10 Best Fitness Gadgets for a Smart Workout
By Franki Hanke
Level up your workouts with gadgets that don’t cost a fortune or take up lots of space.
Take your fitness goals to the next level. Transform your living room into a home gym with simple, yet smart fitness gadgets that make smart workouts to rival a gym sesh.
Cardio and Aerobic Smart Workouts
Tangram Smart Rope – App-Driven Jump Rope
For an upgraded version of the grade school classic, Tangram created a jump rope with integrated tracking. It syncs via Bluetooth with your iOS system, Android, or Apple Watch for an informed cardio session. Awards and competitions based on jump counts, calories burned, and workout times add motivation. The jump rope stores easily when you’re done with your home smart workout for the day.
Strength Training
Peach Resistance Bands – Strength Training for the Living Room
For a multi-use alternative to traditional dumbbells or kettlebells, try resistance bands. They are easy to pull out for a brief strength training in front of the living room TV. This three-piece set includes a door anchor to create a weight machine for full-body smart workouts anywhere. We love this set for the pleasing colors and the comfortable handles.
Training with resistance bands provides a similar challenge to dumbbells or kettlebells, but with less risk of injury or joint strain. Plus, with a dumbbell or kettlebell, the top of many motions has no challenge (because of gravity’s pull), but with bands, there’s a consistent challenge through a full motion.
Amazon Basics Weight Set – Strength Training for the Home Gym
If you are in the market for traditional dumbbells, the Amazon Basics set of six comes in a color palette that fits alongside our decor. The included stand keeps your home gym tidy and safe from a surprise dumbbell underfoot.
Flexibility & Yoga
Hatha Yoga Mat – Extra Thick, Comfortable Mat
Just because it’s a basic must-have for yoga, doesn’t mean your yoga mat should be basic. We love this Hatha Yoga yoga mat for its extra-thick, comfortable construction that protects your knees and back while working out. This half-inch thick mat comes in five colorways for you to choose between with a non-slip, grippy surface.
Gaim Yoga Block Set – Support for Balance Work
If you’re mastering your balance poses, yoga blocks are simple props that you’ll end up using constantly. Constructed of durable, sturdy foam, these lightweight blocks provide support for learning balance-based poses or for extended stretching.
Recovery
Kieba Massage Balls – Trigger Point Therapy
Made of 100% rubber, these massage balls are simple, strong, and effective. By applying pressure to sore, tight muscles, these massage balls use your own body weight to work out the tension. If you’ve ever used a foam roller, these use a similar concept, but for more pinpointed knots. Whether for your feet, back, or hips, rolling on top of a massage ball works out those knots. For larger areas, a foam roller might be a better fit.
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Fitness Monitoring & Motivation
Apple Watch or Fitbit – Smartwatches for High-Tech Heart Rate Monitoring
One of our most multi-use gadgets, the Apple Watch smartwatch is a wearable heart rate monitor and fitness tracker that uses real-time heart rate to track your cardio, strength, and flexibility workouts more accurately than a simple heart rate monitor might. Plus, the Apple Watch connects to your entire iOS system for benefits beyond your workout.
Pair the tracking metrics of the Apple Watch with the Apple Fitness+ for a personal trainer-led workout library on your living room tv. New workouts are added weekly with personal trainers from around the world.
For Android users (or to save over $100) the Fitbit Charge 3 offers similar real-time heart rate monitoring with algorithmic understanding for tracking multiple types of cardio more intelligently. If your goal is for a device only as a fitness tracker, you can skip the Apple Watch for the cheaper Fitbit. Use the Fitbit supporting Health and Fitness app on iPhone, Android, and Windows devices alike. The smaller, slender face of the Fitbit is sleek and melds well into your day-to-day without looking like it only belongs in your home gym.
Bose SoundSport Bluetooth Buds- Wireless, Sweatproof Earbuds
The hardest part of working out is the motivation. A follow-along workout, playlist, or podcast are essential for surviving through the planned workout, but cords can tether you to your iPhone. Instead, with wireless, Bluetooth earbuds like the Bose SoundSport Earbuds, you’re free to move during your workout with small, nonintrusive buds that withstand sweat.
Withings Smart Scale – Body Fat and Body Composition Scale
If you’re motivated by a physical change to body fat or overall body composition, a smart scale can allow you to track more detailed metrics than mere weight. With 18-month battery life, this home-scale tracks changes over time in your detailed body composition including BMI, Water, Muscle Mass, Fat Mass, and Bone Mass.
However, remember that there are more benefits to working out than decreasing weight or body fat. Metrics can sometimes be damaging to your mental health and overall wellness, so be self-aware with tracking metrics.
Now, equipped with new, smart workout gadgets, get out there and raise that heart rate.
If you’re not sure what workout to do with your new favorite gadget, we’ve rounded up seven channels we trust for workouts.
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