Wondercise Challenges Apple Fitness Plus in Motion Tracking - and Cheaper Prices

Wondercise Challenges Apple Fitness Plus in Motion Tracking - and Cheaper Prices

The increasingly saturated fitness services market has made it difficult for Wondercise to get my attention in the past, but the company's new motion tracking sensor that can sense arm and leg movements during a workout is too interesting to ignore.

Wondercise's Live Multi-Point Motion Match Fitness Training System (yes, that's the official name), announced at CES 2021, is a kid's version of Nintendo's Ring Fit Adventure. The existing program offers a strong sense of gamification, while the new hardware uses a three-point wearable system that is worn on the body to track movement.

Like Ring Fit Adventure, one of the live motion matching straps is worn on the legs; Wondercise levels up with another strap worn on the arm.

The third point comes from the Apple Watch or Garmin Watch, both of which are heart rate monitors and movement trackers that are already compatible with Wondercise workouts. [For on-demand classes of up to 10 minutes each, Wondercise will track you based on how well you are keeping up during the session. In on-demand classes of up to 10 minutes each, you are assigned a variable score based on how well you keep up during the session.

The idea is that the more you work out and the more you work on your form, the higher your score will increase over time. You can go back and look at your score at any point in the workout you have completed and see which movements you can improve.

In addition to being attractive to users who need help with their form or who care about their form, there are two other factors that make Wondercise a potential contender to Apple Fitness Plus: First, the Apple Watch and compatibility with Garmin activity meters, and more partnerships are in the pipeline.

Second, it is half the price of Apple Fitness Plus at $9.99 per month; Wondercise is only $4.99 per month or $35.99 per year, making it more affordable than services like the Peloton App or Fitbit Premium. Of course, Wondercise's program doesn't have the class frequency or class length of these competing services in the fitness world, but for the price of dinner, you can work up a sweat for a year.

I have yet to try a Wondercise class, but they are filmed at a professional studio in Miami with both athletes and fitness influencers. There is no shortage of ways to get in shape these days, so if you want success, you'll need to impress with some real action.

Wondersize has not shared the exact price and availability of the Live Multipoint Motion Match fitness training system, but it should arrive sometime in 2021.

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