Sports Medicine Archives

Atlas (Austin, TX) is developing a new fitness tracker that stands out from the plethora of similar devices on the market due to its accurate exercise identification capability. Most fitness trackers do a good job as pedometers, but are unable to accurately quantify exercise routines that involve repeated motion of the arms, such as while swimming or playing tennis. The Atlas fitness tracker can reportedly identify simple hand motions and can distinguish between push-ups and triangle push ups.

Like most other fitness trackers, the Atlas logs the workouts and calories burned with minimal input from the user. The device has an on-wrist display that provides instantaneous workout results to the user in the form of heart rate, calories burned, intensity of exercise, and the number of repetitions completed. The tracker syncs to an iOS app (as well as third party apps like Fitocracy and MapMyFitness) that processes the data from the tracker to only provide the user a graph of their daily workout results, but can also provide feedback in the form of posture and balance while performing certain exercises. The Atlas, that has 3D tracking for exercise identification, allows the user to see how his or her body is affected by certain exercises and provides estimates for body recovery time.

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Skulpt (Davie, FL) is developing a novel fitness tracking device called Aim that is able to measure both fat percentage and muscle quality using electrical impedance myography. The device is targeted towards fitness enthusiasts and is marketed as an improvement over merely tracking BMI and weight using a scale. The Aim device consists of a handheld unit that is pressed against a major muscle to measure the fat percentage and muscle quality metric, which is an indication of a muscle’s strength and tone.

The underside of the Aim consists of 12 electrodes that measure how current moves through the target muscles. It is recommended that the user take measurements at four sites (biceps, triceps, abs, and thighs) to obtain a snapshot of the total body fat percentage and muscle quality, with each measurement taking less than a second. The measurements are instantly displayed on the device’s LED screen. The Aim also includes Bluetooth communication to allow the user to monitor his or her fitness through an online dashboard. The online companion tool allows the user to set workout goals to reach a certain muscle quality target and also provides active fitness advice to the user. The Aim is water resistant, allowing for it to be used in a wide range of environments and the rechargeable battery can last up to two months at a time.

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Tao Wellness, a brand owned by EZD Productions, a Mountain View, CA based intellectual property company, has launched an activity tracker called Tao WellShell that can create isometric resistance for users to exercise on the go. Users of the Tao WellShell burn calories by squeezing on the device using their palms or any other part of the body, in repetitive patterns of approximately 10 seconds each. This exercise device, that can be used while flying on a plane and reading a book at the same time, provides users with audio coaching and encouragement based on their squeezing pressure and number of repetitions.

A companion Android/iOS app offers users more than 50 different exercise recommendations and helps to compile daily exercise performance. The Tao WellShell syncs with smartphones through Bluetooth 2.0 and can be used as a controller for video and mobile games, all along helping users burn calories using isometric principles without the need for excessive motion. The device, which weighs 5.3 oz., has pressure sensors, a high resolution, ultra low power three-axis accelerometer, an optoelectronic heart rate sensor, a GPS tracker and a gyroscope. Along with isometric resistance, the WellShell can also perform other tasks such as sleep quality tracking, estimating calories burned, route taken and heart rate monitoring. The device has a built-in lithium ion battery that runs all the available features for up to 16 hours on a single charge, and there’s a power save mode available that will run for up to a week on one charge.

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