Athos (Redwood City, CA), a company started by two students from the University of Waterloo, Canada, has developed workout attire with embedded sensors that track muscle function and activity. The Athos garment consists of a long sleeve shirt and stretchy pants embedded with EMG sensors that monitor muscle exertion, heart beat, and breath. The embedded sensors are capable of obtaining information from 22 muscle groups in the body and the information recorded is relayed to a wearable unit called the Core that processes muscle activity data along with heart rate data and sends it over to a smartphone app for final analysis.
The app provides the user with valuable information such as the effectiveness of certain workouts, information about the user’s balance, and is able to also warn the user when he or she is in an improper workout or lifting posture. The Athos sensors are able to track the number of workout repetitions, so the user no longer has to carry around a pen and pad around the gym. Users can receive information regarding the amount of time spent resting or being active, and can see immediate results on how certain activities, such as stretching prior to a workout, can influence the end result. The app also provides users with continuous coaching, workout summaries, and allows sharing of results with friends and family. The Athos app is available for any Apple device running iOS 7 and it uses Bluetooth 4.0 to communicate with the Core.
The Athos top and bottom garment can currently be pre-ordered for $99 each, and the Core can be pre-ordered for $199. The garments and the Core are scheduled to be shipped in the Summer of 2014.
Product page: Athos…
(hat tip: Wired)
