Fitness

As evidenced by the popularity of motion controlled fitness games ushered in by the Wii and followed by the PlayStation Move and Kinect, so called "exergaming" - the combining of exercise and video games - is a field that has grown rapidly in popularity in recent years. But if you don't want to shell out for a new console and already have an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, as well as a treadmill, elliptical machine or exercise bike laying about, then the new Fit Freeway app is designed to make working up a sweat a bit more fun.  Read More

Are you trying to lose weight, but don't like keeping track of your food intake? Well, there may or may not be an app for that, but there is a button. An eButton, to be precise. That's the name of a wearable device developed at the University of Pittsburgh, that incorporates a camera, accelerometer, GPS, and other sensors. These all work together to maintain a profile of not only what the user is eating, but also how much exercise they're getting, how much time they spend sitting around, and other factors that can affect weight gain.  Read More

Motorola Mobility has launched MOTOACTV, the company's first music and fitness device. Designed to help you reach your fitness goals by tracking, syncing and recording your workout data and customizing your music, the Blutetooth-enabled MOTOACTV logs time, distance traveled and calories burned and has an inbuilt heart rate monitor, accelerometer and a GPS which records a map of your routes.  Read More

For a long time, the technological advances in footwear were limited to lighter and more durable materials, and improved support and comfort. But the miniaturization of electronics and wireless technology is opening up the possibilities for extending the capabilities of the humble shoe. With sports men and women striving to find even the tiniest advantage over their opponents, sports footwear is generally the place to look for the latest advances in footwear as evidenced by the latest offering from adidas. The company describes its new adizero f50 football boot, (or soccer boot depending on your location), as a “football boot with a brain.”  Read More

... and why on Earth, you may ask, would you want to go slower? Well, because it requires more effort to make a slow bike go fast, and the more effort you put into your training rides, the faster you’ll go when you swap in a regular front wheel on race day. That’s the idea behind the new PowerWheel and SlowWheel, made by TriSport Devices.  Read More

Serious road cyclists tend to like using cycling computers (or "cyclometers") to provide them with performance data such as their speed, cadence, distance traveled and power output. Swimmers can also get their pruned-up hands on tech that makes keeping tabs on training sessions much easier and this example from Speedo will appeal to pool-goers for one reason in particular - it automatically counts laps. The Speedo Aquacoach watch uses technology developed by UK-based Swimovate to automatically detect the stroke and - along with counting laps - calculate distance, speed, number of strokes and calories burned.  Read More

Valuable a conditioning tool as stationary bikes are, any avid cyclist will tell you that they’re nowhere near as good as being out on the open road. One of the differences between real cycling and indoor training is the fact that when riders are on the road, the topography of the area determines the pedaling effort required. By contrast, when on a stationary bike, riders usually just vary their output as they feel like it. In an attempt to make indoor training more like the real thing, Pro-Form’s Le Tour de France Indoor Cycle lets users choose or create real-world routes using Google Maps, then adjusts the angle of the riding platform to replicate the experience of riding up and down those roads.  Read More

Stationary bicycle trainers are an invaluable tool for cyclists who wish to stay in shape over the winter, or who even just want to work on their technique on rainy days. There are a variety of options available, including old school exercise bikes, rollers/resistance trainers that the cyclist's existing bike can be mounted on, or ... things like the Wattbike. Essentially a high-end indoor bike that is set up to replicate the feeling of riding a road bike as accurately as possible, one of the Wattbike's unique features is the fact that it measures and displays its rider's power output in watts - hence the name. Although it's been around in the UK since 2008, it is only now becoming available in the U.S.  Read More

Kris Tressider may not be a boxer, but he is a fitness nut with a background in gymnastics and martial arts. It therefore isn’t surprising that some time ago, the Australian draftsman invested in a punching bag to add to his daily workout. It wasn’t long, however, before he began to get bored of simply slugging away at the defenseless bag. To make things more interesting, he created the Punching Pro – a one-off sparring apparatus that is built not only to receive blows, but also to deliver them via its extending robotic arms.  Read More