Running in its purest form is simple.
Just keep putting one foot in front of the other
until you hit a target, finish a race, or just get bored.
- But in recent years, the goalposts have shifted.
And for many runners, the best way
to get those marginal gains is by using running gadgets.
- Today Ana and I are going to be taking a look
at all of the technology that says
it can help you to improve your running
by measuring all sorts of different running dynamics.
- Whether you're totally new to running,
or you've been clocking up the miles for years.
We guarantee there is something for everyone in this video.
So make sure you keep watching
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All the G's. Let's check out these gadgets.
- First, let's talk about running dynamics
and what that actually means
and what each of the individual metrics is talking about.
Now, the term gait analysis actually
often used as an umbrella term to cover everything
to do with the sort of things
that we're going to talk about today.
We're going to look at a few of them
in a little bit more detail now
in case you might never have heard of them.
So we're gonna explain what they are,
and why they might be important to you.
- Cadence is the number of steps that you take per minute
or SPM.
So, for most runners it will sit somewhere around 150
to 200 SPM.
For the elites, they're more likely to be pushing
180 and above.
Now, your cadence can be affected by a number of things.
For example, your stride length, your height,
and the terrain that you're running on.
- Stride length is the distance along the ground
between successive foot contacts.
So you might see runners increase their cadence
as they try to shift towards a sprint
at the end of a longer race.
But that might also result in a change
to your stride length.
Stride length is important because ultimately,
it can help you to avoid injury.
You might think that forcing yourself
to have a longer stride length
will make you run faster and further.
But if you overreach and make contact with the ground
in front of you, then that can result in injuries in itself.
So you have to be careful.
- Foot strike and pronation considers
whether your foot comes into contact with the ground evenly.
So for pronation, some runners may pronate,
which means to roll inwards or to supinate,
which means rolling outwards.
A level of pronation is absolutely fine,
but anything excessive may cause some issues.
Foot strike, on the other hand, is about which parts
of your foot touches the ground first.
And then in which order the rest of your foot follows.
- There are also even more technical elements,
not all of which are measured
by all the devices on test today,
but do show you just how complex and advanced
some running consumer technology can be.
Things like hip angle, air time, toe-off angle, power,
body bounce, leg stiffness, and impact acceleration
can all be measured and assessed
to see just how efficient your running form is.
- Now, if you've got any questions
about any of the stuff that we've just covered,
then please do drop them in the comments below.
We know that there is a lot of information to take in,
but hopefully a simpler question is how do all these metrics
make a difference to your running?
- The simplest answer is that these products claim
to be able to help you to maximize your performance
whilst reducing the risk of injury.
That might be through helping you to
identify imbalances that can ultimately lead to injury
or to make quick adaptations that could help you
to lead to better performance.
They also claim, some of them that is to be able to help you
to choose the right pair of shoes.
Now there's no quick fix, but the idea here is
that these things might be able to give you
some extra guidance to help with your running.
- We've broken the tech down into three main categories
based on where on your body they go.
So there's on your feet, around your waist
and anywhere else.
And we're going to be assessing each of the gadgets
using four main criteria, price, ease of use,
what it measures, and usefulness.
Now as ever with our gear roundups here
on The Running Channel,
we haven't been paid by the brands to say nice things
about their products.
So you can guarantee that everything you're about to see
are mine and Andy's genuine opinions.
- First up is Mymo, which is a small sensor
that sits inside a little sock that you wear on your ankle.
Now, this means that this is one of the few devices
that we're looking at, where you actually are encouraged
to run barefoot in order to go through the testing.
And what the device aims to do is
show you your foot strike types.
So whether that's forefoot, mid-foot, or rear foot,
as well as the degree of pronation,
which are mainly the things that specialty running stores
will look at when they're choosing your running shoes.
And that's the selling point here.
Ultimately, Mymo is aimed at helping you to choose
the right pair of running shoes for you.
So once you've gone through the testing,
which takes only a couple of minutes, really
of running barefoot,
it will recommend shoes for you based on your running style.
There's also a subscription package available within Mymo
called Mymo Plus which gives you access to information
from expert physios, and so on.
Overall, a clever piece of tech,
which aims potentially to help you to make a better choice
when you might be buying running shoes online,
and also to allow you to analyze your gait over time.
