fitness

There are scads of devices designed to monitor performance while running on the track or treadmill, ranging from MP3 players to running shoes. But digital health equipment pioneer Polar has made it a mission to come up with an electronic fitness aid for cyclists as well.

The CS600 is like an on-board computer with its own software, which Gadgetell says was developed with the help of six teams from last year's Tour de France, "evaluating your heart's performance, bike speed, altitude and cadence." But be warned: Good health often comes at a price, and in this … Read more

The link between digital entertainment and exercise seems to be fairly well documented on the Wii alone, so it stands to reason that the combination would be fertile ground for other companies. And when's the last time you saw anyone on a cardio machine at the gym without an MP3 player?

Yamaha has clearly figured that out with its new "BodiBeat," a wearable gadget scheduled for August that it says is "the world's first music player/heart rate monitor that selects and plays songs to match the pace of the user's workout." It … Read more

Health-conscious gamers can finally put the Wiimote down and put away Wii Sports. Nintendo's upcoming Wii Fit uses the new Wii Balance Board controller to measure how you move as you stretch, dance, and dodge through 40 different fitness activities. Wii Sports is expected to hit stores early next year.

Ever since Wii Sports got gamers off their couches and onto the floor in front of their couches, the Wii has been a big deal for health-conscious gamers. The Wiimote's motion-oriented controls keep players active as they swing, slash, and roll in different games. Now Nintendo is taking the next step in making the Wii fitness-friendly, and they're not even using the Wiimote to do it.

At a press conference today, Nintendo announced Wii Fit. Like its name implies, Wii Fit is a fitness game for the Nintendo Wii. Like Brain Age used the Nintendo DS to exercise … Read more

Working out can be such a bore without entertainment, and while we're big fans of flipping through magazines on the elliptical machine, the easiest way to zone out during any fitness activity is with some good tunes. When selecting a player for the gym, it's best to go with a Flash (solid state) player with a sweat-proof design, such as the RCA Jet. The Jet comes in your choice of 1GB or 2GB capacities, is inexpensive ($60 or $65, respectively), and offers plenty of workout-friendly extras--an armband, a stopwatch, and an FM tuner, to name three. Read the review … Read more

This "Home Swimmer" contraption scares the living daylights out of me. No, not in the same way that Mike Yamamoto runs screaming every time he hears the words "hello" and "kitty" in the same sentence, but it's still creepy. Why? Because it looks like a fishing rod. The Home Swimmer is supposed to enable "stationary swimming" if you happen to have a small pool that doesn't cater to lap swimming, but it looks like a fishing rod.

The guy in this photograph looks like he's attempting (in vain) to … Read more

Nintendo has figured it out: Why should it let others take all the glory for the Wii's supposed health benefits? Tech Digest says the company is developing a game called Wii Health that will "test your fitness and send the results off to an unspecified UK hospital for analysis."

Not everyone is on the Wii's fitness bandwagon, daring to suggest that real-life exercise is better for kids than playing games regardless of how serious they are about them. But at least one personal trainer has created a workout routine based on Wii play, and others say … Read more

We're convinced that the electronics industry is conspiring with our personal trainer, because he knows that built-in gadgets are the only way to get us on the cardio machines. The latest invention goes far beyond the iPod fitness equipment we mentioned earlier; this diabolical device really hits home--with games.

And we're not talking DDR either. The "ProForm 20.0 Elliptical CrossTrainer" includes a backlit console with a screen mounted right in front of your flushed face, according to Newlaunches. As if that weren't enough, additional cruelty comes in the games themselves, which the manufacturer says … Read more

According to Engadget, Nike President and CEO Mark Parker has unofficially announced (via an interview) that all future Nike running shoes will be compatible with the Nike + iPod Sport Kit by 2008. For those of you who aren't familiar with the setup, that basically means that one shoe of every pair will have an aptly sized notch cut out in order to accommodate the wireless transmitter that comes with the Sport Kit. This hardly solves the problem for joggers who prefer not to run in Nike shoes, but this simple and inexpensive hack sure does.