A new feature coming to the Apple Watch this fall will make the smartwatch an even better fitness tracker for working out — especially if you’re a fan of exercising without your iPhone.
Starting in watchOS 6, summary data from workouts will be available in the Activity app on the Apple Watch even after you dismiss the summary in the Workout app.
I always like it when Polar gets riled up. It happens every few years (the Finns don’t excite easily), where they turn around and drop a crazy full featured product on the market, driving a significant shift in pricing. I think the just announced Polar Ignite might do exactly that. This sub-$200 GPS watch is packed full of features, but more importantly, packed full of training-focused features. Nearly half a dozen totally new features to Polar (and some, even the industry) that aren’t seen on their higher end watches.
These features start to address the core points I’ve talked about in keynotes for years, which is the lack of integration between sleep/recovery data and daily training guidance. But with more Polar marketing branded feature names than I can shake a stick at, my first impressions after nearly a week of using it, is that they’re actually doing exactly that. If you have a crappy night sleep, it’ll influence the recommendations for training the next day. And even further, after you do your main workout for the day, it’ll even suggest recovery ‘workouts’ like stretching.
The updated Forerunner lineup brings loads of useful new features such as integrated music, full-color on-board maps (for the 945), advanced training, and safety contact. Once again, Garmin took the best of what makes the Forerunner Series a lasting success, and added even more features.
This can make it hard to know which one is right for you, your budget and your fitness level. Luckily for you, we took a look at the new 45 series and broke it all down for you.
The aim of this study was to assess the sensitivity of accelerometer-derived metrics for monitoring fatigue during an intermittent exercise protocol. Fifteen university students were enrolled in the study (age 20 ± 1 years). A submaximal intermitted recovery test (Sub-IRT) with a duration of 6 min and 30 s (drill 1) was performed. In order to increase the participants’ fatigue, after that, a repeated sprint protocol (1×6 maximal 20 m sprints) was performed. Following that, participants repeated the Sub-IRT (drill 2) to evaluate the external and internal training load (TL) variations related to fatigue. Apex 10 Hz global navigation satellite system (GNSS) units were used to collect the variables total distance (TD), high metabolic distance (HMD), relative velocity (RV), average metabolic power (MP), heart rate maximal (HRmax) and mean (HRmean), muscular (RPEmus) and respiratory rating of perceived exertion (RPEres), dynamic stress load (DSL), and fatigue index (FI). A Bayesian statistical approach was used. A likelihood difference (between drill 1 and drill 2) was found for the following parameters: TD (BF10 = 0.33, moderate per H0), HMD (BF10 = 1.3, anecdotal), RV (BF10 = 0.29, moderate per H0), MP (BF10 = 1.3, anecdotal), accelerations (BF10 = 1.6, anecdotal ), FI (BF10 = 4.7, moderate), HRmax (BF10 = 2.2, anecdotal), HRmean (BF10 = 4.3, moderate), RPEmus (BF10 = 11.6, strong), RPEres (BF10 = 3.1, moderate), DSL (BF10 = 5.7, moderate), and DSL•m−1 (BF10 = 4.3, moderate). In conclusion, this study reports that DSL, DSL•m−1, and FI can be valid metrics to monitor fatigue related to movement strategy during a standardized submaximal intermittent exercise protocol. [full text]
Like any true triathlete, I violate all the rules of common sense. The most important one being to never try something new on race day. But given I have a long history of violating said rule, I figured a few weeks ago that a local triathlon was the perfect time to try out Garmin’s almost never talked about ‘Extended Display’ triathlon-focused feature. This function allows you to mirror your watch to your Garmin Edge bike computer. Thus ensuring that your data fields and total race time match exactly.
While I’d tried connecting the sensors together about a year ago, that was basically a backyard adventure. Certainly nothing I’d attempted in a workout, let alone a race. So I figured I’d tell you how to set it up, how it works, how it went, and whether its worth doing at all.
Growing at a faster rate than expected, the progression of smart clothing has been fuelled by breakthroughs that are addressing unsolved problems. It is this future forward shift in the textiles industry that is responsible for introducing us to discoveries like triboelectric materials. It is the first energy-harvesting fabric capable of converting kinetic energy to electrical power from multiple sources like wind, rain and human movement.
… Similarly to the heart rate trackers built into most fitness wearables, apps on your phone can measure your heart rate by detecting changes in blood volume below the skin’s surface — a practice called photoplethysmography.
