Connected fitness tech specialist, iFit, has announced the upcoming release of iFit ActivePulse automatic heart rate training for its treadmill users.
The company notes that its technology ‘uses complex algorithms so an iFit subscriber’s heart rate controls the treadmill in real time, automatically adjusting the speed and incline to maintain the optimal heart rate zone.’
Included with all iFit memberships, ActivePulse will be available on all iFit-enabled NordicTrack, ProForm and Freemotion treadmills via an automatic iFit software update in January 2021. The feature will become available for stationary bikes, rowers, and ellipticals from NordicTrack, ProForm and Freemotion soon thereafter.
iFit ActivePulse is compatible with leading Bluetooth heart rate monitors with broadcast functionality, including the iFit SmartBeat forearm heart rate monitor, as well as third-party devices from brands including Polar, Garmin, Wahoo and WHOOP.
‘iFit’s game-changing innovation removes the guesswork from heart rate training, by allowing a member’s heart rate to automatically scale and tailor iFit’s vast library of workouts to their individual fitness levels and goals. iFit has applied for patent protection on ActivePulse, which will be available on all iFit-controlled NordicTrack, ProForm and Freemotion treadmills.’
Until now, the company argues that the benefits of heart rate training have hinged on how well a person is able to manually monitor and adjust their effort in order to remain in a particular heart rate zone. In contrast, iFit ActivePulse creates a real-time feedback loop between a user’s measured heart rate and the treadmill’s speed and incline.
iFit ActivePulse heart rate training keeps the user in their optimal zone, while enabling them to accomplish their fitness goals by targeting different heart rate zones.
“ActivePulse lets each iFit customer’s heart rate personalize their treadmill workout without the complicated calculations and constant manual adjustments that have long been associated with heart rate training,” said Mark Watterson, President of iFit.
“ActivePulse provides a workout that is catered not just to a member; it is catered to that member based on how their heart rate is functioning during the workout.”
Daily variables such as hydration, sleep, and stress have a direct impact on heart rate, therefore the effectiveness of a given workout can vary from one day to the next based on heart rate performance. iFit ActivePulse scales and tailors the intensity of any iFit program to optimize the workout based on their heart rate at that moment – even incorporating advanced algorithms to gradually ‘learn’ their unique behavioural patterns over time.
The concept of exercising within predetermined ranges (or zones) of a user’s maximum heart rate to achieve specific fitness goals has been used by elite athletes and coaches around the world for more than 30 years.
With various heart rate zones corresponding to fitness goals such as building endurance, and promoting recovery, heart rate training is widely accepted as an intelligent way to achieve consistent and measurable progress towards specific fitness goals.
