Last updated April 12, 2019
When you’re training for a sport, you should be pouring your blood, sweat and tears into pushing yourself to the limit and increasing your physical and mental ability. We do all this happily, because we know it will help us to improve in the sport that we love. Ultimately though, it is still a sacrifice and still means time out of our lives and a toll on our bodies.
What’s important then is that we get the very most from our training so that every last it of effort goes towards improving our technique and our fitness. Thankfully, a whole plethora of gadgets and gizmos exist to help us do this. Not to allow us to take it easier, but to make sure that all that effort we put in leads to real results. Here we will look at some cool gadgets and gizmos that will help you to get more out of your hard work and dedication.
Endomondo
Endomondo is not so much a gadget, but rather is an app that will run on the gadget of your choice (probably a smartphone). Have this running in your pocket when you go for a jog and it will map out your exact route, taking note of things like the amount of time you’ve been running and the number of calories you’re likely to have burned. You can even then share your run through your choice of social media sites and receive encouraging messages from friends and family (pre-recorded) at certain points around your jog. A great form of biofeedback and also highly encouraging.
GoPro
GoPro is the name of a series of cameras that are unique in that they attach to your head, helmet or bike while you perform. This then allows you to record a POV video of everything you do in HD, while the durable casing ensures that they won’t get damaged. This is great news for many people because it means you get a great action-packed video of yourself, while at the same time getting the opportunity to critique your own performance.
Heart Rate Monitor/Pedometer
A heart rate monitor or a pedometer are two examples of biofeedback (which I touched on earlier). Biofeedback is essentially the word used to describe feedback regarding your physical state. This not only allows you to control more precisely the amount of effort that you’re putting in (and avoid overdoing it on the treadmill), but it also enables you to gradually learn to ‘feel’ what your body is doing so that you can control your exertion better when you’re out playing the sports.
Radiate Athletics
Now this is cool. Essentially the Radiate t-shirt is a t-shirt that changes colour in response to subtle changes in heat. Specifically this give it the ability to show you which muscles you’re using most, which in turn allows you to isolate those muscles better when you’re training for more targeted training. Of course it also looks pretty awesome, which is always a big bonus with sporting tech.
Thanks to Joshua Bing, who is a hockey player and works for a successful company selling ice hockey equipment for his help in gathering information that we have used for this publication.