From smartwatches to VR headsets, the best technology to help boost your fitness

Meta VR Headset offers immersive fitness experiences in dreamlike virtual environments.

When it comes to mixing fitness and wellbeing with technology things are becoming increasingly complex. An endless list of companies now promise to increase your health exponentially with the help of their latest (and more often than not, expensive) gadget, and it pays to do the research before you invest.

Likewise, taking the time to consider your personal lifestyle and approach to health is a helpful tool worth employing to avoid clever marketing designed to suck you in. There’s no point investing in the latest at-home workout solution if you’ve never tried its modality before, nor is the world’s most expensive fitness tracker necessary if you’re new to exercise overall.

But fitness and wellbeing technology certainly has its place where it will genuinely offer helpful insights or assistance with your particular goals. I’m personally a big user of smartwatch tracking and use it to set myself daily targets and to measure certain aspects of my physical fitness.

Here’s a list of some of the latest, results-driven technology that could become your newest obsession.

Meta VR Headset & Fitness Apps

Tired of the same old fitness options that never seem to motivate you enough to commit long term? Virtual reality workouts might be for you. This fully immersive, interactive approach to fitness is being touted as the next big thing. Meta has quickly headlined VR fitness with their Quest 3 headset and various apps encompassing everything from meditation to high-intensity training.

Think a Les Mills Body Combat class (they have their own VR classes live now with Meta Quest 3) but in a “dreamlike” environment. The moving vista, personalised coaching and motivating music will distract you from the fact you’re in a fitness class at all.

Therabody Percussion Gun

Therabody’s Theragun is a streamlined piece of tech that acts like a localised sports massage, targeting specific areas quickly and easily via percussion and vibration therapy. Various attachments mean you can access different niggles anywhere on the body, with the results proven to be equal to a 15-minute massage when it comes to muscle restoration.

Percussion therapy was previously only found in clinical practices and usually reserved for top athletes. Now it’s gone mainstream thanks to the Theragun, a perfect companion for those who are looking for help with their recovery, pain management and even sleep quality.

The Therabody Percussion Gun brings clinical percussion therapy, once reserved for top athletes, into mainstream fitness.

Somnee Sleep Headband

Getting good quality sleep has become the gold standard in personal wellbeing, with many a gadget or app designed to help optimise your zzz’s. But Somnee’s Sleep Headband might just top them all with their personalised closed-loop neurostimulation technology.

The headband is proven to cut the time it takes to fall asleep in half and dramatically improve sleep quality with just 15 minutes of use. It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie, with the device’s ability to read brainwaves and provide personal neuromodulation. The promise? An incomparably restful night’s sleep and feeling of complete restoration upon waking.

Somnee Sleep Headband utilises closed-loop neurostimulation technology to enhance sleep quality and reduce the time it takes to fall asleep.

Oura Ring

Oura is the world’s leading brand in wearable technology that comes in the form of simple, elegant jewellery – a subtle ring available in various colours and shades. Their clever “Readiness Score” tracker combines heart, body temperature, blood oxygen and sleep data to provide relevant insights on how your body is ready to perform for you on any given day.

Those new to smart tracker technology will be blown away by Oura’s insights on heart health, activity and recovery levels, hormones, stress and even early illness detection. Gone are the days of tracking your daily steps alone – this kind of tech is a game changer in using measurable outcomes to level up your daily lifestyle.

Oura Ring's discreet design disguises its sophisticated tracking capabilities, including heart health and stress levels.

Garmin Watch

Garmin smartwatches take the cake when it comes to fitness-specific functionality, providing insights from your wrist that translate into actionable training programming for optimal results. It delves deeper than your average smartwatch, with metrics like cadence, stride length and ground contact time for runners, provides on-screen workouts and training programmes, and will even offer a health snapshot detailed enough to take to your health care provider.

Users of smartwatches from competing brands might lament the battery life as being the one drawback for consistent use or long workout sessions. Garmin promises 14 days of uninterrupted use, meaning additional sleep data can easily be added to your daily lifestyle tally, offering a more well-rounded overview of your general health and wellbeing.

Peloton Spin Bike and Treadmills

Hollywood cottoned on to Peloton long before New Zealand did, and you’ll often see one of their bikes or treadmills sitting pretty in a high-powered character’s architecturally designed home or office. This is for good reason – the sleek design, along with an unparalleled fitness offering, means Peloton has fast become the go-to cardio device for at-home training.

Take your pick out of thousands of pre-choreographed spin or treadmill workouts while measuring yourself against other users around the world in real time (or keep your sweat-struggle to yourself!). The innovative design, world-class instructors and up-to-the-minute music make Peloton one of the more accessible ways to stay consistent when it comes to your cardio exercise.

Peloton's array of pre-choreographed spin and treadmill workouts allows users to compete against others worldwide in real time.

Core Meditation Coach

If you’re like me and struggle with sitting quietly and calming your mind for a spot of meditation, Core from Hyperice might be your ticket in. This gently vibrating device helps to centre your attention inwards, elevating your experience with a combination of tangible sensations and guided meditation sessions.

It wouldn’t be wellness technology without biosensors offering feedback in real time, and Core provides just that by measuring things like your heart rate variability. A snapshot of your meditation session allows you to track your progress with a focus on improving your practice one breath at a time.

Core Meditation Coach uses gentle vibrations to guide meditation sessions and measure heart rate variability for progress tracking.

Samantha Bluemel is a personal trainer and the founder of new Ponsonby fitness studio Mode, which opens in April. Previously in this series: How to set well-being goals that actually work; how to change your habits and set yourself up for a successful year of health; how to take an honest look at your well-being, how to start working out, why nutrition is the most important part of well-being, how to build lasting fitness and well-being habits for a longer life, why motivation alone isn’t enough to stay on track, and Auckland’s best gyms and wellness studios.