Axon Fitness Stick with Light Feedback

The Axon fitness stick, a strength tracker and trainer with LED light feedback, takes me back to my youth. To Happy Joe's Pizza Parlor & Arcade, home of a Love Tester machine? Remember that one? Squeeze the handle as hard as you can to light up the red bulbs inside and show your date - or in my case, all the 8-year-olds who showed up to my birthday party - what kind of a lover you are. Axon creator Disruptive Force incorporates some of these same isometric strength principles, along with the sweet light show, and full-body workout programs, into its forthcoming portable exercise tool.

Axon also throws in some bo staff and lightsaber aesthetics, which doesn't hurt my opinion of it so far either.

Unlike other fitness trackers, Axon doesn't mess with step counts and calories burned - data, Disruptive Force says, that is often miscalculate or exaggerated. Instead, the tool pairs with its AxonFit app to track provide feedback on biometrics it can accurately test and measure: force. Axon quantifies effort by measuring the force a user applies while pushing its sensor end into a stable surface. The floor or ceiling. A wall. A tree. A rock. My pecs. The information then appears on the stick's built-in display and on the app.

For those wanting something a little more fun and interactive to focus on than the numbers, Axon's light system provides real-time visual feedback during workout sessions. Prior to an Axon hold (i.e., rep) a yellow guidance LED lights up in the middle of the stick. As you begin to contract and press, LEDs between you and the yellow LED start to light up to reflect your progress towards meeting the target force and "catching" it. When you hit your target, the yellow LED turns green.

At which point you may have to hold it there for a set number of seconds for the rep to count and the light to reset for your next go. If you're doing an Axon workout program, achieving your target force during one or a few reps will also tell the app to increase the target for subsequent reps.

According to Disruptive Force, benefits of Axon isometric training include: increased mobility from improved strength and range of motion; better joint health; increased power output; and safer workouts due to the removal of external loads. If you want to get your hands on and muscles behind an Axon, or need a new fancy gift for an athlete, you have until August 16, 2017 to pledge for the fitness stick on Kickstarter.