for strength and speed  Discover the amazing gadgets that will make you fitter and faster!
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Hot products for runnERS & cyclistS
plus! fitness trackers / smart clothing / gym equipmenT / APPs
pr e s e n ts…
Fitness tech to get really excited about...
See MORE cycling TECH On P46
ga r m in va r i a Cycling safety just got a serious kick up the jacksy – and no, the government hasn’t made comically oversized airbag helmets or day-glo skin suits mandatory. Garmin’s approach to keeping road riders safe is to target the two-tonne objects around them. It’s launched a smart bike system consisting of a radar and a rear light. The former keeps an eye out for motor vehicles approaching from behind. If one gets too close for comfort (within 140 metres), the radar will alert you via a handlebarmounted console, while the rear light will adjust its pattern to warn the vehicle of your presence. An optional smart lighting kit adds a front light with an auto-adjusting beam, and you can also daisy-chain two lights at the back for indicators. The bike age cometh! Price £145.99/$199.99 Available Now URL www.garmin.com/en-GB 4 T3 p r e s e n t s . . . f itn e s s
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fitness / December 2015
Editor’s letter Welcome to the very first T3 Presents, entirely dedicated to fitness tech in all its forms...
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Over the next 98 pages you’ll find everything from running gear to money-no-object home gym equipment and smart clothing that’s smart enough for special forces. In other words, everything you need to get faster, stronger, sharper or simply drop the pounds. If your idea of fitness tech is a muscle vest, that sweaty treadmill down the gym and some ‘pumping’ tunes, you’ll be amazed what you can now buy. The sophisticated sensors lurking inside smart clothing can churn out the sort of detailed health and fitness data that would put an ER room to shame, while the best cycling tech can cost more than a decent bike. A great starting point if you’re new to all this is our introductory feature on page 26. There are plenty of more specific guides, too; check out detailed round-ups of cycling tech, home gym gear and, of course, running shoes. Fitness trackers are another key area – fitness applications are driving a lot of wearable technology, so these are widely covered in the magazine, along with the latest running watches. Anyway, there’s loads to enjoy. Here’s hoping we keep you fit and healthy into 2016 and beyond!
Rob Carney, Consultant Editor rob.carney@futurenet.com @robcarney
Discover more great ways to enjoy T3…
Digital edition The iPad edition of T3 features a raft of fresh content, including video reviews and interactive articles. T3 is also available on Android devices, and your desktop via Zinio.com.
The all-new T3.com We’ve also overhauled T3.com – the best site for gadget news and reviews now has a great new look and is fully responsive, enabling you to enjoy it on any device.
Key contributors T3 Deputy Ed.
Kieran Alger,
Damian Hall,
Writer
Writer
When he is not commuting 24 miles every other day to work on a road bike, Nick’s training or gunning around MTB parks. His complete guide to cycling tech is on page 46.
Running-tech expert Kieran has run 16 marathons and six ultramarathons. He’s also an authority on the latest home gym equipment, and finds some great buys on page 76.
See just how fit Damian really is when he gets tested at a next-gen gym on page 52. He also compares the latest generation of running watches in a big test on page 82.
Nick Odantzis,
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fitness / T3 PRESENTS
Contents 026 the best fitness tech
From wearables to headphones, and from clothes and shoes to smart gym equipment...
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Save 60%
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Features 052
Man Vs Tech Just how fit are you, really? Damian Hall visits one of London’s smartest and most high-tech gyms to find out
059
T he best health and fitness apps
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Art + Sole
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omplete guide C to home fitness
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State of the Art: Running watches
066 082
Whether you are into running, cycling, yoga, scuba or judo, there’s an app out there for you. We find the best downloads for iOS and Android
No matter how fancy your digital fitness tech, a decent pair of running shoes is an essential purchase. Here are some of the sleekest and best designed ways to support your feet as they pound the winter pavements and tracks
While you don’t want to turn your house into something looking like a leisure centre, there are now some fantastic and affordable home-gym solutions. From treadmills to exercise bikes to apps, we’ve got it covered…
Keen runner and all-round fitness guru Damian Hall puts three smart running watches head-to-head: the Polar V800, Garmin Fenix 3 and Suunto Ambit3 Sport HR
046 complete guide to… cycling tech
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Cool go-faster gadgets or essential gear for staying safe and comfortable... M ore grea t content a t the a ll-ne w w w w.t3.co m
fitness / T3 PRESENTS
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Garmin Forerunner 630 Get the lowdown on Garmin’s latest and greatest running watch. New features include performance indicator, lactate threshold levels and more
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GoPro Hero 4 Session GoPro’s smallest and lightest camera yet, and it’s completely waterproof. It can capture stills in burst mode, record time lapse, supports dual mics… And did we say it was waterproof?
