Author: Enid Burns

Carbon Fiber – Not Just for Aircraft and Bikes

What’s not to love about carbon fiber? The truly space age material that made big waves in aerospace and of course racecars, and has become the standard material for many high-end bicycle frames, as well as seeing use in surfboards, golf clubs and countless other fitness products. Now the same material is starting to head to the world of fashion, and because it looks good and is quite rigid and durable, the material is ideal for protecting those high-tech toys in a high-tech way. This is the idea behind Smartt Mate, a new back cover for the iPad 2 from monCarbone. Unlike leather or even plastic covers, the carbon fiber Smartt Mate is light-weight and will help protect the case from scratches, and as a carbon fiber is UV resistant, can help from discoloration from sunlight.

“It’s rare that you see a new material like carbon fiber transforming categories and claiming new ground in the competitive world of design and fashion,” said Ming Chen, Managing Director of monCarbone. “We’re watching the hallmark of good design as it happens – discovery of something truly new and trend-setting andd its adoption by discerning people as a way to express themselves through fashion that stands out for all the right reasons.”

The Smartt Mate covers the rear and sides of the iPad 2 with no unnecessary cutouts. It is just 0.35mm (less than 0.023 inches) thick, and weights just 40g, while there are still 690,000 carbon fiber strands with each cover. It is available in classic colors including Mystery Black and Mystery Black – with special edition colors including Luminous Silver and Parisian Champagne – to be announced soon. Sounds “smartt” to us.

monCarbone Official Website

Toning Shoes May Not Be All They’re Shaped Up to Be

Toning shoes from various companies including MBT, Sketchers, Reebok, Ryn and other manufacturers continue to grow in popularity. We know people who wear these types of shoes almost exclusively. These are the shoes with oddly-shaped soles that make walking on them just a little bit unstable so you have to work at balancing and moving. These shoes typically have a rocker sole or other topographic textures on the bottom of the foot to make your stride a little tougher. Continue reading Toning Shoes May Not Be All They’re Shaped Up to Be

The New and Improved Flavors of Clif Bar

For long summer workouts — and the rest of the year as well — keeping up energy is important. Energy bars from Clif Bar and other brands helps you maintain the energy to keep moving. New flavors are a welcome addition to the mix.

Clif Bar just released its Coconut Chocolate Chip variety. The bar is loaded with toasted coconut and chocolate chips. Two flavors that go well together – just pick up a Mounds bar and you’ll know what we’re talking about.

At the same time, Clif Bar made a few tweaks to two of its existing flavors – Apricot and Peanut Toffee Buzz. The Apricot flavor now has 50 percent more apricots, which adds to the zesty apricot flavor of the bar. The Peanut Toffee Buzz variety has more peanut butter and more real toffee pieces, which enriches the sweet taste of the bar.

Clif Bars are made with 70 percent organic ingredients, and offer a blend of carbohydrates, protein and fiber to sustain energy. Each bar sells for a suggested price of $1.39, though we’ve seen bars sell for $0.99 each at many locations.

Clif Bar Official Website

Podium Position: What Did They Wear in the Tour?

At the Tour de France 2011 the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank, stood on the podium in second and third positions after an exciting three weeks of daily races. The brothers, and the entire team of Leopard Trek, wore kits from Craft Performance Apparel. Each rider wore an Elite Attack Jersey and Elite Body Control Bib Short. Both pieces have some interesting technology that keeps riders cool and comfortable.

The Elite Attack Jersey  is made from a lightweight mesh fabric with hexachannel fibers for moisture transportation and cooling effects. The jersey has a wing panel construction that enhances freedom of movement. The same wing panel construction provides an ergonomically shaped fit for the perfect riding position. Continue reading Podium Position: What Did They Wear in the Tour?

Kung Fu Comes to Kinect

Get ready to kick some butt this November. UTV Ignition Games and Black Bean Games just announced a partnership to bring Kung Fu High Impact to Kinect for Xbox 360. The game will be out in time for the holiday season, and for some of us to get started on New Year’s resolutions to get in shape.

