While you may be dedicated to your exercise routine, do you ever feel like you are just shooting in the dark when you go to the gym, perhaps spending a lot of time there, but without seeing a lot of specific changes happening? Most of us have a general idea of how much we weigh, where the love handles are, and begrudgingly accept what we’d like to change about ourselves physically—but the overall picture in what we are actually doing is still a bit mysterious. That may very well be a thing of the past however as 3D technology continues to make its entry into body imaging at the gym, giving us a much clearer picture of our own bodies, and our health.
Australian tech company mPort is now introducing a new machine that many should consider to be revolutionary indeed, in the form of the mPod, which will scan and then map over 200,000 points of your body in just seven seconds. The resulting benefit is that you have a complete 3D image of your body, accompanied by all the data necessary for a complete health overview to include your BMI, body fat composition, and more. The goal is to get away from that traditional focus on the scale, which only offers such a limited view of what’s really going on in our bodies. As the mPort team points out in their latest press release, “this single data point has been extrapolated to represent an individual’s health, fitness and well-being.” And when you think about it, that does seem ridiculous!
“We have relied heavily on one rudimentary data point, and focused solely on weight as an indicator of health for far too long,” states the mPort team.
The mPod uses infrared technology to complete the 3D body scan in a safe, noninvasive manner. There is no radiation involved, and even pregnant women can use it, along with a mobile app (available on both iOS and Android) that further facilitates this new way to track and assess your health.
“As much as we like to think we are the same, we are not. A human body comes in every shape and size, and one size does not fit all when it comes to health and fitness. In a world fixated on weight and waist size, mPort’s mission is to help users understand their own body shape and live a confident healthier life. We’re thrilled to expand our footprint to the United States and to be working with LA Fitness. We look forward to enhance the health journeys of LAF members across their locations nationwide,” said co-founder and CEO of mPort Dipra Ray.
The system is easy to use as members create accounts and allow the scanner to produce their life-sized 3D avatar, completing a full 3D body map. Once that is ready, users can use the app to track their health in terms of BMI, as well as fat and muscle percentages, and see body changes via their avatar, which even displays metabolism information, the weight the user is shooting for, and the optimal heart rate.
Currently, mPort has 100,000 registered users in Australia, and will begin their foray into North America as they begin working with LA Fitness in California.
“LA Fitness has always stressed the health benefits of staying with a fitness regimen – in fact those benefits are the cornerstone of our mission statement. Tracking progress is essential to any program, and seeing progress is the core of motivation,” said Bill Horner, Sr. Vice President/Chief Real Estate officer of LA Fitness.
“mPod technology provides feedback on progress in increments that most people haven’t seen before, and delivers it with the speed that consumers have come to expect in everything these days. We feel that the mPod is an invaluable tool in refining workouts to maximize benefits and provide that sometimes elusive ‘motivation’ through almost real-time feedback on progress, and we are excited to be bringing it into our clubs for our members.”
While they will be starting on the west coast in California locations for now, mPort has plans to begin taking their product nationwide. You can find out more at mPort, and if you are a user, also download their mPod app. Discuss further in the mPod 3D Imaging forum over at 3DPB.com.
[Images: provided to 3DPrint.com by mPort]
