Deemples, the region’s leading golf startup, is proud to announce the addition of adidas Golf and W Kuala Lumpur as sponsors for the Deemples Monthly Medal- a golf tournament organised by the startup on a monthly basis. W Kuala Lumpur and adidas Golf will sponsor prizes for these tournaments, which include hotel stays, spa and F&B vouchers as well as golf apparel and accessories.
David Wong, CEO and Co-Founder of Deemples
David Wong, the CEO and Co-Founder of Deemples, welcomes the sponsorships for Deemples’ monthly tournaments, saying, “Having the support of amazing brands like adidas Golf and W Kuala Lumpur for the Deemples Monthly Medals is validation that we’re on the right track with all our efforts. We host these monthly medals to provide an opportunity for golfers to come and compete fairly, regardless of their skill level. That’s what the golf handicap is for, so everyone can play on a level playing field. W Kuala Lumpur and adidas Golf saw that no one in the industry was doing something like this, and they wanted to be a part of it.”
Revitalizing the Malaysian golf industry
The partnership between W Kuala Lumpur, adidas Golf and Deemples is a positive sign for the golfing community in Malaysia. Both brands bring validation, credibility and the strength of brand name to the sport, bringing excitement to the community.
Eileen Fong, Senior Manager at adidas Golf Malaysia, said, “adidas Golf has always believed in supporting the growth of golf and making it accessible to one and all. Deemples has been working in that direction across Southeast Asia as a driving force in revitalising the sport. adidas Golf is happy to work with Deemples in making sure their goals are met so that all golfers can have access to the game irrespective of when and where.”
In addition to sponsoring the Deemples Monthly Medal, adidas Golf is also sponsoring prizes for all competitions organised by the Kuala Lumpur Golfers Club (KLGC) until September 2019. The KLGC is a golf society, which organises 15 games per month exclusively using the Deemples app and handicap system.
Christian Metzner, General Manager at W Kuala Lumpur, shared, “As an avid golfer myself, exercise is a part of my lifestyle and I would like to incorporate some fun and social elements to it, hence the partnership with Deemples. With this collaboration, we want to introduce Golf as something that even the younger generation can enjoy, giving them the energy to look and feel good.”
The Deemples app helps find golfing buddies
Deemples is the region’s “uber for golf”, helping golfers find buddies across five countries in Southeast Asia – Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, The Philippines and Brunei. Built with passion, Deemples is helping educate people about the game of golf and building an ecosystem for players, golf courses and brands to grow the sport across the region.
There’s a refreshed app out there, and it’s Google Fit’s brand new app that’s focused on beats and moves. We’ve read through the article by Google Fit’s VP of Product Stacey Burr and happy to share our review on this app. We speak to AsiaFitnessToday.com co-founder, Jasmine Low on this.
App Functionality
Google Fit has just launched a 30-day challenge beginning on January 1, 2019 and you can sign up anytime. We ask Jasmine Low how often she uses the app, and how it’s worked for her:
Jasmine Low: I downloaded the app six months ago, and have been using it without even thinking about it! Once downloaded, you enter your personal settings, your weight, height, your goals – for example, you can set a goal of moving 45-minutes a day, then add in your activity like cycling for 35-minutes or hiking 90-minutes whenever that happens. The app will congratulate you as you achieve your goals. And I must admit, it’s quite a nice feeling, being congratulated and appreciated – even though you know it’s an app talking to you!
You’ll get Heart Points from activities logged on the Google Fit app. The app will automatically monitor your activities whether you’re walking, running, Zumba dancing or cycling making it so easy that you’ll just need to download the app and let it track your moves.
1 Heart Point Reward when you Move 1 minute
Google Fit tabulates Heart Points for any activity that gets your heart pumping. So they offer 1 point for each minute of moderate activity like fast-paced walking, 2 points for more intense activities like running or kickboxing. You’d need to achieve 150 Heart Points per week to meet the American Heart Association (AHA) and the World Health Organization (WHO)’s physical activity recommendations. And in doing so, you would have “reduced your risk of heart disease, improve sleep and increased overall mental well-being”.
