Great heart rate monitor but I did not like the miCoach software (huge) so I downloaded the Polar Beat software to my Nexus 5 phone and this combination worked perfectly for me! Frankly, the Polar heart rate monitor is also great so pick which ever one you want. You cannot go.
MSRP: $62
What it is: a training shirt that features Adidas heart rate sensing technology.
Sensors are woven into the fabric, monitoring your heart rate throughout your workout.
Who is it for: Athletes looking for technical shirts that can connect to heart rate monitors.
I’m a 6’2’’ 165lb (188 cm, 75 kg) distance runner and the medium shirt fit me very well. This shirt has a long torso that goes to your hips, but you can scrunch up some of the bottom and have the shirt finish at your waist. The sleeves fit close to my arms, so I would recommend trying this shirt out if you don’t have the build of a distance runner and are concerned the sleeves might get too tight.
The shirt is 84% polyester and 16% elastane (spandex), so it’s very breathable and stretches well. The shirt uses Adidas’ ClimaCool Technology which provides enhanced ventilation and moisture management. How good is the ventilation? I took this shirt on a 10 mile mountain run in Acadia National park on a very sunny 70F+ (21C+) day and can say it works as well or better than a regular polyester shirt.
Adidas claims the TECHFIT design “focuses your muscles’ energy to generate maximum explosive power, acceleration and long-term endurance”, but I did not experience any noticeable added power, acceleration or long-term endurance. Maybe TECHFIT does increase the performance of an athletes by some percentage, but I’ll consider the benefits of TECHFIT to be a marketing gimmick until Adidas publishes studies.
The shirt looks cool. It’s not just my opinion either, I was told I look like a superhero while wearing it. The different angled patches of fabric combined with trippy looking graphics around a heart rate bluetooth module makes you resemble Tony Stark.
I was very disappointed with how difficult it was to put on and remove this shirt. The shirt has an internal band of fabric wrapping around the chest that holds the conductive patches of fabric that connect to the heart rate monitor. This internal band does not stretch as much as the rest of the shirt, so you end up stuck with the shirt partially on you as you wiggle your arms and chest through this tight fabric band. I have double jointed shoulders and I still manage to rip out a few threads while putting on or taking off this shirt (ripped threads circled in image below). The band has to be tight though, otherwise the heart rate monitor won’t sense the skin that well.
The HRM technology
The metallic looking conductive fabric used to send your heart’s electrical impulses to the heart rate module is really neat. The bad part about the heart rate sensing technology in this shirt: it’s not always accurate.
![Shoes Shoes](https://resources.sport-tiedje.com/bilder/adidas/micoach/micoach_hrm_ipod/adidas_micoach_hrm_ipod_001_d.jpg)
Below is my heart rate on a 10 mile treadmill run with a steady pace between 9-11 mph and then 5 mph for the last few minutes. My heart rate did not drop during the middle of the workout, contrary to the shirt data.
If I swapped the heart rate monitor onto the chest strap, I got accurate heart rate data. I contacted Adidas about this discrepancy between the chest strap and the shirt and they believe the shirt was most likely inaccurate and the heart rate sensor module was fine.
This is disappointing since the shirt was very comfortable compared to a shirt and a heart rate chest strap. The heart rate module was also easy to snap on and off of the shirt. Adidas could have made the internal fabric even tighter to improve the accuracy of the heart rate monitor, but the shirt would have been impossible to put on or take off.
As a note, I made sure the sensor pads were wet and tested the heart rate monitor on several workouts before concluding the heart rate data was inaccurate.
Conclusion:
If you’re ok with occasional inaccurate heart rate data and like the appearance of this shirt, get the shirt. If you’re looking for a better alternative to chest straps, do not consider this shirt.
