Gift Guide: Smart exercise gear to hunker down and get fit with
Welcome to TechCrunch’s 2020 Holiday Gift Guide! Need help with gift ideas? We’re here to help! We’ll be rolling out gift guides from now through the end of December. You can find our other guides right here.
Home exercise gear is always a nice holiday gift choice for anyone who has expressed interest in staying healthy and getting more fit, but during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic it’s more relevant than ever. Luckily, smart exercise and health gear is smarter than ever, making it perfect for the gift list this season.
Big machines
Bowflex Velocore bike
Bowflex’s latest excercise bike is a great follow-up to their solid C6, and it has a unique trick up its sleeve – leaning. The Velocore unlocks to allow side-to-side leans during workouts, which adds a good amount of core stabilization to your existing spin exercises.
The Velocore also offers an integrated display in either 16″ or 22″ sizes, and that provides access to Bowflex’s own JRNY video fitness instruction. It’s a great subscription service, though it doesn’t include live classes like Peloton. Luckily, Bowflex supports Peloton’s software as well, so you can also use that with the Velocore if that’s your preference.
Price: $1,699 (16-inch) or $2,199 (22-inch) from Bowflex direct or Best Buy
Hydrow rower
Rowers are a great way to get in some indoor cardio, and a nice change-up from treadmills and bikes that also works out your upper body. The Hydrow is the most technologically advanced of these out there, with a large, high-quality display that provides access to both live and on-demand classes via its virtual service. It’s also engineered to really feel like you’re getting the same kind of resistance you would from actual water.
Price: $1,995 (price as of publication) from Hydrow direct
Peloton Tread
If you’re looking for a treadmill with smart features, Peloton’s is easily the best option available. The new Tread is the way to go for most, since it’s nearly $2,000 cheaper than the original which is now the Tread+, and it still offers a huge display for those interactive and on-demand peloton classes, and everything you need for a full-body workout as well. It’s not available in retail across the U.S. until March, but it’s a good advance gift if a treadmill is on the list.
Price: From $2,495 from Peloton direct
Smart and small
JAXJOX KettlebellConnect 2.0
Smart weights come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but JAXJOX’s next-generation smart kettlebell is one of the all-around best and most convenient smart weights out there. The selectable weight ranges from 12 to 42 lbs, and the smart features on board provide real-time reporting on performance, along with the ability to sync with the JAXJOX mobile app for on-demand guided workouts.
Price: $229 from JAXJOX
Tangram Factory SmartRope Rookie
If you’re even more space constrained, a jump rope is essentially a whole-body gym in a tiny, portable package. The Tangram Factory Rookie is a more affordable, smaller and higher version of their original SmartRope, with built-in activity tracking, long-lasting battery, and a fully-adjustable rope length that allows it to be used by both children and adults of all sizes.
Price: Starting at $39.95 from Tangram Factory direct or Apple Store
Activity and health monitoring
Withings BPM Core wireless blood pressure monitor
The Withings BPM Core is a connected blood pressure monitor that provides a lot of extras, including measurement of your heartbeat with a digital stethoscope, and an electrocardiogram (ECG) feature to monitor for any potential atrial fibrillation. Withings is building all their hardware these days to clinical validation standards, so this is a surefire way to keep on top of these key signals of health.
Price: $250 from Withings (coming soon)
Withings Body Cardio
Withings is really nailing it with home health monitoring equipment these days, which is why the Body Cardio smart scale is another recommendation in this list. The Body Cardio not only measures weight, but also provides you with a body composition breakdown giving you approximate body fat percentage and body mass index for even more detailed fitness tracking. Plus, it monitors heart rate as well.
Price: $119.96 (price at publication) from Withings
Welcome to TechCrunch’s 2020 Holiday Gift Guide! Need help with gift ideas? We’re here to help! We’ll be rolling out gift guides from now through the end of December. You can find our other guides right here. Home exercise gear is always a nice holiday gift choice for anyone who…
Recent Posts
- Google adds biometric verification to Play Store to keep your in-store wallet safe
- Quordle today – hints and answers for Wednesday, April 17 (game #814)
- The Boring Phone is a nostalgic branding exercise by HMD and Heineken
- NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Wednesday, April 17 (game #45)
- The New Hot Handset Is a Cute and Transparent Dumb Phone You Can’t Buy
Archives
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- December 2011