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September 25, 2010

    These Digital Trainers Know How to Motivate

    By ANNE EISENBERG

    STICKING to

    exercise

    and weight-loss goals can be tough. But new computer-based products can
    help you

    along the road to fitness, offering steady electronic encouragement and
    suggestions.

    Step on a sleek black scale from the French company

    Withings

    , for example, and you'll no longer need to keep a paper record of your
    progress;

    the scale will beam your weight numbers by Wi-Fi to your computer. From
    there, the

    stats can go directly to

    Twitter

    or to many other sites, so that your friends can read the bulletin and
    cheer you

    and your willpower to victory.

    The scale, which sells for $159, has a processor and a built-in Wi-Fi
    connection

    so it can communicate with your home network. If you give the O.K., news
    of
    your

    weight loss travels from scale to computer to

    iPhone

    or

    iPad

    (using a free app from Withings), to your BlackBerry or, starting next
    month, to

    Android phones. The data can also be sent to supportive friends at
    fitness
    Web sites

    like

    RunKeeper

    or

    DailyBurn

    . Rah-rah! Fight those Twinkies!

    For those in need of a personal electronic exercise coach, the Finnish
    company

    Suunto

    has a new series of watches that monitor your

    heart rate

    - while also making you look stylish. I tried out the Model M4, which
    can
    create

    a snappy seven-day workout program and provide guidance and
    morale-boosting
    messages

    in crisp displays on the watch face. The watch, which sells for $169 on

    Amazon

    , has a simple, three-button interface; it receives its heart rate data
    from
    a transmitter

    cushioned in a soft black belt that is pulled snugly across the chest.

    The M-series heart rate monitors are intended for beginners and fitness
    enthusiasts,

    not for elite athletes, said Ewa Pulkkinen, a product manager at Suunto.

    "They are specifically for people who need motivation and inspiration to
    get
    up and

    keep going," she said.

    (I am one of these people, and I welcomed the cheerful coaching that the
    watch provided,

    from its announcement of the "exercise day" before we began, through
    "next
    set" as

    we proceeded, to a final "Good workout!")

    "The program tells you how long and how intense your workout should be,"
    Ms.
    Pulkkinen

    said. It notifies wearers when to slow down or speed up so that their
    heart
    rates

    are within a recommended zone.

    Polly Hopkins, a graphic designer in Park City, Utah, uses her new
    Suunto
    monitor

    as she hikes, mountain-bikes and runs - and, afterward, as a regular
    watch.
    She likes

    the simplified controls. "Compared to other monitors I've had, this one
    is
    by far

    the easiest to use," she said.

    Of course, any exercise guided by feedback from a heart rate monitor
    should
    be undertaken

    prudently, said Walter R. Thompson, a professor of kinesiology and
    health
    at
    Georgia

    State University in Atlanta. "Heart rate monitors can be incredible
    motivators,"

    he said. "If your target is 150 beats per minute and you see you aren't
    quite there

    when you are exercising, a monitor is a terrific impetus." But maximum
    heart
    rate

    will vary from one person to the next. "You should check with a doctor
    first
    to get

    clearance for exercise," he said, and then consult with a certified
    trainer
    about

    a target heart rate range.

    Technology may soon offer another tool for those struggling to stay trim
    and
    healthy:

    small robots that give

    diet

    advice. Dr. Caroline M. Apovian, an associate professor of medicine at
    the

    Boston University

    School of Medicine and the director of its

    center for nutrition and weight management

    , was adviser to a study to see whether people would accept a robot as a
    diet coach.

    A third of the patients in the study kept track of diet and exercise on
    a
    computer;

    a third by recording data in a log; and the remaining third by daily
    conversations

    with a robot designed by Cory D. Kidd, then a graduate student at the

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    and now a Ph.D. and the founder and C.E.O. of Intuitive Automata, a
    company
    that

    creates robots for use in health care.

    The

    robot,

    which has a woman's voice and is about 15 inches high, makes eye contact
    with dieters

    by way of its built-in camera.

    "THE test was not to see if the patients lost weight," Dr. Apovian said
    of
    the study,

    "but to see if they made a relationship with the robot." Typically,
    people
    enjoyed

    working with the robot and did not want to give it back, she said.

    "One person named it; another put a hat on it," she said. "They treated
    her
    like

    a buddy."

    Dr. Kidd said his robot would be on the market in about a year, priced
    at
    about $500.

    Dr. Apovian said robots might one day help spell busy physicians. "I
    have
    patients

    on diets who come to see me weekly because they need to be accountable
    to
    someone,"

    she said. "But I can't be there for everyone."



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