Cardiogram, maker of a smartwatch app that uses deep neural network technology to detect various heart conditions, has inked a deal with Fitbit allowing its application to be integrated with the tech giant’s wearables.
As part of the integration Fitbit users can now download the Cardiogram app and use it to monitor heart rate and sleep tracking. Users will also have access to Cardiogram’s detection technology, which has been validated in identifying hypertension, sleep apnea and atrial fibrillation.
The company is growing fast, adding roughly a million users a month, and it has lofty goals to expand far beyond its old identity as a platform for logging rides and runs. Can it succeed?
Physimax’s markerless motion-capture assessments are gaining traction in elite sports, including with the NBA’s Pacers and Jazz, MLB’s Rockies, the U.S. Tennis Association player development program, major college athletic programs such as Clemson and UNC, and Brazil’s most popular soccer club, Flamengo.
The equipment needed was already minimal—requiring only a 3D camera such as a Microsoft Kinect—but now could become near-universal. Physimax has adapted its algorithms to be compatible with the cameras on smartphones and tablets. The company, headquartered in Israel, said accuracy validation has been conducted in UNC’s Sports Medicine Research Laboratory. The adapted system is currently in field testing with a full release expected in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Dr. Thomas Noonan is an orthopedic surgeon who serves as the head team physician for the Rockies and a practitioner at the UCHealth Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Denver. While Noonan began using Physimax to screen professional ballplayers in spring training, he said the greatest potential for the technology is with public use. Steadman Hawkins replaced its motion capture system with Physimax after careful vetting.
OKI Electric Cable, a tech company specializing in electric cables, launched Stretchable Flexible Printed Circuits, better known as Stretchable FPC. The product is part of the new Oki Electric Cable product lineup to be introduced in June 2019.
… in the midst of stagnation in the outdoor industry, there is also a growth engine: Climbing is booming. Sales in this sub-sector rose by 5.7 percent year-on-year to 142 million euros. By comparison, the clothing (-0.8 percent to 2.91 billion euros) and footwear (-0.7 percent to 1.69 billion euros) segments with the highest sales decreased significantly. The biggest loser in 2018 was the sleeping bag segment, where sales fell by 4.7 percent to 117 million euros.
“This area is clearly struggling with the cheap offers from discounters and supermarkets that we don’t cover,” said Pauline Shepherd, EOG Research Director, at the presentation of the annual State of Trade report.
… On June 18, Arc’teryx launched its first-ever gear-recycling hub, called Rock Solid, where people can buy and sell used Arc’teryx gear. Those with apparel, packs, and newer footwear to sell can do so at the Rock Solid portal (or at any Arc’teryx brand store in the U.S.) for a flat fee—20 percent of the original retail price for each item, paid in the form of an Arc’teryx gift card. The used gear will be washed and then resold at rocksolid.arcteryx.com, keeping the gear where it belongs—in the field, and not the back of our closet—and thereby helping both Arc’teryx and its customers mitigate their environmental impacts.
We scoured the massive show floor of last week’s Outdoor Retailer trade show in Denver in search of the most exciting pieces of backpacking gear hitting shelves—and trails—in the coming months. From stoves to sleeping pads to backpacks, the innovation of your favorite brands didn’t disappoint. Backpacking gear is getting lighter, more comfortable and more feature-rich.
Nutrition plays a major role and has a great impact on all aspects of our lives. It is even more important when we are talking about recovery post-exercise: nutrition speeds up a return to full form for the next training session or match and improves performance.
Recovery is based on the four Rs: rehydration, energy recharge, muscle tissue repair and immune system regeneration.
Garmin International, Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN), today announced that Gary Burrell, aviation pioneer and co-founder of Garmin Ltd., passed away on June 12, 2019, at the age of 81. Mr. Burrell retired in 2002 and continued to serve as Garmin’s co-Chairman until 2004 when he was named Chairman Emeritus.
Mr. Burrell co-founded Garmin with Dr. Min Kao in 1989 with the vision of creating products powered by an emerging technology known as the Global Positioning System, or GPS. Thirty years later, Garmin has grown from a handful of engineers into a global location and communication product powerhouse with more than 13,000 associates in 60 offices around the world. Of his many accomplishments, Gary was most proud of the jobs he helped create.
Giant Manufacturing Co. saw the writing on the wall early on. The world’s biggest bicycle maker started moving production of U.S.-bound orders out of its China facilities to its home base in Taiwan as soon as it heard Donald Trump threaten tariff action in September.
