There are a seemingly endless number of new products on the market, and they pretty much all claim to be the latest and greatest in fitness technology. So we asked our friend, Dr. Ian Smith, who literally wrote the book (well, actually, SEVERAL New York Times bestselling books) on fitness to introduce us to five of the hottest trends in fitness right now.
1. INTERACTIVE HOME GYM
This gadget may look like a regular mirror, but "The Mirror" appears far from ordinary!
The Mirror comes with an app that you can download on your phone, which is equipped with hundreds of workouts you can choose to live stream or do on demand. Set up a profile, choose a difficulty level, select an amount of time and begin the workout with your digital personal trainer.
"The idea here is that no matter what level you are, you can do this," Dr. Ian says. If you have an injury, The Mirror also claims to give you modifications to address that injury.
The Mirror uses biometrics to optimize your workouts in real-time. Simply follow the trainer in the mirror and do what he or she does!
2. RESISTANCE PANTS
"The way you build muscle and burn calories is by making the body work," Dr. Ian explains. Exercise bands, also called resistance bands, can be used for more effective and efficient workouts, because they make your muscles work harder.
The AGOGIE pants have resistance bands built into the elastic, which adds an extra layer, or "exoskeleton," of resistance, according to Dr. Ian.
By increasing resistance, Dr. Ian points out, "even when you're just walking, you're working out."
He explains that by wearing the pants while exercising, you can increase the efficiency of your workout by "building up your resistance, increasing your muscle size and burning calories."
3. HEATED VEST
Don't let the cold weather prevent you from exercising outside in the winter! The Ororo heated vest has a small battery pack inside of it, which allows heated clothing technology to quickly warm up your chest and back. Just press the button on the front of the vest for 10 seconds to turn it on, turn it off if you start to get too warm and repeat as needed!
4. VIBRATING FOAM ROLLER
"We have done foam rollers before on the show," Dr. Ian says. So what makes this one different?
The Hyperice Vyper 2.0 foam roller vibrates at the push of a button. "It activates your muscles before or after a workout," Dr. Ian explains. "As we get older, you need to make sure your muscles are loose before you work out. It's also therapeutic," he adds.
5. NEUROSCIENCE HEADPHONES
Can a pair of headphones help you to have a better workout?
Wearing these Halo Sport headphones could increase what's called your neural drive, according to Dr. Ian. "That is: your motor cortex and your frontal lobe sends a signal to your muscles to activate and recruit your motor units," the doc explains.
"The idea is very simple," Dr. Ian continues, "it's called neuropriming — the more direct and powerful the signal from your brain to your muscles, the stronger you are, the more coordinated you'll be in dexterity."
Dr. Ian says to wear the headphones for 20 minutes before you work out, while walking around and engaging in regular activities. "It's priming your motor cortex so that when you do work out, you increase your learning ability and your ability to do the exercise, and you become better," he says. You can then either take Halo Sport off during your workout or keep it on and listen to music!
Watch the video above to see Dr. Ian demonstrate all five fitness gadgets!
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