Jasmine Low: It took awhile but in mid 2018, we stumbled upon the answer. Asia Fitness Today – the result of 5-years of research and development as well as event experience, was the vehicle for our bigger purpose: to get more people moving! It was as simple as that. So I coined the name #Move8fitness movement and the first #Move8 event kicked off in July 2018 with Zumba dancing and a 7KM walk along the route of monthly KL Car Free Morning organised by MultiGreen Events.
Get the family together!
Get your co-workers and colleagues
Bring out your class of lecturers & students
Corporate & government executives
Simply put, ANYONE can get moving and make it simple yet challenging to suit each person.
Everyone needs a buddy
What Google Fit has done to inspire more people to move in what they call a Digital Wellbeing exercise, is gather 36 influencers from nine countries around the globe who show how they earn Heart Points. Read about it here and follow the hashtag #GetFitWithGoogle on Instagram and YouTube.
Meanwhile here in Malaysia, we kick off 2019 with the #Move8 Walkathon on 3rd March 2019, in collaboration with International Women’s Day. 10% of funds raised will benefit the Home of Peace, a home for girls. Use promo code: move8, and enjoy 20% discount off your entry fee. Find a buddy, and come walk with us.
Mobike, the bike-sharing company that began its operation in China, released some pretty awesome stats on its 2017 usage in the country. Last year saw 9 million bikes being shared by users in Beijing alone.
The stats released by them are not concentrated in Beijing alone though and they have teamed up with the China New Urbanization Research Institute to analyze just how their bikes are utilized.
Here are some of their stats.
2.5 billion kilometers traveled
Image from Mobike’s White Paper
Using bicycles to connect to public transport
Image from Mobike’s Bike-Sharing Whtie Paper
Saving urbanspace
Image from Mobike’s Bike-Sharing Whtie Paper
More male than female users
Image from Mobike’s Bike-Sharing Whtie Paper
What Mobikes are used for
Image from Mobike’s Bike-Sharing Whtie Paper
This article was originally posted at Time Out Beijing. Click here to view Mobike’s White Paper.
Strong consumer demand makes Versa the fastest selling product in Fitbit history
HONG KONG, June 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Fitbit, Inc. (NYSE: FIT), the leading global wearables brand, today announced that it has shipped more than one million Fitbit Versa™ devices since general availability began on April 16, demonstrating strong consumer demand for a well-designed, health and fitness-focused smartwatch with long battery life and broad compatibility, at an affordable price point. Additionally, Fitbit announced that more than 2.4 million users have already used its new female health tracking feature, which became available to all Fitbit users last month.
Fitbit Versa(TM)
“With Fitbit Versa, we are delivering on our promise to offer a true mass appeal smartwatch with engaging new features. The positive response to Versa shows that we are filling this void and well positions us to gain share of the fast-growing smartwatch market,” said James Park, co-founder and CEO of Fitbit. “The engagement we’ve seen with our new female health tracking feature further demonstrates the value our users see in being able to get a more comprehensive look at their overall health and wellness, in a single place, in a way that other available cycle tracking tools cannot.”
Within the first two weeks that female health tracking was first made available to iOS and Windows users, more than 1 million users began using this feature. Now with cross platform availability for Android users as well:
More than 2.4 million users have added the feature to their Fitbit app
1.8 million users have added at least one period to the calendar
More than 500,000 users have added two or more retrospective periods
Nearly 700,000 users have logged one or more symptoms
With female health tracking, Fitbit users can better understand their overall health and wellness by accessing their data all in one place. Combined with the user’s sleep and activity data, Fitbit is providing a way for its users to gain a better understanding of how their cycle impacts other aspects of their health and wellness, while also potentially creating one of the largest databases of female health.
Fitbit continues to see growth in apps and clock faces built for Fitbit OS. Through its software development kit (SDK), more than 18,000 developers have joined the Fitbit developer community and over 900 apps and clock faces have been built.
