Dork Adore » Health Gadgets

PowerBIKE reinvents the wheel with Power Plate technology

Judy Johnson — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:00:00 +0000

You probably thought the bike was a pretty flawless invention, but the fitness fanatics over at Power Plate HQ have decided to improve it, using the infamous Plate’s mechanical vibration technology to up the ante.

Yes, a vibrating bike.

The powerBIKE is the world’s first stationary bike to incorporate the pedal and crank system; with every revolution, the technology produces mechanical vibration that generates more muscle activity. So the harder you cycle, the more the bike vibrates, giving your legs a far more hardcore workout than a simple cycle.

Quadriceps work 167% more than in standard cycling; hamstrings are pushed an extra 144%; and the glutes are put through their paces by an extra 138%. That’s the kind of maths any gym bunny would love.

Of course, cycling in itself is a great cardiovascular exercise and the guys over at Power Plate haven’t forgotten it; you can cycle on the bike as normal if you fancy your usual workout, before a flick of a switch to turn it into the ultimate training companion.

Varying your workout between standard cycling and biking with vibrations will keep your muscles working, your heart rate pounding and also give you a much-needed breather from the powerful vibes when you tire.

Trust us, you’ll need it.

PowerBIKE review

Ever the new gadget enthusiast, I tried it out and – once I’d got my breath back – raved about it.

For those who struggle to fit in an hour’s spinning class five times a week (how do you guys DO it?) and are left unsatisfied by a quick go on the bike in the gym, the powerBIKE could fix your fitness woes. Just five minutes on the bike with the vibrations switched on will leave even the fittest athlete sweating: it’s accelerated training at its best.

Top cyclists across the world are already using it in their training to enhance performance and are loving the results. It’s also hailed as a great weight loss tool thanks to the mixture of aerobic exercise and muscle conditioning. Plus, with the powerBIKE and Power Plate deemed a match made in heaven, the pair are the perfect equipment if you are thinking of adding to your home gym. Cardio, conditioning and calorie burning from your own home? We like it.

For just one little machine, the powerBIKE packs a punch when it comes to taking workouts up a notch and we think it’s going to be pretty popular with time-strapped fitness fans. It’s about time toning got technical…

The powerBIKE retails for £2995 and is available from gymcompany.co.uk and John Lewis.

Power Plate UK Shop

Find a PowerBIKE gym

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Get your iPhone and get off the couch

Joely Black — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 10:32:11 +0000

There are hundreds of iPhone apps out there for measuring fitness, calories, workouts and runs: the problem is, where to start?

Joely Black takes a look at the very best iPhone and Android apps to help you exercise and get fit. All the apps are available from the iPhone app store. Check for Android and other app-loving handsets with the associated apps store.

C25k/Couch to 5k

How it works

The app gives you a schedule to get you running. Instead of expecting you to run 3 miles immediately, it gives users set dates to run, and uses intervals of running and walking for each session. The running sessions increase over time as your body gets familiar with the exercise. Follow the programme and you’ll get to run 5k in two months.

Pros

You can choose to measure by time or distance, whichever suits you. The walking/jogging approach makes it easy to build up fitness over time. There are music playlists you can manage yourself, making the experience much more bearable. You can even publish your progress on Twitter to get encouragement from followers.

Cons

Playing music and using the app on iPhone 3Gs caused some problems, which was rather distracting while running.

iFitness

How it works

Either follow one of the set programmes or build your own. Probably best used as an alternative to wandering about the gym carrying sheets of paper with routines scrawled all over them.

Pros

A bit like carrying around a fitness book, this has everything you need to get a gym workout without an actual personal trainer. It even has pre-programmed workouts for certain types of people, just in case you happen to fit a stereotype (beginner, office worker, etc). It has a massive database of exercise forms with helpful pictures.

Cons

It’s fiddly to input your own personalised workout. If you’re on your very first trip to the gym, you could probably do with something simpler.

Hundred Push-Ups

How it works

Complete a test to work out how fit you are, and then embark on a programme of daily push-ups. Log your push-ups week-by-week, working up to a target of 100 a day.

