weightlifting
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Lifting weights in a Panasonic exosuit destined for the Tokyo Olympics
Exosuits, exoskeletons and power-assist suits are mostly a thing of science fiction, used for battling alien menaces or lifting extremely heavy obstacles. Mostly. Now companies like Panasonic are making the case for actually using one. The reality is less about batting away threats and more about supporting workers with physically demanding or repetitive jobs and tasks. That was why Panasonic's Atoun Model Y was meant to go to the Tokyo Olympics, right?
The Hiiga-One is a mechanical bench press that doesn't need weights
The Hiiga-One workout system stands out immediately, even in the middle of a busy CES hall packed with flashing, swirling, blinking and thumping gizmos. It's a towering, weight-free, mechanical bench press machine outlined in white and with two strips of lights running down the supports on either side of the barbell. Hiiga-One is a friendly-looking, data-hungry beast, and it's designed to turn users into beasts as well.
Can the Peloton formula work for weight training?
I've been going to the gym regularly for a few years now, but mostly to spend some time on the elliptical and stationary bike. There are free weights but I've always felt a bit uncomfortable going anywhere near them; they tend to be used by guys who grunt a lot and drop the weights on the floor. I just feel so judged (even if they don't actually care). And I'm not the only person who wants to do some weight lifting but can't for reasons like inconvenience or embarrassment. Tonal, a home weight training system that uses electromagnets, is aimed at people like us.
Rithmio Edge tracks weightlifting sessions with Android Wear
We've seen a number of wearable devices that track your weightlifting sessions at the gym, but Rithmio has a new app that does so with a device you may already own. The Rithmio Edge app works with Android Wear smartwatches to keep tabs on your workout, tracking both exercises and reps using the company's gesture recognition technology. The app learns your movements as you go so it can log the different exercises you fancy during those lifting routines. It also tracks reps and sets so you'll not exactly where you stand when it comes time to analyze progress.
Gymwatch's fitness strap can tell you when your reps are wrong
Doing a single exercise, like lifting a weight, is pretty easy. Doing an exercise well, on the other hand, is pretty hard. That's the idea behind Gymwatch, a fitness wearable that's designed both to tell you how many exercises you've done, but also if you've done any of them badly. After a successful Indiegogo campaign, the product is now ready for prime time -- almost.
Push band offers wearable insight for your strength training regimen
There are plenty of activity trackers on the market that measure things like steps, distance and more. But what about offering useful feedback for those gym sessions? That's what Push aims to do with its wearable. The gadget measures power and velocity in order to gauge just how well you're doing with bench press, squats and more during each rep. Those metrics are used to determine where intensity or weight could be increased, beaming the collected data to a companion app. From there, you can monitor progress, set goals and get recommendations for improving -- on top of sending your numbers to a coach or personal trainer. Push is also continually adding new exercises for the tracker to keep the stats collection as complete as possible. And athletes have already taken notice. Strength and conditioning coaches for the Dallas Stars, St. Louis Cardinals, East Tennessee State University and others have used the wearable to gauge weight room performance. After a successful crowdfunding campaign and nabbing 2,000 pre-orders, the Push band is on sale now for $189.
Homemade exoskeleton lets a man lift big cinder blocks with ease
Think you need the budget of the military or a megacorporation to make an exoskeleton for heavy lifting? Nope -- all you need is some standard parts and the know-how to put them together. James Hobson (aka The Hacksmith) has finished a homemade robotic suit whose pneumatic cylinders let him curl 171.5 pounds' worth of cinder blocks with relative ease. While it's not the most sophisticated setup, it's only running at half pressure and could potentially double the load with a compressor upgrade. There's a work log at the source link if you're eager to see how this project came to be. With that said, you'll want to be cautious about trying this yourself -- there aren't any leg supports so far, and those blocks aren't exactly harmless. If you're like me, you'll probably feel safer watching Hobson's demo video below.
Buff(ing) for BlizzCon: Dog days
Buff(ing) for BlizzCon is a bi-weekly fitness series written by ShrinkGeek authors Rafe Brox and Michael McGreevy. Join the WoW.com team in getting in shape for the ultimate WoW geek event: BlizzCon 2010. No, it's not another worgen post. I'd roll a goblin, anyway, and not merely because of factional preference. I spent too many hours as a n00b getting repeatedly pwnt in Silverpine Forest, which has made me as bitter as powdered aspirin towards those furry bastards; I'd gank myself. No, this is the midsummer swoon, when folks tend to go through the motions in the long, hot stretch (at least in the Northern hemisphere), twiddling their thumbs between increasingly monotonous dungeon runs, idly considering rolling yet another alt or take a hiatus altogether to go hit some conventions and interact in the big blue room. In our case, it's also just past the midpoint of our six-month journey towards BlizzCon, when motivation may flag and adhering to healthier eating and exercise habits can begin to wane. Maybe you've hit a plateau. Maybe you're bored with your program. This point in time is, to quote everyone's favorite Mon Calimaran, a trap. OK, maybe it's more of a pothole, or yet another slog through Desolace/Stranglethorn Vale/[insert your least-loved zone of mid-game grind leveling here]. So what is there to be done about it?
Buff(ing) for BlizzCon: Programming for dummies
Buff(ing) for BlizzCon is a bi-weekly fitness series written by ShrinkGeek authors Rafe Brox and Michael McGreevy. Join the WoW.com team in getting in shape for the ultimate WoW geek event: BlizzCon. From the comments and discussion after the last installment of Buff(ing) for BlizzCon, we learned that reader Saitenyo has combined a laptop with an exercise bike so she can get her exercise and WoW fix at the same time. Sweet! Settle down, everybody, I'm not going to bust out something like COBOL, or even worse, FORTRAN (which during my one programming class in college, I got a D in). Rather, this goes out to the folks who are ready to take things to the next level and are thinking about coming up with their own workout plan and strategy. Much like developing a character spec or laying out the route for a road trip, it's often best to approach things from the far end and work your way back to where you are now, so you know both where you want to end up and how to get there. As the man behind the Jabberwock (no, not American McGee) said, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there."