Fitbit Versa is available for HK$1798 in black with a black aluminum case, gray with a silver aluminum case, or peach with a rose gold aluminum case; accessories range from HK$238 to $788. Fitbit Versa Special Edition, is available for HK$1998 in a lavender woven band with rose gold aluminum case or charcoal woven band with graphite aluminum case, each with an extra black classic band. The Versa and accessories is available in Hong Kong stores including Sound and Vision (HK International Airport), @E-lifestyle, Fortress, Broadway, Chung Yuen, LOG-ON, Lane Crawford, GigaSports, City Chain, Wilson and Weareready.hk Concept Store.
About Fitbit Versa
Fitbit Versa is your personalized daily health and fitness companion: a modern, full-featured and competitively priced smartwatch that helps empower you to take action, make the most of every moment, stay connected and reach your goals. A 24/7 health and wellness companion, Versa helps you reach your goals with a personalized on-device health dashboard, new female health tracking feature[i], and an advanced health and fitness experience — all with 4+ days battery life[ii]. Versa also helps you stay connected with advanced smart features like phone-free music, secure, wallet-free payments, notifications, and Android quick replies — along with more than 900 popular brand, developer and Fitbit Labs apps[iii], and customizable clock faces.
About Fitbit, Inc. (NYSE: FIT)
Fitbit helps people lead healthier, more active lives by empowering them with data, inspiration and guidance to reach their goals. As the leading global wearables brand, Fitbit designs products and experiences that track and provide motivation for everyday health and fitness. Fitbit’s diverse line of innovative and popular products include Fitbit Blaze®, Fitbit Charge 2®, Fitbit Alta HR™, Fitbit Alta®, Fitbit Ace™, Fitbit Flex 2®, and Fitbit Zip® activity trackers, as well as the Fitbit Ionic™ and Fitbit Versa™ smartwatches, Fitbit Flyer™ wireless headphones and Fitbit Aria 2™ Wi-Fi Smart Scales. Fitbit products are carried in over 45,000 retail stores and in 86 countries around the globe. Powered by one of the world’s largest social fitness networks and databases of health and fitness data, the Fitbit platform delivers personalized experiences, insights and guidance through leading software and interactive tools, including the Fitbit and Fitbit Coach apps, and the Fitbit OS for smartwatches. Fitbit Health Solutions develops health and wellness solutions designed to help increase engagement, improve health outcomes, and drive a positive return for employers, health plans and health systems.
Fitbit and the Fitbit logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fitbit, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Additional Fitbit trademarks can be found at www.fitbit.com/legal/trademark-list. Third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
[i] Female health tracking is available to adults 13 and over in the U.S.; ages may vary by country. [ii] Battery life use varies with use and other factors; 7+ hours playing playback and using Connected GPS. [iii] Because Fitbit Labs content is experimental in nature, users may experience minor issues, and the time period for which apps and clock faces are available may be limited.
OYSTER BAY, New York, Aug. 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — The healthcare wearables market accounts for US$6.8 billion of the current US$25 billion wearables market. ABI Research forecasts that Wearable Healthcare, including healthcare devices, sports, fitness, and wellness trackers will continue to dominate the wearables market and will exceed revenues of US$10 billion in 2022.
Healthcare wearables that monitor health conditions, physical performance, and brain activity will move beyond smartwatches and fitness trackers; they will shrink in size and change in form factor type. Unlike today’s bulky health related devices, ultra-thin and ultra-soft sensors with software analytics make next-generation wearables smarter and more useful.
“As an ultimate form factor of wearables, flexible body-worn sensors are quite an innovation for wearable adoption in healthcare, fitness, and human-machine interface,” says Marina Lu, Senior Analyst at ABI Research. “These sensors can be integrated into a small patch and attached to human skin surface to track vital signs and other biometrics continuously and wirelessly. Some of the implementation examples include electronic tattoos and skin sweat sensors.”
The electronic tattoo developed by Rotex performs many of the typical functions of smart watches and fitness trackers. Not only does it monitor health conditions in real-time, it also provides a different means to control devices as an integral part of IoT. The low cost and disposability of the electronic tattoos further the use cases and value appeal of wearable technology, especially for customers who are price sensitive.
Replacing costly doctor visits and painful lab-based blood tests, non-invasive sweat sensors can measure a set of key biometrics from a single bead of sweat. A few companies are working to capture the sweat sensor market, such as Eccrine System, GraphWear Technologies and Kenzen.
