High-Tech Smart Shorts Tell You If Your Workout Is Slacking
OAKLAND (KPIX 5) -- Forget Fitbit. Where did Steph Curry get the moves to do insane crossover dribble on Chris Paul?
The secret may be in his shorts.
The Warriors are training in new wearable technology.
It's called Athos Compression Shorts. These shorts aren't just Lycra -- they're wired to tell you exactly how you're working out.
"We can play a personal trainer of sorts on your phone to make sure you work out correctly," says Jake Waxenberg, the company's Director of Brand Strategy.
It's electromyography, to be precise.
This technology has actually been around for about 50 years, but the machines cost $15-$20,000. You need wires and sticky nodes, and practically a PhD to understand it.
Here's how it works: The shorts have glute, quad and hamstring sensors built into them, along with a heart rate monitor.
Those sensors send a Bluetooth signal from a core device, snapped into the shorts, to your Smartphone.
Waxenberg says the shorts send you valuable information.
"How much you moved around is one thing, but if you're doing a squat, did you use both sides evenly? Did you use your glutes enough? Did you use your quads enough?"
The startup just had its second round of venture capital funding, and is getting ready to release a smart shirt as well.
This technology works for both the average Joe and the elite athlete.
"The ability to track what muscles are doing in the gym, on the court -- is such an advantage for injury prevention, for efficiency, for muscle fatigue that the pro sports community has come out and supported us tremendously," says Waxenburg.
So a Steph Curry spin may only be a few perfect squats away.
Athos Compression Shorts cost $99. Add $199 for the core device to power them.