Making the most of your time in the gym is important – if you don’t go at it as hard as you can, your ultimate goal will take longer to achieve.
Fitness Gadgets
Gadgets can help to keep us going in the gym. The best gadget to have is a good MP3 player and a good pair of headphones, but wireless speakers and fitness bands are pretty cool too. Here’s a guide for what to look out for.
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Music players
When you’re working out in the gym you can’t be weighed down by anything – your iPhone 5S is fine for listening to music on the train, but it is too big and bulky when you’re active. Therefore, you should have a small and light MP3 player for gym use.
I recommend MP3 players like the SanDisk Salsa Clip which only costs around £30 online. If you are tied to iTunes, the new iPod Nano is a good music player too. In truth, any small MP3 player will be perfect for the gym… I always say the cheaper the better, because if you’re working out hard, the last thing you want is to break an expensive piece of kit.
Wireless speakers
Gym music, in general, sucks. If you are working out in a group a good idea might be to pack a wireless Bluetooth speaker so that you can listen to your favourite music and make the most of your time. Of course, by doing so, you do run the risk of annoying other members of the gym, so this gadget is only really recommended for when the gym is empty.
The Braven 625s Bluetooth Wireless Speaker costs around £120 online – this speaker has good volume levels and a crisp sound quality. If you have a lower budget, I recommend the small but powerful HMDX Jam Classic, which costs only £24.95 online.
Headphones
As noted above, portable speakers are not always a good idea in the gym, which is where headphones come in – these allow you to listen to whatever music you like, or even an audio book, without disturbing anybody else. The only drawback? Pesky wires getting in your way, and not being able to hear what is going on around you.
Superfi’s Jays a-Jays earphones are ideal for gym use – these headphones are hard wearing and feature a tangle free cable, as well as an in-line microphone. Also recommended are the Sennheiser MX685 sports earphones from Superfi, which have been designed to sound great and stay in your ears with a wrap around clip.
Fitness bands
Fitness bands are a great way to keep track of calories burnt, and the best ones communicate with your smartphone and tablet computer to offer up comprehensive data after a workout.
The Jawbone Up is a great fitness band which syncs real-time insights to your iPhone or iPad, and now it is compatible with your Android smartphone too. Perhaps even better than the Jawbone is the Nike+ FuelBand SE, which tracks your active life and feeds an incredible level of data to your smartphone.