These sensors require flexible components and startup Royole is leading the way. Royole’s plan for mass production of flexible displays and sensors will accelerate the technology adoption for wearables and facilitate more aesthetically-pleasing wearable designs, smaller form factors, and more immersive experiences.
“Health sensors are becoming increasingly commoditized, as they allow continuously physical monitoring with reduced manual intervention and at low cost,” concludes Lu. “While the miniaturized health sensors enable consumers to monitor health conditions by themselves and be aware of their own health care, they also extend to the enterprise market by delivering superior analytics for clinical and medical research. Once privacy and security concerns are addressed and standardization in health communication protocols are put into place, the next-gen of wearable healthcare will be ushered in.”
ABI Research stands at the forefront of technology market intelligence, providing business leaders with comprehensive research and consulting services to help them implement informed, transformative technology decisions. Founded more than 25 years ago, the company’s global team of senior and long-tenured analysts delivers deep market data forecasts, analyses, and teardown services. ABI Research is an industry pioneer, proactively uncovering ground-breaking business cycles and publishing research 18 to 36 months in advance of other organizations. For more information, visit www.abiresearch.com.
Fitness isn’t something we can think about once, run through a checklist of things to improve it, and forget about. Just as in other areas of health, fitness must be maintained through small and consistent actions that add up over time. That’s why mobile apps make ideal fitness companions. Because our smartphones and apps are always with us, they become constant reminders to check your progress, stay the course, and keep your willpower strong.
Whether you’re trying to lose weight, walk more steps in a day, or make time for a seven-minute power workout in your living room, fitness apps can help.
While some apps for fitness connect you to a community of people who cheer you on and send their support, others motivate you through competition. One fitness app on this list, called Pact, lets you compete for cold, hard cash: e.g., she who hits the gym most in a month wins the pot. In others, such as Strava, glory is in the bragging rights you earn when you get the shortest time running or bicycling a segment in your neighborhood. You compete virtually against everyone else using the same app and covering the same ground.
Some of the apps highlighted here are tracking tools. You can log workouts, count calories eaten, and collect stats about all your runs to see overtime how you’re improving. Fitness apps can also be coaching apps that put you in touch with a personal trainer or nutritionist who will check in with you once a week. And some, of course, combine all these things.
But most important of all, the best fitness apps let you set your own goals and maintain a pace that’s right for you. They keep you motivated for becoming the version of yourself you want to be.
Free Available on: Android, iOS
Earn money for charities every time you run, walk, or bicycle by using the free Charity Miles app. Corporate sponsors (whose information you’ll see as a backdrop image in the app) agree to donate a few cents for every mile you complete. Browse the app’s list of charities, find the one that you support, and then hit the road. When a lot of people use Charity Miles, those little bits of money add up.
Free; $4.99 Elite Upgrade optional Available on: iOS
The best bicycle-ride tracking app I’ve tested is Cyclemeter by Abvio. This iOS-only app collects a wealth of data, is very accurate, contains several well-thought-out features, and appeals to fitness enthusiasts who participate in more than one sport. Despite the name, you can use Cyclemeter to track walks, runs, and other activities. It does not include a calorie-counting component, but it is packed with data about your biking outings.
Free app; requires compatible heart rate monitor (about $50 to $100) Available on: Android, iOS
If you want real hard stats about your workouts, accelerometers and GPS aren’t enough. You need a heart rate monitor…and an app that can access the information it collects. One option is the Digifit iCardio app for iPhone and Android (it’s called simply iCardio in Google Play). You can pair it with any supported heart rate monitor to track your runs, bicycle rides, and other workouts. Digifit iCardio records heart rate, of course, but also distance, time, and pace. All the components needed to track heart rate can add up, so plan to spend somewhere in the $50 to $100 range to get full use of this app. If you’re in the market for a heart rate monitor, I recommend the MIO Link wristband.
Free; $5.99 per month or $29.99 per year for Premium Available on: Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Windows Phone
Endomondo tracks your runs, bike rides, and other outdoor activities with good accuracy and a simple interface. Its training plans and coaching features, which are limited to Premium subscribers, definitely improve the Endomondo experience.
