Health and fitness technology is hotter than ever, so there’s a tech product for everyone. Fitness tech gifts can help guide your exercise routines, support your mind-body practices, and supplement your recovery and nutrition plans. The sheer amount of gift options in this category can be delightfully overwhelming, even when shopping on a budget!
Luckily, The ACTIVE Reviews Team put together a list of some of our favorite tech items to help you narrow down your strategy for gift-giving season. We tested each one for connectivity, ease of use, and style. From fitness trackers to recovery aids, this list will help streamline your search for the best fitness tech gifts.
Why Trust Us?
ACTIVE.com’s editorial team relies on the knowledge and experience of fitness and wellness experts including competitive athletes, coaches, physical therapists, nutritionists, and certified trainers. This helps us ensure the products we feature are of the highest standard. Collectively, the team has spent countless hours researching equipment, gear, and recovery tools in order to create the most accurate, authentic content for our readers. Customer satisfaction is also a key part of our review process, which is why we only feature products that are highly rated.
Best Fitness Tech Gifts - Our Favorites
- Best Virtual Personal Training App: Future
- Best Smart Exercise Bike: Echelon Connect Bike EX-5s
- Best Fitness Tracker: Garmin vivosmart 4
- Best Smart Home Gym: NordicTrack Fusion CST
- Best GPS Watch: Garmin Forerunner 55
- Best Weight Scale: Renpho Smart Scale
- Best Massage Gun: Theragun Prime
- Best Cardio Workout App: iFIT
- Best Blender: Nutribullet
- Best Food Scale: Etekcity Luminary Kitchen Digital Scale
Best Virtual Personal Trainer - Future
Convenient, customizable, and affordable, the Future app delivers personal workouts in your living room. Professional and experienced trainers develop plans suited to your fitness level, goals, and available workout equipment. When participants sign up, they’ll receive an Apple Watch that can play the “workout of the day” right from their wrist.
If you use Future from a tablet, you’ll see trainers demonstrating workout movements in real time. Training sessions include a personalized warmup, workout, and cool down. Trainers can leave notes, recommendations, and users can upload videos of their workouts for feedback. Workout sessions can be developed for home, on the go and even without equipment.
- Key feature(s): Customized virtual personal training for each user
- Battery life: Keep accompanying Apple Watch charged
- Tech compatibility: Designed strictly for Apple products
Best Smart Exercise Bike - Echelon Connect Bike EX-5s
Shopping for someone who loves cardio or is mid-build on their home fitness space? Why not give them a top-of-the-line stationary bike? The Echelon Connect Bike EX-5s is where we’d spend our money. It offers the ideal balance of performance, versatility, and quality.
This bike provides a fitness experience on par with an actual fitness studio spin class, all via an immersive HD touchscreen display. The screen flips for off-bike workouts while a vented competition-style seat provides comfort throughout the workout. Incredible hardware and 24/7 access to engaging, motivated trainers—what cardio lover wouldn’t want that?
- Key feature(s): 24/7 access to engaging trainers, vented seat, flippable HD display
- Battery life: N/A
- Tech compatibility: N/A
BUY: Echelon Connect Bike EX-5s
Best Fitness Tracker - Garmin vivosmart 4
Affordable, stylish, and functional, the Garmin vivosmart 4 stands out in the wearable technology world. It monitors heart rate, VO2 max, and stress levels, among other statistics. It can also monitor REM sleep and blood oxygen saturation levels—features not found on many tracking devices. It’s safe for swimming and showering, and the battery can last up to seven days.
The vivosmart 4 connects to a smartphone to receive notifications and GPS alerts for tracking outdoor activities. It automatically syncs with Garmin’s extensive virtual community, so you can join health challenges, earn badges, and share via social media. We did find the slim design made the screen difficult to read on occasion, but overall we think this is one of the best-value fitness trackers on the market.
- Key feature(s): Sleep monitoring with REM sleep and blood oxygen saturation levels with Pulse OX2 sensor
- Battery life: Up to seven days
- Tech compatibility: Works with iOS and Android devices
Best Smart Home Gym - NordicTrack Fusion CST
The NordicTrack Fusion CST is an all-in-one home gym weight machine with a space-conscious design. It features on-demand and live classes via iFIT programming. iFIT is a virtual personal training system that syncs with the magnetic resistance cables on the Fusion, so a trainer can adjust the weights as you work out.
The Fusion CST comes with a Bluetooth chest strap for wireless heart rate monitoring and a 10-inch tablet that displays workouts, tracking, and feedback. You can’t adjust the height of this machine’s cables, and magnetic resistance isn’t quite the same as lifting weights, but the Fusion CST will still work all your muscle groups.
