Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

I spent so much time running and riding my bike to work that I totally fell out of the dancing game world. I hadn’t even pulled my dance mat out from under the couch for months. Thursday, I casually glanced at the old sites that I used to haunt when I wished I could play instead of work and I was surprised to find that my dreams had come true. Andamiro Entertainment has released Pump It Up for the Xbox.

Pump It Up (PIU) is different from Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) because it has arrows on the corners and a button in the middle. There are times when you have to use your hands in order to push all the arrows at once. Otherwise, they are pretty similar.

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After writing i2Workout Update, I got an email from Mike Curiale. He gave me permission to share his answers to my questions with all of you:

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I have an old Timex heart rate monitor that has lasted me forever. It works as well as any other heart rate monitor. The only problem is that I wouldn’t get an accurate reading until I was dripping with sweat. I finally found something to get an accurate reading from the moment I put it on.

• The Gadgets Page – How To Get The Most Out of Your Heart Rate Monitor – by Laura Moncur

A heart rate monitor is a great tool to measure your intensity during a workout, but most of the time, you can tell if you’re working out too hard. If you have a heart rate monitor, by all means, use it. If you don’t, no problem. Don’t let the lack of gadgets get in the way of getting out the door and getting some activity into your life.

In June 2004, I did a review of a program called i2Workout. It was a program that can make what’s like an iFit CD that will control your treadmill (or elliptical trainer or exercise bike). I used it quite regularly on my old treadmill, running it directly from the computer. It controlled the speed and incline of my treadmill and I was able to create a workout without pushing the buttons a million times.

This program was created by Mike Curiale. He seemed like a genial fellow in the few emails that we exchanged. Unfortunately, he has dropped off the face of the earth. My emails to him have gone unanswered and eventually, they started bouncing because the mailbox was full.

• i2Workout Treadmill Workout Development and Control Program

You’ll notice on his website that he has removed his program from his website, so it is impossible to download it anymore. I have received some emails from people who read my review, wondering if I would be able to give them a copy.

Fortunately, it looks like WinSite has a mirror copy of the download:

• WinSite: i2Workout

Make sure you read Mike’s website so you can install it correctly. I haven’t tried the program that WinSite has available, but if it’s anything like the version I have, it will be easy to use and very helpful.

There is a scene in Back To The Future II where Michael J. Fox falls into water. His futuristic clothing makes itself dry with a rush of air. The University of Bath is trying to make clothing that dries itself out.

• University of Bath – Intelligent clothing inspired by pine cones

It will use a reaction to humidity (from sweat) to open its tiny fibers, allowing more air into the garment. It sounds really cool and when it comes into existence, I’m sure that all the running magazines will tell you that you can’t go for a run without it.

Just remember that people lose weight running in cotton shirts and Payless Shoe Source tennis shoes all the time. All it takes is dedication and moderation.

Via: Hautegear » Intelligent clothing inspired by pine cones

While Apple’s new iPod nano is unlikely to make it onto anyone’s list of essential equipment for walking, running, or jogging, listening to music does make exercise more bearable, and a flash memory based music player doesn’t skip like a CD player or an old-fashioned iPod.

One more reason to consider this particular music player: If you don’t have a watch handy, the nano doubles as a stopwatch. Even if you do have a watch handy, it probably doesn’t have all of the features of this stopwatch—it tracks lap time and total time, and each stopwatch session is saved in a list. You can select an entry in the list to view the date, time, time for each lap, and other statistics.

Don’t let the lack of a $200 music player stop you from running, of course—but kudos to Apple for making this one a bit more than an entertainment device. See the Ars Technica review for a description and screenshot of the stopwatch feature.

I find inspiration in the strangest of places. Mike pointed me in the direction of this article about photography. It’s written by Ken Rockwell, an award winning photographer. He writes about how the camera you have doesn’t matter. He gives an example of his most famous photograph (shown above), which was taken with a broken camera. He says, “The important part of that image is that I stayed around after my friends all blew off for dinner.”

• Ken Rockwell – Your Camera Does Not Matter

What does all this have to do with fitness?

