Fitness Cutting-edge Fitness Gear For The Home: 5 Pieces We Want Right Now The ongoing quest for health and fitness produces a constant stream of innovative new workout products, from new takes on old favorites to far-out new creations. Here are a few highlights from the Idea show held in Anaheim this summer, which means you'll soon be seeing these at gyms, store shelves and smart screens. Cutting-edge core The EdgeCross-X. Invented by Agoura Hills teacher Steve Berman, this push-up bar with handles and a metal ball on each end blasts every muscle in your body with a new training modality he invented: "off-balance leverage training." Why we like it: This is a fitness revelation. EdgeCross-X, as promised, stresses numerous muscle groups by putting you offbalance with a pivot point far from the center of your body — on the ball at the far ends of the bar. From the first second you start off with a simple push-up, your core gets blasted. Double the fun Ski-Row Air. A two-in-one workout machine from EnergyFit: a rowing machine that, repositioned vertically, converts into a lat-pull cable machine or cross-country skiing trainer. Why we like it: Space-saving variety. You can row, work the arms in a cross-country ski motion or do lat pulls and other strength exercises. Includes wheels and a gas-assist cylinder to help lift the machine and lower it to the ground. Beast mode Gorilla Bow: Portable home gym that combines stretch cords with a pseudo-bow-hunting frame, claiming to produce between 5 and 300 pounds of resistance and allowing for a variety of strength exercises.
Why we like it: It's a nice new take on old stretch-band devices, providing a convenient do-anywhere workout that can target back, chest, arms, shoulders and legs with presses, pulls and squats. Smart foam roller IntelliRoll. An intricately sculpted foam roller that specializes in massaging and lengthening the back. A middle channel is designed to stop the vertebrae compression of a normal flat roller, while pronounced ridges work the spinal erectors. Why we like it: It feels natural because the curved sections match the body's own curves and distribute pressure more evenly over more muscle area. The chiropractor who invented it says the anatomical design can cut effective massage time in half while allowing a deeper release of the muscle fascia. Shake it, baby The Power Plate Move. Home version of the company's health-club vibration plate, which has a cult following among those who like to put butter in their morning coffee. Why we like it: Some research backs up benefits of vibration: increased range of motion, strength and muscle tone, balance, stability and circulation. The Move is easy to use, adjusts intensities smoothly and has an app offering guidance and classes.
Fitbit Doesn't Fool Around: How The Fitness Tracker Helped This Woman Catch Her Boyfriend Cheating You might want to think twice about using a fitness app to track your workouts. USA TODAY If you are going to cheat, don't forget to slip off your Fitbit along with your drawers. NFL Network correspondent Jane Slater says she caught a former boyfriend cheating after spotting a suspiciously rapid increase in his heart rate and physical activity at 4 a.M. On their shared Fitbit app. The ex had given her the Fitbit as a Christmas gift so they could track each other's activity levels and motivate each other to exercise more. Slater says she
didn't hate it until "he was unaccounted for at 4 am and his physical activity levels were spiking on the app." "Wish the story wasn’t real,� Slater wrote in a post which has been retweeted more than 46,000 times and has more than 470,000 likes. She added: "Spoiler alert: he was not enrolled in an OrangeTheory class at 4am." Making the experience even more painful, Slater, at the time, was preparing to celebrate his birthday. "I was at his home w balloons ahead of the birthday I planned the next day." She was so concerned about where he was, she even contemplated calling the police. "My girlfriend once said 'one day we will laugh about this' as I sobbed uncontrollably in the car," she tweeted. "I have now many times bahahahah." Slater's followers chimed in with their own tales of infidelity outed by fitness trackers. Sexual activity does register on fitness trackers, Alex Koch, professor of exercise science at Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina, told Business Insider. Fitbits and other devices have accurate heart rate monitors that detect spikes including those brought on by intimate moments. Fitbits also have an accelerometer, which detects vibrations from movement. "There's definitely going to be a substantial rise in heart rate from resting, depending on how energetic you are," he said. But don't just assume your partner's having an affair. Fitness trackers can't distinguish between sexual activity and other forms of cardio, Koch said.
9 Fitness Trends That Were All The Rage In The 2010s, From CrossFit To Exergaming People still like lifting heavy things. Gero Breloer/AP CrossFit, known for its enthusiastic fans and full-body, strenuous workouts, started in 2000 as a lifestyle fitness brand. Combining high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, with weight lifting, gymnastics, and other exercise styles, the rotating "workouts of the day" or WODs aim to build "functional fitness," or strength in the type of movements you'd perform in everyday life. CrossFit also prompted a strong community and spawned a series of elite athletic competitions called the CrossFit Games beginning in 2007. It now has more than 13,000 gyms in the U.S. Obstacle course races have become a popular way for people to test their fitness or just bond with friends and family. There will be mud. Flickr/DVIDSHUB From 5K mud runs to marathon-length willpower tests, obstacle course racing has taken off in a huge way since 2010 thanks to companies like Tough Mudder, Spartan Race, Rugged Maniac, and more. Partipants pay a fee to tackle a race course that will require them to climb over barriers, crawl under barbed wire, navigate mud-filled trenches, and other challenges of physical and mental strength. Often, the courses are done with a team, to build camaraderie between colleagues, friends, or family. There's also a competitive element, as with other racing events, with challengers striving to keep a fast pace while navigating obstacles to net the best overall time. According to data from Obstacle Racing Media, the number of participants in those events climbed sharply in the early 2010s, and after a slight decline around 2016, increased and leveled off to a robust following today. Tough Mudder alone boasts more than 5 million participants since its founding. The boutique fitness industry continues to grow. Boutique gyms are growing much faster than big-box facilities. Getty/Caiaimage/Sam Edwards Expensive gym memberships have grown more than 121% over the past decade, as people of all ages flock to fancy new studios, often with creative group fitness offerings designed for maximum fun, results, and motivation.
