The New Fitness Gadgets That Promise to Change Your Life

livemint.com:

Nothing says “New Year, New You" like clicking “add to cart" on an exercise gadget. Every year, the fitness industry unveils new items aimed at self improvement—whether that means being faster, stronger, thinner, calmer—and every year, consumers embrace them.

It’s a bit of fitness theater, and whether the results are life changing or not, the annual rite is certainly familiar. A look into the world of 2024 fitness gear continues this ritual, finding everything from a dryland swimming machine with gaming functions to an ab-wheel-style device that rolls up walls.

Products claim to offer more detailed self tracking, speed recovery and optimize performance. In 2022, the U.S.

home fitness equipment market was valued at $4.8 billion and is projected to grow from more than $5 billion in 2023 to $8.5 billion by the end of the decade, according to market researcher Fortune Business Insights. “People love the idea of one missing piece or one secret machine, because it simplifies something that is actually quite challenging and complex," said Sal Di Stefano, co-host of the popular “Mind Pump" podcast.

“Finding a long-lasting sustainable approach to health and fitness requires developing a good relationship with food, exercise and one’s self." OK, but what can we buy? People have been asking a version of that question since the second century, when the Roman physician Galen wrote a treatise called “The Exercise with the Small Ball." And even before then, there were javelins and the like, wielded by athletes from a roster of naked male competitors in ancient Greece’s Olympic games. Back then, people even scraped the oil and sweat off their bodies after competition to create a mix called gloios, which was later bottled and sold for