FREE Running Training Plans
More than 60,000 runners have prepared for their 5K, 10K, Half and full marathons with our free training plans.by Coach P. Hoyal, NAIA Track & Field All AmericanAdidas miCoach is a Xbox 360 Kinect and PlayStation Move enabled fitness game. Yes, it’s another fitness game, so why should you care? Well, it’s being pitched as a game to complement the sports you enjoy. Not replace, complement. It’s an important distinction.
For example, if you are a runner you go out running as normal and log the results of your run with miCoach. Then the program of strengthening and conditioning exercises, led by British heptathelete Jessica Ennis, will help you to improve your running. I’m as guilty as lots of other runners by simply running a lot to improve rather than following a balanced training program containing exercises other than running.
miCoach has been developed to use the Kinect sensor in a really clever way. It allows you to complete training exercises alongside a professional athlete on screen. Not only does it look really cool to see yourself plonked next to a sporting superstar but you can also quickly spot where you’re going wrong.
At certain points during each exercise the camera will zoom in on a critical part of the professional athlete’s body to show you in detail what they are doing. For instance, when Kaka (Real Madrid and Brazilian footballer) was knocking a ball between his feet I got to see a close-up of the how his foot was making contact with the ball. Ok, it doesn’t make it any easier to complete the exercises but at least you can see clearly what you should be doing.
Refreshingly, the whole ethos behind miCoach is about exercising correctly rather than finishing a set as quickly as possible. If you need a break at any point during a set then the exercise set counter will freeze and wait for you to start again. Even if the break is right in the middle of a set you won’t get hassled by any annoying on-screen prompts.
Currently the game features the following sports:
- Football
- Tennis
- Athletics
- Rugby
- Basketball
Each sport features a world famous sports star to guide you through the training. You have Kaka for football, Jessica Ennis for athletics, New Zealand All Black Ma Nonu for rugby with other stars still to be revealed. Each athlete has been videoed doing the exercises in real-life and reassuringly even they don’t get them 100% right every single time. There’s the occasional wobble while stretching or the slight mistimed kick. This makes following them on-screen a lot less daunting.
To support the more traditional exercises involving pumping weights and stretching there are a raft of skill based challenges. If you’re playing football then one of these challenges involves heading a ball into the net with the ball appearing from a variety of angles. Another skill test challenges you to volley the ball into the net. Unfortunately, as this was a pre-alpha build of the game I couldn’t try these tests out myself or see the any of the rugby skill challenges. Shame really as I quite fancied taking on one of the sports stars, especially Ma Nonu.
![Adidas micoach hrm 2 Adidas micoach hrm 2](https://www.activestride.com.au/assets/images/Garmin%20HRM-Run_web.png)
Each copy of miCoach is due to come with a heart rate monitor (HRM) which fits snuggly in the centre of a Adidas TechFit top. You don’t have to wear a HRM or any other fancy sports kit to use miCoach – just a kinect sensor and some willpower will suffice. However, any device you do use during a workout like a HRM will have its data logged, providing another parameter to monitor how you are performing. All the exercises in miCoach are straight from Adidas’s very own fitness trainers too. Adidas are clearly putting a lot into this game.
There is a strong community aspect to miCoach with the ability to track friends and compete in challenges against them. If your friends aren’t up to it then you can take your challenge worldwide – if you dare. You can even earn points within the game to exchange for discounts on real-life Adidas sportswear; the more you sweat, the cheaper clothes get.
There are also plans to release additional exercises and sports to expand the appeal of the game. At the moment there aren’t any details about what these sports might be.
Overall, from what I was shown miCoach looks very impressive and looks like it can really improve your fitness. The combination of fun skill games and the sports star led exercise routines will add variety to your training too. It’s certainly going to get me up off the sofa and leaping around in front of our Kinect sensor again.
Update 27th March 2012: VG24/7.com have reported that Adidas and THQ have reached an agreement over a lawsuit filed by Adidas after THQ failed to release miCoach. Hopefully, now we’ll get to play the game.
Adidas miCoach will might be released March 2012 at some point for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.