The game combines old-style side-scrolling action with the new genre of exercise games. The Kinect controller uses the camera and body-tracking to put the player on the screen. The player will be able to see and complete real-life combat movements, interacting with enemies and objects on the screen.

Several game modes keep Kung Fu High Impact exciting. An engaging story keeps you involved and makes it more likely you’ll keep up your sessions to stay fit. Kung Fu High Impact has survival challenges, a multiplayer mode and other challenging gameplay styles to help you test your fighting skills, burn calories and stay fit.

UTV Ignition Games
Black Bean Games

 

Porsche Lends its Design to Bikes

You may not be able to pack it in your Porsche to drive to a ride, but you can look stylish on a Porsche bike. The performance auto maker just announced two bikes, the Porsche RS and S, which will be released in the fall in sizes S, M and L.

Both the RS and S bikes are 29ers, a trend in mountain bikes that uses wheel sizes similar to that on road and cyclocross bikes. The Porsche Bike S is constructed with a belt drive, which minimizes maintenance with a rubber belt in place of a chain. Continue reading Porsche Lends its Design to Bikes

Hands On: Ryn X-Run Shoes

When MBT shoes first came out I looked into them. I ultimately decided not to get a pair. Since then I’ve remained one part curious and one part skeptical. I’ve watched all the brands come out, at every price, and I’ve watched more and more people wearing them.

One of the newer brands to reach the U.S. market is Ryn: Walking Science. Ryn is a Korean company that produces shoes that are said to tone your leg muscles as you walk. We covered Ryn earlier this spring when they were introduced to the U.S. market. We were able to get a pair for review, and here are the impressions we got. Continue reading Hands On: Ryn X-Run Shoes

BackTrack Your Workouts to Review Miles

When you get home from a workout, do you want to review every step you took? The BackTrack D-Tour from Bushnell is a GPS device with just such a function. Clip this on your body and it tracks your movement, speed and other variables that you can upload to your computer and review all your stats and check out your distance on Google Maps. You can also share your workout results on various social networks.

The ruggedized device is weather resistant and can stand up to inclement weather including rain. It has a self-calibrating digital compass, time, temperature and altimeter. Even if you venture into territory where cell phones won’t get a signal, the BackTrack D-Tour won’t miss a step.

The D-Tour runs on Windows (XP SP1 or later) and MAC (10.49 or later) and takes three AAA batteries. It measures distances in yards/miles or meters/kilometers depending on your desired settings. It’s available for abou$120.

BackTrack D-Tour web page.

 

Dare to wear (Cold)Black in the Sun

A shirt using coldblack made by Flying Cross

You may wear black clothes daily, but when you go to work out or spend time in the sun, you probably look for lighter colored clothing. Dark fabrics, especially black fabrics, absorb the heat from the sun and transfer that heat right to your skin. It doesn’t help your workout at all.

A new finish on fabric called coldblack made by textile company Schoeller Technologies makes for a new class of functional clothing. With coldblack, darker colors can be worn in the sun without worries of providing extra heat. The heat bounces off the textile rather than shooting straight through.

An additional advantage to coldblack is protection from UV rays. The fabric provides a minimum Ultraviolet Protection Factor (UPF) 30 when applied to any textile. This protects against UV-A rays and UV-B rays. Continue reading Dare to wear (Cold)Black in the Sun

Far Infrared Clothing Bounces Energy Back to You

energear fabric uses Far Infrared Rays to reflect energy back to the wearer

Functional fabrics go a long way for an athlete toward adding performance to a garment. There’s breathable fabric that wicks moisture and heat away from the skin. There’s compression fabric that stays tight around targeted areas to tone or heel particular muscles. And now there’s fabric that uses Far Infrared Rays to reflect energy back to the body.