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Hexoskin Shirt Forget the muscle vest, this smart biometric shirt feeds back loads of data on your training, sleep and daily activities, from VO2Max to recovery and from peak ventilation to sleep position
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Blaze Laserlight Worried about cycle safety in the winter? This ingenious gadget increases visibility by projecting an image of a bike in front of you, helping other road users to notice you
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polar Loop 2 Smart fitness tracker which wakes you up, vibrates when there’s an incoming call, counts your steps and calories burned, and more useful stuff
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Finisterre wetsuits These toasty new cold water
wetsuits mean there’s no need to hibernate until spring. Features include extra panels for enhanced heat retention, and they are easier to get on and off on windswept beaches
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Yes 20/20 Snowboard Combines the control and balance of a twin-tip freestyle board with the float and performance of a powder stick. It’s designed for all-mountain, freeride and powder, so is very versatile
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Re-Timer headset If you suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), jet lag or the effects of shift work, this ingenious headset uses light therapy to reset your body clock and help you sleep
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Recon Jet A smart pair of glasses for cyclists and runners that enable you to view power output, speed, distance, text messages and navigation
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We can build you… Expert marathon runner Kieran Alger advises a reader on the best kit for embarking on those long-distance runs. Don’t even think about a more ambitious hack until you’ve read this!
020 Style
Get more out of any activity with our round-up of essential sports garments to suit your style and budget
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Essentials 004 022 044 094 096 098
Gamechanger Gadget Guru Subscribe to T3 Select: Super Six Select: Smackdown money no object f i t n e s s T3 p r e s e n t s . . . 7
T3Presents/ Fitness...
this issue…
your guide to the hottest sports, fitness & well-being tech
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Garmin Forerunner 630 GoPro Hero 4 Session Hexoskin shirt Blaze Laserlight Polar Loop 2 Finisterre wetsuits Yes 20/20 snowboard Re-Timer Recon Jet Marathons special
Touchscreen
G armin F orerunner 630
The attractive round face makes it easy to make adjustments and call up fitness data via touchscreen
£329/$399, www.garmin.com/en-GB
Another running watch… so what? This is not just any running watch, buster. This touchscreen Garmin is the firm’s most advanced running watch to date, with more running dynamics than its predecessor, and additional physiological measurements so runners can be more aware of their bodies before, during and after a run. What can it measure? The watch may look straightforward, but it packs a lot of tech. It can keep track of stride length, ground contact time, balance, vertical ratio, lactate threshold, stress score and performance condition. Then it will tell you your pace, running speed, distance covered in the time, calories burned and other essential data. Happy now? Does it do anything else apart from churn out running and health data? Absolutely. Change to normal watch mode and there is activity tracking and sleep measurement so you can ascertain the quality of your downtime. Is it well connected? Indeed so. The Forerunner is Wi-Fi enabled so workouts are automatically
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uploaded. Then data can be viewed and analysed from the Garmin Connect Mobile app on a smartphone. This can also be linked to MyFitnessPal if you use it to count the calories. Anything else I need to know about this tantalising gauge of go-for-it grit? Despite all the clever tech inside, you can squeeze out 16 hours of battery life in training mode, which stretches to a month in watch mode with activity tracking and smart notifications left on. The Forerunner is also water resistant to 50 metres. The layout can be customised to suit your taste via the Connect QTM smartwatch platform, and you can download customised watch faces if you get the urge. When is this energising bit of wrist candy out, and how much is it? The Forerunner 630 comes in black/white and midnight blue, and has a suggested retail price of £329.99. The performer bundle with the HRM-Run heart rate monitor costs £389.99. Available now. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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Key data Check your heart rate and VO2 max estimates with any ANT+ HR monitor
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Hype Garmin Forerunner 630
Connect IQ Enables you to customise your watch with additional apps, widgets, watch faces and data fields
The bright screen and clear type make it easy to check how you’re doing as you pound the pavement
Once the watch learns your lactate threshold, you can apply it to your heart rate training
To make sure you don’t overdo it, the Forerunner works out a recommended recovery time
Data can be uploaded to Garmin Connect via the Garmin Connect Mobile app, or via Wi-Fi
Data-rich, stylish and built to last... Nick odantzis, Deputy editor
Stride Length One of the new metrics, along with ground contact, vertical ratio, lactate threshold, stress score and performance condition
Vital stats 16 hours 50 metres Battery life with GPS and heart rate monitor in use
-20 to 60° VO2 max The watch’s operating temperature range
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How much water the Garmin can handle before drowning
Athletic performance estimate appears as a number and colour
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preview
Vital stats
GoPro Hero4 Session £249/$299, www.gopro.com What’s this cube thing, then? It’s GoPro’s new mid-range action cam. Doesn’t look much like a GoPro, does it?
