WHY YOU WANT... ACTIV5
£119.95 A full-body workout in the palm of your hand
The Activ5 unit is a tactile, pebble-sized connected measurement tool that works as a very accurate pressure pad. It can measure the pressure ‘squeezed’ upon it, and when used in conjunction with set exercises and the app, it quantifies your e orts and can personalise your exercises with up to 100 separate full-body conditioning workouts.
The training and exercise plans are all based around the established method of isometric exercise, which is a form of strength training that relies on static positions rather than dynamic lifts or stretches. Unweighted isometrics, like the Activ5, use the exerciser themselves for resistance (for example, when doing squats or holding a plank position) rather than additional weights, which means users are able to take it anywhere.
The other big advantage of the Activ5 unit is its dinky size. Measuring just 95mm in length, it’s small enough to pocket and use in exercises as varied as the chest press, shoulder press, lat pulldown and triceps press, as well as more active moves like lunges and squats. Even with its compact size, the unit can measure up to 200lbs of pressure, so no matter what your size or relative strength, the Activ5 punches above its weight to accurately gauge your performance.
If you find the set series of workouts contained within the app a little dry, you can also exercise while gaming – Activ5 has a growing range of games that involve working out with the pebble, including Fly (fly around the world), Sumo (fighting game) and Rocko, a strange little game where you use exercises to make a bulldog puppy called Rocko jump from platform to platform to ever-greater heights. So, pawsitively good news, then.