Technology has impacted nearly every part of our lives, including exercise and fitness. We’re better able to monitor the form, duration, and benefits of exercise. High-tech trends in fitness make it easier and more enjoyable to work out, boosting efforts to staying healthy and fit. Below are three of the most exciting new tech trends in today’s fitness industry.
Starting with the Fitbit and continuing with new fitness tech, such as the Apple Watch, a major trend has been the use of wearable fitness gear. Because these devices can measure steps taken, stairs climbed, and calories burned, users receive valuable feedback about daily exercise habits and their effectiveness.
Wearable fitness hardware originated in the health industry and was originally designed for the home monitoring of patients. However, with the rise of the Internet of Things, tech tools are talking to the cloud, and fitness monitoring has expanded to the general population. The new frontier in wearable tech is clothing with built-in fitness data collection. Yes, your yoga pants can monitor poses and let you know if your form is correct.
Video workouts started a long time ago with celebrities like Jane Fonda and Suzanne Somers and their VHS tapes (remember those?). Then, many other fitness gurus jumped on the bandwagon with DVDs. Today’s live video fitness sessions are a world away from those early efforts. They can make personal fitness training and group exercise classes more feasible and effective.
Personal trainers who use live video instruction can give their clients fitness guidance almost as if they were there in person. For busy professionals, attending a remote live Zumba or Pilates session is a major timesaver, and fitness instructors can reach infinitely more people through live video broadcasting. Wellness and fitness motivational seminars are also perfectly suited to this digital medium.
Would you make more of an effort to get to your workout session if it took place on the beach in Hawaii or on a forest trail that wound past waterfalls? Welcome to the world of virtual reality workouts. Immersive technology has been touted as the ultimate video game experience and an educational tool, but who knew you could also use VR for personal fitness?
In addition to the aesthetically pleasing aspects of exercising in virtual reality, researchers have discovered health benefits. Exercising in a virtual environment can cause people to perceive less pain and exhaustion and work out longer. Apparently, exciting surroundings and virtual rewards can distract from the negative aspects of exercising.
From early exercise monitoring gadgets to clothing that uploads fitness data to the cloud, high-tech trends in the fitness industry are evolving rapidly. The opening of the world’s first VR gym in San Francisco is raising awareness that VR can turn a workout into an interactive adventure, and live video workout sessions can reach a much larger audience than before. Best of all, technology is giving people a chance to enjoy the process of staying fit.