1,920 x 1,440 8MP The wide-angle video resolution of the GoPro Hero4 Session
The Session can capture stills at up to 3,264 x 2,448
10 in 2 1:55 This cube can take ten photos in just two seconds
The continuous recording time, in hours
No, it doesn’t. Why change it? It’s GoPro’s smallest, lightest camera yet – and it’s completely waterproof without any housing. So it’s great as an action cam for fitness disciples. Can I still use all my mounts? For sure! You simply clip the GoPro Hero4 Session into its frame and you can use all of your current accessories – such as the 3-Way or Flex Clamp. Does it record in 4K? Nope. You’ll need the Hero4 Black for that. But this can record at ultra-wideangle 1,920 x 1,440 at 30fps. Any other cool features? Yeah, loads. It can capture stills in burst mode – up to ten photos in one second. And the time-lapse feature enables you to take a picture in intervals between 0.5 and 60 seconds. Oh, and its one-button operation makes things super-simple. There are also dual mics, which automatically switch to eliminate wind noise (when mountain biking, for instance). The auto low-light feature is also pretty neat. What about battery life? With Wi-Fi off, you should be able to record for around one hour and 55 minutes. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 gopro Mounts
WATERPROOF BODY The Hero4 Session is completely waterproof, without any special housing. Just bung it in a GoPro mount and get in the sea!
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Clip the GoPro Hero4 Session into its frame and you can use any of your existing mounts. You get two frames in the box: one for front-on mounting, the other for side-on
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Hype GoPro Hero4 Session / Hexoskin shirt
Vital stats 14 hours 3
Hexoskin shirt
Battery life in recording mode; 400 hours in sleep mode
£323/$399, www.hexoskin.com Er, it’s just a fancy-Dan gym top? That’s like saying a top of the range Audi is just a car, like your granny’s Hyundai Getz is just a car. Hexoskin is a smart biometric shirt that feeds back a lot of data about your training, sleep and daily activities, from VO2 max to recovery and peak ventilation to sleep position. There’s a small Bluetooth device which is connected to the fabric sensors and located in the side pocket. A companion app works on iPhone, Android and Android-smart watches, and you can also access an online account which provides advanced analysis and free data storage. Special forces wear these shirts!
Number of LEDs for battery, recording and Bluetooth status
1Gb 40 grams Total memory capacity, equating to 700 hours of data recording
The weight of the sensor box, which measures 1.6 x 2.9 x 0.5 inches
Built-in sensor A Bluetooth sensor nestles in a side pocket and syncs workout data to the companion app
So what exactly does this shirt measure again? From the top: heart rate, heart rate recovery, heart rate viability, breathing rate, breathing volume, activity level, acceleration, calories, cadence and step count. At night it checks up on what positions you’re sleeping in, and cardiac and respiratory activity. A bit more than a Sports Direct muscle vest, in other words, and the company claims it measures more body metrics than any other wearable technology product, and with greater precision. It’s been chosen by four space agencies, three military organisations including the US Navy, and pro sports teams to monitor their top people. Even Cirque De Soleil has signed up. How do you view the data? The data syncs to the app via Bluetooth or to an online dashboard that your trainer can read (for example). This gives immediate performance feedback and uploads data to your account so it can be shared. The shirt is completely ‘open data’ – Hexoskin users get to download the full data (42,000 data points per minute) that they’ve recorded to re-process it as they like. Gym geek heaven. 1 2 3 4 5 6
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Handy straps You keep the shirt close to your body by adjusting straps, which tighten below the chest and abdominal areas to ensure accurate data is collected
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Vital stats 530nm 13
Blaze Laserlight £125/$200, www.blaze.cc/laserlight/ Nothing to do with lightsabers, right? Right. While it’s not much to look at, the Blaze Laserlight is a really neat bike light that increases your visibility by projecting an image of a bike in front of you. It’s the brainchild of designer and keen cyclist, Emily Brooke. How does that help cyclist safety? The projected image of the bike increases your ‘footprint’ on the road, alerting other road users to your presence and making you much more visible. So it tackles the biggest risk to urban cyclists – vehicles turning in front of their path when travelling straight ahead. Research says this is the cause of 79% of cycling accidents – when the rider becomes virtually invisible in a driver’s blind spot. This is the maker’s research, right? Don’t be so cynical. A recent study conducted by the impartial Transport Research Laboratory concluded that the Laserlight makes you 96% visible to bus drivers at night, compared to 74% with a normal LED light. When you’re sharing the road with racing cabbies, texting courier drivers and half-asleep truckers, that can give you a real edge. I ride a lot in the winter. Can the Laserlight handle it? The Laserlight’s casing is made of aircraft-grade aluminium and the bracket is made from rust-proof steel. It can handle total water immersion for an hour, and is built to withstand extreme vibrations, so rain, wind, grit and potholes shouldn’t be too much of an issue. The Laserlight is easy to operate with gloved hands, wet hands, cold hands and even with one hand. 1 2 3 4 5 67 8 9
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The green machine
The wavelength of the green laser light projected in front
Hours of battery life. When 95% depleted, power saving mode kicks in
100 and 300 50 lumen The Options for normal light brightness
number of countries the Blaze Laserlight can be shipped to
Why is the laser green? The human eye is most receptive to light of that wavelength
Fully sealed Thanks to the design of the charging contacts, the Laserlight is fully sealed and waterproof
Rust-proof bracket The bracket’s made of marine-grade steel, which will never rust
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