Shape.Care's Gym Gloves Are a Wearable Sensor-Packed Tool for Workout Tracking
With five sensors linked via conductive threads to a central hub on each glove, Shape.Care's fitness tracker looks to stand out.
Polish personal training startup Shape.Care is crowdfunding for a wearable sensor platform designed to offer real-time feedback during workouts: the Shape.Care Gym Gloves.
"Our solution is based on professional training gloves, equipped with hi-tech sensors, that track all movements during workout and send the gathered data to the Shape.Care mobile application," Shape.Care's chief executive and co-founder Tomasz Krzyszkowski explains of the platform. "The app analyzes and interprets almost every training parameter. It presents results and progress rates, but also checks the technique during exercise, providing real time tips."
"Research shows that over 80% of gym goers find it hard to stay systematic and motivated. Often, they set themselves unrealistic goals or follow ill fitted training plans. Smartwatches were supposed to solve these problems by monitoring progress, checking goals, and creating appropriate habits."
"However," Krzyszkowski claims, "they do not gather enough training data, and neither do any other popular fitness trackers. For example, when exercising with weights at the gym or at home, they leave you lacking information about ideal training volume, capacity, and technique. This is where Shape.Care, a digital training system, outstands former solutions."
The Shape.Care Gym Gloves are designed to integrate a removable, rechargeable sensor platform into a washable glove built with exercise in mind and boasting high flexibility, improved grip, and ventilation with moisture-wicking material. Conductive threads sewn into each glove link to the sensor module, providing feedback from four palm-based and one back-of-hand sensors.
Data gathered by the sensor is transmitted to a mobile app, which combines real-time tips and corrections with historical logging, analytics, and offers suggestions for possible workout plans — each developed by professional trainers, Shape.Care claims. "Shape.Care algorithms do not just count repetitions, but also assess which ones worked," Krzyszkowski says. "They study every sequence of every exercise, measuring your times, your breaks, and tempo changes."
The Shape.Care Gym Gloves are now funding on Kickstarter, with physical rewards starting at PLN 649 (around $170) early bird pricing for a single pair of gloves and a charging cable. Shipping is expected to begin in August this year.