New York (NY) - Think about your typical city gym: Tons of jogging, lifting, spinning, stair stepping but no one is actually moving anywhere. That is tons of wasted energy. That is where the innovative idea of the River Gym comes in. Architect Mitchell Joachim of Archinode Studio and Douglas Joachim, a lecturer and personal trainer, believe that there is a use for that energy, and that’s where this design idea came from.

The River Gym is an extremely simple concept. It’s a floating gym that harnesses all of the expended energy to propel vessels along both the East and Hudson rivers to several different points across the city. Not only will the concept convert mechanical energy into propulsion, a purification device onboard would help to clean up the water that the gyms travel through.

These gyms would also aid the non-athletic commuter: According to the designers: The gyms could function as a transportation system in addition to an athletic facility, meaning you can hop on and travel from one location to another.

The design won third place in a gym concept competition that was organized by New York Magazine back in 2005. It appears that the idea is completely up for grabs, but is currently being utilized in Hong Kong.

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