How Athos Apparel Functions

Workout mirrors can feel uncomfortable. While some individuals with a narcissistic bent might enjoy watching themselves stretch and sweat to the rhythm of "Let's Get Physical," most people probably don't. Additionally, mirrors aren't the best way to assess your workout form—you often have to awkwardly twist your head to see how you're doing. Moreover, what works for one person in terms of a stretch could lead to injury for another. In our increasingly connected world, there are more accurate ways to monitor your fitness.

There’s an abundance of wearable fitness devices available today, like the FitBit, Jawbone UP, and Nike FuelBand. Most of these rely on a combination of accelerometers and gyroscopes to collect basic data on your movements. These gadgets are perfect for tracking your activity throughout the day, offering rough estimates of things like steps taken and calories burned.

But Athos fitness clothing stands apart from the rest. It takes exercise tracking to a whole new level of accuracy by using specialized sensors that monitor the electrical signals produced by 22 different muscle groups during your workout.

The Athos system caters to both casual athletes and those seeking to optimize their fitness for a competitive edge. When used correctly, Athos apparel helps track your effort and ensure proper form, which may reduce the risk of injury that could delay your progress by weeks or months. Additionally, it can assist in physical rehabilitation, offering a tool for monitoring exertion and strain, particularly in muscles that require healing.

Like most modern fitness trackers, Athos pairs with your smartphone. Whether you're running, jumping, stretching, or skipping, you can view real-time data via the Athos app, which shows how much you're engaging specific muscle groups and your overall effort level. This data helps you decide whether to ease off to avoid injury or push harder to make the most of your limited workout time.

So, how do these high-tech, sensor-infused garments enhance your workouts?

Replace Your Fitness Trainer

Skilled personal fitness trainers are specialists in both physiology and psychology. They not only create the best workout routines to boost your performance, but also help you break through mental barriers.

Quality personal trainers can come with a hefty price tag. This reality inspired electrical engineering students Christopher Wiebe and Dhananja Jayalath, who realized it would be ideal to receive valuable feedback from a digital device that costs far less than a human trainer. While at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, they dedicated their free time to developing a fitness product that would offer unparalleled feedback.

A major challenge they encountered was figuring out how to convert the body's natural processes into meaningful digital data. They chose to use electromyography (EMG) sensors, which sit directly on the skin's surface, capturing data about the electrical signals flowing through the muscles beneath.

EMG sensors are widely used in biology and medicine. Researchers rely on them to better understand neuromuscular activity and to gain clearer insights into what occurs when muscles function properly — and when they don't.

Muscles are made up of countless individual cells that form muscle fibers. When your brain signals your bicep to lift a heavy weight, it sends an electrical impulse to those fibers, which immediately contract. As they contract, they generate an electrical signal that differs greatly from the one produced by a resting muscle.

The Athos sensors do more than just detect muscle activation; they also measure the intensity of each muscle’s effort. This is crucial information for any fitness garment.

What metrics does Athos clothing monitor, and how might the system transform and enhance your fitness routine?

The Lowdown on Sensors

Accelerometers are a fundamental component of many fitness devices. Engineers embed these tiny sensors in products that track activities like your baseball or golf swing, the positioning of your smartphone, your car’s navigation system, or even your missile guidance system if you're thinking in military terms.

Athos relies on a six-axis accelerometer as a key component of its technology. However, it's the muscle activity tracking that truly distinguishes Athos from other accelerometer-based competitors.

Athos' EMG sensors pick up electrical signals generated by your active muscles. When combined with the Athos software, the system can monitor muscle effort, muscle toning, and muscle fatigue—critical factors in understanding how your body responds to specific activities.

The sensors also enable the core unit to calculate your maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). Essentially, the first time you use the system, you calibrate it by performing basic exercises. Based on this data, the core determines your MVC, which indicates the maximum safe exertion level for someone working out solo at home.

As of April 2015, the Athos line includes a shirt and a pair of shorts. Both garments are made from stretchy, form-fitting compression material that adapts to nearly any body type. The clothing is designed to fit both men and women, and the fabric wicks away sweat while simultaneously gathering data.

The sensors aren't randomly placed—they each have a specific purpose. For instance, the shorts sensors track electrical activity in muscles like the hamstrings, inner and outer quadriceps, and both sides of the gluteus. The shorts also include four heart-rate sensors. The shirt features even more sensors, including 14 EMG detectors, four heart rate monitors, and two breathing sensors.

When the smartphone app receives the data, it presents a visual representation of the body area you're working on. This image shows your total exertion as a percentage, and breaks it down to highlight whether one side of your body is compensating for the other. Your muscle groups are color-coded to reflect your effort levels: green indicates you may be slacking off, while white suggests you're pushing too hard.

The display is designed to be quick and simple to interpret, allowing you to glance at your smartphone mid-workout. This way, you can adjust your intensity on the spot or pause and rethink your approach if needed.

As of spring 2015, Athos is only compatible with Apple's iOS. However, the company has plans to release an Android version in the future.

When the Sweat Dries

The Athos sensors are merely tools for tracking your movements. To process this data and connect the system, you'll also need the core unit, which Athos refers to as its hub. This $199 device is a 2.5-inch (6.4-centimeter) oval-shaped plastic piece that fits into a small pouch on the shirt or shorts.

The core houses the accelerometers and a gyroscope, which captures movements like rotation that the accelerometers can’t detect. It also features a Bluetooth adapter for transmitting data to your smartphone. The rechargeable battery lasts approximately 10 hours, enough for most people to last a week’s worth of workouts (or more if you decide to slack off).

Athos isn’t the only high-tech fitness apparel on the market. The Move Pilates tank top uses small actuators to guide your body into proper alignment during Pilates sessions. Hexoskin is a more established competitor, offering advanced tracking of various metrics like breathing volume, cadence, VO2 max, heart-rate variability, and more, with a price tag around $400. Even larger companies are getting into the game, like Ralph Lauren, which sells a shirt that tracks heart rate, breathing rate, and other metrics.

Nearly all of today’s smart fabrics, including the Athos range, are machine washable. This is a crucial feature for many users, as no one wants to change their laundry routine just for one piece of clothing.

It’s also worth mentioning that Athos garments align with current clothing trends. They resemble standard compression wear, though with added features to accommodate sensors and the core unit.

The Athos system showcases the incredible progress of fitness trackers and offers a glimpse into how advanced they may become in the future. If the creators of Athos have their way, personal trainers might face a decline in demand as digital assistants step in to handle the heavy lifting of tracking and guiding workouts.