“When Trump announced the plan of 25% tariffs, we took it seriously,” Chairwoman Bonnie Tu said in an interview at Giant’s Taichung City headquarters in Taiwan. “We started moving before he shut his mouth.”
WIRED, Transportation, Copenhagenize Design Co. from
… The three-horse race at the top is as close as ever, and while Copenhagen retains the top spot, Amsterdam has knocked Utrecht out of second place with recent bold steps. All three remain role models for all of the friendly competition below. And it’s no longer only the Danish and Dutch cities that are really taking the bicycle seriously. The second pack sees a tightening gap between Antwerp, Strasbourg, and Bordeaux. Behind them, Oslo has shot up in the ranking over the last four years, and Index newcomers like Bogotá, Bremen, Taipei, and Vancouver are showing other cities how possible it is to make urban centers better for the bicycle. Just outside the Top 20 sit a number of cities all on the cusp of breaking through, each requiring sustained investment and implementation of bicycle innovations to see better rankings in 2021.
… Health is more strongly correlated with body-fat percentage and distribution than with overall weight, but getting an accurate measure of one’s muscle-to-fat ratio is not especially simple—and still draws focus to body image in ways that can introduce its own risks of eating disorders, depression, social isolation, and all manner of things that may be more dangerous than body fat itself.
Except in extreme cases, no single number gives a good idea of whether a person is functionally healthy or not. The common numbers are not directly or easily changeable. As these numbers continue to dominate health care, however, an emerging body of evidence is finding useful and cheap numbers that anyone can track. If these new numbers aren’t being taken seriously, it may be because they seem too obvious.
Nearly everyone these days seems to be promoting whole foods over processed foods. Think about how terms like “whole grain,” “clean eating,” “all natural,” “functional” and “local” have taken over the lexicon. Yet, until now, there has been scant scientific evidence to support the eat-whole-foods movement.
In recent weeks, the British Medical Journal published two new populations studies (study 1; study 2) that found a lower risk of heart disease risks and greater longevity among adults who eat less processed food. And a far more rigorous investigation from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) showed that subjects eating ultra-processed foods consumed significantly more calories and gained more weight than the same subjects when they ate minimally processed or whole foods.
The NIH paper, published in Cell Metabolism in an issue dated Aug. 6, also offered some surprising theories to explain the benefits of minimally processed foods. At the same time, it acknowledged that ultra-processed foods make several important contributions to the nation’s diet.
As a previously coached athlete and a coach myself, the nebulous “listen to your body” mandate once perplexed me. What exactly does listening to your body mean? And does everybody listen to their body the same way? As I have trained and coached, I have gained perspective on how and when to listen to your body to help achieve your goals.
It can be tempting to focus only on the physiological costs of prescribed workouts in the form of Training Stress Score (TSS), heart rate and intensity factor (IF). This is especially true among “Type A” athletes, who pride themselves on motivation and day-to-day execution. However, one of the most important (yet overlooked) metrics is simple: how you feel when you wake up in the morning.
For example, there are days when I wake up, measure my morning heart rate, and crawl to the shower. As I make my way out the door, I feel agitated and grouchy. At work, I find that climbing the two flights of stairs is difficult. If I look at my Performance Management Chart, it will usually confirm what I’m feeling: my Training Stress Balance (TSB) is negative and/or my ramp rate is high. All of these indicators will help confirm what my body and mind are already telling me: to adjust my workout or rest for the day.
President Trump is now backing a plan to pay for $12 billion of infrastructure improvements at national parks.
“We’ve got some housing that’s just abysmal. It’s an embarrassment. We’ve got employees — especially some of our seasonal employees — who live in trailers. Trailers with mold, trailers that need to be replaced,” Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly explained.
While visitors rarely see park employee housing, managers told MTN News that staff living in safe and comfortable housing makes a difference.
… Today, just 100 families own about 42 million acres across the country, a 65,000-square-mile expanse, according to the Land Report, a magazine that tracks large purchases. Researchers at the magazine have found that the amount of land owned by those 100 families has jumped 50 percent since 2007.
Much of that land stretches from the Rocky Mountains down into Texas, where, for some, commercial forests and retired ranches have become an increasingly attractive investment.
Battles over private and public land have been a defining part of the West since the 1800s, when the federal government began doling out free acres to encourage expansion. For years, fights have played out between private individuals and the federal government, which owns more than half of the region.