Why hire a personal trainer when you can just wear one? Thanks to the miracle of technology and the generosity of the Kickstarter community, we’re now closer than ever to a piece of smart clothing that gives us a 3D picture of our full-body movement, providing us with personalized feedback, just as a coach or trainer would.
It’s called Enflux, and it’s designed to take motion tracking to a whole new level. Designed with athletes and fitness enthusiasts in mind, this smart clothing promises to get you better results at the gym and help you exercise with proper form, avoiding setbacks and injuries. And with this sort of personalized insight into your fitness activity and goals, Enflux believes it has unlocked the secret to motivating you to work out.
The smart clothing consists of a set of shirt and pants that come complete with 10 tiny motion sensors located on the arms, legs, and torso. These monitor the 3D movement of your entire body, and then transmit the data to a companion smartphone app. And as you work out, you’ll get real-time audio feedback on your form, progress, and more. Once you’re done, however, the real magic begins — you can actually watch a 3D avatar of yourself performing the same exercises you did so that you can fully understand your workout from a coach’s perspective.
But don’t worry — if you don’t trust yourself to analyze your own fitness routine, you can send all the Enflux data to the professionals via an online platform. This means a coach or trainer can comment on your workout even if they’re not physically around. The shirt also features a heart rate monitor optimized for endurance training and aerobic activity, and while the smart clothing is currently optimized for weightlifting and running, the team promises that future versions will track “many more sports.”
So how do you take care of clothing that’s so high tech? According to Enflux, you can throw it in the washer with all your other gym clothes, and the workout gear is lightweight and stretchable to actually support your athletic mobility.
Already, Enflux has raised over $86,000 of their $100,000 goal, and the team still has 17 days left in its campaign. If you want to become an early adopter of this next generation smart clothing, a full set of Enflux can be yours for $249. “[We] created the technology because [we] wanted to make high-quality coaching and workout tracking accessible to everyone,” says Mickey Ferri, Enflux’s founder. “With real-time feedback from our app, it’s like having a personal trainer in your pocket. Simply by putting on a shirt.”