- Key feature(s): Access to iFIT library and in-home personal training sessions
- Battery life: Maintain charge on tablet for workouts and feedback
- Tech compatibility: Chest strap and tablet come with the gym system or you can connect to iFIT with a smartphone
Best GPS Watch - Garmin Forerunner 55
The Garmin Forerunner 55 is a gift that will impress any fitness enthusiast. This easy-to-use GPS watch is not your average running watch. It features advanced training tools normally reserved for more expensive lines. You can easily track distance, time, pace, and speed, as well as heart rate with the wrist sensor. If you’re after a customized training plan, you can use the free Garmin Coach to input your goals and fitness levels. Using your training history and recovery time, the Forerunner 55 will also provide daily run recommendations.
Still not convinced this watch rocks? The feature list continues with built-in sports apps like treadmill runs, pool swimming, Pilates, indoor cycling, elliptical training, yoga, HIIT and breath work. There’s more! You can monitor steps, stress, energy levels, fitness age, respiration, women’s health, and more. Really, there's no question that the Forerunner 55 has the technology, versatility, and comfort to make a fantastic gift for athletic or everyday use.
- Key feature(s): Built-in GPS, safety and activity tracking
- Battery life: 2 weeks in smartwatch mode and 20 hours in GPS mode
- Tech compatibility: iOS 13 or higher and 7.0 Android operating system or higher
Best Scale - RENPHO Smart Scale
To gauge health and fitness, it's important to know things like your body weight, body composition, and body fat percentage. The RENPHO Smart Scale provides all that information directly to your smart device, allowing for easy analysis and integration with your favorite health app like Apple Health or Google Fit.
Another great thing about this scale is its high weight limit. It can hold up to 400 pounds. And it offers a whopping 13 categories to measure your body composition and track your personal fitness goals. It comes with high precision sensors to ensure accurate measurements, and the glass surface provides just the right level of sensitivity.
- Key feature(s): Weight and BMI sent directly to your smart device, 400-pound weight limit, small footprint
- Battery life: Operates on three AAA batteries
- Tech compatibility: Apple Health, Google Fit, Samsung Health
Best Massage Gun - Theragun Prime
The Theragun Prime integrates via Bluetooth with several apps and learns about users’ fitness habits to send guided routines for optimal recovery. How’s that for a targeted massage?
The Theragun Prime is ergonomic and comes with four foam attachments that are easy to clean and store. Unlike other massage guns, you can upgrade the Prime’s motor for a 70% quieter experience. According to Theragun, the Prime’s design allows users to hit all their muscles from key angles and reach 60% deeper than other massage guns.
- Key feature(s): App integration for personalized recovery plans
- Battery life: 120 minutes
- Tech compatibility: Bluetooth connection with Apple Health and Google Fit
Best Cardio Workout App - iFIT
Know someone who loves cardio but needs a push? iFIT is a subscription-based health and wellness app that offers a variety of live and on-demand classes for running, biking, and HIIT. It offers access to virtual personal training, mind-body guides, and even cooking classes.
You can use iFit with a number of treadmills, ellipticals, and bikes, and the app can even adjust the machine for you. You can download the app and take it with you on your smartphone while running, or use it on a tablet in your living room. iFIT provides a selection of music to accompany cardio sessions, as well as the ability to separately control the volume of the music and trainer’s voice. Subscriptions are $180 per year for an individual or $396 a year for a family plan of up to four people.
- Key feature(s): Live and on-demand classes
- Subscription: Choose from individual or family plans
- Tech compatibility: Available on Android and iOS
Best Blender - Nutribullet
One of the quickest, easiest, and most delicious ways to get vitamins is with a smoothie. A great gift for any wellness-minded person is Nutribullet. It’s small, easy to clean, and simple to use. The Nutribullet is a one-speed machine and blends beverages in a BPA-free cup. All you have to do is press a button, blend, remove the blade, and go.
The Nutribullet features a 600-watt motor and is dishwasher-friendly (top rack only). Sure, this isn’t super heavy on the tech, but it does make life a little easier by providing simple meal solutions. It even comes with a recipe book.
- Key feature(s): Simple to set up and use
- Battery life: A/C adapter included with purchase
- What’s included: An entire book of recipes, BPA-free cup and lid
Best Kitchen Scale - Etekcity Luminary Kitchen Digital Scale
One of the best ways to achieve your personal fitness goals is by paying attention to the food you eat. A smart kitchen scale can make it easier to measure food portions with real precision. The Etekcity Luminary Kitchen Digital Scale is our top pick for kitchen scales, and it’s a savvy gift for the fitness enthusiast or home cook in your life.
What makes it so great? For starters, the small footprint, the robust weight limit, the waterproof surface, and the rechargeable battery. And how easy it is to toggle among units of measurement. The tare feature is also a nice addition.
- Key feature(s): Compact size, tare feature
- Battery life: Rechargeable battery included
- Weight options: Measures in ounces, pounds, grams, milliliters, fluid ounces
BUY: Etekcity Luminary Kitchen Digital Scale
READ THIS NEXT: 5 Essential Items to Keep in Your Gym Bag