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Saturday, October 25, 2008

The Hottest New Fitness Gadgets You Should Know About


What would health and fitness be without that good old standby, the fitness gadget?
Remember the gyrating belt waist trimmer? How about that Thigh Master? Come on, you know you had one! That thing sold over 2 billion units. We won't tell anybody that you were one of the lucky buyers! ;)
Well, fitness gadgets have come a long way since those little gems, and the technology used on some of the more recent ones is quite amazing. Here are a couple that need to be on your radar:


The Fitbit System

Using technology similar to the Wii gaming system, the Fitbit Tracker is a motion sensor that you can attach to your clothing and wear all day. It collects data on your movement, calories burned, and how much sleep you've gotten from day to day. You also get what is called the base station which transmits all of your tracker data to the Fitbit website, where you go to check your stats. On the website, you also get an avatar. You get to see how well you're doing not only from the reports you read, but from the visible state of your avatar. You don't get enough sleep or activity, your avatar begins to show the effects of this by looking haggard and gaining weight. If you do all the right things, your avatar becomes vibrant and healthy. If you guys can remember those early hand held Pokemon games where you had to raise and feed this little electronic thing to keep it alive, then that's pretty much the concept here.

But this is serious, because it's your body and your own stats that you're keeping track of. You will know when you need to exercise more, sleep more or less, and also how many calories you need to consume to reach your target weight. The Fitbit system has just become available on back order and will begin to ship in January 2009. For more in depth info on Fitbit check their website Fitbit Tracking System



Yamaha Bodibeat Exercise Pod

For those of you that run, or just like to get out and create your own workouts, this is an ideal accompaniment to your routines. The Yamaha Bodibeat is like an Ipod for exercising. It has a library of songs, downloaded by you, that you can set to either match your running or workout pace by beats per minute, or to change songs when you go into different phases of your workouts. Those of you that take fitness classes will get that concept right away. For aerobic based routines and activities, you'll have upbeat tunes that match your pace, speeding up when you speed up, and slowing down when you do, always matching your pace. For slower paced, weight room based workouts, you can put a more intense, slower paced selection of songs to work out to. Be sure to download all of your favorites on here, and you'll be motivated to stay working out that much longer. Lightweight and waterproof, you can wear this for any type of exercise.



Tanita BC558 Segmental Body Composition Monitor


The Tanita Segmental Body Comp Monitor is one high tech scale. Not only does it measure your body fat, but it details your body composition, FROM LIMB TO LIMB! It assesses body fat, body water percentages, bone mass, metabolism rate, muscle mass, daily calorie intake and a few other things, as well.
It gives readings from 5 different segments of your body, not just the whole. That way you can really pinpoint your trouble areas. It also keeps charts and graphs of all your stats for up to 36 months. You can then download your stats and print them out on your computer.
If someone other than you gets on the scale, it reverts to guest mode, so your stats don't become skewed. Now, that's one smart scale! You can read more about the Tanita BC558 here.



And just for fun....

The Hawaii Chair

Okay, this came out last year, but it's still very much a hot item! Lose weight and get in shape from just sitting on your butt! Now who doesn't want some of that?
The Hula, or Hawaii chair claims to tone up your abs and mid region by sitting in it, and basically just trying to hold on. Supposedly, you can work, eat, drink and surf the net while getting a major calorie burn right from your Hawaii chair.
I'm not exactly putting this on my list for exercise, but I'd definitely get one as a gag to show off to my house guests and friends. I think that your laugh muscles will get exercised on this thing more than anything else. Here, we have a live demo of the Hula chair!


Okay, you know you want one! LOL. Anyway, that's it for this edition of the hottest new fitness gadgets. Check back again soon for updates! ;)



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10 comments:

Daisy said...

From Daisy's mom:
I have to get one of those Fitbits! And it doesn't look too expensive. One tool that I really like is the Garmin Forerunner. It's been out for a long time, but you can wear it running, walking or on a bike and it shows you your time, pace, speed, calories, etc.

Dori said...

Thanks for the gadget tips. I am trying to get more and more into fitness, so I'm really into learning about what is out there. And okay, I admit it...I had a thigh master. LOL. :-)

SOLOMONSYDELLE said...

That FitBit has my name all over it. But, it probably costs a gazillion bucks!

HEALTH NUT WANNABEE MOM said...

I like the fitbit myself and need to look into that. It is amazing the things they come out with!

ktales said...

those are cool gadgets. I may look into the fitbit, since I like those little things.

kt

BeadedTail said...

That Fitbit might entice me to get a bit more fit!

The Fitness Diva said...

If you guys like knowing all the particulars, both the Fitbit and the Tanita Body Compostion scale will be sure to give you all days and days of fun! lol Well, more like obsession!

If I knew my exact body fat day by day, that could become dangerous! I'd go run for an hour, come back, and check it again! Or, exercise 3 times a day, just to see how the readings change. A sick toy in the wrong hands, lol!

The Fitness Diva said...

Solomon, the entire system sells for $100. Not as expensive as one would expect!

Ish said...

the fitbit is cool we can now track the calories on everything that we do that's cool thanks for this tech - info

Anonymous said...

I only have a little gadgets which can track record how many steps I have walked.

I think I need first one,The Fitbit System, I need something remind me sleep eariler. :)

 
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