Top gadgets for workouts

Wednesday 23 February

Even if the weather hasn’t quite worked it out yet, we are slowly heading towards spring, and for a lot of us that means we’ll be dusting off our bikes or scrabbling around in the back of the cupboard for our running shoes as we begin our annual fitness drive.

Now we’re not going to kid you – unfortunately a lot of the effort is going to have to come from you. But you can also make your life a whole lot easier by introducing a touch of gadgetry to your workout.

Here are five of our favourite fitness-based gadgets – of course, there’s plenty of great fitness gadgets out there so feel free to give us your own choices in the comments below. Plus, make sure to check out Jon’s video test of the Best Sports MP3 Players.

Microsoft Kinect: a lot of people no doubt object to having a piece of gaming gear in a list of fitness gadgets, but hey – the Kinect is a motion sensor, therefore it requires you to move. Choose to make the most of it and you have a surprisingly effective fitness gadget on your hands.

Garmin Forerunner 410: good looking and highly advanced, when you’re out pounding the pavement you won’t find a better wrist-bound running companion. It comes with everything the more ambitious runner needs, and offers decent value for money to boot.

Nike+iPod: there aren’t too gadgets this old that are still the class of the field, but the simplicity and elegance of execution achieved by Nike and Apple makes this clever piece of kit an enduring favourite. The system’s appeal has only been increased with the release of the app-only Nike+ GPS.

Sennheiser Adidas PMX 680: they’re made by Sennheiser, look great, are lightweight and visible after dark, and won’t come loose when you’re running. Perfect. Plus they’re water-resistant so you don’t have to worry about getting all hot and sweaty.

Garmin Edge 800: give your cycling the edge with this fancy piece of kit from Garmin. Aside from all the traditional bike computer features, such as speed, cadence and what not, you also have on-board GPS and can download cycling routes you can access using the colour touchscreen.