Wired Workout
Wired Workout
Nike and Apple Now to Monitor Your Heart
Attention quant jocks: Deep in the Nike+ support forums last week, a Nike operative named "Clover" broke big news (big, at least for Nike+ loyalists): A Nike+ compatible heart rate monitor will hit the market on June 1st. Not clear yet how much the device will cost, or why it's taken so long to get to market, or even what it'll look like; but it is clear that this puts the Nike-Apple alliance into even more direct competition with multi-function sports watch makers like Garmin and Polar. It also means that we all have yet another option to consider in the ever expanding universe of digital-gadgets-that-track-us. Heart rate monitor junkies, please send your thoughts.... [Via Apple Insider via MacRumors via Gizmodo!]
Wired Workout
RunKeeper Offers Real Time Run Tracking
RunKeeper, the increasingly popular iPhone app, now allows runners to broadcast their GPS coordinates in real time. What's that mean? Well, now friends and family sitting at home can watch a line progressing along a Google Map as you stride across the landscape, complete with pace and elevation statistics. Sort of cool! It's also sort of reminiscent of Disney Mobile's ill-fated experiment with GPS-enabled cellphones which allowed parents to spy on their children. Doh! Privacy concerns aside (you can turn off the "Live" feature), RunKeeper is on the march, and has lot's of other features for iPhone-packing runners and cyclists. The app, offered both as a free basic version and a $9.99 "Pro" version, allows users to share their running routes, seek out other runners in their area, and it also generates nice graphical reports on distance covered and calories burned.
Wired Workout
FitOrbit Launches, Online Dating for Personal Trainers
How to get a personal trainer on the relatively cheap? Well, you could try FitOrbit.com, which just launched today. FitO. matches you to real live trainers based on your "fitness profile." Think Match.com-meets-New York Sports Club. Once you're matched with a trainer, you pay anywhere from $9.99 per week (for six month plan) to $29.99 per week for "an interactive fitness plan filled with personalized workouts and meals that easily fit into your lifestyle and schedule." We signed up, just to see....
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Wired Workout
Gargantuan Garmin Goodness
Garmin is out with a new uber-gadget, the Forerunner 310XT. Wired calls it the king of wrist-mounted trainers, citing numerous outstanding features:
- Uses GPS to track distance and pace on your rides, runs, and swims.
- So, truly, for real, no kidding: Waterproof.
- On board heart rate monitor and altimeter track calories burned, heart rate, and elevation.
- Vibrating alerts let you know when your speed or heart rate speeds up or drops, or when you've clocked certain distances.
- All vital data fully-uploadable, or downloadable, and web enabled. Of course.
This all sounds quite complicated, but apparently it's a breeze to use. We love all that awesome functionality, but we have another, girlier reason for digging this gadget. It looks hot!
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EA Sports Active Chases Wii Fit, Hot Moms
EA Sports, better known for guy video games like Madden NFL or Fight Night, released yesterday its would be Wii Fit-killer: EA Sports Active. (Prepare for media blitz featuring very fit, very happy, 30-nothing women, working out in sun drenched, Crate-and-Barrell fantasy living rooms. Sample vid at bottom!)
Early reviews are positive: "We're favorably impressed," writes Yahoo's PluggedIn blog. "A few minutes [of] jogging or thigh-lifting
exercises will have you muttering curses at the on-screen trainer." The game is designed for the Wii console, and comes with a velcro band to strap the Wii "nunchuck" to your leg -- allowing it to track your high stepping and jumping -- as well as a rubber resistance band for various sorts of muscle-y moves like curls. It also comes with a food logging app, and, nicely, it tracks calories burned, not pounds lost. All this, as well as the general vibe on the game's blog, suggests that EA is going after the ladies. Indeed, EA Prez Peter Moore, told the San Francisco Chronicle in March:
"Women are aware of the EA Sports brand but they thought of it for
their boyfriend, son or husband. This game can change that."
Wired Workout
Tune In, Work Out, Log Off
You need a home workout, and it's not going to be yoga. You could troll YouTube and sift through “workout videos,” (ruling out anyone in tube socks, giving a second click to anyone in spandex). But if you’d like a well-edited selection, hit up beYOU.tv. It’s a fitness video portal with over 250 workout videos.
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Wired Workout
Know Yourself Intimately
If you're not into gadgets, read this cute, ReadyMade-style post. If EKG machines turn you on, however, then let's talk about the new GoWear Fit "body monitor" from a company called BodyMedia. The inspiration behind this product is that you might want to keep tabs on your body not just when working out, but also "while shopping, playing with the kids, doing household chores, and sitting at the movies." In other words, says the web site: "When you’re wearing it, you’re measuring your life!" Cut to dimly lit Upper West Side bedroom.
Elliott: "Honey, we just burned 743 calories!"
Ruth: "I have a headache."
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Wired Workout
Tweet Your Way Firm
Can Twitter your way to six pack? No. But...
...operating under the Twitter name @twittercize, freelance writer Ron Doyle is broadcasting daily workouts in 140 words or less, designed for surreptitious office use. Some recent examples:
- @twittercize: Bradshaw's Calves: Standing, feet 6" apart, lift those heels like you're in a pair of 6" stilettos! 30 times!
- @twittercize: Cubicle Cross-overs: Sit upright and alternate punches across your body. Turn head with punch. 45 seconds!
- @twittercize: Hulk Hogans: Elbows up, hands at your heart, pull back like Hulk ripping a yellow tanktop! Squeeze those shoulderblades 30 times!
Our man has 600 followers thusfar. Make that 601.
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Wired Workout
Fitness Magazine Emergency Workouts
You only have 30 minutes, and you can’t find a scrap of clean Lycra, and it's pouring rain outside.... Time for today's emergency home workout tip: Fitness magazine has a surprisingly well-stocked supply of online workout videos.
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Fast Abs
Excessive focus on the welfare and appearance of a single muscle group can be harmful to your health.... That said, working on your abs can be very satisfying and very good for you, and it can also be done in lot's of very convenient (read fast) ways. Should you have an Internet connection handy, check out these workouts:
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Ah, Clover is my buddy!
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