Amazfit Studio Motion Tracking

Home fitness is a hot topic in this time-poor day and age, and you better believe companies are beavering away trying to apply all the very latest technologies in an effort to make getting fit and staying in shape as easy and effective as possible. The latest offering comes from wearables company Huami, which has teamed up with “fitness entertainment” company Studio to produce the Amazefit Studio.

Making exercise as easy and effective as possible is counter to the whole point if you follow the wisdom of magnificent psychopaths like David Goggins, a man who views every difficulty in his path as extra weight on the mental bar he’s lifting just to get started. That’s what you’re really training, Goggins would say: your ability to make yourself do what’s tough but necessary. Anything that makes it easier is making you mentally weak, in his estimation, so you’re making yourself worse instead of better.

David Goggins would scoff at the Amazefit Studio. But Navy SEAL ultramarathon runners who do 4,030 chin-ups in 17 hours and run 100-mile races on broken feet aren’t the target market. Puffier types like you and I are. And if a gadget can get us moving, then maybe it’s worth the money. That kind of thinking has bought yachts for many a telemarketing magnate.

The Amazfit Studio has two pieces. First, there’s a connected premium treadmill capable of 12 mph (20 km/h) running, and up to seven degrees of incline, with big training bars on each side strong enough to do dips on provided you weigh less than 100 kg (220 lb). Whoops, my bad.

Second, there’s a towering 43-inch HD screen in portrait orientation, with a built-in JBL surround sound system on a big stand, which is effectively there both to entertain and motivate you as you run, but also to tell you what to do in a range of other exercise sessions on and off the treadmill. The Amazefit Studio offers sculpt, stretch and yoga lessons on top of various running programs, and the Huami team has loaded it with more than 1,000 different workouts.

It doesn’t just show you what to do, either, it uses a 3D Time of Flight camera to track your body movements and forms, and give you feedback on how to get closer to the right forms. Sorry Amazfit, the only way I’m getting my body into some of those yoga poses is if all my limbs are removed and positioned manually. But I appreciate your suggestions.

The big screen stand looks a lot like a smartphone, but you’ll also need your own smartphone to control it through an app. It also interacts with Amazefit’s various heart rate monitors and fitness trackers. The whole thing actually looks like a nice piece of furniture, one you’ll be proud to stack your washing on top of and leave untouched for large spans of time as it accumulates cobwebs in your spare room.

Pricing and availability details are TBA, so keep an eye out. Or do what Goggins does, and go for a jog in the pouring rain, without your phone to play you music and supply external motivation, even though your back is sore and your shoes are crap. Every one of those limiting factors will make you stronger if you overcome them. Getting mentally fit is a lot cheaper.

Huami’s Amazfit Studio motion-tracks your fitness journey [New Atlas]