Gym gadgets

One of the resolutions that I made to myself this year was to get fit – maybe fitter than I’ve ever been in the past. Unfortunately with the move, my gym routine has been a bit erratic over the last two weeks, but now that things are settling down I’m getting back into it.

Yoga has definitely been a big help, as not only does it stretch out the muscles that you stress doing other exercise, but it also works on all the supporting muscles that are hard to target with weights. Plus it’s super relaxing, which helps me sleep a lot more restfully at night!

I like using a heart rate monitor when I’m running so I can see how hard the old ticker is working. My old heart rate monitor died at the end of last year, so I was faced with two options – either replace the battery and the chest strap for a cost of about $75, or replace the entire thing with a newer model for about $100. Seemed like an obvious choice really! But, as it turned out, the battery in one of my other watches died around the same time, and since it was my travel watch (with compass, thermometer, etc) I decided to replace them both at once with Polar’s top-of-the-line AXN-700.

Now admittedly, this thing doesn’t come cheap, and it’s a bit of a beast – but Polar have really improved things since I bought my first heart rate monitor. Plus, this baby does everything, coming fully equipped with an altimeter, barometer, compass, and thermometer – all essential when running on a treadmill . OK go ahead and laugh, but the compass has proved invaluable on previous travel trips – and the altimeter (with ascent/descent counter) will be awesome for when I go skiing! It also has much more advanced heart rate monitoring functions than my last model, plus I can download the information to a PC for further analysis.

The other gadget that Jason and I both got our hands on last year is a Nike+ kit. We both already had iPods, and completely coincidentally I bought a pair of Nike+ shoes while we were in Vegas (I didn’t even know they were Nike+ shoes until Jason pointed it out to me).

Anyway – the Nike+ kit has a sensor in the left shoe that talks to a sensor attached to your iPod, which lets you know how far/fast you’re running. You can then set a goal for yourself every time you’re about to run (e.g. “Run for 20 minutes” or “Run 3km” etc), and while you’re listening to your music, a voice-over will come on every so often and tell you how you’re going (“Half way point! 1.5 kilometres to go!” for example). Tapping the centre button at any time tells you your current time, pace, and the number of calories that you’ve burnt.

I’m amazed at how accurately the system works once it has been calibrated. Since I do most of my running on a treadmill, I can verify the distance that the Nike+ system is telling me against the distance that the treadmill tells me, and usually they’re very close! And since Jason has the same system, we can set up challenges and then compete with each other on other sides of the world. It’s awesome, and it has definitely inspired me to do more running, hence get fitter.

Both gadgets are highly recommended!