TRAINR Links Wearables to Fitness Regime

FOCUSTRAINRWearables have become popular. Juniper Research forecasts $19 billion in revenue for the market by 2018. But with many health monitors and wearable devices there is a divide between fitness monitoring (and smart wearable devices), and getting coached on a training regimen. FOCUS: TRAINR is a newly-released app that links between your Samsung Galaxy Gear watch and compatible smartphones. Continue reading TRAINR Links Wearables to Fitness Regime

PROTKT and Serve

WahooTaking that iPhone on a ride is cool, especially as it can be used with a variety of apps, but you’ll want to make sure it survives the ride. This is where the Wahoo Fitness PROTKT comes in. This iPhone bike case is sleek and slim, yet weatherproof and shockproof – providing users a simple and secure solution to accessing their iPhone through rain, dirt, snow and of course – sweat.

It even comes bundled with the Wahoo Fitness App for cycling – transforming the handset into a powerful fitness tool – which you can combine with fitness sensors to wirelessly monitor all your crucial information. It can also be used with a neoprene hand band for use while walking, running or hiking.

Wahoo Fitness PROTKT Official Website

iXtreme Obstacles App

There have been no shortage of fitness apps to help users stay fit while on the go, but the Obstacles XRT app goes to the extreme – and XRT even stands for Extreme Reality Training. It provides instructional videos based on high intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts, which can be done from the home. While that might not sound particularly extreme the works promise otherwise. The only thing not extreme is that this only is available for iOS.

Obstacles XRT – Extreme Reality Training on iTunes

Smartphone Emerges as a Workout Tool

We’ve known for a long time that our smartphone is a great workout accessory, but a market research report released by Lab42 just drives the point home. The agency surveyed 500 social media users currently focused on their health and fitness. Among the respondents, 51 percent use their smartphones during their workout. Of those, 91 percent use their smartphone to listen to music; 43 percent track their pace on their phone; and 33 percent check their email while workout out. Continue reading Smartphone Emerges as a Workout Tool

Fitness and Health Apps: Big Business in Years to Come

Even if all the sports and health mobile applications aren’t getting people in shape, it is making for a very healthy market. According to a new report from ABI Research the sports and health mobile application market will grow to over $400 million in 2016, way up from the $120 million the sector reported in 2010.

According to ABI much of that growth will be spurred by the ability of mobile handsets to offer connectivity to wearable devices that can provide greater functionality, accuracy and appeal to sports and fitness applications. The new apps can in essence replace, or at least replicate what standalone products such as heart rate monitors and calorie counters are currently providing. Continue reading Fitness and Health Apps: Big Business in Years to Come

Mobile World Congress: Cardio Trainer Adds to its Bag of Tricks

Fitness and weight loss app Cardio Trainer just added Withings as a partner. Users can now step on the scale and send their weight wirelessly to the Cardio Trainer profile. The Wi-Fi scale adds weight management to a number of other activities including GPS tracking, pedometer, autopause to observe the pause at stoplights or other brief interruptions to a workout, voice notifications, music integration, World High Scores and other actions.

Continue reading Mobile World Congress: Cardio Trainer Adds to its Bag of Tricks

CES 2011: BodyMedia Measures Each Step at CES 2011

This year several companies and organizations are giving pedometers to attendees of the Consumer Electronics Show to settle the curiosity that is, how much walking did I actually do? The answer for many people at trade shows, especially CES, is a lot. The folks at BodyMedia are giving select attendees a BodyMedia FIT Armband BW that measures activity and logs it via Bluetooth to the BodyMedia FIT mobile app.

BodyMedia is an online and mobile application that watches your activity and calories to help you achieve your select goals such as weight loss, maintenance, and increasing your activity level. At registration, the application asks you a few questions on vitals, and then lets you set your goals. If weight loss is your plan, you can set the goal of how quickly you want to lose and it gives you a date on when you can expect to reach your goal. For instance, if you plan to lose a total five pounds and choose half a pound a week, then it will set the end goal for two and a half months. Continue reading CES 2011: BodyMedia Measures Each Step at CES 2011