Free; optional Premium membership $49 per year Available on: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Web
I came to know the Fitbit system through testing the company’s activity trackers, such as the Fitbit Charge HR, but you don’t necessarily need a tracker to use parts of the mobile app and website. Without a tracker, you can use the Fitbit app to count calories, log your weight, and record other health information, such as your blood pressure and glucose levels. If you do own a Fitbit, however, you can also upload the data it collects to the mobile app via Bluetooth.
Free; $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year for Premium Available on: iOS
Former NFL player Tony Gonzalez aims to inspire you to get fit in the iOS-only workout app FitStar. The free app contains “Basic” workouts designed to inspire you to move more, whereas a Premium subscription gives you more program options, such as “Get Strong” and “Get Lean.” No equipment is required for these workouts, so you can complete them at home, at the gym, or on the road. When you first use the app, it runs you through a fitness test so that when you get rolling with your workout plan, you start at an intensity level that’s right for you.
Free; Jefit Pro version available for $4.99 Available on: Android, iOS
When you hit the gym, do you still carry a notebook or crumpled sheet of paper to all the stations and machines? Don’t. With mobile apps for the gym, there are better ways to keep track of your sets and reps. The Jefit Workout app gives you simple tools for crafting weight-lifting workouts and keeping track of the details as you complete your routines. You can log sets and reps, as well as how much you lifted. A calendar helps you plan your workout days and rest days. Jetfit Workout isn’t especially rich with features, but it gets the job done.
Free Available on: Android, iOS
The Johnson & Johnson Official 7 Minute Workout App (free) helps you squeeze some exercise into your day at an intensity level that’s right for you. The interface is surprisingly attractive and clear. All you need is a chair and seven minutes—or about 11 minutes if you add a warm-up and cool down. A medium-intensity workout can include jumping jacks, pushups, wall chair, high-knee running in place, crunches, plank, side plank, triceps dips using a chair, and a few other moves. The app coaches you through each move as it comes up in the workout. It’s a great app for people of all ability levels.
Free Available on: Android, iOS, Kindle, Nook, and Web
The free website and app Lose It!, designed for counting calories and logging exercise, can help you lose weight, especially if you tend to eat name-brand American foods. Lose It!, which has been around for years, has an incredibly strong community of supportive people to help you stick to your goals. Lose It! is compatible with a long list of other fitness devices and apps, including Nike+ FuelBand, Fitbit devices, Runkeeper, MapMyFitness, and Jawbone UP, so you can import your calorie intake and balance it effortlessly against your calorie expenditure.
Free; optional $5.99 per month membership required for some features Available on: Android, iOS, Windows Phone
The company that makes the Map My Run app for runners also makes a slew of similar apps for different sports, such as Map My Ride for cyclists and the more general purpose Map My Fitness. Although it might sound like Map My Fitness will give you the widest range of supported activities, really all the apps have settings that let you track different sports and workouts. In other words, you only need to download one of the apps, and you can use it for almost any activity (Map My Fitness has more than 600 activities). But beware: The free app keeps some of its features behind a subscription pay wall, starting at $5.99 per month or $29.99 per year. As with most fitness apps for running, walking, cycling, etc., Map My Fitness uses GPS to track the routes you travel, and shows you a map of the ground you covered when you’re done. It also displays length, in both time and distance, as well as pace, maximum speed, and a few other statistics.
Free Available on: Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Windows Phone, Web
We live in a world of temptation, cheap pleasures, stress, and convenience—all of which can affect our diet and health. MyFitnessPal is a mobile app and website that gives you a wealth of tools for tracking what and how much you eat, and how many calories you burn through activity. Of all the calorie counters I’ve used, MyFitnessPal is by far the easiest one to manage, and it comes with the largest database of foods and drinks. With the MyFitnessPal app you can fastidiously watch what you eat 24/7, no matter where you are.