Pros

Well, it doesn’t get simpler than this. I won’t say easier, because it took me a while to work out how to do the push-ups properly. But, if you’re looking for something that won’t take much time each day, and something you can do in the house, this might be for you.

Cons

It’s boring. Really, really, boring. It’s not exactly varied exercise and just doing push-ups isn’t going to give you a lot of all-round cardio fitness like running. If you try this, you’d probably want to make it one section of a bigger programme.

My Fitness Pal

How it works

Keep a daily diary of your exercise and food intake. There’s an app for adding on the run, but you can also add exercise and food at home via your browser. The databases are comprehensive and you can add your own exercises (although this means working out calories yourself).

Pros

Research mentioned in Richard Wiseman’s 59 Seconds book suggests that knowing how many calories you’ve burned and writing down what you eat and burn up in exercise enhances results. It’s amazing how much better you behave when picking what to eat if you’re going to write it down. You can see exactly how everything balances out.

Cons

It won’t teach you anything, or give you a programme to follow. It’s strictly for recording what you’ve already done.

Daily Ab Workout

How it works

Two five minute workouts you’re meant to do daily, totally abs-focused.

Pros

Nice and easy, with lots of simple abs exercises that you could easily extend beyond the limiting five minutes. If you want something that takes very little time but is a first step toward fitness. It’s not going to take much time out of your day, either.

Cons

There isn’t much else to it, and with only two workouts, it’s going to get old quickly, especially as you get stronger. Like the 100 Push-Ups programme, it won’t give you all-round fitness benefits

Android App Store

Apple App Store

Zune Windows 7 App Store

BlackBerry App Store

[Image: DavidGardinerGarcia]

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James Dyson Award winner: ultraviolet water bottle

Emma Cossey — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 08:30:48 +0000

The winner of the UK James Dyson Award has been announced: A water bottle that uses ultraviolet (UV) light to sterilise drinking water anywhere in the world.

Time Saver

The idea came from Timothy Whitehead, an Industrial Design and Technology graduate from Loughborough University. He had the idea while travelling in Zambia, where he saw a widespread reliance on chlorine and iodine tablets to sterilise drinking water. This process can take up to 30 minutes to work and leave a nasty taste in the mouth.

Timothy’s water bottle ‘Pure’, can reduce the process down to only two minutes, and the water won’t have an unpleasant aftertaste either.

Wind-up ultra-violet

The process works by using an inner and outer chamber of a bottle. The outer chamber is filled with dirty water (for example, from a lake or puddle). The inner chamber then plunges through the outer chamber, filtering water particles as small as four microns. Once the water is clear of sediment, it is sterilised for 90 seconds using a wind-up ultra-violet bulb.

The fully working prototype has already been scientifically proven to sterilise 99.9% of bacteria and viruses. This could make a huge difference in developing countries.

Worldwide competition

Timothy’s winning invention will go against many other inventions internationally, including:

Nemo (Austria). A life boat that can be transported by plane for high speed rescue and can land on water safely with the crew inside.
Interior Compositing Device (Switzerland). A bin that decomposes organic waste quickly without having to worry about the smell.
Amatoya (Australia) A light and fast car that can drive through rugged terrain and penetrate a fire.
Wanderest seat (New Zealand). A seat designed to be strapped to public spaces such as a lamp post.
Automated Parasite Detection System (Canada). A device that can diagnose easily whether a patient has malaria or not. Current methods require a lab and are time consuming.
Sleepeasy (Belgium). A solution to insomnia by generating a slow breathing pattern in an unconscious way. The user embraces the pillow and feels an up and down going movement. The user will follow the breathing of the pillow and therefore be more relaxed.
The Flip Ski Boot (Ireland). A ski boot that is soft soled rather than rigid, giving the user freedom on the mountain.

The entrants will be judged by Dyson engineers, and then James Dyson himself. The winner will £10,000 and £10,000 for the current or former student’s university department. There’s also a good chance the inventer will get the opportunity to work for Dyson, like last year’s winner.

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The Shakeweight: Dork Review

Emma Cossey — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 09:00:22 +0000

A couple of months ago, a video did the rounds of a brand new piece of workout equipment that promised to eradicate bingo wings and have people queuing up for a ticket to the gun show.