But for me, it was a little bit hit and miss.
The Mymo device is really cheap, which is great,
very easy to set up,
but I would say it's quite limited in what it measures
and the fact that you have to wear it barefoot
does limit its use for your normal running.
I'd also say in terms of usefulness,
I'm actually not sure how many times I would return
to use it once I've used it for the very first time.
So that's how I would sum it up.
- So you might be thinking that some of the gadgets and tech
that we're including in this video,
just do the same as things like your smart watch,
your smartphone or a heart rate monitor,
but actually a lot of these do so much more than that.
Take STRYD, for example.
So STRYD is a little pod that fits
on the shoelaces of your shoe,
and it can give you real time information direct
to your watch and then loads of data
that you can analyze in the app afterwards as well.
So the way that STRYD works is a little bit like how
cyclists would use a bike computer,
because it transmits your running power data
direct to your watch.
So you can see in real time that metric.
Then it also looks at various different
performance indicators after your run.
So things like the terrain that you're running on,
the weather conditions.
It takes all of those into consideration.
And there's also a premium option where you can pay
for a subscription and get tailored training plans
based on the data that you're feeding it
from your current runs.
So my ratings for STRYD in each of the categories,
well price, looking at the rest of the gadgets on test,
I would say it's really reasonable.
Then for ease of use,
I did have that issue where I could not pair it
with my phone, which made things a little tricky.
So I would say ease of use three out of five,
then for the level of metrics,
I would say four out of five for that.
And then finally usefulness.
Well, I think it is quite a useful device.
It's really good to have that extra data as you would
with any other sort of additional gadget
that you're attaching to having your smart watch data too.
- Nurvv are a pair of smart insoles aimed to
not only integrate with the apps and hardware
that you might already have,
like your watches and your smartphone,
measuring things like pace, GPS and distance traveled.
Also more importantly our smart insoles,
they measure things like pronation,
the type of foot contact that you make,
stride length, cadence
and all of these more advanced running metrics.
And then give you feedback based on what it finds.
The insoles themselves measure using 32 different sensors
under the sole of your foot.
So you actually slipped these
underneath the existing insoles in your trainers.
And then there's a little tab that hangs over the side,
which the sensors attached to,
and those sensors communicate with your phone
or your watch as required.
When you're out on a run, you can choose to receive feedback
either through haptic feedback,
so that's essentially vibrations
through the sensors themselves or via your phone
through audio cues that can help you
to improve particular things
that you're looking to work on.
Nurvv is one of the more expensive items on test
so probably get scored down a little bit on value for money,
but actually there's a lot of technology here.
So if you're gonna make an investment
in something that measures quite a lot of things,
which Nurvv does, is relatively easy to use,
although did take a little bit of extra time
on the initial setup and potentially has long-term value
to help you make adaptations over time.
And this could be it.
- Okay. So how about a smart shoe? Yes, really.
So Under Armour have a number of different shoes
in their range that contain Bluetooth chips
that can feed data back to you, such as the HOVR Machina.
So the HOVR Machina gives you real time cadence information,
so it can hook up to your headphones,
if you're wearing headphones on your run
and tell you what your cadence is,
you can set goals for the cadence
that you want to be trying to hit.
And if you drop below that,
then it'll give you a little warning message.
So you can access all of the data that you get
from the Under Armour shoes, within the map my run app.
So after your run, you can go back through,
have a look and see your cadence details.
So my verdict on the Under Armour HOVR Machina shoes,
the price of them is pretty much the same or a bit less than
any premium pair of running shoes at the moment.
So I think price wise, it's really reasonable.
Ease of use,
I found that it really easily connected to my phone,
that I had no problems accessing the data that was stored
in the map my run app.
As for what it measures, well you've got stride length,
you've got pace, and you've got your cadence.
So they're pretty basic range of metrics for you to look at.
And then it comes down to usefulness. Well, actually,
I'm going to give these a slightly higher score
than the range of metrics,
because I really found it useful as a sort of nudge
on my form to get the instant feedback.
- Next up, Ana and I are going to take a look
at two different Garmin devices,
which give you similar things,
but in slightly different use cases.