While big-box gyms are still a strong part of the $30 billion fitness industry, boutique gyms are catching up, with membership growing 121% from 2013 to 2017, compared to just 15% at traditional gyms, according to data from Fitt. In the luxury fitness space, top-dollar brands like Manhattan's Performix House are designed for exclusivity, starting at $900 per month. Improvements to virtual reality this decade have made exercise and gaming a natural fit. Are you playing a game or working out? Oculus VR Coming off the success of the Wii Fit (and interactive gaming console users stand on to measure balance, weight, and more) in during 2007 to 2009, the gamification of exercise skyrocketed into the mainstream throughout the 2010s, with people comparing scores on their workouts, earning collectible items, and sweating to whimsical cartoon adventures. Consoles like the XBox Kinect, Wii Fit U, and, most recently, the Nintendo Switch Ring Fit have merged video games with real-world movement. But the trend isn't limited to gamers. Mobile phone apps like Zombies, Run!, Ingress, and PokĂŠmon GO! Have used augmented reality (elements of virtual reality superimposed in the real world via camera) to bring exercise games with you wherever you go. And as full-on virtual reality develops further, we're likely to see the trend continue to grow. Systems like Playstation VR and Oculus Rift have already started to bring in workouts like boxing and cardio to the next generation of games. Pole fitness has become increasingly mainstream and less stigmatized. Pole fitness challenges participants with upside down and midair maneuvers. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images Once stigmatized for its connections with sex work, pole fitness has become more recognized for the intense core strength and physical skill it takes to accomplish those gravity-defying performances. It's now become both a competitive and recreational sport for everyone from young professionals looking for a creative outlet, to moms looking to get back in shape, to bachelorette parties and other groups seeking a fun, challenging bonding experience. This year, pole fitness even went Hollywood after Jennifer Lopez shared her extensive training leading up to her role in "Hustlers."
The number of competitors at the World Pole Sports Championship grew from 43 athletes from 14 countries in 2012 to 229 athletes from 36 countries in 2017. It's even been considered as an event in an upcoming Olympics. Boxing-inspired workouts have turned the brutal fight sport into a killer workout. Boxing is an engaging, full-body workout that's now available in old-school fight clubs and big-box gyms alike. Getty Images / Anthony Kwan Boxing has a long, bloody history in America as a fight sport, but it's moved beyond the ring and into the fitness studio as more people discover its benefits as an intensive, full-body workout. Boxing drills, which require you to punch, dodge, and weave around an opponent (whether a person or a heavy bag), work your core and other muscle groups while keeping your heart rate up, making it ideal for people looking to get in shape quickly or to challenge their already honed athleticism. According to available data, the boxing fitness industry has grown by 2% over the past five years, netting a total of $1.2 billion by the end of 2018. It's also been lauded for building impressive physiques for celebrities like Halle Berry, Kourtney Kardashian, and Victoria's Secret models. Zumba, the original dance fitness craze, has continued to grow. Zumba uses rhythm and dance to make vigorous cardio workouts engaging and camaraderie-building. Facebook Zumba first appeared in 1998, and since then, it's transitioned from being DVDonly to having in-studio dance parties to offering instructor certification courses that inspire people to lead Zumba classes of their own. It's even expanded into the digital space, with Zumba dance games on Wii, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Switch. Zumba is currently offered at more than 200,000 locations, and its fan base (many of whom are millennial moms) is notoriously loyal, which means that even as other, newer fitness fads come into the market, the original dance craze is likely to keep the party going. Spin classes are now ubiquitous, at home or at the gym. The popularity of group indoor cycling has made "spin" a household term. Shutterstock Thanks to luxury big-name brands like SoulCycle, bicycling in place is not only good exercise but also chic. Enthusiastic instructors, high-energy music, and nightclub ambience in the studio have turned spin classes into a party-like atmosphere.
And outside the gym, at-home exerbike specialist Peloton (which has over a million users) has made the trend so hot, people are willing to shell out big money to have access to equipment and live-streamed classes on demand. As the tech behind stationary bikes becomes more advanced, it also incorporates aspects of competition and gaming, with live leaderboards so spinners can track their progress against others in real time. Spin has combined elements of nearly every other successful workout trend into one, suggesting it's only going to pick up more speed going into 2020. Read more: Intermittent fasting was the hottest diet trend of 2019, according to Google. Here's what else topped the list. A woman caught her boyfriend cheating when his Fitbit activity spiked at 4 a.M.