I watched the promotional video. About five times. What can be so interesting about a glorified dumbell, I hear you cry?

Check out the video to see why it’s worth several (highly amusing) watches.

In the meantime, the people behind the Shakeweight sent one over for me to try.

The Shakeweight is basically a large dumbbell with ‘vibration features’ which means the ends vibrates as you ‘shake’ it. It comes with a DVD that shows you how to tone your arms in six minutes a day.

It’s easy enough to use. Simply hold it in two hands and shake it towards and away from you. There are various other exercises you can do too, all of which works different parts of your arms.

The big question: Does it work?

I’d love to say it’s a complete gimmick. But you can feel the burn as you use it, so I’ve no doubt that it would help you tone it up. The vibrating motion has much the same effect as power plating, putting extra pressure on your muscles.

But spending six minutes a day solidly shaking a dumbbell is boring. Exercise regimes need to have variety in order to be motivating and interesting, and that’s something this program lacks.

Advantages

Battery-free
Simple to use
Compact

Disadvantages

Lack of variety in exercises

You feel like a prat using it

Conclusion

If you don’t mind looking a little foolish and prefer a regular exercise routine rather than a varied one, this might be worth a try as the results are good. For the fickle and vain (e.g. me) it doesn’t have quite the same appeal as power plating.

Buy it from the ShakeWeight site for £29.99 or from Amazon for £9.81

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WaterRower: The first visually pleasing rowing machine?

Emma Cossey — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:00:22 +0000

The terms ‘stylish’ and ‘natural’ are not terms most people associate with an exercise machine. Functional, yes. Safe, God I hope so. But the reality is that you’re buying it so that you can look good, not so that it looks good in your spare room.

WaterRower are hoping to change this with their new Natural range of rowing machines.

The WaterRower is hand crafted from solid cherrywood, and is powered by water. See that tank at the left end of the WaterRower? It’s filled with water and a pair of mini oars, so you’ll be *literally* rowing through water.

Once you’ve finished rowing, you can prop it up vertically, which takes up about the same amount of room as a dining room chair.

Prices for the WaterRower range start at around £749 from John Lewis. Start saving now, and you could have one in your home for all those fitness new year’s resolutions.

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Breastlight: A spotlight on breast health

Emma Cossey — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:00:24 +0000

Checking your breasts on a regular basis should be as much a part of your routine as booking in a wax or giving yourself a manicure.

The thing is, a lot of women (me included) are unsure of what to look for. Things can change a lot over the course of a month and it’s hard know what changes are normal.

Which is where the Breastlight comes in. Designed to aid breast checking rather than replace it completely, the hand held device aims to give women a real insight into their breasts. Literally.

The gadget allows you to check the inside of your breast for any new shadows or dark spots, using the powerful light that shines through the tissue.

Completely safe to use, the Breastlight should allow you to see changes in your breasts as well as feel them. Not all changes are necessarily bad, but it can allow you to spot changes quicker so you can make an appointment to get it checked out.

It’s been tested by ITV’s Dr Hilary Jones and Chris Steele amongst others, although they are both keen point out that this is an addition to your regular checks rather than a replacement.

Just over 12,000 women die every year from breast cancer, so any product to help detect the disease earlier and increase their chances of survival would be beneficial.

You can buy it from Boots for £84.99.

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Dork Adore » Health Gadgets

PowerBIKE reinvents the wheel with Power Plate technology

PowerBIKE review

More stories like this

Get your iPhone and get off the couch

C25k/Couch to 5k

How it works

Pros

Cons

iFitness

How it works

Pros

Cons

Hundred Push-Ups

How it works

Pros

Cons

My Fitness Pal

How it works

Pros

Cons

Daily Ab Workout

How it works

Pros

Cons

More stories like this

James Dyson Award winner: ultraviolet water bottle

Time Saver

Wind-up ultra-violet

Worldwide competition

More stories like this

The Shakeweight: Dork Review

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WaterRower: The first visually pleasing rowing machine?

More stories like this

Breastlight: A spotlight on breast health

More stories like this