Now I've got the HRM Pro,
which is a chest based heart rate monitor strap,
and I've always used a heart monitor strap
alongside my watch throughout my career,
because I felt that it's given me more reliable,
more accurate data than the risk-based monitors do
in the case of my individual risks.
This gives you heart rate and that communicates
via Amplus and Bluetooth.
So you don't have to have a Garmin device.
You could link that with your phone or any device
that will accept those inputs and read the data,
but on top of heart rate data,
and the reason that this is Garmin's top of the range
heart rate monitor,
you could pay for cheaper ones
that only give you heart rate functionality,
is you get running dynamics, that's cadence, stride length,
ground contact time, vertical ratio.
So that's how much you're going up and down versus
how much you're moving forwards
and kind of a measure of efficiency, I suppose.
This one as left-right balance,
which tells you how long you're spending
on the ground, on each side.
Potentially that could point to imbalances
that could lead to injury.
Another nice element is that you can actually wear
the heart rate strap, the HRM Pro
away from your watch or your phone.
So for activities like swimming or potentially football
or contact sports where you can't risk wearing a watch
for the fear of hurting other people.
And that's a really nice touch to still be able to measure
your heart rate data during those activities.
It will sync directly with the Garmin connect app,
as well as operating as a stand-alone device,
measuring things like all-day heart rate, step count,
as well as minutes and intensity of exercise during the day.
So in summary Garmin's HRM Pro is pretty expensive
if you're treating it as a stand-alone heart rate monitor.
But once you layer in all of the additional
running dynamics metrics that you get as well,
I think it's pretty good value for money.
In terms of ease of use, it's really easy to put on
and sync with your watch and your phone.
So really straightforward there.
And it does measure a lot of different metrics as well.
So pretty high score in that category too.
And then finally, in terms of long-term usefulness,
I am biased because I personally choose to wear a heart rate
strap for my runs and I particularly like this one.
So again, a high score for me on that one,
but now it's time to go over to Anna and take a look
at the other Garmin product
that I was talking about previously.
- The Dynamics Pod on the other hand may be small,
but it is mighty.
We'll measure the usual cadence and stride length.
Not only that, it also measures ground contact time,
you've got vertical oscillation.
And the way that it does that is you clip it on the back
of your waistband of your shorts or your tights.
Make sure it's right in the middle,
because then it can also record things
like your left-right balance,
which is really interesting to look at.
Price wise, I mean, I'm giving this a five out of five.
I think it's a real bargain for the amount of stuff
that you get from it.
It's such a tiny little thing,
but it's really reasonably priced.
So ease of use,
I'm going to go with a four out of five
only because I did struggle to actually find the metrics
that the foot pods had got.
The first couple of times that I used it for my run.
Then we'll go to metrics.
So this little tiny device
has so much information available.
So I'm going to give this one a five out of five.
And then finally usefulness, which again,
kind of feeds into that metric side of things.
I would say that this is a really useful piece of kit.
- So it makes sense to follow Garmin's Dynamics Pod
with the same sort of offering from Coros
which is called the Coros Running POD,
where POD stands for performance optimization device,
which does a broadly similar thing,
but focused on the Coros ecosystem
for syncing directly with your phone.
It gives you an added layer of different metrics
to report on how you've been running.
Cause that might be ground contact time
and left-right balance, stride length,
stride oscillation, and stride heights.
All sorts of new, interesting mechanics,
which might help you to make an improvement
to the way that you run.
The Coros POD isn't particularly expensive.
So a good score for value for money.
And it's also incredibly easy to use,
more or less foolproof, in fact.
It measures pretty much the same thing as the Garmin Pod
here, so a high score in that category.
And then long-term usefulness,
ultimately I think depends on the ecosystem
that you prefer using.
So I'm much more familiar, I'll admit,
with the Garmin Connect ecosystem,
but have tested Coros watches in the past.
So if you have a Coros watch
or you use the Coros app regularly,
then I think this is a better investment
than the Garmin device and vice versa.
- If you've ever watched a Premier League match,
you might have noticed that the footballers wear
an undershirt vest,
and that is used to track all sorts of data
from things like distance covered, to speed,
and everything in between.
So the Incus Nova run bundle does kind of the same thing
on a consumer level.
