FUTURE OF FITNESS

While you’re still faffing about with your latest wrist gadet, the fitness boffins are sprinting ahead

Our next-gen fit kit predictions

Picture the scene: you’re running along a white, palm-fringed beach with the sun shining and your PT keeping pace, spurring you on. (To the rum shack, you hope.) Sounds glorious, doesn’t it? Except, well, you’re not on a real beach and there’s actually no PT (or, alas, any rum) in sight. Instead, this is fitness tech taking your workout into a new dimension. And it’s happening now, as techpreneurs strive to make your sweat sessions easier, more effective and, generally, just a whole lot more fun. Read on to find out how else your fitness is going space age. Spoiler alert: there’s no ‘instant abs’ machine.

SELF-LACING SHOES

It’s all of your Back to the Future dreams come true... assuming you weren’t hoping for a hoverboard (oh, you were, weren’t you?). Still, you can have Michael J Fox-style auto-lacing trainers, thanks to Nike and its Hyperadapt 1.0 sneakers, which feature sensors in the heel that, when you put them on, prompt a spool to tighten the laces. ‘These are unbelievably cool – science fiction made fact,’ says Clare Varga, trend forecaster at WGSN. Though she adds: ‘This first version is more fun than useful.’ Which is fine since we’ve always ranked novelty over practicality anyway. See our thigh master/shake weight/ MBTS in the attic for evidence. Price to be announced; nike.com

IN-EAR PT

For those who’d like a PT but have issues with budget, small talk and personal space, there’s the artificial intelligence powered headphones, Vi by LIFEBEAM, which monitor your vitals while setting you goals. Attempting hill sprints? Vi can detect exactly how far you really can push yourself using a heart rate sensor, accelerometer, barometer and GPS. ‘It will tell you to take a break, too, if you’re too tired,’ says Hayley Ard of research firm Stylus. Plus Vi’s got the PT banter. Ask: ‘What’s my heart rate?’ She answers:

‘168. How many espresso shots did you have?!’ Hilaire. Around £172; getvi.com

SENSITIVE SHOES

When it comes to form, it’s all in your feet, or so says Salted Venture, the brand behind IOFIT – smart shoes that help your golf swing, but which are being developed to perfect other areas of fitness, like weight lifting. ‘Pressure sensors detect balance, weight shifts and pressure distribution in your feet,’ explains Ard. The data is streamed to an app on your phone, which then tells you if you need to shift your stance. One for perfectionists. Around £305; saltedventure.com

SMART-THINKING STYLE

Cyclists, hands up if you’ve sneakily checked your mobile for directions when on the road? Tsk tsk – sounds like you need the new smart Commuter Jacket from a collaboration between jean’s maker Levi Strauss and Google. By swiping and tapping a cuff made of ‘conductive yarn’ and embedded with sensors, the jacket tells you the fastest way to get to the pub and lets you answer calls via wireless headphones. Plus, as Jessica Smith, visual trends researcher at The Future Laboratory, says, ‘Wearable tech is often distracting, but here it’s discreet and functional.’ Best bit? Double tapping your sleeve to issue commands will make you feel like something out of Spooks. Price to be announced; Levi.com

MAGIC MIRROR

If you want to see real changes, then prepare to strip. Naked is a full-length mirror designed for the home that scans nine points on your body, noting fat, weight and muscle mass. It then generates a 3D image of you in the app. There’s even a time-lapse video to show how your body is changing as you train for marathons, go through pregnancy or just want to shift a few pounds. ‘Progess is so motivating, but when people rely on the mirror or the scales exclusively, they often miss tiny yet important changes,’ says CEO and co-founder Farhad Farahbakhshian. But Naked also checks whether your goals are healthy. Meaning, unlike Instagram fitspo, you’re not striving for the unachievable. Around £535 to pre-order; naked.fit

THE NEW REALITY

Let’s face it. Even the most luxurious gym is still a gym. But savvy studios, like IMAX Shift in Manhattan (imaxshift.com), are alleviating the boredom by showing cyclists videos of awe-inspiring landscapes and decibel-busting sound tracks. The next step? Virtual and augmented reality via a headset: ‘You’ll be able to choose your own environment, like running through a forest or climbing a mountain,’ says futurologist Dr Ian Pearson. It’s less Tomorrow’s World than it sounds – app developer Aaron Puzey has cycled the length of Britain using a virtual reality headset, from the safety of his living room in Dundee, and hopes to bring his product to our homes, too... So strap in.

A BAND WITH A PLAN

Have all the gear but no idea? Your gym might be swooping to the rescue by allowing its machines to tell you what to do. It’s cleverer than the average tracker: advice is based on what you’ve logged that week, both inside and outside the gym. ‘So if you’ve walked 1,000 steps one day, the next day it might recommend trying a body pump class to add in some toning,’ says Andy Caddy, chief information officer at Virgin Active, which is looking into the technology. It’s basically the answer to ‘what the hell do I do with all this information’ problem you have with your average fitness tracker.

AN EXPERT IMPLANT

For those who want to feel closer to their pets, you can now share this life experience – getting chipped. Analysts predict that we could have chips embedded in our skin that provide a continuous stream of data to our phones or a GP. As well as tracking fitness levels, the chips could pick up changes in temperature and blood pressure and help prevent illness. They could even warn you about dangerous lifestyle choices: ‘Diabetics could receive alerts when their blood sugar levels are falling,’ says Michael Oliver, analyst at Mintel. Sounds good, on the proviso they stay quiet when we sink our body weight in Sauv Blanc.

A DRONE FOLLOWING

Forget selfies, the future’s all about the ‘healthie’. ‘We could start seeing tiny drones, just a few millimetres long, that buzz around your head and take pictures of you as you workout,’ says Pearson. Some models are already in production, such as the Roam-e, the 85mm flying drone with 20 minutes flying time and facial recognition on its 5 megapixel camera. But the next development? Connecting the drones to eyewear, so you can stream videos of yourself as you exercise. Ideal for perfecting your technique, or broadcasting on social media so everyone can watch you workout. The dream.