Nerdy Find of The Week: Under Armour E39

18 05 2012

Since I promise nerdy stuff from time to time (I think I have to since it’s part of the domain name…),  I thought I’d share my thoughts on something that I learned about a year or two ago:

Cards on the table: I am a sports junkie.  I eat/breathe/sleep sports, both collegiate (Go UCF Knights!) and professional (yes, I am terrified of the Heat losing to the Pacers).  More importantly, my addiction goes as deep as to watch the NFL Scouting Combine every year.  This is the beauty pageant of the sports world, where grown muscular men are measured, weighed and evaluated by other grown men who determine if they will fit their team’s needs.

Cam Newton: Property of Stark Industries

In the 2011 Combine, Under Armour rolled out a new piece of technology that they tested out on a few prospects, including eventual #1 overall pick, Cam Newton.  The compression shirt he wore had a sensor on it that resembled Tony Stark’s arc reactor in the “Iron Man” comic books.  From what I was told at the time, it was to measure what was once immeasurable in real time.  We’re talking about things like heart rate broken down by yardage when running a 40-yard dash and breathing patterns during cone drills.  All the data was then saved onto a 2 GB hard drive for further study.

The E39, as it became named, was yet another way for scouts to find out more invasive athletic information without actually BEING invasive.  Personally,  I don”t need to know if a player’s heart rate increases a X amount of beats per minute within five yards of the line of scrimmage.  However, I can see this being important for an Offensive Coordinator, who is looking at a wide receiver prospect and wants to make sure they have an initial burst at the line, as opposed to needing those yards to ramp things up (a-la Ted Ginn, Jr. and his family…I’m still bitter, Cam Cameron!).  Here’s a video explaining the E39 a little bit better:


The cost of this bad boy makes it obvious that it’s meant for professional athletes, as Under Armour has put the E39 in the $700 range.  I guess when you’re the sure-thing first round pick that Cam Newton was, your agent can foot the bill until he signs that contract.  I’m curious to see if these find their way onto college campuses.  I can see the E39 being useful in offseason conditioning or even spring drills.

However, it could open up pandora’s box, since college athletics programs usually have apparel sponsors (Nike, adidas, Russell Athletics).  The last thing the college football world needs (you know…aside from the BCS…) is a technology advantage for Under Armour-sponsored schools (Maryland, Auburn and the loathed University of South Florida).

So what do you think?  Is this useful data or just another shiny toy for soon-to-be millionaires to bring home as “swag?”


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Categories : Technology, Updates

Gym Pet Peeves: First Edition

10 05 2012

The beauty of beta testing a site like this is that since there are so few readers and followers (…go ahead, send the link to your friends & family) that I can playtest ideas and see what works and what doesn’t.

Yesterday, on Twitter, Status Fitness Magazine (@StatusFitness) was running a re-tweet for the best use of the hash tag #GymPetPeeves.  To be honest, a lot of them were rather impressive!  I found myself thinking, “You know what?  Yeah that drives me crazy too!” quite a bit.  I even put one up of my own, which got some action (and followers, thank you very much), so I thought I’d start this segment of NerdyGymRat.com with my Gym Pet Peeve.

“When people use their gym membership as an expensive book club on the stationary bikes.”

In my eight years of working out, I’ve been a member of three different gyms:

  1. The UCF Rec & Wellness Center (thanks to tuition, it was free!)
  2. L.A. Fitness (which ended because they cared more about the check clearing than fixing equipment)
  3. Planet Fitness (home of the “Lunk Alarm,” which I’ve yet to set off because I’m a quiet beast)

While the amenities, hours of attendance, clientele and machines have changed over the years, one thing has stayed constant; lazy-ass people are in abundance!  At UCF, it was more of the sorority girls going in tight Nike/Under Armor apparel and were there to be seen.  At L.A. Fitness and Planet Fitness, it was much more annoying.

You see…I look at the gym the same way I do with anything I purchase or do; as an investment.  When I go shopping, I have to debate whether or not a product I’m potentially purchasing will better my life and if the return on investment is worth the price.  Will this shirt REALLY be helpful when I go downtown tonight?  Do I REALLY need to buy these chicken breasts in bulk (answer to that one is always HELL YES).

With the gym, I go in there with a purpose.  I invest my time and effort so that I get a return on investment (overall health and wellness…and yes the eight-pack I currently possess).  If I ever walk out of the gym with the feeling of knowing I didn’t give 150%, I feel like total crap the rest of my day, thus making it a weak return on investment.  If anything, the stock dropped for that day.

When I see a person on a stationary bike, with a bottle of water in one hand and “Vogue” in the other, it drives me up an effin’ wall!  You’re there to WORK…OUT.  There are countless other places to bring your Kindle that don’t cost you an initiation fee on top of a monthly membership fee.  What you’re basically saying to the rest of the people at the gym is that you care enough to BUY the membership, but not enough to take advantage of it.  In my honest opinion, you might as well stay at home and save your money for another e-book.  Otherwise, get to sweatin’!

Whew that felt good…who else has a gym pet peeve to share?  Maybe yours will be the next one!