So within the bundle, you get the training top,
which has a little pouch in the back
right between your shoulder blades,
where you slot the Incus Nova,
which is a palm-sized device
that is going to be measuring the metrics
while you're out running.
The device, measures all kinds of different metrics,
things like your cadence, your location,
your pacing, left-right balance and impacts.
And it will also be able to take into account
elevation and terrain.
And there's even a setting where it can look
at running induced fatigue.
It is fully waterproof as well.
It has 20 hours battery life.
It has a one month memory capacity,
which means that it does hold onto your workouts
if you're not going to be syncing them straight away
to get all of that lovely data.
Now, one of the drawbacks of this particular
Dynamics gadget is that of course you do have to wear
the apparel for the Incus to slot in,
in the exact position that it needs to be
between your shoulder blades.
There are also plans in the future for the Incus Nova
to sync with your smartwatch,
which would be even more impressive and even more useful,
in my opinion.
Price-wise, for the amount of information that you get,
it's pretty good.
I'm going to give it a four out of five
and that is because, we then move on to the ease of use.
So I'm going to knock it down because of the fact
that you do have to wear the actual gear,
the apparel and clothes in order to get the information
from these metrics.
Metrics, I'm going to give that a four out of five.
I think you get an awful lot of information
that you can make a lot of use of,
especially when it comes to improving your running
and understanding better how you're running,
not just how fast or how far you're running.
So I think that this piece of equipment is
incredibly useful. Like I say,
for understanding like your left-right balance, for example,
or your running power based on the terrain
and especially the running inefficiency stuff,
when you get fatigued.
So the STRIDESENSE is a pair of compression fit leggings
that has five pockets to put the sensors into.
So you've got one the front on your waist,
and then you've got two on each leg.
So the idea behind this is that you put all of the sensors
into their pockets, and then when you go out and run,
it can tell exactly where your legs are.
So you get metrics to do with things
like your pelvic rotation and your knee kickback as well.
Also really worth noting that although the pods are water
resistant, they are not waterproof.
When charging the pods, I actually found that two of them
didn't connect in with the tiny little pins.
So without having those pods charged,
like they're not actually being able to sync the pods
to go out and run and try this out.
So a lot of this review I'm afraid is going to be based
on just what they can do
and not what I've experienced them doing.
So I would say that price wise,
I'm going to put it at a three out of five because I think
that there are other gadgets on this test that are easier
to use for less money that still give you
the same sorts of metrics.
That leads us on to the ease of use.
And I'm going to have to give this a not applicable
because I haven't been able to use it.
I haven't been able to get the pods to charge
in the docking station.
Metrics wise are absolutely incredible.
I would love to know what my pelvic rotation is
and I would to know what my kickback is as well.
So I'm going to give that a tentative five out of five,
because I do think that those metrics
are incredibly interesting.
And then finally usefulness.
Again, I'm not able to actually judge on this
because I've not had any of the data to work from.
So I'm going to give that one another N/A
because I don't feel like I can actually score
the Attis STRIDESENSE in that criteria.
- It's time for me to choose what I would pick
if I had to put my money where my mouth is.
Ultimately, I would use Garmin's HRM Pro a lot.
It's quite expensive for a heart rate monitor,
but it's very good.
And it adds an extra layer of accuracy, I think for me,
when I like running to heart rate,
but from the test today,
I really enjoy testing Nurvv's insoles.
I thought they were really innovative.
There's a lot of technology that appeals to me
and my inner geek
and in terms of long-term use
and potentially making genuine changes to the way I run,
if I felt like I needed to make changes,
then those are something I would look at.
- And now time for my pick of my favorite gadgets
in this test.
And for me, it's still on the back of my shorts, actually.
It's got to be the Garmin foot pod.
I think for the price is really reasonable.
You get some really good data, that just goes
that little bit further than what you get on your watch.
And I love the ease of use of the fact that it syncs up
to my existing Garmin products.
So the Garmin foot pod for me.
- Make sure you let us know what you think of the gear too.
Are wearable trackers like these the future?
And how much do you think something like this,
this technology, could help you to improve
your running performance?
And how cool do you have to be
to wear new sci-fi leggings?
Definitely cooler than me.
We'd love to hear from you.
Let us know in the comments anything
that you think could help the rest of The
Running Channel community as well.
And we'll see you next time.