Exercise | Evolving Consumer

Get Into the Sling of it With aeroSling Elite

Suspension technology is catching on. It is an easy way to get a decent workout at home or on the road, and these are among the easiest pieces of equipment to take on the go. This month the latest innovation in suspension technology is arriving in the United States from Germany, and this one might be worth a bit of suspension of disbelief.

Smooth Fitness, the online retailer of home exercise equipment, is bringing the aeroSling Elite to the America. The modular, flexible band relies on a person’s bodyweight to provide the resistance while the suspension system can strengthen core muscles. This piece of equipment can be used on doors, hooks or even outdoors on trees, and it can be anchored at different heights and adjusted for varied degrees of fitness levels.

“The aeroSling represents the next generation of suspension training, with its innovative pulley system that allows for a multitude of new exercises to train every muscle group with a greater range of motion,” said William Olson, President and CEO of Smooth Fitness. “It truly is a trip to the gym in one small mesh bag, and can even be incorporated into yoga and pilates.”

The aeroSling Elite will be launched later this month by Smooth Fitness, and will be available exlusively through the website. We will try to get our hands on one and let you know if we got into the sling of things.

aeroSling Elite by Smooth Fitness

Sheraton Brings Training on the Road with Core Performance

Workouts on the road can be a treat if the hotel has a nice gym stocked with new, top-of-the-line equipment. But then sometimes that equipment is old and tired, and ou wish you’d gotten a few more minutes of sleep before the meeting. Sheraton Hotels just put $120 million into a brand-wide fitness roll-out to equip its gyms and also revamp its meals and individual fitness strategy. Continue reading Sheraton Brings Training on the Road with Core Performance

Silly Rabbit, You Can’t Jog While At Your Desk. Actually, You Can With TrekDesk

Call us skeptics, but we couldn’t help but think this was some sort of joke when we got an e-mail from the folks at TrekDesk Treadmill Desk. Essentially it’s an elevated table you place over your treadmill, and you can place your laptop and other boring work stuff on top of it. The idea is that you’re exercising and staying active while you work. (And no, you can’t sit down while you’re on this, you lazy bum.) According to TrekDesk they found that athletes who spend their days chained to an office desk often complain of stiff hip flexors, knees, ankles and backs, and that the TrekDesk is one way to prevent that. Despite the treadmill in its name, you’ll have to supply your own treadmill, though, and it’s not cheap at $479 at the company’s Amazon.com store.

As much as we would like to dismiss this as hokey, we personally suffer from body aches and problems from sitting at a desk for too long. Sitting uncomfortably in a chair that’s not ergonomic to our desk, we know that the pain in our wrists is not natural. And from the positive reviews and TV news spots about the TrekDesk, we are willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. But we have enough trouble as its multitasking Facebook with our Excel spreadsheets, so having to concentrate not falling off is one more thing we don’t need.

Meanwhile, the creative side of our brains is wondering, what if we can just get a high desk from IKEA that we can place over our treadmill? Wouldn’t that allow us to create our own TrekDesk without having to pay for the high price?

Check out videos of the TrekDesk.

TrekDesk Treadmill Desk

Philips Gets Activa at IFA

At this month’s IFA conference in Berlin Dutch consumer electronics maker Philips once again reaffirmed that it was going to remain dedicated to fitness, as it showcased its Activa portable music player. The device was unveiled earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but this month Philips offered a bit more information on this “much more than an MP3 player” device.

While the Philips Activia is going to go head to head with the iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano and iPod Touch, it has some features that the iPod simply can’t touch. The Activa will keep track of fitness progress and while there is some musical shuffling of sorts, it actually picks songs to provide vocal feedback and plays music to match the tempo of your workout. Continue reading Philips Gets Activa at IFA

Polar Introduces Active Monitor for Students

Monitoring progress is certainly a good way to stick with a fitness routine, and to that end Polar has introduced the Polar Active. This is designed for students of all ages, who want to improve their health and fitness. It measures the impact of daily activities, and can track just about every moment. With it users can monitor steps taken, calories burned and even time spent in various activity zones.

Students can use the Polar Active to measure and record their physical activity along, and the device can be used with PolarGoFit.com, an online service for teachers and students to monitor and track activity. The portal allows for easy documentation of activity data including daily and long-term progress as well as the ability to share reports with students, parents and school administrators. This can help encourage activity and motivate students to remain active for longer periods of time and maintain a healthy weight. Continue reading Polar Introduces Active Monitor for Students

Power (Platform) to the People

Too many Americans are probably carrying around too much weight, whilst those who are toned up and fit probably have too in the way of weights. That’s the belief of Donnie Gorsuch, the inventor of the Power Platform. Her thinking is that since the average American male can only bench press about 135 pounds without risking injury, and the average American woman can only press about 60 pounds, there is little reason for weigh machines that go up to 500 pounds.

Nor does she believe that there is good reason to fill the average home gym with a lot of gym equipment and lifting machines when the only real weight you need to lift is that of your own body. Gorsuch found a way to get the lifting in by essentially creating a brace for bodyweight training called the Power Platform. Continue reading Power (Platform) to the People

Biomechanist Jean Jacques Rivet Joins aboutGolf

If you want to improve your performance in any sport, you go to the expert to help you what you’re doing wrong and how to correct it. For golf this means working on swing optimization, and this week aboutGolf announced that Jean Jacques Rivet has joined their team as a new partner.

