Athos to Introduce Personal 'Training' Fitness Clothes

The time may finally arrive when your clothes tell you just how much exercise you're having and just how much working out you need.

Athos, a wearable tech company, is hoping its clothes can turn "fitness" into science. Its clothes will have built-in sensors that track how different muscles are used, while a Bluetooth device will transmit data to a smartphone app.

CEO Don Faul said a lot of physical conditioning has been "educated guesswork," and now trainers can finally understand how athletes are doing, what's working, and how to prepare them to do better in their fields.

The products are the brainchild of Dhananja Jayalath and Christopher Wiebe, students from Toronto's University of Waterloo who are also workout buddies. According to CNN, they wanted to know if they're doing their exercises right but couldn't afford a coach. Which was why they opted to go digital as well.

Their research used breathing and electromyography (EMG) sensors built into the fabric to track the electrical activity of an assortment of muscles. These translate data back into useful forms that users can analyze.

Faul added that "data" in itself is insufficient, and that people have to know "how do I use this to get more out of my training?"

For instance, someone using a bench press with an Athos shirt can see if they're actually favoring an arm. They can then correct the imbalance and fix the issue. Some doing squats can see if they are using their glutes properly.

However, the potential products are not cheap. Athos is offering quite a few products so far, and they're pricey. The men's shirt and shorts alone cost $547 a set and the leggings cost $149.

Regardless, the company is currently focusing on professional and soon-to-be professional athletes on the high school level to the Olympic level. Given that they have accumulated more than $50 million in funding since its launch in 2012, they are planning to add more products to target casual users.