treadmill configuration, it’s possible that Rumble could be held liable if a client was involved in a treadmill accident during class because the clearance behind Rumble’s treadmills is less than the 2-meter, (or 78-inch) clearance that Technogym recommends.
Why Distance Matters
Running on a treadmill is unlikely to kill you, but it does—in fact—kill some people. Treadmills are the most popular type of aerobic exercise equipment, and they are involved in more gym injuries than any other type of gym equipment. In 2014—the last year for which extensive figures on this topic were reported—62,700 people went to the emergency room due to injuries related to exercise equipment; 24,400 of those injuries were associated with treadmills.
According to LiveScience, an average of three people die each year from treadmill injuries. Granted, that’s a small number, but Bay Area residents will remember that it was only five years ago when SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg, (who was also Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s husband), died after sustaining head trauma in a treadmill accident.
Most treadmill injuries start with a treadmill ejection: the user starts feeling poorly or becomes distracted, and falls off the back of the machine. The severity of a treadmill ejection often hinges on two factors: how fast the treadmill was going and whether the area behind the treadmill was clear.
How Fast Do Rumble Treadmills Go?
While the Rumble speed presets are set well below the treadmill’s speed cap, clients can use the treadmill’s joystick controls to increase or decrease their speeds beyond the preset ranges.
The Technogym Skillrun is designed to enable speeds up to 18.6 MPH. In a press release announcing the Training concept, Rumble said its treadmills could push up to 25 MPH, which may be another one of the custom features the company worked on with Technogym. Holden says he has run at 15 MPH on the treadmills at the studio.
Regardless of what the true top speed is, it’s fast. And any runner who goes flying off the back of that treadmill at top speed is going to need considerable rear clearance space.
Is Rumble Training Safe?
To be clear, there are no reports of serious injury or death at Rumble Training. The concern here is whether Rumble Training has adequate clearance behind its treadmills to minimize injuries in case of a runner ejection in the San Francisco studio.
Holden said that he observed at least three low-speed treadmill ejections at the San Francisco studio that occurred because a client had left the treadmill belt in motion when the class switched sides between rounds, and the next client tried to step on without realizing the belt was moving.
The consensus within the fitness world is most treadmill accidents are driven by user error. Someone becomes sick or distracted, accidentally steps one foot off the belt, and flies backwards. Manufacturers and trade groups suggest clearance guidelines because they know these accidents will happen; the recommendations are intended to make treadmill users safer in case of such accidents and mitigate gyms’ and manufacturers’ liability.
The best thing you can do for yourself when exercising on a treadmill is pay attention when climbing on and off a treadmill—especially in a dark studio like the one at Rumble Training—and make sure your treadmill is turned off before stepping on or off.
As for the safest spot to book at Rumble Training, it’s not black and white. On the back row, (Treads 23-30), you don’t run the risk of being slung into a moving tread belt, because there’s only a solid wall behind you. We have measured that row’s clearance, and it is 36 inches, as Holden suspected based on the blueprints. Colliding with the wall still won’t feel great. If you feel more comfortable with a nearly 4-foot clearance behind your treadmill, book in Row 3, (Treads 15-22).