Not a week goes by without the launch of a new wearable device that is claimed to be capable of rethinking your recovery, cranking up your performance ceiling or generally firing up your fitness routine.
However, beneath all the marketing hype is often an overpriced accessory with no sound scientific backing.
Every so often, though, there are releases that buck this trend, and their use will result in scientifically backed gains – even if only marginal ones.
From a palm-cooling device to a NASA-approved garment that will propel you to new fitness heights, here are three pieces of futuristic fitness tech that are worthy of your attention.
Hytro
Although it might sound like a method of torture, blood-flow restriction (BFR) is a science-backed training and recovery technique already being used in the pro peloton.
“It accelerates and magnifies the benefits of exercise,” says Dr Warren Bradley, who is behind the BFR device Hytro. “BFR is a novel stimulus for the tissues, so they adapt quickly.”
But how does it work?
“By applying a really strong circumferential pressure to the upper arms or the upper legs, we allow blood to go into the limb, but the return flow is restricted,” he explains.
“What we get is blood filling in the muscle tissues; they start to swell and get stressed, and this is happening at rest. What happens thereafter is that anything you choose to do is magnified.
“For example, if you go for a low-intensity cycle, that will be received by the muscle tissues like a sprint, and it’s the same for strength and muscle building – you can lift a light weight and it will grow muscles quicker because there's already stress present in the tissues.”
Bradley adds that it’s a great tool for those looking for marginal gains, such as elite cyclists (Hytro partnered with Soudal Quick-Step in 2025).
That's because there’s limited stress on the tissues and joints, meaning they can add BFR into an already full training block to get more adaptations without creating further training stress. This has the added benefit of reducing injury risk from overtraining.
“BFR originated in rehab – it was made for people to regenerate muscle tissues quickly without the load,” he says, and it remains a great tool for pre- and post-exercise because of its blood-flushing qualities.
“Stressing the muscles creates recovery hormones and when you release, there's a powerful flush of blood through the tissues, the joints and the tendons very quickly, and at the same time, fresh blood is dragged into the tissues.
“It’s really good for warming up tissues prior to exercise because of the flush and then the drag of fresh blood. But then, equally, it's very good for recovery, because we're flushing waste and injecting fresh, nutrient-rich blood into those tissues.”
Traditionally, BFR has required supervision to be applied safely. “It should be supervised because we’re playing with blood flow, it needs to be in the right location and the pressure that’s applied needs to be carefully monitored,” Dr Bradley explains. However, Hytro created a novel solution.
Instead of bands or cuffs, it built strapping into garments, ensuring it would always be in the right place and set to two pre-determined pressures, higher or lower.
“It's the only device in the world that's been published as safe and effective without supervision, and crucially, it's the only device that's gone to space," he says.
"In space, astronauts lose muscle and bone density very quickly because there's no gravity; our product regrows bone and remodels tissue so it offsets the decrement that you would get in space, so maintains your muscle function. When they get back to Earth, they're in a much better condition.”
It’s not only in space where it works either, with track cyclist Joe Truman a convert. “Originally, I used it as a low-load stimulus during recovery phases in the gym and for muscle hypertrophy," Truman says.
“Now I also use it as a recovery tool and as a way to increase the adaptation in my on-bike training. It prolongs the adaptation stimulus so you get more bang-for-buck in the same time frame. I also love how they’re easy to strap on and off between efforts, and you can just chuck them in your kit bag.”
Hyperice
The world of recovery-focused devices has exploded in recent years, with massage guns, foam rollers and heart-rate-variability tracking wearables no longer the preserve of elite athletes.
But while the jury is still out on the effectiveness of some of these tools, such as whether massage guns improve performance, when it comes to compression boots, there’s science to back up their muscle-soreness beating claims.
The leg-covering kit contains air-filled chambers that inflate and deflate, stimulating blood flow and preventing it from pooling in veins, reducing swelling and inflammation in the process.
Similar in theory to the compression socks you’d wear on a long-haul flight, their dynamic nature – where pressure is adjusted to mimic blood-flow patterns – is even more effective at boosting circulation.
So much so that research has found they can speed up recovery after intense workouts, restoring muscle strength and power after exercise-induced fatigue, while also reducing the decline in muscle strength post-exercise.
This means it’s possible to do a form of active recovery rather than no activity at all on rest days, and you’re ready to work out again at your maximum sooner.
While there are a whole host of compression boots on the market, Hyperice’s Normatec Premier stands out for combining pro-level compression-based recovery with an intuitive, user-friendly design that doesn’t require any plugs, air hoses or separate control units.
Each boot features five overlapping zones that imitate the leg’s natural muscle pumps for a full-limb massage, but it’s also possible to target a specific area or muscle group.
With seven levels of compression, you can fine-tune each treatment further. Four hours of battery life and a relatively light weight (under 1.5kg per boot) mean they are perfect for travel and starting your recovery as soon as you cross the line.
Nice Rocc
Watch any warm-weather sporting event and you’ll see athletes using a variety of techniques to cool themselves pre-, during and post-event.
Their aim: to manage their core body temperature, with high levels having a negative impact on performance and recovery.
But it’s not an issue only in challenging climates. Any exercise causes your muscles to generate heat, and too much can lead to a decline in strength, speed or both, with ATP synthesis – the primary carrier of energy in cells – slowing down as the muscles’ internal temperature rises.
Lowering your muscles’ temperature can therefore help maintain ATP synthesis and delay the onset of fatigue, keeping your performance at its peak deep into a training session or event.
While logic would dictate that the best way to lower a muscle’s temperature is to target the specific area of the body with cooling aids such as ice and water, studies have shown that one of the fastest and most effective ways to do it is via the palms of your hands.
That’s because hands contain arterio-venous anastomoses – unique blood vessels that connect small arteries and veins that are crucial in regulating skin temperature – and cooling the palms cools the blood on its way to the heart, where it is then pumped throughout the body.
By targeting the hands with temperatures from 50-60°F, you also reduce the risk of vasoconstriction, which is where the whole body gets too cold and blood vessels narrow, like in an ice bath, reducing blood flow to the muscles and maintaining the high core temperature.
Cooling your palms to achieve the performance-boosting benefits might seem simple – you can just immerse them in cold water or wrap them in damp fabric, but it’s a fine balancing act.
Too cold and you risk vasoconstriction, too hot and it’s not effective, and that’s before you consider the practicalities of having a bucket of cold water to hand (literally) when you’re mid-workout or competition and maintaining it at the temperature sweetspot.
Enter the Nice Rocc. A high-end handheld device, its makers say it can maintain a constant 50-60°F surface, ensuring precisely controlled temperature at the tap of its on button.
Its range ensures the user will never suffer from vasoconstriction, while its two-hour battery life guarantees portability, and removes ice and water from the equation.
For strength training or interval-based activities, it’s possible to use the Rocc for short bursts of palm-cooling recovery, and an in-built haptic timer provides a vibrating prompt when a user has reached an optimal cooling time (around 1-2 minutes).
For longer, endurance-focused activities, it can be used similarly during transitions or feed stops, while it can also aid recovery post-session by reducing excess heat and inflammation, and speed up your return to your pre-workout baseline.
