Whether you’re a competitive athlete, gym enthusiast or an average person starting a new workout routine, the most important biometric to measure in order to improve your fitness level is heart rate.
A new device called the AmpStrip is able to track your heart rate and performance before, during and after a workout in order to help you train at the peak of you’re your performance capabilities.
The AmpStrip is a new fitness device developed by parent company, FitLinxx, a provider of wireless activity monitors and health tracking devices for people longing to improve their fitness and health. Their products allow people to monitor fitness and health indicators, like activity, weight and blood pressure. Businesses across the world leverage FitLinxx products and applications within employee wellness programs to help lower healthcare rates for their employees.
Dave Monahan, President and CEO of FitLinxx, believes the AmpStrip is unlike any other product on the market. The AmpStrip is able to give users 24/7 insight into how their body functions during exercise, afterwards as it recovers and also while at rest. The device is only 3.5 inches long, one inch wide and less than two tenths of an inch thick. Although it is only about the size of a Band-Aid, the AmpStrip encompasses an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor to detect a users’ heart rate, a 3-axis accelerometer to capture body movement and a skin proximity thermistor to record body temperature.
“The 3-axis accelerometer allows us to track physical activity and understand the orientation of the body, for example, when you are standing up or sitting down or whether you are laying down on your side or back,” said Monahan. “The AmpStrip uses the ECG to track instantaneous heart rate, heart rate variability and resting heart rate. ”
For accurate measurements, the device should be worn on the left side of the torso just below the pectoral muscle. The device then sends all of its obtained data to its corresponding mobile App via Bluetooth Smart. When users are in proximity of their mobile phone, the AmpStrip will automatically transfer all of its collected data to the App.
The device is waterproof and can be worn while swimming and showering. It uses disposable adhesive strips to stick to the body that last three to seven days depending on the intensity of a user’s workout routine. In a health care setting, the adhesive can stick to a patient for a little over a week.
Looking ahead, Monahan sees the potential of the AmpStrip being used on patients in hospitals or rehabilitation centers.
“We are launching the AmpStrip in the sport and fitness market first but we also have health care providers working with us in order to test the device in remote patient monitoring,” said Monahan. “People who have a disease like COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) or suffer from chronic heart failure or diabetes can benefit from this device. This is a way for health care providers to monitor their patients while they are at home to make sure they are recovering and improving. If the patient is having additional issues, an alert would be sent from the AmpStrip to the patient’s health care provider.”
While other activity monitors like the Nike Fuel Band and Fitbit already exist in the market, the AmpStrip sets itself apart from these devices with its innovative adhesive design and accurate, continuous activity monitoring. Being able to capture critical statistics such as heart rate and resting heart rate all day, every day enables users to improve their physical performance without exercising to the point of injury.
“The AmpStrip gives much deeper insight and is more for athletes who want to figure out what is going on in their body,” said Monahan. “You can get heart straps but they are uncomfortable and usually people only wear them while they exercise and then proceed to take them off. What we were hearing from athletes is that they really wanted to find out how their bodies perform while they exercise and it was just as important for them to know how their body functions during their recovery cycle.”
This past January, the AmpStrip made its official debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. More than 10 thousand companies introduce their new products to the marketplace at CES each year.
At CES, companies can apply to have their products featured in an innovation showcase, where the hottest gadgets coming to market are recognized for all attendees to check out. Only 200 products are selected annually for the showcase, and AmpStrip was one of them. This exposure quickly drove steady traffic to the AmpStrip booth.
“After seeing the AmpStrip at the innovation showcase, a lot of people came up to our booth at CES and wanted to know more about our product,” said Monahan. “Because of that, we caught a lot of attention and the people who vote for the Best of CES Award came up to our booth.”
The AmpStrip was awarded the 2015 Best of CES Award, which is only given to seven new products each year. “Receiving the Best of CES Award generated a lot of interest in the product,” said Monahan.
The AmpStrip will be sold for $149 and can be pre-ordered at a discounted rate here. So far, the AmpStrip has generated more than $450,000 in presales. The product will come with a wireless charging station and 30 adhesive strips. Additional adhesive strips will be available for purchase when the product launches this fall.