Free; wagering money is optional (but kind of the point) Available on: Android, iOS
Pact, formerly known as Gympact, is an app that you use to wager money on whether you’ll go to the gym or complete a workout. The app verifies if you’ve hit your goals by making sure you check in to the venues where you said you’d pump some iron. If you reach or exceed your goals, you earn cash. If you don’t, you have to pay up. The pot is communal, and there are a lot of slackers out there pouring money into it.
$4.99 per month Available on: Android, iOS
Pick a playlist from one of RockMyRun’s music sets, and the beat will match your heart rate or tempo as you run. It’s a fun app to try, with a surprising array of genres, including classical music. If “Flight of the Bumblebee” inspires you to pick up the pace, give RockMyRun a try.
Free; $4.99 per year for Elite Available on: iOS
Rich with stats, highly customizable, and with an astoundingly low price for Elite membership, Runmeter is the best running app for data-lovers. Note that the $4.99 price for Elite membership is per year, making it the least expensive running-app membership you’ll find. It’s for iOS only, however, so if you switch between having an iPhone and an Android phone, it might not be best for you.
$4.99 Available on: Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Windows Phone, and Web (for accessing account)
Runtastic Pro lets you measure and track your runs, walks, and other exercises, but it also doubles as a coaching app to motivate you to keep working toward your goals. You can use it to train for races, too. The $4.99 Pro version is worthwhile, because the free app lacks (and tries to sell to you through in-app purchases) many of the features that are central to the experience, such as the coaching features, voice feedback, and music player integration. The one-time fee, rather than a subscription, makes Runtastic Pro a good deal.
Free; $4.99 in-app purchase for full content, recommended Available on: Android, iOS
The Runtastic Six Pack Abs app will leave your midsection muscles burning for days—or simply tighten that tummy, depending on the difficulty level you choose. It’s a solid coaching app that targets abs through a wide variety of exercise moves. A human voice (available in several languages) counts through your sets and reps, while a video of an avatar shows you the correct form for each exercise. Some of the training programs are weeks long, and there’s plenty of variety along the way.
$3.99 per month or $19.99 per year Available on: iOS
Motivating yourself to move, or keep moving, might take a little help, maybe from an up-tempo song with a catchy chorus. A neat iPhone app called Spring ($3.99 per month; $19.99 per year) plays music designed to help you keep your pace up until the end of your workout. You tell the app your steps per minute or RPMs for cycling, and it selects music that will be ideal for your pace. With more than 30,000 songs across a number of genres, it’s a great way to explore new music while also burning some calories.
$9.99 per month Available on: Android, iOS, Windows Phone
Music streaming app Spotify now packs playlists and special features designed for working out. A Running feature, for example, finds your running tempo and plays songs whose beat matches it. The company also created a few custom Running Original playlists, DJ-mixed electronic music that’ll perk up your workout, even if running isn’t your thing. Spotify’s fitness-focused features are for Premium members only.
Free; Premium from $6 per month or $59 per year Available on: Android, iOS
Runners, bicyclists, and other outdoor types have a host of apps and devices they can use to track their activities. The best one for competitive types is Strava. Whether you’re competing against yourself to beat your best time, or looking at the long list of strangers on the leaderboard who have smoked you on some nasty uphill stretch of your favorite route, Strava brings a fierce competitive angle. This freemium app is a great one to download if you crave having the heat turned up.
Free; $9.99 per year or $3.99 per month subscription optional (recommended) Available on: iPhone
One of the most fun, and challenging, workout apps I’ve tested is Touchfit: GSP. The GSP stands for Georges St-Pierre, your workout coach (and MMA World Champion) who has created a number of muscle-boosting routines. What I especially love is the app first has you complete a test workout, in which you rate different exercises as easy, tough, impossible, or “need to learn.” Your answers inform the app going forward about how difficult your workouts should be. You can choose workouts of 20, 40, or 60 minutes, to do at the gym or at home with little more than a mat and resistance band. The app is free to download with an optional (but recommended) $9.99 per year or $3.99 per month subscription.
