Fitness

Just breathe. It's a mantra any athlete must repeat, as obvious--and unavoidable--as the activity may be. But because of pollution outdoors, poor ventilation in gyms, or just stress (example: we climbers tend to hold our breath, to our detriment, when working through big, scary moves), it can be hard to get enough oxygen.

Thus was born Oxyfit, a lightweight backpack-with-tube that is touted as "the world's first compact personal oxygen supply." Although mention of it has only recently surfaced on U.S. tech blogs, the system appears (via Google Translate; I do not speak or read … Read more

Microsoft hopes to vamp up its HealthVault and other health services by making it easier for users to do everything from track their caloric intake to count their steps using their cell phones, according to researchers at a Microsoft forum on health care technology in Beijing.

Microsoft researchers are also busy investigating the potential of Xbox 360 units--which are cheaper than similar hospital equipment yet often just as powerful--to feed and filter information from electronic medical records onto in-room display screens for patients and caregivers, according to Desney Tan, a senior researcher at Microsoft Research, who spoke during the … Read more

OK New Years resolution types, if you're the kind of person who performs better when being watched, PumpOne's Fitness Builder app might help you hit a few goals in 2010. But first, heed the company's January 5 tweet: "TIP-Don't get caught up in the New Year's Resolution hype. Fitness should be part of your lifestyle, not a hobby for the next 3-4 weeks."

Touted as a top app from fitness publications and users alike, Fitness Builder's most recent version (2.4) was released in late December and includes a Share Workout feature by which users can not only e-mail specific workouts to specific contacts, but get into workout specs and create their own e-mailable versions. It's open-source for the fitness fiends.

If this sounds up your alley, shell out $9.99 (at the Apple store only) for the Fitness Builder app. Once you've got it on your iPhone, you can upgrade to Plus for an additional chunk of workouts and videos, or you can wait until March, when PumpOne co-founder and president Craig Schlossberg tells me his company plans to release Fitness Builder Pro (for personal trainers, for $19.99 a month) and Fitness Builder PT (for physical therapists, which comes with an extra 1,000 videos and images, for $49.99 a month).

"We're building what we think and know people will use and is going to be easy," Schlosser says. "Doctors are busy and won't spend hours of time reviewing videos. There is a lot of time spent in a session with a physical therapist explaining what is going on. That time can be spent working."

These professional versions build on the Share Workout feature, but include the ability for trainers and therapists to swap out the PumpOne logo with their own (this is perhaps Schlosser's favorite feature: "I mean, it really is crazy," he exclaims); to fully customize the workouts with their own images, videos, instructions, etc.; and to retrieve performance updates from patients once the workouts are done. If a workout is sent to someone without the app, that person simply clicks on a PDF with embedded images, printable instructions, etc.

The problem with physical therapy today, according to PumpOne:… Read more

The UK-based McLaren Group, which sponsors the likes of Jenson Button in Formula 1 racing, has created a wireless system that stores data and telemetry info for other athletes as well, including cyclists, rowers, and sailors.

UK Sport, which plans to invest about $500 million (300 million British pounds) in various Olympics endeavors as the country preps to defend its turf during the 2012 games in London, approached McLaren because it has "unique expertise" in data mining, according to the group's head of research and innovation Scott Drawer.

McLaren's Applied Technology division could eventually develop commercial … Read more

The other day I wrote about devices such as Philips' DirectLife being valuable precisely because they remind us that even the most basic physical activity is good for our health. That was a sort of silver lining way to put it. Now, a harder truth.

New research out of Australia published this week in Circulation, the Journal of the American Heart Association, finds that every hour of TV watching--or being sedentary at all--increases one's risk of dying younger from cardiovascular disease (CD).

Researchers tracked the lifestyle habits of 8,800 adults, interviewing 3,846 men and 4,954 women … Read more

Philips' DirectLife fitness tracker, which monitors one's daily activity levels by tracking the duration and intensity of movements, has been doing so well since its release in October 2009, according to a company representative, that it is about to be released in Germany and the U.K. Moreover, Philips has just announced a companion gadget that might actually rival the iPod.

The "program" associated with DirectLife, which costs $99, plus a $12.50 monthly membership fee, is three-pronged: wear the small, waterproof monitor with 3D accelerometer technology (think Wii) to track your movements; go online to get … Read more

They may not realize it or admit to it, but women who play Everquest II log in more hours than men or teenagers, are less likely to quit, and report being not only healthier but happier than their male counterparts, according to new research out of the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism.

The data reveals that while 80 percent of players in the study of 7,000 are male, and averaged 25 hours of play a week, the 20 percent who are female averaged 29 hours a week. And that's not all. Women underestimated their playing time … Read more

It's no secret that Portland, Ore., is one of the world's top biking towns. (Full disclosure: I live and bike here, and love both.) Thanks in part to a bike culture that has led to the development of hundreds of miles of bike lanes, ample signage, and rows of bright blue parking racks, Portland gets accolades for healthy people and air.

But it is Copenhagen, Denmark, home to the 2009 climate summit, that tops pretty much every list you'll find as the world's best biking city, with a whopping 36 percent of commuters going by bike. … Read more