fitness

This "Home Swimmer" contraption scares the living daylights out of me. No, not in the same way that Mike Yamamoto runs screaming every time he hears the words "hello" and "kitty" in the same sentence, but it's still creepy. Why? Because it looks like a fishing rod. The Home Swimmer is supposed to enable "stationary swimming" if you happen to have a small pool that doesn't cater to lap swimming, but it looks like a fishing rod.

The guy in this photograph looks like he's attempting (in vain) to … Read more

Nintendo has figured it out: Why should it let others take all the glory for the Wii's supposed health benefits? Tech Digest says the company is developing a game called Wii Health that will "test your fitness and send the results off to an unspecified UK hospital for analysis."

Not everyone is on the Wii's fitness bandwagon, daring to suggest that real-life exercise is better for kids than playing games regardless of how serious they are about them. But at least one personal trainer has created a workout routine based on Wii play, and others say … Read more

We're convinced that the electronics industry is conspiring with our personal trainer, because he knows that built-in gadgets are the only way to get us on the cardio machines. The latest invention goes far beyond the iPod fitness equipment we mentioned earlier; this diabolical device really hits home--with games.

And we're not talking DDR either. The "ProForm 20.0 Elliptical CrossTrainer" includes a backlit console with a screen mounted right in front of your flushed face, according to Newlaunches. As if that weren't enough, additional cruelty comes in the games themselves, which the manufacturer says … Read more

According to Engadget, Nike President and CEO Mark Parker has unofficially announced (via an interview) that all future Nike running shoes will be compatible with the Nike + iPod Sport Kit by 2008. For those of you who aren't familiar with the setup, that basically means that one shoe of every pair will have an aptly sized notch cut out in order to accommodate the wireless transmitter that comes with the Sport Kit. This hardly solves the problem for joggers who prefer not to run in Nike shoes, but this simple and inexpensive hack sure does.

Sometimes, a gadget can be too smart for its own good. That's our opinion, anyway, about an unforgiving fitness device called the "Body Watch."

Why? Because this little sadist will unflinchingly deliver unwelcome news about the state of your physical condition--complete with body fat, body water and body mass--all in real time . And if you try to blame the results on mechanical error, be aware that the watch uses "bio-electrical impedance analysis" and "strain gauge precision technology" to determine the effects of all those Krispy Kremes, according to OhGizmo.

On the flip side, … Read more

If you're still afraid that the Wii might send you to the emergency room, perhaps the "JumpSnap" is right for you. At least there's no rope to strangle yourself with.

That's right, this is jump sans rope. The JumpSnap is basically a set of two electronic handles that are programmed to lead you through workouts, with sensors to gauge how well you're doing along the way. However, as SCI FI Tech points out, the coordination aspects of analog rope-jumping seem to get lost in the translation to the virtual version.

A kids-size alternative could … Read more

Almost exactly one year ago, LL International--parent company of Dada footwear--quietly announced the Code M system, a "proprietary, patent-pending wireless technology application for footwear that delivers both audio and data." Today, I'm refreshing my original Alpha Blog here to remind us all of the original design of these--how shall we say? Awesome shoes. You may be rightly wondering why, and the reason is twofold. First, we've just recently managed to get our hands on a preproduction pair of said footwear, and the final sale model is due for review any day now. Second, I once again … Read more

We generally try very hard not to think about exercise equipment when not at the gym (or even when we are at the gym, actually). But this is one fitness item that may be impossible for us to ignore.

If you've ever wondered what, exactly, your workout routine was doing for specific parts of your body, this intelligent scale from Tanita might interest you too. Far more than just indicate poundage, the new BC-545 model delivers "individual body composition readings for five body segments (each arm, each leg and the trunk area)," according to Gizmag. To get … Read more

Crave has seen some bizarre health and fitness equipment, but this may deserve a category all its own. The Korean-made "Photo Sauna Cauterizer" (cauterizer?) emits a laser with a "low level of radiation" for what its manufacturer claims are a variety of health benefits. An understandably skeptical Red Ferret says the claims involve "some kind of oxygen rejuvenation." Call us chicken, but anything that mentions cauterization and radiation in the same sentence isn't something we want strapped anywhere near our waistlines, or anyplace else on our bodies.