From documenting what they
eat to where they
go to how much they
spend to even the vitality of their
sex lives, people who’ve never even kept a journal have become seduced by the ease with which technology facilitates tracking their lives. Thus, it comes as no surprise that new tools to help track personal fitness are emerging every day.
Under Armour E39: Coaches may soon have a streamlined approach to evaluating potential draft picks.
Under Armour partnered with software company
Zephyr to create a new piece of high-tech equipment that was tested at the recent
NFL Combine. Several prospects at this year’s invitational camp (including recent Heisman winner and endorser
Cam Newton) wore compression shirts with
a core sensor that tracked information like motion, heart rate, acceleration, and g force. The E39, or “bug,” then broadcast, via Bluetooth, player vitals to scouts’ laptops, iPads and smartphones. The NFL has
more plans to test sensor technology in the future but, in the meantime, the sophisticated E39 tracker will only be available to athletes, schools and trainers with Under Armour contracts.
Wahoo Fitness:
Those lacking the resources of an NFL team can still monitor personal fitness in an attainable, and affordable, way. Wahoo Fitness leverages a device rarely gone without—the smartphone—to help non-pros keep tabs on their training progress. Using its recently introduced
Fisica Sensor Key to connect any fitness sensor to a single smartphone, Wahoo Fitness is delivering vitals to the palms of users’ hands. Outfitted with
ANT technology, Wahoo’s new dongle plugs into the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4, upon which it keeps tabs on everything from
heart rate to stride. Bike packages and a
run bundle with specific sensors to track distance and speed ensure that marathon contenders will be ready come race time.
Ski Tracks App: For avid skiers, there are
a number of apps on the market that can do everything from providing weather conditions to using augmented reality to identify points of interest on the slopes. But for those who don’t want to deal with removing their gloves, the Ski Tracks app is much simpler and more straightforward. Once the app is started, it runs in the background of a user’s smartphone, collecting data such as the number of runs completed, total miles skied, top speed and more. Using GPS, skiers can even visualize their runs on a Google Earth map. At only a buck, it’s soft not only on users’ wallets, but, according to reviews, on their phones’ battery life, too.
