The best Fitness Gadgets you can really trust - A reliable list
Do you really think the fitness devices in the market work? Are you sure those geeky gadgets deliver the results they promise? Let us make an attempt at understanding the devices that really work.
The recent trend has been to attain fitness through the apps and high end gadgets. But, none of us makes any attempt at ascertaining the facts behind those devices. There are many devices that claim to do things better than the others. However, you should note that most of them are far from real.
It could be a quite tough decision to choose a real device from among the fake ones that masquerade themselves as the real ones. This article aims at finding out a few really useful fitness devices that do what they want to deliver.The Sports Watches
Sports Watches are definitely the in thing. But, as we said before we have a huge lot of so called smart watches that deliver nothing spectacular. Our best choice is Garmin Fenix 3 HR.
It is indeed the perfect choice for a runner, however, apart from that it is also quite useful for other sporting activities like swimming, triathlon and skiing among others. The device has earned rare reviews for the performance it has been able to deliver.
It works as a multiple utility device. You can use it as an activity tracker, GPS tracker, a smart watch and a fitness band. Garmin Fenix 3 HR comes with an integrated heart rate monitor. The customisable and readable display lets you access more than three of your activities on the dial. The device also comes with an automatic sleep tracking.
Even the battery life is quite amazing. It can be proved with the fact that it does not die when you are tracking your half marathons. Garmin Fenix 3 HR has a huge list of sensors that can measure practically everything on earth - steps, altimeter, weather, notifications, heart rate, last sport, music controls, compass, barometer, temperature, VIRB camera and calendar are just few of them. Apart from working as Sports watch, it will also work as a basic smartphone to work with your smartphone apps.
It will cost you around Rs. 40,000. You may buy it across different online stores or the official Garmin store.Smart Dumbbells
Dumbbells are meant to work out your body and stabilise your weight. They have been the ubiquitous workout tools in a gym. But what if your Dumbbells turn smart? That is what we mean by Bowflex Smart Dumbbells.
The Bowflex Smart Dumbbells need you to set the weight through the dial and use them the way you would use a regular Dumbbell. What makes them smart is you can change the weight you are lifting just by setting it up on the dial and stay connected through an app that checks your regime. The device can count your reps accurately and connects with a smartphone app. You can choose different challenges and workouts on the go through the app.
What sets the Bowflex devices apart from other adjustable weight Dumbbells is it makes the way it lets you make it lightning fast. There is no manual changing of the weights needed – you will only need to twist the dial on both sides of the Dumbbell and change the weight according to your needs. Quality wise, the product excels. The rubber handles on device are quite comfortable than the traditional Dumbbells. The length is a little more than the Dumbbells you have been using right now and you may need to get used to it. Another issue could be the option of expanding the weight. The Bowflex smart Dumbbells come with a weight range of 5 to 52 pounds. Though it could be a comfortable range for most of the users, you may feel to want more. In such cases, you may need to upgrade to higher level models that provide you a maximum of 90 pounds. The Remote Coach or Doctor?
A fitness band is what lets you share the details of your fitness regime and get an accurate information on all the activities. But GOQii goes one step further. It connects you with a real human trainer who will guide you on the regime you would need to follow. The Fitness Band will send the data through its smartphone app to fitness trainer who will make you suggestions based on your activities and sleep tracking.
In fact, GOQii is a health coaching service. They are offering the band free with your subscription. So, we may equate it with the cab services like Uber. Like we cannot judge the quality of Uber based on the good or bad experience with one particular driver, you would not be able to judge the service based on the experience with one coach.
The band quality is quite good and is found to cause no irritation on your skin. Display is quite user friendly and sturdy enough. However, it does not have automatic sleep tracking. We hope future editions will bring up this feature. The current manual sleep tracking not much reliable as it depends on the users to record the sleep times.
The connected app works quite good. It has a lot of information which makes it very much functional and useful. But the interface gets cluttered. The app also has a chat like option to discuss your problems and other details of fitness regime with the coach. We would hope to see improvements in the interface soon.
If you are someone who pays less attention to a healthy lifestyle, GOQii could be a good motivator. The service does offer you basic health guidelines. The subscription charges range from Rs. 3,999 per quarter to Rs. 11,999 per year.
GOQii 2.0 has tie ups with hospitals, pathology labs and various other medical professionals. The service lets you make payments to the outlets through NFC. Smart Yoga Mat
Yes. Yoga is in the in thing when it comes to physically staying fit. But, what about the wrong postures you may indulge in? Smart Yoga Mat is what lets you handle it.
SmartMat is a mat that detects the alignment and balance while you practice Yoga and provides feedback about the wrong postures. We can equate it to having a personal Yoga instructor round the clock to guide you. It is actually a portable Yoga Mat that looks similar to an ordinary mat. It is rollable and comes with an embedded sensor. The sensor can detect your balance and alignment.
If you are learning Yoga, it could be a great instructor. The SmartMat connects with your smartphone via SmartMat App through the Bluetooth connectivity. It will guide you through each of the postures, or Asanas. The SmartMat detects whenever you wrong with any of the Asanas and instruct you on the correct posture through the app. It has been configured to detect over 60 different Yoga postures.
The SmartMat is a perfect Yoga instructor who will not let you go until you are perfect with a particular posture. The mat is indeed a learner by itself and learns by understanding your body by weight, age and other parameters. It provides you suggestions purely based on your personalised needs.
The Smartmat comes with a customisable coaching classes. You can configure it into three different modes to suit your needs and expertise. You can get more details on the SmartMat on https://www.smartmat.com/Before We leave…
Well, those were a few really practical and SMART (in the real sense of the word) devices that can take your fitness regime to the next level. And the perfection that these tools and devices offer is indicative of the shift these physical fitness gadgets are going through. Gone are the days when a device came fitted with a sensor and claimed it was Smart. Functionality and customisability is the need of the hour and that is exactly we observe in the devices featured above. We would welcome ideas from our fitness freaks about these gadgets and on the tips on how to use them.