Free Available on: iPhone
How is caffeine affecting your sleep, feelings of fatigue, and how hard you work out the next day? The iPhone-only app called UP Coffee (free) by Jawbone could help you figure that out. You use UP Coffee to manually log your caffeine intake, and the app then assesses how different amounts of caffeine affect your sleep. You need a Jawbone UP 24 or original other Jawbone fitness tracker for the sleep-measuring part. But once your connect the UP Coffee app to the fitness-tracking Up by Jawbone app, the rest is automatic. The results were surprising when I tested the app. I thought I was not at all sensitive to caffeine, but I noticed I slept noticeably less on nights that followed high caffeine intake days. I highly recommend Jawbone UP users give it a go.
$15 per week Available on: Android, iOS
Need a professional health coach to help you meet your fitness goals? For $15 per week, Vida Health Coach gives you in-app access to a personal coach who works with you one-on-one no matter what your health or fitness objectives are. Once a week, you can talk to your coach by phone or video conference, too, to get real advice. The coaches have a range of certifications and specializations, so if you have, say, gestational diabetes, you’ll be able to work with someone who understands your special needs.
$4.99 Available on: Android, iOS
Maybe you’ve heard of Zombies, Run! (featured next in this article), but never tried it because, well, you hate running. Now there’s an alternative called The Walk. It’s an app that uses audio storytelling to add some adventure to your walking workouts. As you walk, you listen to a story and are tasked with completing different missions. And who knows? Maybe adding a storytelling and adventure element is just the motivation you need to spur you to keep moving.
$3.99 Available on: Android, iOS
Zombies, Run! is an audio adventure and game rolled into a running workout. You listen to a story through your earbuds about zombies—which may be right on your tail!—and keep running to complete missions as they come up in the story. It’s a little silly, but definitely engaging. This app aims to motivate you to move rather than let you spend your time wading through data about your runs.
Free; $4.99 Elite Upgrade optional Available on: iOS
The best bicycle-ride tracking app I’ve tested is Cyclemeter by Abvio. This iOS-only app collects a wealth of data, is very accurate, contains several well-thought-out features, and appeals to fitness enthusiasts who participate in more than one sport. Despite the name, you can use Cyclemeter to track walks, runs, and other activities. It does not include a calorie-counting component, but it is packed with data about your biking outings.
The Adidas miCoach Fit Smart burst out of the German sports giant’s lab back in 2014, hot on the heels of the Adidas miCoach Smart Run.
Whereas the Fit Smart’s older brother packed in GPS connectivity, the new arrival shunned this feature in order to slim-down and offer a better battery performance.
When we reviewed the Fit Smart just over a year ago we lamented, “It’s neither a specialist GPS running watch nor an everyday activity tracker – it lies somewhere in between and, as a result, it falls short of being a device that we’d highly recommend.”
But now, thanks to an update that brings step tracking, calorie counting and estimated distance measuring to the workout-assistant, it is an everyday tracker – hence the updated review.
Read on to find out how it fares…
Adidas Fit Smart: Design and build
Although not as well received as Adidas would have wanted, we at Wareable were quite enamoured with the original miCoach training smartwatch, the Smart Run, and were excited to hear that a follow up device was about to hit the shops.
Whereas the Smart Run was quite a chunky device, with a large strap and oversized face, the miCoach Fit Smart pays its dues, design-wise, to the ever-growing fitness tracker genre that’s dominating wearable tech right now.
It hasn’t completely dumped the idea of a display – although there’s no glass or pixels packed into the Fit Smart – instead you’re looking at a 34mm silicone strap that hides a 17 x 11 LED matrix display. Alongside this basic yet effective display are a row of neon LED strip-lights, which we’ll come back to later, and two physical navigation buttons. There’s also a main action button below the display.
The silicone strap lets your skin breathe quite effectively and the clasp sits pretty comfortably on the underside of the wrist. At 50g it’s hardly going to weigh your arm down either.
The Fit Smart comes in two colours: black and pearl. It’s the latter colour variant that we took for a test run and, although it looks pretty futuristic when the plethora of LEDs are lit up, it is susceptible to looking a little bit grubby after a few training sessions. The black one shouldn’t suffer from this issue, obviously.
It’s sweat proof and is 3ATM water resistant, although Adidas recommends not swimming with it on.
