Too lazy to go to the gym? Don’t worry, at home workouts using smart fitness are more popular than ever. Many people have probably heard of these technologies that allow them to access live classes from their own homes in order to get that workout in. Through original down payments and different monthly subscriptions, there are a variety of different options one can take to exercise in the comfort of their own home.
Examples of these smart fitness technologies include Peloton, Mirror, and ClassPass Live to name a few. All of these differ in some way, but they are similar in the fact that have live workout classes for people to watch from home. For example, the Peloton is a stationary bike people can buy and then subscribe monthly for $39 to view live cycling classes in different cities from home. This is an expensive investment though because the bike is priced a little over $2,000 (Wollerton, 2019).
Another example is Mirror, which is a full-length mirror one buys for their home. It comes with a full LCD screen and access to live classes for $39 a month as well (Wollerton, 2019). While working out, people are able to view themselves in the mirror to see how they are doing while fitness levels and heart rate monitors are tracked on the screen. This device connects through bluetooth and a heart rate monitor which is similar to the topic of IoT and everything being connected.
Finally, a third fitness system now in homes is ClassPass Live. This takes on a more traditional setting where people are able to pay near $80 at first, then $39 a month for access to live classes (Wollerton, 2019). This program is displayed mainly on people’s tv’s as they exercise in their living rooms. A heart rate monitor comes with this subscription.
I have not had the chance to try any of these at home devices, but I would certainly like to one day. I am unsure if I would enjoy working out in my home because I like to get outside or go to an actual gym. I think these programs are aimed at audiences who are busy and always on the go, so they don’t have to make excuses not to go to the gym when they have these things at home.
I am curious though if these live classes can see the people at home actually doing the workouts or if its just one way? If they could see, do people think its an invasion of privacy? I also feel that this may seclude people from human interaction because everything is done online, through a screen. Although these fitness technologies are great for the home, I can’t help but think of how much IoT this includes. Connection to your home wifi, tv, heart rate monitor, blue tooth, apps on your phones, etc. are just some examples of what these devices are connected too. They also know your height, weight, and all other vitals.
Formal Citation:
Wollerton, M. (2019, January 19). Peloton, Mirror and other smart fitness tech
brings the gym home. Retrieved January 28, 2019, from Computers, Networking
and Electronics Technology – CNET website: https://www.cnet.com/news/
bring-the-gym-home-with-this-smart-fitness-tech/
Link: https://www.cnet.com/news/bring-the-gym-home-with-this-smart-fitness-tech/
It’s very important to fit fitness into our routines at least a few times a week. However, it’s not always easy to make it to the gym. Having this invention will allow us to still get the same workout in with the comfort of our home, it’s brilliant! I’d much rather work out at home and go at my own pace, rather than being intimidated at the gym by all the athletes. I would definitely put these at home workouts to use.
I am really intrigued by at-home “smart fitness” workout products. I’ve never purchases an at-home workout device before other than apps on my phone like Sworkit and 8fit. However, I think that products like the Peloton bike, which gained a lot of popularity this past holiday season, and The Mirror are really great to integrate into modern homes. I find myself often wishing I didn’t have to walk in the cold weather, or when I’m at home, drive 10 to 15 minutes to get to my gym/studio every time I want to workout. If I were to have access to a product like the Peloton bike or The Mirror, I would be able to save a lot of time and most likely save money in the long-run as well. Technology-wise, I think that it is such a good idea to bring the motivating, intelligent and familiar faces of trainers into our homes. The main reason why a lot of people workout in classes is because it can be hard for them to be motivated to workout alone. With this intelligence and the internet of things at work, people can be motivated to work out anywhere.
The development of smart fitness equipment is really helpful for people like me. I’m not that kind of person who like to spend most of their time outside. I prefer to stay at home especially in such a cold weather. I spend most of time just doing nothing at home and I don’t want to go outside. So, those smart devices listed could really make my life more colorful and more healthier. Also, one of my friends owned that “Mirror” at his home. It could connected to his devices which have Bluetooth. It also could display the weather information like the temperature, humidity, weather condition, and even message alarms as long as it connected to his devices. Besides, as you said, when people stand in front of it, it scans human body and shows the information of your body. When I stood in front of it, it just showed my heights, weights, IBM, heart rates, breathing rates, and so on. It was amazing and interesting. So, from me, it could also been used for medical or your own daily health care. The information it provides the specific aspect for us to work on, like the high IBM level it shows and we would know that’s the aspect we need to deal with, and could help us built a healthier life. So, all this artificial intelligence devices’ development are making our lives much easier.
I think this definitely is a good idea, and I did think of buying these kinds of products. Personally, I am a huge Cycling fun. I like going to cycling classes. When I lived in New York city or visit NYC, I often go to a Cycling studio called “Soul Cycle”. Soul cycle basically is a New York city based fitness company with different kinds of studios. I love to go there when I am in New York city, but I also do feel tiring of only going to NYC for cycling, since I study and live in State college right now. So, I started to find if there is actually online based cycling classes that I could stay in State College and do the cycling. I found that there is a company called “flywheel Sports” which provide cycling classes either indoor or outdoor. By indoor, they do have many of the actual studios located in New York City. But, for outdoor, Flywheel do provide “Fly At Home” bikes, and that bikes are linked to the televisions in order to access to the actual indoor classes. You could actually cycling with people in the NYC’s studio. I was thrilled at the time. I really wanted to buy this. But, it turned out really expensive and I do not have a television in home…
Even though I did not buy it, I do think this product is useful and accessible. For those people who are really busy and also want to exercise, these products are a great fit for them. Also, since right now is in winter, people do not go to the gyms often, these products could also help.
Although working out at home sounds nice on some occasions, I agree that the variety and the possibilities that come with going outside or going to a real gym are far superior to home workouts. With that being said, this new technology is definitely interesting for those times when you can’t get out of your house. My biggest question is what’s stopping people from just using their cellphones to look up exercises or get on an workout plan if they’re doing it from home anyways? While this is some cool technology, I don’t know if there’s really a market for it, especially as many people have smartwatches or fitness trackers to see their heart rates and track their steps now anyways. If this new technology is a two way system, it is certainly an invasion of privacy. Having a literal portal into somebodies home would mean a lot of data collection and surveillance, which is pretty creepy overall. I would be a lot more interested to see this kind of technology make its way to an actual gym, as opposed to just being available in your home, where you may be limited with space, or personal instruction. Despite being personalized, going to a real gym allows you to have spotters, as well as trainers and other people who go to the gym to ask if you have a question about a certain exercise.