Last week I visited the FIBO, the largest Fitness exhibition in the World, in Cologne again, after I think 12-14 years.
There is definitely still business in the fitness industry, more brands of treadmills, leg presses and exercise bikes than ever before, and of course, all more efficient than the others and innovative ……
Just kidding, of course, hardly anything new that hasn’t been developed before. Interesting in this aspect is the return of EMS (electromyostimulation), but now with multiple electrodes dispersed over the body, so arm, leg en trunk muscle can be stimulated like a whole body electrostim. Probably great to play with, or to get sore overall if you increase the intensity to high, but as a daily training tool or as a tool for elite athletes?? Unless they get paid for it of course…..
And protein powders, energy bars and gels in endless variation and stacked with miracle-components from the jungle of the Amazone or “secret Russian laboratories”.
I basically went there to listen to the new development, initiated by the science team of Omegawave, based on data collection and new data processing methods, which allow the users to develop completely new concepts of training and periodization!
By the way, my congratulations for Omegawave for winning the Sport Technology Award for the “Best Performance Technology for Elite Athletes” last week. Not a small accomplishment considering competitors like Catapult and Alter-G.
So yes, the Omegawave lecture was exciting, but my little highlight of the day was to coincidentally see the person who tried to screw me more than once with vibration machines, the self-proclaimed ” inventor of vibration training” and “Olympic coach”. After 15 years trying to screw every single person he met, still standing there at the FIBO in a booth trying to tell people how great vibration training is and how innovative it is, after virtually globally destroying the vibration-concept himself.
I haven’t ’seen anything that pathetic for long. He looked like he had become member of the Addams family, looking 30 years older and being the living proof that his way of vibration training for sure did doesn’t work .
In between I do my “normal” work, and the condensed courses I give “Planning, Periodisation and Peaking” and “Recovery”, a congress in Amsterdam next Friday but also something completely different.
Remember the TV show The Voice? Well, by the same Talpa Media group a new TV format was developed called Utopia, in the near future to be seen on a TV station near you.
Utopia is where 15 people stay in an enclosed environment and initially with very limited resources, two cows, some chickens, an empty shed and a little cash, for a year, trying to build a new society.
Exciting from social and psychology point of view, but also another hit by Talpa. Since I am testing individuals in stressful situations like elite athletes and SF operators , I decided to mail the Utopians and proposed to test them as well. And to my surprise they responded positively, so I tested all 15 of them and came back two days later with the results and advise for them what to do as far as lifestyle is concerned. It will be broadcasted end of this week.
Interesting program I have to say, and I am not alone, 700.000 viewers a day, can’t be wrong.
And I have been in Utopia and I bet that’s more than you can say ……