Adidas miCoach Fit Smart: Training
On the underside of that LED display you’ll find the Mio heart-sensor, which we’re told is the same one that was present on the Smart Run GPS running watch and the same one you’d find onboard Mio fitness wearables.
Your heart rate plays a key role in the Fit Smart experience, which is centred around helping you train in specific zones. It’s important to remember that the miCoach Fit Smart isn’t a dedicated running watch – rather a training companion that is designed to work across a range of activities including strength and flex regimes.
During a training session, the colour strip of LED lights light up to tell you what zone you’re in, with five different colours on show – all representing a different training intensity zone. During a free training session it’s up to the user to monitor his or her own zones and adapt accordingly, while during a set training session, the LED display will tell you to increase or decrease intensity in order to hit the desired level. You’ll also feel vibration alerts as well when you need to step it up or ease it off.
It’s a system that works well and the display’s instructions are pretty clear. However, you’re putting a lot of trust into the heart rate monitor’s accuracy and we’re not entirely convinced of its pulse recording skills. When testing the Fit Smart against the TomTom Cardio and the old miCoach Fit Smart, we found that our levels varied greatly across the devices, with the Fit Smart and the TomTom being much more in-tune with each other.
Getting a heart rate to register isn’t exactly a speedy affair either – you’ll be waiting around for around a minute before it locks in.
Adidas miCoach Fit Smart: Activity tracking
The biggest criticism we threw at the Fit Smart originally was its lack of fitness tracking smarts; it seemed pointless to have an activity band that didn’t offer basic lifestyle recording.
That’s been fixed, thankfully with the Fit Smart now using its sensors and accelerometer to count steps and estimate distances travelled and calories burned.
You can view your progress in detail on the app – it also tallies with distances covered on other Adidas products synced to you account – or directly on the device itself by tapping the main button.
We found step counting to be a little generous compared to a Jawbone UP3 but, as with all algorithmically created counts, the stats should be used as a guide and not an exact science.
The revamped Train & Run app allow lets you set daily and weekly goals.
Adidas miCoach Fit Smart: Ecosystem
Like the Smart Run, the Fit Smart is heavily tied into the Adidas miCoach ecosystem, which is both desktop and app based.
With the Fit Smart you’ll be using the app (iOS, Android and Windows Phone), which we’re glad to say has had a major spruce-up in time for the new activity tracking update.
Once paired using Bluetooth 4.0, the Fit Smart will keep in sync with the app, sending over details of your latest training sessions and receiving the details of any set workouts that you want to do – you can store 15 different workouts, each with their own intensity zone objectives, directly onto the band. These workouts can customised yourself within the app, or you can select one of the many on offer from Adidas.
Within the app you can also customise the Fit Smart’s display, opting for a single screen showing a specific training aspect (distance travelled, calories burned, heart rate, pace and so on) or a split screen with two dynamics on display.
You can train with the Fit Smart untethered from a smartphone; it works independently. However, with no GPS connectivity built in, the Fit Smart is extremely unreliable when it comes to tracking distances.
There is a 12 minute calibration workout built in to the Fit Smart that you should carry out in order to improve speed and distance recordings, although we found that this made only a minimal difference. Long story short: if you want detailed data on your run you’re going to need to tether to your smartphone and the miCoach app, making use of your mobile’s GPS connectivity.
The device itself has memory enough to store around 10 hours of workout data. You can access your recent history by navigating through the watch’s homescreen.
This homescreen extends to one that displays the time and two that start a new workout. The latter splits into free training and your stored workouts, which are clearly labelled.
Adidas Fit Smart: Extras and battery life
The Adidas miCoach Fit Smart smashes its older brother out of the park when it comes to battery life.
Adidas states that you’ll get five days of use from the 200mAh battery, with an hour’s training a day. We’ve done six 5km runs with our Fit Smart in free training mode, as well as testing out a couple of the set workouts and we’ve still not had to give it a charge. It’s been on standby mode for over a week as well.
It will charge from flat in three hours but the bad news is, like most new wearables on the market – it does need its own charging cradle. This isn’t a moan that’s unique to Adidas though, so we’ll not mark it down for that.
