Tech Tuesday Fitness: Wahoo Fitness Run/Gym Pack for iPod, iPhone and iPad

This week we wanted to highlight some fun fitness products. With January and February behind us, we want to make sure to keep you motivated into March—when those New Year’s resolutions start to become a distant “good intention”.

I’m a physical therapist and try to practice what I preach. I keep health and fitness a part of my daily life (well..almost!) and encourage patients to do the same. I also consider myself a great motivator, both with patients and in my own workout routines. For example, I sets mini-goals for myself to keep myself running for even 2 more minutes such as “Keep going until I get to 200 calories”. I was very excited to test out the Wahoo Fitness Run/Gym pack, not just for myself, but for patients and clients that I work with to possibly recommend to as well. It allows me to keep track of my calories after I’ve put in my personal stats, my route and distance via the GPS and my time. Using the heart rate sensor, I can also make make sure I’m staying within a good cardiovascular zone during my workout. It also emails me my reports after each run!

Easy set up:

Simply download Wahoo Fitness free from the app store. Connect your Ant + device to your iPhone and open the app and find ‘add sensor’. Whhaaallla! Now you are ready to get your workout in gear.

I tested out the Run/Gym fitness pack on the treadmill and running around town. As far as the included sensor goes, it seemed to keep an accurate measure of my heart rate. I double-checked both with a 15 second timer and with the heart rate sensors on the treadmill. My Wahoo monitor was within 3-4 beats per minute of these other measures-and you don’t have to stop your run to hold onto the treadmill to get your heart rate!

I loved the use of the GPS capability on the iPhone to record my route and mileage. It has been very motivating to flip through my emailed reports and see that even though I ran the same amount of time, I’ve started to run a greater distance. The App keeps running in the background, so I can flip through iTunes or answer a call while my stats are recording.

Another great feature of the Wahoo App is that you can set motivational alerts, which they call “Workout Triggers”. These can be announcements based on time, calories, distance, heart rate and more. I love these alerts and they keep me going that last little bit (I hate disappointing myself!).

The heart rate monitor is low profile on an elastic band. It’s comfortable to wear and since it’s low profile, it doesn’t show through my workout gear (placement is under my sports bra at the lower end of the sternum/breastbone). While the strap fits me comfortably, it is too small to fit around my 6’6″, 220 pound husband. So I do see limitations with this fitting larger individuals.

One feature that the Wahoo app doesn’t have is the ability to manually update my treadmill info. The Wahoo equipment is compatible with other running apps, so I chose Run Keeper to keep track of my treadmill runs. Both the Wahoo App and Run Keeper immediately sensed my Wahoo heart rate monitor. I love when tech works likes its supposed to! Unfortunately, my gym does not have ANT+ equipment, so I was unable to test this function.

The Wahoo Run/Gym Pack includes:

• 1 Soft Heart Rate Strap/Monitor
• 1 Wahoo Key (which plugs into the bottom of your iPhone, iPod or iPad). This key wirelessly connects you to any ANT+ fitness sensor.

With the Wahoo Run/Gym Pack you can:

• Connect to wireless fitness sensors like heart rate, cycling sensors, and ANT+ gym equipment
• See real-time activity stats, like pace, distance, heart rate, calories burned and more!
• Use your favorite fitness Apps, like MapMyRUN, RunKeeper, Runtastic and Runmeter
• Upload data easily to popular training websites like MapMyRUN, Training Peaks and Run Keeper
• Watch your progress on live GPS maps to stay on track
• Listen to real-time audio coaching
• Access your iTunes music library or online music
• Customize the data you want to track with personalized screens
• Stay safe by working out with your phone
• And much more!

I love this product, both for it’s ability to keep me motivated and keep within my target training zone. I will definitely be recommending it to my clients!

-Heather

BUY IT: You can get a Wahoo Fitness Run/Gym Pack of your own for $119.99 from their website. The Wahoo Fitness wirelessly connects to your iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4 or 4S, iPod touch and iPad.

* We did not receive monetary compensation for this review. That’s IT Mommy received the Wahoo Fitness Run/Gym Pack from Wahoo Fitness’ PR company free of charge to facilitate this review. This will in no way sway our opinion of the product or service.
 The review is in our own words and is our opinion. Your results and opinions may differ.