Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Tick, tock, don’t stop
Suunto Run
Price: £199
Fitness watches often wear their functionality rather heavily and tend to be over-burdened with features to maximise their potential appeal. While Suunto’s latest watch could be considered a multi-sports device (with tracking options for tennis, alpine skiing etc), the Run’s real focus, unsurprisingly, is running. Features that you previously had to dig into the SuuntoPlus store in the app to find (such as Ghost Runner, a pacing tool) are built in natively here. The result is a watch that newbies will find relatively straightforward to use, and seasoned runners will appreciate for its dedicated modes (eg, trail, marathon) and coaching via the app.
It made me want to get out and run – which is saying something
The watch, together with the longer of its two textile straps, weighs just 36g, the definition of ultra-lightweight. The bright 1 ⅓in AMOLED display is, as far as watches go, easy to navigate, either via the touchscreen or its two side buttons and rotatable crown. While it doesn’t have an offline maps feature (which didn’t bother me unduly, as someone who rarely heads out into the wilderness), it has a dual-frequency GPS chipset, meaning highly accurate monitoring of your position, whether that’s on streets, public footpaths or around a 400m track.
Pair it with Bluetooth headphones (I used the Suunto Aquas) and you get direct feedback on your run – including a metronome, if you wish – without having to bring a smartphone into the equation. It doesn’t have WiFi but comes with 4GB of local music storage, so you can load up the watch with MP3s (arranged via an app into playlists) to soundtrack your run; this may seem faintly archaic in this era of music streaming, but if no WiFi means longer battery life, that’s fine with me.
An optical sensor monitors your heart rate before, during and after the run, tracking your recovery as well as your period of exertion, with breathing exercises also built in. Yes, it has a bunch of standard smartwatch features too (such as weather and alarm clock) but they never overshadow the watch’s primary purpose. It actually made me want to get out and run – which is saying something.
Join the resistance
Speediance Gym Monster 2
Price: £3,689
This all-in-one fitness hub uses digital weights to simulate up to 100kg of resistance across a huge range of free-to-access workouts (more than 300). These are selected via a 21 ½in HD screen, which is tiltable and flippable to remain in view whether you’re sitting, standing or lying down. It uses magnetic wizardry to achieve things that standard weights can’t, such as the Eccentric mode, which adds resistance as you return to your start position. Workouts are as challenging as you require but also feel very safe; you can quickly boost and reduce “weight” using a rotary dial on a Bluetooth ring that you pop on your finger, and the Assist function slowly lowers resistance as you begin to struggle, helping you to complete that last rep.
Whoop, whoop!
Whoop Life fitness tracker
Price: From £349 a year
Many will be familiar with Whoop’s health-tracking sensors – subtle, screenless lozenges worn on the body (most commonly the wrist) that quietly monitor activity, day and night, and your body’s response thereto. Whoop Life is its new premium subscription tier, which gives you a redesigned, smaller sensor (called MG) along with new insights, including ECG measurements via a conductive clasp. Equipped with readings from a cuff, the MG also provides estimates each morning on whether your blood pressure is heading north or south. The data is comprehensive, the SuperKnit Luxe band super-comfortable, and the MG uncannily detected elevated stress levels before I did, prompting me to take a few much-needed deep breaths.
Core skills
Core 2 Thermal Sensor
Price: £220.95
Data nerds already have access to more fitness metrics than they could ever wish for. However, there’s one, core temperature, that’s not easily measured without using invasive probes, and is claimed to be closely linked to performance: essentially, if it rises too high, your power tails off. The tiny Core 2 (just 9g) is secured to the arm or chest with a strap and best used in conjunction with a heart-rate monitor; it then measures the heat transfer to and from your body to deduce your core temperature in real time and displays it, along with a Heat Strain Index, in the Core app – or, more conveniently, on a smartwatch. Those in pursuit of peak performance can act on warnings of overheating accordingly.
Walk that walk
URevo CyberPad Smart Treadmill
Price: £599.99
Somewhere between a walking pad and a treadmill, the CyberPad is compact and easy to store, with a handle for lifting it to the vertical and wheels for pushing it against a wall. But make no mistake, this is a hefty unit: it takes a maximum load of 120kg, with a generously sized walking belt (110cm x 42cm) and a max speed of 4mph (for me, a light jog). No set-up required: just unbox, plug in and go, with a remote taking care of the essentials, including adjusting incline on the fly (up to nine per cent, with adjustable feet offering an additional five per cent if your quadriceps can handle it). An optional smartphone app offers footage of picturesque walks, with pace and incline automatically adjusting as you go.
Recommended
