Product innovation

Frances Marcellin rounds up the latest health and fitness kit

We want to help operators build their business explains Christian Toetzke

Hyrox is a fitness racing concept that sees all levels of athletes compete in timed events worldwide. The event requires each competitor to complete 8 x 1km runs with a functional movement between each and every competition has the same set-up which facilitates a global rankings system.

The company’s biggest market is the UK where its royalty-based gym affiliation programme increased from 18 gyms to 120 in the last year. “The gym affiliation programme is exploding,” said co-founder and CEO Christian Toetzke, formerly head of development at Ironman Group. “We’re aiming for 300-400 by the end of 2023.”

Hyrox’s affiliated gyms pay a yearly fee which entitles them to use the Hyrox brand name, join an online affiliate map and get training support and access to Hyrox’s coaching certifications.

End Of 2023

Christian Toetzke

The first live Hyrox competition, held in

London in September 2021, hosted 532 participants. In September 2022 the event sold out to 4,500 competitors, while the global race schedule increased from 28 races last year to 45 this year, including new events in the Middle East, Hong Kong and Scandinavia. The company’s growth target is for 200 live events a year by 2026, with one million participants.

The Air Stepper is ergonomically designed for ease of use says Ben Steadman

The new Air Stepper from Inspace has been designed for HIIT training and is ideal for boutique fitness offerings, small group training and functional spaces. It uses zero power, takes up minimal floor space and is low maintenance.

“Our new Air Stepper has proven to be a solid, versatile and popular lowimpact cardio machine,” said Ben Steadman, MD at Inspace Fitness. “It’s smooth and provides a great resistance workout focusing on your lower body while also being perfect for HIIT-style sessions and general cardio work.

“The Air Stepper has been ergonomically designed for ease of use, with a solid base to maximise stability,” added Steadman. “The foot pads provide excellent grip and resistance is easily adjusted.

Quick and simple applications between sets or during rest massively reduces fatigue

Colin Edgar

Core Tx Go, is a game-changer for both strength and endurance athletes says Colin Edgar

Core Tx Go is a new palm-cooling device that can increase the number of reps an athlete can compete in a session, while reducing fatigue to maximise overall performance.

The machine was developed by Colin Edgar, founder and MD of CET, which manufactures cold therapy solutions for elite sportspeople worldwide, including

Team GB, Manchester United and AC Milan.

The company says palm cooling for two minutes between sets significantly increases the number of reps and workload that can be completed. A peerreviewed study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research – there are further studies with similar results – recorded a 40 per cent increase in bench press work volume in three weeks and a 144 per cent increase in pull-up volume over six weeks when experienced subjects used palm cooling.

“Our latest product, the Core Tx Go, is a gamechanger for strength and endurance athletes,” says Edgar. “Quick and simple applications between sets or during rest massively reduce fatigue, allowing users to increase their

Our goal is to make biomarkers and insights accessible to everyone reveals Jason Moore

Spren Vision transforms smartphone cameras into real-time biomarker sensors. It can connect any app to the human body, opening up new possibilities for app providers across the fitness sector to boost engagement.

It works by using the light and camera from a smartphone to detect changes in blood volume between cardiac cycles, which measures light absorption in the finger via a scan.

The launch comes after a decade of R&D involving 20m users, the processing of over 4bn biomarkers and collaboration with 117 universities. “This has allowed us to create machine learning and signal processing algorithms to extract precise biomarker measurements out of noisy camera images,” said Spren Vision founder and CEO, Jason Moore. workload capability. The benefits of cold therapy are undeniable, and important for athletes seeking to perform at the highest level.”

Palm cooling is a fast way to cool the core and the lower temperature reduces fatigue, enabling muscles to function optimally.

The portable 7kg device can be used by two people at once.

We extract precise biomarker measurements out of noisy camera images

Jason Moore

“We then add our pattern recognition and insight generation algorithms that look at changes in heart rate variability, heart rate, respiration, body fat, and muscle to make it easier for people to know what’s going on in their bodies in terms of stress, recovery, body composition and metabolic health,” he says.

A recent raise of

● The tech can be applied to any health and fitness app

USS$11.3m has brought the company out of stealth mode and it is now being rolled out to partners such as Fitbod, Fortë and Final Surge.