139 articles
Skipping rope
A skipping rope, also called a jump rope, is a length of rope with handles swung under the feet and jumped over as play, exercise, or sport.
Smartwatch
Smartwatch: wrist-worn wearable computer with touchscreen, sensors, and apps, pairing with iPhone or Android. Tracks heart rate via PPG, activity, and sleep; used in remote patient monitoring; FDA warns against noninvasive glucose claims.
Smith machine
Smith machine: guided-barbell gym equipment with a fixed vertical or angled bar path, safety hooks, and stops. Invented in the 1950s from Jack LaLanne's design by Rudy Smith; free weight squats show 43% higher overall EMG.
Squat (exercise)
Squat (exercise): compound lower-body resistance exercise flexing hips, knees, and ankles; works quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings. Variants include back, front, goblet, and chair squats; deep squats are safe with proper technique.
Stair Climbing
Stair climbing, ascending or descending stairs, is a vigorous daily physical activity and MeSH-indexed exercise mode. Climbing burns about 20 times more calories than flat walking, and meta-analyses link regular stair use to roughly 35% lower cardiovascular mortality.
Static stretching
Static stretching is a flexibility exercise in which a muscle is held in a lengthened position without movement; it improves range of motion but can briefly reduce strength.
Stationary bicycle
Stationary bicycle (exercise bike, spin bike): an indoor cycling machine using friction, magnetic, hydraulic, or air resistance. Covers flywheel mechanics, wattage accuracy, calorie burn, bike types, health evidence, and 2025 connected-fitness market changes.
Strava
Strava: social fitness app and website for recording GPS runs, rides, and 50 activity types, with segment leaderboards (KOM/QOM). 200M+ athletes in 185+ countries; $80/yr subscription; known for leaderboard integrity efforts and privacy incidents like the 2018 heatmap.
Stretching
Muscle stretching exercises (MeSH D052580) are exercises to increase muscle-tendon flexibility and range of motion, including static, dynamic, ballistic, active, passive, isometric, and PNF stretching; they improve ROM but do not reduce overall injury risk.
Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers (1946-2023), American actress, Chrissy Snow on Three's Company, later Carol Foster Lambert on Step by Step; ThighMaster pitchwoman, author of 25 books including Ageless, and promoter of bioidentical hormones; died of breast cancer at 76.
Tae Bo
Tae Bo, created by Billy Blanks, is a cardio workout blending taekwondo and boxing with aerobics. Its 1998 video sold over 5 million copies, sparked the cardio kickboxing boom, and burns 350-450 calories per hour.
Tony Horton (personal trainer)
Tony Horton, American personal trainer and creator of the 2005 P90X (Power 90 Extreme) home workout program, sold over 3.5 million copies; founder of Power Nation Fitness and the Power of 4 program.
United States Army Physical Fitness Test
United States Army Physical Fitness Test: the APFT (1980, push-ups, sit-ups, 2-mile run) became the six-event ACFT in October 2022, then the five-event Army Fitness Test on June 1, 2025, plus the 2026 Combat Field Test.
VO2 max
VO2 max (maximal oxygen uptake, V̇O2max) is the maximum oxygen use rate during large-muscle exercise, in mL/kg/min; introduced by Hill and Lupton in 1923, measured by CPET with indirect calorimetry, and estimated imperfectly by consumer wearables.
Warm-Up Exercise
A warm-up exercise is physical activity done before exercise or competition to prepare the body, through temperature-related, metabolic, and nervous-system effects, improving performance in most studies.
Werner Hoeger
Werner W. K. Hoeger (Werner Walter Karl Hoeger, born 1953, Mérida, Venezuela) is a Boise State kinesiology professor emeritus, fitness textbook author, and Venezuelan Olympic luger, 40th in 2002 and 32nd in 2006.
Wim Hof
Wim Hof, "The Iceman", is a Dutch extreme athlete and cold-exposure record holder (26 world records) who created the Wim Hof Method of breathing, cold exposure, and commitment, studied for voluntary immune control.
Yin Yoga
Yin Yoga: slow, meditative yoga style holding passive floor poses 3-5+ minutes to stress fascia, ligaments, and joints rather than muscles. Developed from Paulie Zink's Daoist Yoga by Paul Grilley; Sarah Powers coined the name. Distinct from restorative yoga.
Zyzz (Азиз Сергеевич Шавершян)
Zyzz (Aziz Sergeyevich Shavershian, Азиз Сергеевич Шавершян), Moscow-born Australian bodybuilder and early fitness influencer of the aesthetics movement; died in Thailand in 2011 at 22; subject of Poster Boy: Becoming Zyzz.