I’ve seen the future of fitness, and it’s moonwalking.

Well, more of a light jog to be precise. On a crisp Tuesday afternoon in November, I watched Sid Raman, the founder of gym startup Roam149, jog where no man had jogged before: the rugged lunar surface. A treadmill beneath his sneakers bobbed up and down to match the rugged slope of the terrain, which was displayed on a large television screen in front of him.

Raman used hand movements similar to bicycle signals to speed up and slow down the treadmill; Similar arm movements changed his perspective on the screen, allowing him to virtually explore the moon while he ran on location. At just the right angle, he could see the arc of a huge blue orb, Earth, glowing in the distance.

It was serene and completely strange, and unlike any treadmill…