Building muscles takes a whole lot of dedication and the small little bits need to be on point to prevent workout injury. Waist supporting belt (a.k.a. back support belt) is the Holy Grail for heavy weight lifters and even normal fitness enthusiasts who hit the gymnasium as a part of their dedicated healthy lifestyle. For exercises that involve the movement of the upper back, lower back, and lumbar spine – protective back support is crucial. So isn’t it time that the good old back supporting belt gets a smart avatar?
Industrial designer SangWoon Kim has reimagined the traditional waist support belt to be a smart wearable to better protect the lumbar spine. Basically, it functions like any normal belt to compress the waist and isolate the breath. The striking difference is the ability to tighten the belt automatically depending on the intensity of the workout and the user’s breathing pattern. Kim calls it the BIND.CO belt, and this workout accessory comes in handy for any exercise mode and intensity. The innovation will be more than handy for beginners who generally don’t have a good idea about how much tightening of the belt is needed. Thanks to the embedded sensors, the smart belt tightens during exercise and loosens at the time of rest between exercises.
BIND.CO can be easily attached or detached by pushing the side clip of the front module. The power button controls the start/rest of the exercise by detecting the user’s athletic position. To ensure the pressure distribution of the exercise is optimized, the belt has a position recognition function that notifies of any body movement instability via subtle vibrations. This is a great plus since most of the long-term injuries are a result of imbalanced posture while performing a particular exercise.
To top it all, the bolt is much slimmer than traditional back support belts. Would a fitness enthusiast be enticed by this concept design? Absolutely yes, as it brings a whole new dimension to an optimized workout regime – especially for intense back, shoulder, and thighs workouts!
Designer: SangWoon Kim
