BEST TRACKERS FOR...
Weight Lifting

Below are the best fitness trackers for weight lifting, from the obvious (counting reps and sets) to the novel (stimulating muscle growth via Electrical Muscle Stimulation). For those who lift regularly, these products might do more than just provide fun information -- they could help you take your training to a new level.

Updated Feb 4, 2015

Overview

While most trackers are aimed at broad overall health data, a limited few are designed with weight-lifting in mind, including automatically detecting different weight-lifting exercises. Currently, the Atlas, PushStrength, and SmartMio are the products to keep an eye on in this category.

Atlas

The Atlas fitness tracker from Atlas Wearables is a wrist-based tracker that captures workout data including heart rate, reps and sets, type and speed of your workout, distance travelled and calories burned, and it evaluates your form. It's preloaded to recognize popular exercises (pushups, pull-ups, etc), but can be trained to learn new exercises. It also give you tips via the app, as in "You've done Bicep Curls three days in a row. Give your muscles a break for a few days, and focus on the lower body."

Beast Sensor

 The Beast Sensor, designed by a team of engineers, strength and conditioning coaches, and athletes, tracks your weight-lifting sessions to help you understand and improve your workouts. You can view real-time strength metrics as you lift via a bluetooth-connected smartphone or tablet, including reps, power, intensity, density (kg lifted per minute), and more. After analyzing your power and speed data, the app provides recommendations for taking your workouts to the next level, including modifying the load, reps, sets, rest time, or rep speed.

From the web portal, you can plan and edit your lifting session in advance, including loads and volumes. During the workout, the Beast Sensor samples motion data up to 50 times per second, and you can view a variety of real-time data via your smart device. Post-workout, the data from your sessions is stored in the cloud and can be reviewed via smartphone, tablet, or computer.

While the device can be used by individuals, it also supports group use. Trainers can easily add a group and users within the group in order to track and monitor the performance of several Beast users, even if those users are in different locations. Strength and conditioning coaches have access to advanced analytics including index of explosive strength, time under tension, and more.

The sensor itself features an embedded magnet, allowing it to be placed in the manner most beneficial to tracking each specific lift, whether that is on a wrist or on the weight plates of a machine. The company has tested the device against force plates/linear encoders and found its accuracy to be within industry standards. It is powered via a lithium-ion battery that provides approximately 8 hours of active use, and uses Bluetooth Low Energy 4.0 to connect to smart devices (view compatible devices here). Your chosen smartphone, tablet, or other compatible BLE device must have an internet connection to enable you to log into the app. The Beast app is available in the Apple App Store and via Google Play.
Picture
Beast Sensor pictured on left wrist; Live information display on mounted phone pictured on right.

Moov Smart Coach

The Moov Tracker is an innovative new fitness tracker and "smart coach." Wear one or two Moov units on your wrists or ankle (depending on the activity you are undertaking) and open the Moov app. In the "7 Minute+ Workout Program," it counts reps and provides form correction as it coaches you through body-weight workouts that will "level-up" and continue to challenge you as you get stronger. I gave the Moov a try first hand -- you can read my full Moov Review here. However, that's just one of many fitness programs (i.e. Run & Walk, Swim, Cardio Boxing,  Cycling) that Moov offers, comprised of a growing set of more than 200 levels and variations. Moov supports most iOS and Android devices, and the 7 Minute+ Workout app is available for both iOS and Android; their compatible device list can be found here.

Moxy Muscle Oxygen Tracker

The Moxy monitor lets you use muscle oxygenation data to help guide your training. This small wearable uses a beam of light to report the level of oxygen saturation in muscle tissue. In turn, this information is used to optimize the intensity of your workout and give you feedback on your muscles' energy use and recovery. The three tiles on the bottom of the Moxy Training Guidance page provide information about how to use Moxy for strength training. However, the device is outrageously expensive at $1200.

PushStrength

PUSH band from PushStrength
PUSH Strength bills its PUSH band as the first fitness tracking device that measures strength -- though it does much more than that by offering data that's "actionable" -- it provides immediate feedback so that you can tweak your training and make the most of your workout, maximizing the results of your time spent in the gym and helping you reach your goals sooner.

The PUSh band is an arm-based activity tracker plus mobile app that sends real-time weight-lifting workout data to your phone, provides in-workout feedback, and lets you view a wealth of metrics during and after your workout.

PUSH Strength reached out to me with updated product specs for the PUSH band as of the end of August 2014. The latest developments are below:
  • The device is water resistant and impact resistant, and the band is antibacterial
  • The PUSH band's features include auto rep tracking and advanced analytics that, according to the company, match the gold standard of the industry (force plates).  These advanced analytics includes metrics such as the power and velocity of each rep in real-time.
  • The band's real-time feedback can be customized to goals such as strength, endurance or speed.  PUSH Strength provided me with one example of the real time feedback you might see during a workout: "Add 20 lbs and try 8-10 reps. It's all you! PUSH hard!"
  • The company is working with professors, sports scientists and professional athletes in the NHL. So far, they have confirmed high accuracy of the PUSH band's results
  • The band and app is compatible with both iOS and Android phones 
  • A limited quantity of the PUSH wearables are now shipping at a discounted price $149 until August 31st (normally retails at $189)

Skulpt Aim

The Skulpt Aim provides information on body composition (% fat) and a "muscle quality" (MQ) score at specific body locations. The "muscle quality" score combines an estimate of strength and definition; the Skulpt Aim gathers information by sending multiple frequencies of weak electrical current into the body at the chosen muscle site.  The electrical current flows at different speeds through fat and through muscle fibers of different types, enabling % fat and MQ estimates. Upload your data to the Aim app via bluetooth and track your progress over time for each muscle group, using what you learn to guide and optimize your future workouts.

SmartMio

The SmartMio targets strength and endurance gains over a 6 to 8 week period by using Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS), which mimics the signals your brain sends to muscles if you were to work out. While EMS is a type of training tool most commonly used by professional athletes, this device brings it into the home for the consumer to use. A small device and several self-sticking electrode pads are used to isolate the muscles to simulate.
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Header photo by gregralich, feature photo by Josiah Mackenzie. Both photos licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.