Technology To Keep You Trim: Essential Fitness Accessories
Tanita innerScan Dual – Forget your regular bathroom scales, there’s so much more info and data that can be collected by weighing scanners these days, and the Tanita is the ultimate. It scans and analyses 26 different bodily attributes from weight, body fact and muscle mass to metabolic age, body water and BMI. Surprisingly easy to use, and totally at place in a bathroom with its sleek and subtle design, we tried out the Tanita for a month and have to admit it’s addictive. The thing is, once you know what your BMI, or other ratings, are, you try to better them. The Tanita is great at giving you accurate figures about your body weight and composition, and thus the motivation to tackle areas you want to change. You can see results instantly as readings vary, but be warned – this can be bad news as well as good. So the effects of an over-indulgent weekend will be revealed as soon as you step on the scales on a Monday morning. For that reason, we recommend using like any other gauges and only checking once a week, at the same time, to get a more balanced view of how you are progressing. RRP £395.
FitBit – Everybody knows what a FitBit is by now and you can see one worn on the arm of the majority of most groups of women during any given week. From challenges with your pals to daily goals, the wearable sports tracker is an unignorable accessory that buzzes you into action every time you try to sit down. If fireworks and cheers are what it takes to get you moving, the FitBit is for you. It tracks your exercise, and through the app can map runs, count calories and monitor sleep, so you’ve got a personal trainer at hand at all times in the form of a wrist watch. There’s a multitude of designs to choose from and various selling points to appeal to different markets. It takes mere minutes to charge and the batteries tend to last around five days after a full charge. Prices start around £55.
If you’re not looking for a watch to wear and track movement all the time it’s worth considering a cheaper option such as the Cardiostrong Activity Tracker by Powerhouse Fitness. Not as sophisticated as a FitBit, but at a fraction of the price it’s a great accessory to help you count steps and give that extra bit of motivation when it comes to achieving your 10k daily steps. £29.99.
Power Plate – The Power Plate brand is the market leader when it comes to vibrating exercise stations. The great thing about Power Plate is that it’s not just a piece of equipment that speeds up muscle toning and fat reduction, it’s actually all you need to create your own home gym. When you buy the product you can also get a plan tailored to your needs, with access to online tutorials and even additional equipment, such as therabands and yoga balls, thrown in. I tried the Healthy Mums programme, designed by post-natal recovery specialist Jenny Burrell, which is a 12-week programme designed to tone you from the inside out. Knowing that new mums have little time for joining gyms or going for long runs, Jenny has created an ongoing regime that can fit nicely around your life without taking up too much time or much-needed energy! You can incorporate exercise into your daily routine, and I noticed effects after just a week. I’m currently tracking my progress and bringing you a full review on the regime and results later in the year. £1350 outright but monthly pay plans and buy now pay later options too.
Proskins Slim – Proskins are leggings that can actually help combat cellulite. Sound too good to be true? It’s not, we promise! Each pair contains micro-capsules within the yarn filled with caffeine, retinol, ceramides, vitamin E and aloe vera ingredients, which are massaged into skin during wear to help reduce the appearance of cellulite and moisturise, shape and improve skin tone. Independent clinical and sensorial tests found that after wearing Proskins Slim leggings for 28 days that users reported up to 2cm reductions on their thigh measurements, and a visible reduction of cellulite. And after four weeks of wearing the leggings to train, Belle can reveal that there was a visible difference in the appearance of the upper thigh – definitely smoother. Although whether the results last remains to be seen. We will keep you posted. Prices start at £50.
Smart Master Bullet Blender – It’s an unwritten rule in the health industry that anything you eat that hasn’t been blended to a puree will kill you. Oh okay, it’s not, but blitzing fruit, veg, pretty much anything does make it easy to ingest on-the-go, which is the key to keeping nutritionally balanced when you live a busy life. Having tried pretty much every model on the market, we’re most impressed with the Smart Master Bullet. Its Cyclonic Cutting Zone process pulverises pretty much anything, from cucumber to coffee beans, and it comes with a recipe book that offers more than your regular ‘green goo’ formulas. RRP £49.99.
So to sum up, there’s no such thing as a miracle when it comes to getting in shape, but there are some really great bits of tech that can enhance performance and speed up your journey to fitness. What are your essential accessories when it comes to working out? Comment below or join the conversation on Facebook here.
