Summer of sports: 5 cool gadgets to take parents from couch to cup

I am a gadget geek…whatever it is, I would like to be able to do it with the latest cool gadget.

However, this gadget nerdy-ness, doesn’t help my mission to improve my fitness levels because usually, getting all sporty on my “ass,” isn’t actually going to give me much opportunity to use whizzy gadgets. You have to get up and “do stuff” don’t you? My sports fanaticism extends to being a couch sports fanatic; I watch. I don’t “do.”

Since having my children, the ONLY proper exercise that I have been able to stick with is swimming. I have tried running, cycling and even went to a gym called Curves once…once being the main point of that sentence. Where can you get gadgets in swimming, I ask you?

Imagine my joy when I discovered that you CAN be a geeky swimmer…who knew?

In fact, you can get cool gadgets for both sides of my sporting tendencies; those that appeal to the couch sports fan, and those that work well for those parents who are trying to get back into the swing of sporty things. That means that this summer, with Wimbledon, the England cricket tour, the World Cup, and everything else in between; I can indulge my sporting tendencies, without missing out on my geek-itry *is that even a word?*

So here is my list of the top 5 cool gadgets for mums trying to get back into sport; working it from couch to cup *as it were*

Couch…to…

My Achilles heel is gaming. I like to “pretend” that I am an Olympic athlete; swimming, javelin throwing, and running my way to that gold medal. However, clearly…I…am….not. However, in my pursuit of greatness, the PS controllers that are available can make even this 40 year old mum run like Mo Farrow *honest* My husband and I like to indulge in this geekdom when the kids have gone to bed. Mainly because it isn’t a pretty sight watching us complaining at each other when the swimming doesn’t quite go as planned….

…Armchair…to…

Armchair football, is watching it from, well your armchair, isn’t it? But, you CAN do more than just sit there. In fact, I found chair exercises for seniors…

After I had finished laughing – I discovered that there are plenty of cool gadgets to help you move from that gaming couch to the armchair.

There are gadgets designed so you don’t even have to leave your chair to exercise. You can take part in the summer of sports, watching England fail in the World Cup from your seat? Does that sound like something you might like to do? Well, in that case, check out the Mini Bike from Ultrasport on Amazon. A bike you can cycle WHILE SITTING DOWN *who knew*

…Frontdoor…to…

We have all heard of the door gyms for baby, right? However, bet you didn’t know you can get weights and things to put on doors for adults? And no, you don’t wear big pants as a adult. They are a little different.

Joking aside, they seem to be rather well put together. So you can move from exercising yourself in your chair, to the door without too much difficulty, and you are halfway there…almost out of the house!

We have worked on the cycling, why not try a gym on your door frame?

…Driveway…to…

Open that door and get outside! Once you have taken the gym down off it of course.

Once you are out and about, you are nearly there; but we don’t want to get to into the exercise routine too fast do we? So how about we enlist the help of a gadget that, if you are like me, you take everywhere with you – your phone?

The Fitbug is designed to help you develop your current lifestyle into a healthier one. It tracks movement, and what you eat to set you personal targets, using your digital coach, that you aim to beat every week. Motivation is your friend. You can even see how you are getting on with your phone. Pretty cool, eh?

…the Cup (or the pool in my case)

Finally, once you have made it out of the door, and are now more conscious of your lifestyle; you can go for that cup! Your own personal success, whatever that may be. You decide.

I got back into the swimming pool; could be anything for you though. You only need your swimming costume and goggles to go swimming though, no gadgets, right? Wrong.

I have been swimming for over six months now; regularly. I never last that long at anything.

However, this time I am motivated. It is not the way I feel afterwards, or the fact that I AM finally looking slimmer. My motivation is because of a gadget. My watch. I time myself every week to see if I can improve on the time it takes to do my sixty lengths. I love my watch. When I started it took over 56 minutes to do those 60 lengths, now it is taking less than 54 minutes. Two minutes may not seem long to you, but even 1 second motivates me to do better next time around.

All I did was buy a waterproof watch from Amazon. That was it – and now I WANT to go each week, to see if I can get any better.

Beats cycling from my armchair, right?

What cool gadgets do you use to motivate you to get off that couch? Tell me about them, I LOVE a good gadget!

This is a collaborative post, and contains affiliate links.

Helen

Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine!Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time.KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10.It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania.Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on.Get in touch TODAY!

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