The missing link in the gym

We know everything about our running. Pace, splits, heart rate, cadence, elevation, whether we were above or below target at 7km. That feedback loop has become so normal we barely notice it is there - but we know it’s valuable.

Then we walk into a gym and we have none of it.

REMAKER has changed the game for my strength training - I love it.

For the last few months, as the S&C (strength and conditioning) work has become the focus rather than the thing I fit around running, I have been using a device called the REMAKER. They gave me one as part of their testing, and I have since carried on paying for the subscription myself, which is probably the most useful thing I can tell you about what I think of it.

What it is

Small and screenless device. You attach it to the bar, or to yourself for something like a squat, or you just put it on the weight stack if you are on a machine.

The app holds your programme - you can copy/paste a training programme straight in and it pulls through the exercises, the reps and the sets. That sounds minor, but it’s not. It means I can set up a strength session the same way I would set up an running session on my watch. The friction of getting a gym programme into a device is the reason I never bothered before.

In the session

It counts and tracks your movements, using velocity as the measure, and gives you audio feedback through your headphones as you go. Counting reps, keeping tabs on rest between sets. More useful than I expected.

On a few occasions it has suggested, live, that I drop the weight by a couple of kilos so the rep is executed cleanly. Not afterwards in a report - there and then.

I think that is the feedback loop that has been missing from strength and conditioning, or at least from my experience of it. We are completely accustomed to it when we run. Being told in the moment - turns out to be just as valuable in a gym.

The simple stuff counts too

At its most basic, it tells you what you lifted last time and how many reps, and presents it back to you. That alone is helpful.

Beyond that there is tracking around whether you are building strength or endurance, and the velocity of each exercise. I do not claim to be an expert on any of that. I am finding it useful and learning as I go.

The hardware is nicely built, the battery lasts for ages, and it connects quickly and works. There are features I am not using, the auto-generated sessions for example, because I am following my OneTrack programme, expertly overseen by Nakul and the team. Humphrey and the team at REMAKER have also been good to work with and genuinely open to ideas about where the product could go next.

Why it has worked

Part of it is just engagement. I have been trying to integrate the gym into my training properly rather than treat it as the optional extra, and having something alongside me in that has helped. Set up the session, commit it to the diary, turn up and do it.

There is much more for me to learn here. But it has closed a gap I had come to accept as simply how the gym is.

If you are interested, take a look: https://remaker.co.uk/