Conveniently keep track of your exercises
Fitness and exercising is more important than ever. Phones and fitness tracker are supporting the user in monitoring their health — and some are even counting the push-ups or sit-ups. Apps are using the proximity sensor in your phone to count your push-ups — some require you to touch the screen with your nose, which is not very convenient. And what about sit-ups, weightlifting or pull-ups? Did I do my workout accurate enough? I might have a solution for you, and as always, a barometric pressure sensor is the key.
As an example, I will show you a measurement I conducted with a barometric pressure sensor and an accelerometer detecting sit-ups. Be aware…
- …that this measurement was done with outdated sensors
- …that this is raw data — no filter, no cosmetics, no specific ‘sit-up counting algorithm’
That being said, I am impressed by the result. Oh, I should add that this pressure sensor is not only outdated, but is built in phones which are already about five years old — so you can imagine how much better the result would look like with pressure sensors in current phones & a specific algorithm.
It can be observed, that the pressure sensor is not only able to count the sit-ups as good as the accelerometer, but is also able to tell you, if you went high enough — or in other words, if you did a good job or not.
Nevertheless, I would still recommend to add an accelerometer to the equation. Why? Because of external influences that can potentially disturb the measurement. Opening doors or windows for example, changes the air pressure for a short period within the room. As a consequence, the interpretation by the sensor would result in a change in altitude (which actually never occurred). So, again, as I always stress — a barometric pressure sensor itself is already highly beneficial, but sometimes it can do much more in combination with other sensors.
But this is just the beginning. There is potential for many more exercises!
Even better — replace the Smartwatch/Fitness tracker or the phone with smart head-phones or smart glasses. Suddenly, there is no need of switching your phone to the right position, when you’re about to do some push-ups. And let’s be honest — who is not listening to music while working out.
