Though I am not exactly a fitness freak, my geeky nature ensures that I am always on the lookout for means to track and analyze my fitness activities. When I read a year back that Adidas and Polar are partnering to combine their strengths in sports apparel and heart rate monitoring technology, respectively, I was quite naturally excited. Come October this year, "Project Fusion" -- the world’s first integrated training system -- will make it's debut. This system includes advanced heart rate monitoring built directly into the apparel, along with speed and distance measurement integrated into the shoes.

The running apparel incorporates sensors that can track ECG readings from your body. A nifty looking transmitter strapped onto your shirt collects these readings and transmits them to a wrist mounted running computer. No messy wires or straps to be concerned about. If you're wondering whether those sensors will make the clothes a bit itchy, no worries there either. The sensors are supposedly soft and there is advanced technology built into the clothes to constantly adapt to your body and keep it cool. Apart from the obvious tees, there is an entire range dedicated to women, keeping in mind our special requirements. The shoes have a light stride sensor placed in the midsole that measures every single stride that you take and, as with the apparel, transmits the data back to the running computer.

As you would have guessed by now, the running computer is the heart of the system. Using the data from the apparel and the shoes, it can help you track your heart rate, distance covered, speed and recovery rates - all at runtime. Once you are done running, just download all the data onto your PC where the ProTrainer software will give you a deeper understanding of your training and help you optimize your performance.

Though the system is simple to use and, more importantly, as non-obtrusive as possible, it can yield extremely complex and hard to monitor data. So, if your current fitness regime is along the lines of qualifying for the 100m dash at the next Olympics, this has to be pretty much at the top of your shopping list. The entire system will be priced at around $680, although individual pieces can also be bought.

Via: WearTec