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Buzzing clothes could teach you to be a better athlete17 August 2012 byHannah KrakauerMagazine issue 2877. Subscribe and saveFor similar stories, visit theSportTopic Guide IF YOU have ever hoped that sleek workout kit could enhance your athletic ability, you may be in luck. Gym-ready clothes designed to improve your performance as you exercise are on their way. The goal of the Move project, headed by designer Jennifer Darmour, is to make clothing with embedded sensors that can help people improve their technique at Pilates ndash; a popular exercise regime that demands precise positioning of the back and abdominal muscles. Each garment contains four stretch-and-flex sensors woven out of conductive fibres embedded in the front, back and sides (pictured, below). Darmour worked with a Pilates instructor to learn where mistakes are commonly made during class: backs collapse, hips jut at the wrong angle and stomach muscles "dome". If your left hip pops up when it should be down, the stretch sensors detect the misalignment and small vibrating motors respond with gentle buzzes in the offending area. When the movement is corrected, the same hip receives three approving buzzes. The Move system also transmits body position data via Bluetooth to your smartphone, and an accompanying app lets users analyse how well they performed their exercises. The software collects information over the entire workout and presents it as animations that can be replayed to understand where you tend to go astray. Though Move is designed for Pilates, Darmour imagines extending the system to other sports where body placement is paramount: a golf swing, or a pitch in baseball, for example. Unlike many wearable sensing systems, Darmour's Move garments will not feel clunky. The fabrics are made of the same materials as standard exercise clothes, and the sensors are woven invisibly into the fabric and seams. The work was presented at the Wearable Technologies conference in San Francisco last month. "What's really interesting to me about this is that they're considering it from a fashion point of view," says Jennifer Jacobs, a researcher at the MIT Media Lab. In order for e-textiles to broaden their appeal, they will have to be functional while still looking good, she says.
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