Rivet is a renowned sportsman, as well as a professional engineer, who has worked on the advancement of biomechanics and body motion. His company, BiomecaSwing has worked with golfers to attain a new level of game performance by applying a proven scientific approach. Rivet will serve as a consultant to aboutGolf in its ongoing product development, including its performance products such as the aG Balance, aG Flix and future TechCentric suite of products. Continue reading Biomechanist Jean Jacques Rivet Joins aboutGolf

Your Shape: Fitness Evolved Partners with Men’s and Women’s Health

You say to yourself you’re going to do those targeted workouts you see in the pages of Men’s Health and Women’s Health magazines… until you turn the page. With Your Shape: Fitness Evolved you’ll choose the workouts from the game, or opt for Men’s Health‘s “The Sleeve-Busting Arms Workout” and “The Ultimate Men’s Health Fat Loss Workout.”

Knowing that men and women workout differently, the game offers a fully different routine for the fairer sex. Women’s Health will provide workouts such as “The Perfect Legs and Butt Workout,” “The Toned Arms and Shoulders Workout,” and “The Skinny Jeans Workout.”

Your Shape: Fitness Evolved publisher Ubisoft has partnered with Rodale to provide these targeted, magazine-prepared workouts on its upcoming title. Expect Your Shape to provide dynamic, interactive, customizable and convenient at-home workouts. The team that brings you workouts in the magazines creates these workouts. Continue reading Your Shape: Fitness Evolved Partners with Men’s and Women’s Health

Running on a Moving Treadmill?

When we first heard about the Treadmill Bike we were convinced it was a joke. After all, why the need to combine a treadmill with a bike? Couldn’t you just run outside? Running on a tread to move a device not only seem counter productive but it sort of seems incredibly silly too. But in fact it is a real device, and one that has been getting a fair amount of attention lately.

The truth is that most stories about it ask the same exact questions we’re asking, which is why you couldn’t just go running instead. Apparently the benefits of the device are that it offers (according to the official website) “the benefits of running on a convention treadmill but outside.” The Treadmill Bike thus further protects “your feet from dirt and other contaminants commonly found on the earth’s surface.” Continue reading Running on a Moving Treadmill?

View Your Workout With Sweat Activated Technology

A soaked shirt at the end of a workout is a good sign that you put in the miles, went the distance, played really hard or just otherwise really sweated the small and big stuff. With the ViewSPORT line of t-shirts users not only see a soaked shirt, but also can get motivated by working just hard enough to have the shirt (almost magically) provide an inspiration message.

The technology behind the ViewSPORT shirts is the brainchild of chemist Ben Wood and Joe Yacano, who created a special process for their Sweat Activated Technology. The apparel that offers a variety of slogans, such as one that says, “I Am” and after a bit of time pumping iron or running it reveals, “the Competition.” Think of this as a personal way to manage your workout routine by merely looking in the mirror, and the result is what the makers call a visible measure of a wearer’s “sweat equity.” Continue reading View Your Workout With Sweat Activated Technology

Clothes That Make the (Super) Man

In the comic books super heroes are always wearing tight spandex type clothing, and what is really amazing is that the attire can hold up to all sorts of mayhem. The fabric must be a super duper as the heroes. But that’s the comic books, and in real life about the only thing super about most guy’s gym shorts is the smell after a workout!

The real life super fashion statement might just be the Uniqlo calorie-burning underwear, which was developed with Toray Industries and the University of Tokyo. The idea behind it is that it gets a little snug down there, which in turn applies resistance to the wearer’s muscles, thus forcing him to put a bit more strut into each step. It makes us think that maybe it is Superman’s tight red shorts that helped him stay so buff? Either way, the concept certainly has us intrigued.

Currently the product is only sold in Japan, but could arrive in the United States soon, which should be good news to fitness addicts looking for an extra edge, as well as hipster with their skinny jeans.

Miura Looks to Make Grind Permanent and Iron Things Out

In ancient to medieval times Japan was famous for the craftsmanship that went into making its famous “samurai swords” and this level of skill and craftsmanship is alive and well today, but for those hitting the greens not to do battle but to play a round of golf.

After receiving rave reviews for its Yoshitaka Grind wedges and C-Grind wedges and positive response during a soft launch of the products last year, Japanese golf-club maker Miura Golf will make these part of its Series 1957 special edition product line. The two new wedges models will join four iron models. The Yoshitaka is the result of its namesake, master craftsman Yoshitaka Miura. He trained under this father, and company founder Katsuhiro Miura at the family’s forging facility in Himeji, Japan.

The new mild-steel wedges are crafted through the company’s famous Precision Forging Finish process that ensures the clubs are consistent in terms of impact and feel. The Yoshitaka (also known as the Y-Grind) wedge will be available in lofts of 49, 51 and 53, while a 60-degree model will eventually be offered. The wedges, which only be available for right-handed, will feature W nickel (satin) chrome/black finish and will come with a stiff-flex steel shaft and Velvet Full Cord grip. The “Y” on the wedge’s sole not only represents Yoshitaka’s mark – much the way the sword makers of old would sign a blade – but it also signifies the special and limited production of the wedge. Continue reading Miura Looks to Make Grind Permanent and Iron Things Out

Category: Exercise