A company called Schoeller Textiles AG is producing clothing made from a titanium and mineral matrix to produce a Far Infrared effect on its clothing, called energear. Far Infrared Rays are a component of infrared rays. The sun, certain stones and metals, and the human body radiate this form of infrared. In this case titanium and minerals are used to reflect energy back into the body of the wearer. The fabric remains breathable even with the Far Infrared coating. Continue reading Far Infrared Clothing Bounces Energy Back to You

Jawbone Thinks Things are Looking UP for Disease Prevention

Is functional jewelry the next trend in fitness? Mobility lifestyle company Jawbone certainly plans to make a play in that category with UP by Jawbone. UP is a wristband that monitors your activity including movement, diet and other vitals.

Jawbone first entered the market with a noise-reducing headset for mobile phones that transmitted sound from vibrations on your jawbone instead of using a microphone. According to the CDC lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer cause more deaths than communicable diseases. The company believes eating healthier, getting quality sleep and moving more can prevent many of those lifestyle diseases.

UP by Jawbone will be available later this year. Jawbone started talking about the device, which connects to the iPhone via an app, at the TEDGlobal conference. “We are excited to share our vision at TEDGlobal because this epidemic will take an entire community to affect a global change,” said Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman. “TED is a community of thought leaders that can help propel this idea into a global movement.”

UP integrates robust computing and sophisticated sensor technology in the form of functional jewelry. It tracks your movement, sleep patterns, and nutrition and gives you feedback on how you’re doing based on data. The wristband connects to a mobile app that analyzes the activity, and an open platform that motivates you with personal social recommendations and challenges tailored to your goals.

“We’re passionate about creating products for the mobile lifestyle that people love to use every day. And now we’re harnessing that passion to approach a major global issue – health,” Rahman said. “We are focused on creating a highly accessible solution for this particular space that integrates seamlessly into a user’s daily life with the goal of making it absolutely easy for them to live better.”

It’s still early for details on the UP device, but Jawbone is collecting email addresses for notification when it’s ready for use.

Official UP by Jawbone site.

Bike Fixtation Makes Simple Fixes Easy

There are times when you might need to a simple fix, and don’t want to head to the shop. Most of us, even those of us who ride a lot, don’t have a bike repair shop in our garages or basements. And for urban dwellers, just having the right tools can be a problem as there is no place to store them.

What we need is a kiosk, a one-stop repair shop for those handy enough to do it yourself. And now in Minneapolis there is just such a kiosk. Looking much like a vending machine, with a bike stand to boot, the self-service bike kiosk is located in the Uptown Transit Station. This station was devised by cyclists Chad De Baker and Alex Anderson and is fitting called the Bike Fixtation. Continue reading Bike Fixtation Makes Simple Fixes Easy

Charter Pumps Out ExerciseTV on-Demand

Workout videos hit the scene in the ’80s with the likes of the Jane Fonda Workout and others. Later when DVD became popular in the ’90s and a little later DVD workout “videos” became more convenient for the cleaner picture and ability to skip to multiple workouts. Fast forward a little, and the new avenue for workout videos is cable’s on-demand programming.

Charter Communications just added ExerciseTV, a free fitness and lifestyle On Demand channel from ExerciseTV, a digital fitness network and part of NBCUniversal. Now when you browse through available on-demand content you can get encouragement to workout.

The on-demand channel has a variety of workouts that range from cardio to abs to yoga and dance. Programming includes content from expert fitness professionals including Jillian Michaels, Jackie Warner, trainers from Crunch gyms, Chris Freytag, Billy Blanks Jr. Other fitness gurus will be cycled into the lineup as it becomes available.

“Finding time to exercise isn’t easy between juggling work and family,” said Kara Lamberti, senior director, Video Product Management at Charter. “Motivating yourself to fit in a workout at the gym isn’t easy either and ExerciseTV On Demand makes exercise convenient, easy and fun.”

One of the benefits of exercise programs On Demand is the variety of workouts Charter offers. You can stay in the cardio section and still have a few days of different workouts, or vary the disciplines from cardio to resistance, and so on.

Over the summer this may be a rainy day solution. In the winter it easily turns your family room into a gym and lets you stay in shape in colder months.

Charter Communications Official Website