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Categories : Healthy Choices

Five Fitness Apps For Your Smartphone

8 05 2012

I’m sure by now, you guys are wondering why I’m the NERDY gym rat.  I mean, all I’ve talked about to this point is protein powders, lifting weights and how to make good nutrition choices.  All that does is solve two-thirds of the name!

Well good news!  The nerdy side is coming out with this post!

I think we can all agree that setting goals with health and fitness are crucial if we’re going to see improvements.  We can also agree that 90% of the world has a smartphone permanently attached to their hand for 16 hours a day (because we’re all getting our eight hours of sleep, right?).  The great thing about this is that we can use that addiction to our advantage, with the development of apps for each format (Windows Phone, Android, iOSwhatever-version-they’re-on).

Now, like most apps, there are good-to-fantastic ones and there are those that are…well…not.  Here are a few of my favorite from each of the platforms.  (Note:  I’m reviewing the FREE versions of these, since I’m a bit on the cheap side with the apps on my phone.  Sadly, CheapskateNerdyGymRat.com was taken.)

RunKeeper (Available on Android & iOS)

I’ve had this app on my Motorola Atrix (and before that, my iPhone 3Gs) since the date of purchase.  As a person who hates long distance running, the integration with my playlists makes the run a whole lot easier on me (especially the one a few weeks ago that went for 8 miles).  Whenever I have that moment of wanting to just stop, I have the music to help me push through (as well as an optional coach, updating you on your current pace/distance at certain intervals).

Psh…someone’s doggin’ it!

My only complaint with the app is that, while it has an on-board GPS to track where you’re running, it can get a bit spotty, depending on your provider. Mine being AT&T, I haven’t had that big of a problem running around Orlando.  However, if I go on a jog in Gainesville or New Smyrna Beach, I’ll fall off the map.  For a free app, it’s pretty fantastic, though!

MyFitnessPal – Calorie Counter (Available on Android and iOS)

Weight Loss 101:  Calorie deficit = loss of pounds.  With this app, you can track your caloric expenditure throughout the day.  It actually has a pretty good database to pick and choose from (restaurants included) and also lets you punch in the serving size of whatever it is you ate.

Very Nice Design!

This may be me being a little nit-picky, but I have one big problem with calorie counting apps (including the Weight Watchers one).  Sure the less calories you take in/burn off in the gym, the lower your weight will be…but what about the other important nutritional information?  This is sort of like seeing a 100 calorie pack of Oreo’s.  Sure, it’s 100 calories, but they’re EMPTY calories.  If this app allowed you to also punch in information like, say, grams of protein or fiber, I’d find it to be much more effective in assessing your overall health.

Nike Training Club (Available on iOS)

Now THIS is an app I can get behind!  While aimed towards the female demographic (something the interface design does quite well in conveying in tone and color scheme), men can appreciate the exercises listed in here if you’re looking to tone up.  The Nike Trainer Club allows you to customize your workouts, as well as work out to your playlists.

Perfect Form!

The only fault I could find in this app is that it only allows tracking of one user at a time, so no sharing between mother & daughter.  However, this is something that I’m sure Nike will fix, as they have with their other apps (Nike+, for example).  Once they refine it a bit more (and maybe have it join forces with its male counterpart, the Nike BOOM), they’ll have domination of the fitness app world, especially since you don’t need to buy a special $100 pair of sneakers for it to work!

Bodybuilding.com (Available on Android and iOS)

I’m actually a big fan of Bodybuilding.com as a website.  The store usually runs good deals, the database of workouts is solid and there are countless articles that span over years of research from credible people in the fitness world.  The app is a great extension of that.  In its most recent update, it allows for you to shop from their store, something that wasn’t available in older versions.

Yeah, like I was going to miss a chance to screencap Jamie Eason!

The biggest problem with the app, however, is its tendency to freeze and shut down on Android phones.  With so much traffic going to the site, it may just be an issue of a lack of bandwidth to handle everything at once.  I’d suggest a purge on the website of articles from 2007.  Maybe that will help reducing the frequency of crashing.

Restaurant Nutrition (Available on Android and iOS)

I will admit: I’m the guy who researches nutritional information PRIOR to going out to dinner with friends.  I’m sorry that I’m not sorry for that.  This has been a staple on my phones since my first smartphone and has been a godsend.  Knowing every detail of information from most major chain restaurants lets me know that I’m better off with two “fresco style” tacos over a grilled stuffed burrito at Taco Bell (a bit obvious, I know, but still a good example!).

Big Macs are unhealthy, you say…

Unfortunately, it only does chain restaurants.  It may just be me wishing, but with the capabilities of GPS location in this day and age, there should be a way to access local restaurants nutritional info, if available.  For example, chains in the southwest (i.e. In-n-Out Burger) should pop up when I’m in Las Vegas.  Again, I’m sure this is something that can easily be fixed as we move ahead in the world of technology.

Well, hopefully that gives you a good starting point of apps to download (if you haven’t already).  With the help of some of these, you should have no problem keeping yourself accountable.  Your phone will happily be your buddy on the road to a healthier lifestyle.


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Categories : Healthy Choices, Reviews, Technology


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