1,653 reviews found
The Arena comes from Oregon Scientific, well-established providers of all that’s a tad quirky in the world of electronic gadgetry. Here they’ve come up trumps with what is one of only a limited number of waterproof MP3 players on the market. The Arena MP180 is waterproof to a depth of 1m for up to 30mins; […]
The pool-friendly 1GB Sport player from Freestyle Audio is kitted out for sports use straight out of the box, coming complete with three different-sized earbud fittings for the waterproof phones and an armband. Sound quality is reasonable and the earbuds aren’t uncomfortable, though the use of ear clips for swimming is slightly odd. However, the […]
Available in several colours and two sizes (£39.99 for the 1GB we tested; £59.99 for the 2GB version), the 2-Play MP150 will look familiar, as it follows the now ubiquitous USB stick format. Initial impressions are pleasing: its body comes wrapped in a nice rubber coating and the two-colour, four-line LCD greets you with a […]
The baby of the market-leading iPod family, the stamp-sized, 1GB Shuffle is designed as a no-frills, no-fuss way of bunging some music in your ears while you’re on the move. And there’s the rub: the lack of an LCD or all but the most basic playback controls (there’s no EQ, for instance) mean this won’t […]
In recent years, the inventors of the original Walkman have fallen a bit behind in the personal audio arena but, as games of catch-up go, the 4GB NWZ-A826 is hard to beat. Design-wise it’s not a million miles from the iPod Touch, its obvious main rival, being an ultra-slim, black beauty with a large full-colour […]
Although aimed primarily at coaches, this British Triathlon Federation DVD provides plenty of technique advice that you can put into practice on your own or with training partners. You get a disc covering each of the triathlon disciplines, broken down into various different skills. The swim disc, for example, covers body position in the water, […]
The prospect of enduring a whole DVD on core training might sound daunting, but this is great stuff. US coach Eric Schmitz manages to make strengthening your mid-section interesting by demonstrating loads of exercises you’ve probably never done before and adding plenty of variety throughout the workouts. Some sessions require no equipment; for others you’ll […]
This impressive DVD is all about getting race day right, covering everything from visualisation to nutrition to specific technique advice for each of the disciplines. Former US pro Wes Hobson and Olympic coach Michelle Blessing anchor things, and you get plenty of additional input from well-recognised experts: 220 contributing coach Joe Friel gives useful tapering […]
Fancy conquering one of the Tour de France’s most feared climbs from the comfort of your own turbo trainer? This is a cyclist’s-eye view of riding the Alpine mountain Ventoux. And it couldn’t be simpler: you pedal along, a number in the corner of the screen tells you when to adjust the gear or resistance […]
This DVD is built around turbo-trainer sessions, where you cycle along with former British tri champ Rick Kiddle on the rural roads of southern France. You get a low- and high-end endurance ride, hill climbs, extensive intervals and a scenic jaunt, which you can do either individually or all together as one tough workout. Graphics […]
In jargon-free language, regular 220 Triathlon contributor Joe Beer unravels the basics about our beloved sport, from the fundamental training required to become a triathlete, to the equipment you’ll need, all the way through to racing. Along this enjoyable ride, there are plenty of training plans and tips to get your teeth into. Complementing the […]
Triathlon Made Easy is written by Zoe McDonald and Lisa Buckingham from Zest magazine, and their day job has clearly seeped through to the pages of this guide, as it has a stereotypical girly air to it – lots of stars, pastel colours and cute illustrations. While these fluffy visuals will appeal to some, many […]
Everyone with a pair of running shoes should have Running Well by Sam Murphy and Sarah Connors on their bookshelf. It aims to show runners how to minimise and treat injury through smart training and good technique. But Running Well is far more than just an injury book. It’ll help you assess and correct your […]
This kit bag-sized book by Anita Bean is a valuable reference tool for those interested in supplements and nutrition. Easy to read and packed with concise information, it’ll help you understand the massive range of supplements on the market to see which you need, which you don’t and how to make them work for you. […]
At a massive 351 pages, with excellent examples, exercises and tips, Jeremy Lazarus gives you a practical handle on the use of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) for sports people. NLP breaks down the mental aspects of sport into scenarios that are easily practised and visualised, which helps the athlete to take the most appropriate actions […]
The Will is a bar with energy at the heart of its formulation. The ‘coco-a-go-go’ flavour, which we tried, includes caffeine (0.2%) and taurine (1.8%). And at those levels the bar will definitely put a spring in your step and make an evening or lunchtime session easier to get through. See it like a solid […]
Packed mainly with rice crisps and oat flakes, the Maxim bar has a crispy, moist texture. Simple sugars in the form of glucose syrup and dextrose provide additional carbs, while use of vegetable fat raises calorie intake slightly and probably makes for an easier-to-chew bar. The bars are still low fat but added fat and […]
The incredibly moist Torq bar is based on a simple list of ingredients that includes oats, raisins, maltodextrin, fructose syrup, apricot and puffed rice. This makes for a low fat, high carb, easy-to-chew bar with very little aftertaste or stickiness. It also includes a small supplement of ribose (which aids cell and muscle tissue renewal), […]
Built on sound science, the Go Bar is ideal for carb-loading energy during training on cooler days and for straight after training. It’s made using mainly natural ingredients, including grape juice, cherries, rice, soya crisp, organic dates, oats and pineapple. No hydrogenates, added sugar, flavours, preservative or colours are added, and the fruit-loaded recipe provides […]
Having kick-started the American energy bar market, the PowerBar brand has now diversified across various nutrition products. But the original bar remains the same, albeit with a few ingredient tweaks. As with PowerBar’s gels, the Performance bar has increased in sodium, from 100mg per bar to 230mg, which improves fluid absorption and compensates for sweat […]
These socks have a conventional look and feel to them. More importantly, they’re comfortable – an essential in any piece of clothing. While they’re not left- and right-foot specific, they fit well with no slipping, bunching or rubbing at the toes. The material is thick enough to offer padding, with thinner and more breathable material […]
It’s not clear if this is a sock made of breathable mesh with lots of padded pieces, or vice versa. The bottom of each sock enjoys good padding that spreads up across the top of the toes, up the back of the heel and to the side of the ball of the foot (they’re also […]
The Falke RU3 is a good sock for training, with padding along the bottom and up the heel. As reflected in many run socks these days, this cushioning also extends across the toes. However, on the RU3 it goes much further back to cover the top of most of the forefoot. The heel padding also […]
These are a very thin and minimal sock that most of us would reserve purely for racing in. The material running along the bottom of each sock, across the toes and up the heel is thin – the material running along the top is even thinner. So to say these socks are cool and breathable […]
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