Is it time to say goodbye to your Personal Trainer?

 

No, I like my Personal Trainer a lot. Now with summer round the corner I need him even more! 

 

Well, what you need is to shed a few of those extra pounds. But do you really really need your personal trainer? For example, what if the role of the trainer could be assumed by someone else? Or, perhaps, something else.

Ah, don't tell me any more about the thousands of DVDs and Videos out there proposing the perfect workout routine.

You mean videos like this that were so popular in the 80´s and 90´s?

Well, of course nowadays there are thousands of websites and videos that give you advice on how to train, how to best do push ups or how to stretch. There are even devices like the “Wii Fit” that can more or less propose a work out routine. But what they don't offer you is supervision of your training, like what a personal trainer offers on how exactly you perform these exercises. Also, there is no way to receive accurate feedback on how you are actually executing the specific movements.

But, Video Analytics gives us a better way. We can take this a step further and you won't have to deal with any of those annoying videos, neither will you have to deal with the expensive personal trainers.

No way! How would this thing work? 

 

Wouldn’t it be attractive to have an interactive system at home that could motorize how you do fitness? Like a “Wii fit” but that gives you real feedback on how you are working out. 

Is the position of your feet correct? Is the way in which you are lifting your leg going to damage your back? 

The way it would work is a VCA unit will continually look at your posture and your movements. Just like your trainer does. And then the software inside the VCA unit will do exactly what your trainer does today. The VCA program already knows what the correct movements are. It will match your movements to what it knows to be correct, and then scold you if you're doing it wrong or cheer you on if its right. Very much like your personal trainer.

This sounds awesome! So which companies make this device? How much does it cost?

 

Well, you're a little bit ahead of the gun there. There's no such device in the market yet, but there are plenty under development. Currently, leading the market in this segment is a company called Sportstec (www.sportstec.com). Take a look at their website to see the amazing array of products they are offering. While its still not mainstream yet, this is bound to get bigger in the future. 

Imagine! You can carry your personal trainer with you wherever you go!