If you’re looking for gifts this Christmas, you might want to get ahead of the game and consider a few fitness technologies. A report released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) finds that one third of U.S. consumers plan to purchase fitness technologies in 2013. That means one in three people on your list plan on getting a fitness monitor, exercise equipment or other tech to aid their workouts.
The report, “Getting Connected with Emerging Fitness Technologies,” says 37 percent will purchase fitness technology in the next twelve months. The report says that 55 percent of U.S. online consumers used a fitness technology in the past year. It also finds that the number of consumers who used fitness technology in the past year increased 8 percent from 2010. That means the number of people who use tech to fuel their workouts continues to rise.
Motivation is a big factor. Fully 46 percent of consumers who do not exercise cite lack of motivation as an excuse for not exercising. Several factors help keep those who do exercise motivated. Seventy-six percent exercise to improve overall health; and 58 percent do so to lose weight. What is interesting is that the study finds the primary benefits owners attribute to using fitness technologies are to stay motivated, monitor physical activity and make exercise more enjoyable. These are not mutually exclusive.
“We continue to see technology play an increasingly important role in health and fitness,” said Kevin Tillmann, senior research analyst for CEA. “Fitness technology is empowering consumers to assess their fitness levels, set achievable goals, track progress and make exercise more rewarding.”
At KineticShift.com, our main goal is to cover fitness technologies that inspire people to exercise. Since we started the site a few years ago the category has continued to evolve, which is promising.
Fitness technology encompasses a lot of devices. Activity monitors such as the new BASIS Band, MYTRAK and Jawbone’s UP are among a number of such monitors on the market. Sport specific monitors include cycling computers such as the iBike Dash, Timex Cycle Trainer 2.0 and Wahoo Fitness RFLKT Bike Computer. Many of these devices have heart rate monitors built in, but you can also get a standalone heart rate monitor to help set a pace during workouts. We’ve written about the Polar RC3 GPS, Garmin Swim Watch, and the Polar RCX5 (which we reviewed the Tour de France GPS edition).