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After writing the entry: neXfit Bike – Does it Exist? I received the following email:

It’s a shame when our potential customers can’t reach us directly when they have questions regarding our product or services. We take pride in our new Interactive Fitness Bike and would want to make sure that everyone who required information about our products could reach us Directly. As Vice President of Sales and Marketing I would like to think that we do a great job in servicing our clients and gettings back to those potential customers with any addittional information that is required. My direct number is 416 391 3391 x222 for any of your readers who require any information about our products or services. – Geoffrey White

So, I called him. Geoffrey answered his phone and was willing to answer my questions:

“Is it okay if I post your email and phone number as an update to my entry?”

“Yes, please. We want people to get their questions answered.”

“I had a question about your bike. The website doesn’t say anything about it being compatible with Xbox or PlayStation, but a lot of the other sites were reporting that it was.”

“We sent out a press release about our new bike. It isn’t on the website yet. It is definitely compatible with Xbox and PlayStation 2.”

“Now, what about the new console systems that are coming out like Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3?”

“We’re taking one step at a time.”

“That’s good. I couldn’t see the controls for the bike on the website, what are they like?”

“We don’t have pictures ready of the new bike, but they are on each handle.”

Geoffrey was polite and willing to answer all my questions. It seems like they are doing their best to keep their website running after being “boing boinged” and “slashdotted.” If you have any further questions or want to purchase one, here’s the name and phone number of the man who can get you one.

This product says that it can predict your calorie expenditure with 92% accuracy. It uses sensors that measure motion, skin temperature, skin resistivity and ambient temperature. It communicates with software on your PC to calculate your calorie expenditure.

• apex introduces bodybuggâ„¢ – the world’s most intelligent calorie monitoring system

I have two problems with this gadget. The first is the price. The unit is $500 and it requires an ongoing subscription to the Bodybugg web service. I don’t know if it’s worth that much money to get 92% accuracy when I can get pretty close just by keeping track of my physical activity. Their own abstracts state the following:

[Physical activity records] can provide a great deal of detail on the types of physical activities engaged in along with the individual’s pattern of participation (Leenders, 2001, Weston 1997).

Their only problem with this method of calculating calorie expenditure is the time it takes to collect the data:

While these measurement tools are quite inexpensive, there is a significant cost disadvantage in that many are manpower intensive requiring personnel to gather and analyze the data generated. In the case of computer logs, participants must have a computer and be computer literate.

This Bodybugg sensor only works with a computer (a very expensive web-based computer system that requires an ongoing fee), so the Bodybugg doesn’t solve that problem.

The second problem that I have with this system is that all the abstracts and studies that were done on this program were with an armband system that worked in conjunction with a heart rate monitor. The Bodybugg doesn’t have any heart rate monitoring capabilities, so it doesn’t really have a proven accuracy rate of 92%. The mechanism that they tested is different than the one that they are selling.

In the end, a piece of paper where you write down what exercise you did all day is almost as good and over $500 cheaper.

Via: Hautegear – Wearable weight manager

Update 09-26-07: The television show, The Biggest Loser, features this product. All of the contestants are wearing them on their arms. Still seems more expensive than a heart rate monitor and a pad of paper.

Everyone (see the reviews below) is excited about these exercise bikes. According to the specs, they connect to Xbox, Playstation 2 or your computer, allowing you to play your video games using the exercise bike. They supposedly even have the vibration (shock) feedback that happens with some controllers when there is a collision or explosion.

• NeXfit – Get In The Game

That sounds good and is really exciting. The bike pictured here is actually pretty enough to reside in my living room with the Xbox. The only thing that bothers me is that I can’t buy it. I tried to click on the International store button and that didn’t work. The Canadian store button prices the bike at $2,300, but I’m not from Canada, so I can’t have it shipped to me.

I even tried looking at the forum to see if they have some questions answered there. Unfortunately, there was little there except people complaining that they are unable to purchase the bikes. This quote says it all to me:

I would never buy one because I feel this board and the workings of the website tell you alot about their customer service. I was going to buy one after seeing it in several articles. I cannot justify $3,000, if the customer service is not there when the product has issues.

Shucks… This looked so cool and it looked like it would be fun and not be so much of an eyesore in my small living space. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Nexfit is ready for Prime Time.

Via: neXfit’s new exergaming bike – Engadget – www.engadget.com

Via: Shiny Shiny: NeXfit Video-Game Exercise Bike

Via: MedGadget – Fun Way to Fight Fat

Via: God Bless CES on Maxim Online

UPDATE: neXfit Bike – Update