Super-coffee to sleep tech: it’s fitness in 2021

Last year had us scrambling for kettlebells, resistance bands and indoor bikes. Here’s what will be hot in health and fitness in 2021.

Joe Wicks, aka The Body Coach, has launched his Body Coach app. Picture: Getty Images

Last year defied all wellbeing predictions and had us scrambling to get hold of kettlebells and resistance bands, joining Zoom workouts and buying expensive running shoes and indoor bikes. Assuming 2021 will be less pandemonic, here’s what we think will be hot in health and fitness.

Subscription running shoes

In 2012, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed that one running shoe can include 65 individual parts, all of which normally end up in landfill. Since then, many fully recyclable and plant-based shoes have been launched, but in 2021 expect more subscription shoe services in which your tatty trainers are returned to manufacturers to be recycled while you are issued with a new pair for a monthly fee. Swiss fitness company On Running is the first to offer such a service for its fully recyclable, zero-waste shoe, the Cyclon, which is made primarily from castor beans and a single cut of yarn with no dyes (it only comes in white). For £25 ($44) a month you receive a replacement pair whenever the shoes wear out.

Sign up at on-running.com

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Giant workout smartscreens

If you’ve had it with squinting to follow workouts on a tablet or smartphone, you will welcome the addition of a rotating 150cm mirror with an in-built 81cm touch smartscreen for displaying your home gym sessions.

Launching in the US in February and in the UK later in the year, the Vault from fitness equipment manufacturer Nordictrack has its own range of subscription-based on-demand workouts called iFit and it even doubles as a storage cupboard for your weights and kettlebells. From £1487 ($2624) — including a 12-month subscription to iFit.

From nordictrack.com.

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Sauna blankets

If 2020 was about weighted blankets for better sleep, the pandemic alternative is the infrared sauna blanket. A sort of sleeping bag with infrared technology, it uses invisible wavelengths of the light spectrum to create warmth, and has been credited with boosting circulation and calorie burning.

Scientific evidence is scant, but they have a celebrity following; Jennifer Aniston, Miranda Kerr and Lady Gaga are said to be fans. They are now being used as a recovery aid in swanky gyms and spas across the country. Who wouldn’t want one in winter?

Available from mihigh.co.uk (£399) and from higherdose.com (£469).

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Healthy coffee

Even before the Duchess of Sussex had invested in the wellness super latte brand Clevr, mushroom lattes were one of the health food trends of 2019. This year, however, Whole Food Market predicts that the regular coffee bean will bounce back into the limelight as a health booster in granolas, smoothies and yoghurt.

Coffee contains about 500 plant components and many beneficial antioxidants that have been the subject of hundreds of scientific studies. But beans do vary, and so do the nutrients you get in one cup. Expect more coffee that is laboratory-tested to provide a specific performance boost.

Newly launched Exhale coffee (only available in the UK for now) uses the respected ABEL-RAC (analysis by emitted light-relative antioxidant capacity) method, developed by Knight Scientific, to ensure that each cup of java provides the same active antioxidant power as 12 punnets of blueberries, 1.2kg of kale or 55 oranges. It also claims to have levels of chlorogenic acid (CGA), the most researched polyphenol in coffee that has cardio-protective, anti-inflammatory and neuro-protective effects that are at least 40 per cent higher than 45 leading coffee brands.

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Gym garages and sheds

It’s no longer just celebrities who have home gyms. With fitness centres closed for much of 2020, we became more creative with space and expanded our WOFH (workout from home) area from a few dumbbells chucked in the corner of the living room to fully fledged home-based fitness areas born out of converted garages and sheds.

Mark Reynolds, a former footballer and personal trainer, who is director of WeMakeGyms, says t his company had a 30 per cent increase in requests for home gym conversions, many stocked with the latest technology and gym equipment, in 2020. Expect more of the same in the year ahead, as we seek to transform a single garage into a resin-floored gym.

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Sleep diagnosis stickers

Sleep apnoea and sleep-disordered breathing affects 49 per cent of men and 23 per cent of women. Available in the UK, the Sunrise sleep sticker is a one-use, certified medical-grade 3g sensor that sits on your chin (yes, really) while you sleep. A big step up from regular sleep trackers, it tracks data, compiles a report shared via an app the next day and, if things aren’t looking good, gives you the option of seeking a referral to sleep doctor to discuss your results.

It’s already used in programs at Imperial College London and the National Heart and Lung Institute to diagnose sleep disorders and has the backing of a clinical trial in the prestigious peer-review journal JAMA.

Go to uk.sunrise-sleep.com

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Next-level digital fitness

Launched last month, Apple Fitness+ brings immersive workouts — including high-intensity interval training (HIIT), strength, yoga, dance, core, cycling, treadmill (for running and walking), rowing and mindful cooldown sessions with a team of trainers (refreshingly including some in their 50s and 60s) — to your smartwatch (as well as your iPhone, iPad, and via Apple TV), using heart rate and other measurements for tracking progress.

The app also offers workout recommendations based on how well you did last time, and the cost tends to be cheaper than a gym membership.

Meanwhile, the lockdown fitness hero Joe Wicks has launched his Body Coach app (available at the App Store) based on his 90-day plan. It includes an option to join the curly-mopped trainer for a live boot camp. Who could refuse?

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Advanced stress tracking

Wearables have traditionally tracked stress levels through heart-rate (and heart-rate variability) data, but technology advancements have added new dimensions to stress monitoring.

On the FitBit Sense (www.fitbit.com), stress levels are tracked partly through measuring electrodermal activity via an on-wrist skin temperature sensor. If your skin feels cold or clammy, the device can detect why it might be happening over time and the app then provides a stress-level score.

Like the Apple Watch Series 6, the FitBit Sense measures blood oxygen saturation levels, which can detect shallow breathing and might help to predict an anxiety attack.

A stress-cancelling device called Cove was launched in America at the end of last year. Worn on the back of the head, it uses silent vibrations behind the ears to activate parts of the brain that regulate anxiety.

Its promise to impart a deep sense of calm and improve sleep has apparently been validated in clinical trials at Brown University and by a researcher from Harvard Medical School.

The Times