We are living amongst a fitness explosion! So many new fitness and health gadgets are hitting the market each year, if you tried to buy them all you’d end up wasting a lot of money. The trick is figuring out which ones are worth your hard earned cash. We’ve decided to take some of the load + let you know 5 items that are actually good enough to warrant the capital outlay. After some intensive research, these are the ones we’ve been recommending to clients:


1.  ATHOS FITNESS WEAREver wanted to know how hard your muscles are actually working? Or if you’re actually working the right muscles during an exercise? Well now Athos Clothing allows you to do just that. This is compression clothing taken to the next level, giving you real time feedback from sensors around your body, which transmit via Bluetooth to your mobile phone allowing you to make sure every rep is quality.


2.  SANDROPE.  Need a quick calorie busting workout that you can do just about anywhere? Battling ropes are a great strength based high intensity training tool. Traditional battling roped however are a huge pain in the ass as they can take up a ton of room + aren’t easily adjustable in terms of weight (level of difficulty). Enter the Sandrope from Hyperware. The Sand rope comes in 2 weight variants, 15lbs + 30lbs, both are only 10ft long. A traditional 30lbs rope is 50ft long + 2 inches in diameter, that’s a lot of rope. As an added bonus, the Sandrope also comes with a free anchor to hold it in place.

Finis Neptune Waterproof MP3 Player

3.  NEPTUNE V2 WATERPROOF MP3 PLAYER.  This should be essential for all avid swimmers or surfers out there. Listening to music always helps our workouts. The right playlist can pump you up + allow you to push harder for longer, delivering better results. Finally there is a truly waterproof, purpose designed player that you can use for all your aquatic training sessions or surf sessions. Neptune provides the highest quality sound in the water without the use of ear buds using revolutionary Bone Conduction audio transmission to transmit crystal clear audio through the cheekbones directly into the inner ear. With 4GB of storage, aquatic athletes can listen to music, audiobooks, podcasts and more, all with incredible sound quality. The included charging cable also allows for quick song upload to the device. The 3-piece design has 2 side speakers and a high contrast OLED screen that sits comfortably on the back of the head. The screen shows the song, artist and play status for each use. Neptune attaches securely to goggle straps and rests on the cheekbones as to not interfere with swimming technique.

Nike Metcon

4.  NIKE METCON SNEAKERS.  No more having to take 2 pairs of shoes to the gym…Finally someone has taken the benefits of a lifting shoe + combined them with the utility of a sneaker. The Nike Metcon provides the stability, flat sole + raised heel of the traditional lifting shoe without the drawback of the shoe being good for nothing other than squats, deadlifts + Olympic lifts. The Metcon also has a roomy toe box + supple uppers that make it truly comfortable to run or do other cardio in but still squat + deadlift with solid connection to the floor. As an added bonus, they’re far better looking than all the lifting shoes out there.


5.  AMPSTRIP.  Ok, full disclosure first, this product isn’t actually available yet, its still in the Indiegogo phase. The technology is sound + their claims for the product are backed up by the early beta testers reviews. We can’t wait to get out hands on one. We’ve always hated the typical HR monitors. The chest strap is a pain in the butt + moves all over the place during vigorous workouts. We tried a couple of the wrist based HR monitors + they all SUCKED. Using optical technology just doesn’t work for high intensity training. Ampstrip is different, it’s a wireless patch that you wear on your chest (no straps) that uses electrical sensors to monitor your heart rate. But wait…its not just for exercise, the strip is designed to be worn continuously. By doing this, it can monitor your sleep, your movement, total calories burned, pretty much everything. It then seamlessly downloads it to your smart phone for analysis, it can even store information till such time as you’re close to your phone, no need to have the device right with you.