"Every hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours of sleep after midnight" is one of the most common sleep beliefs. But while staying up late has been linked to poor sleep quality, does an earlier bedtime actually mean your quality of sleep before midnight is better that what comes after 12.01 a.m.?

One of the main pillars of this argument is that sleep before midnight is loaded with Human Growth Hormone (HGH), which regulates metabolism and cell repair in adult.

To either prove or 'bust' this myth, I spoke to two board-certified medical doctors Dr. Saema Tahir, M.D. and Dr. Danielle Wall, M.D. Here's what they said, and why sleep researchers are urging people to focus more on keeping a consistent bedtime instead.

Is sleep more potent before midnight?

"The quality of sleep we get before midnight is not actually better than the sleep we get afterward, because quality depends on where you are in your own sleep cycle rather than on the clock," says Dr. Tahir, a board-certified physician who treats adults and pediatric sleep disorders.

"It's a common misconception," agrees Dr. Wall, an Internal Medicine Physician and Sleep Medicine Specialist at the University of Vermont Health Network. "Your body doesn’t have a clock that suddenly makes sleep less beneficial once the clock strikes 12".

However, as with most sleep myths, there is a small element of truth behind this misconception. And it all boils down to sleep architecture – the way your sleep is naturally structured.

"Sleep architecture naturally changes as the night progresses, and we generally get more deep, slow-wave sleep earlier in the sleep period, while periods of REM sleep tend to become longer toward the morning," explains Dr. Wall.

Working with your biological clock, not against it

While the time we go to bed affects our circadian rhythm and sleep pressure, "going to bed at 11 p.m. versus 1 a.m. does not automatically determine whether your sleep will be good or bad" explains Dr. Wall.

"The bigger concern is whether your sleep schedule is working with your biological clock and allowing you enough time to get the full range of sleep stages," Dr. Wall says.

But if your sleep duration and schedule determines sleep quality more than going to bed at midnight, then how did old "sleep before 12 a.m. is better" myth originate? Turns out, it's a nod to older sleeping habits.

"The old English proverb persisted because the deepest, most restorative slow-wave sleep is concentrated in the first few cycles after you fall asleep," explains Dr. Tahir. "So, in eras when people went to bed around dusk, their deep sleep really did fall before midnight."

So, there you have it. As our ancestors traditionally went to sleep before midnight, deep sleep naturally coincided with those hours. But if you're a night hawk, that same restorative deep sleep will simply coincide with the early hours of the morning.

When is Human Growth Hormone (HGH) released?

Okay, so we've established that pre-midnight hours don't have some magical, restorative effect on sleep. However, one question remains: how the secretion of HGH ties into this 'Cinderella sleep myth'.

Deep sleep occurs earlier in your sleep period, and that is where the largest amount of HGH is released.

"That’s probably part of where the 'before midnight' idea comes from," Dr. Wall points out. "Someone who regularly goes to bed later can still experience normal deep sleep and growth hormone release."

"Human Growth Hormone release during sleep actually works by following the onset of slow wave sleep, with the largest daily pulse occurring in the first deep sleep period of the night, as Van Cauter's studies at the University of Chicago have shown," Dr. Tahir explains.

As the time of your first deep sleep period depends on what time you fall asleep, Dr. Tahir says it's not true that HGH secretion happens mostly before midnight for everyone.

"The pulse is tied to sleep rather than the clock, and delaying bedtime largely delays the pulse with it," says the physician. "What does reduce it is sleep deprivation and fragmented deep sleep, regardless of timing."

What boosts sleep quality more than an early bedtime?

While going to bed after midnight doesn't mean you'll miss out on deep, restorative sleep and HGH release, your bedtime ultimately still influences sleep quality.

This is because going to bed at the same time can help you to fall asleep faster and increase your amount of deep sleep.

"Consistency matters because our bodies function on a circadian rhythm, and that rhythm responds to regular cues such as light, meals and sleep timing," explains Dr. Wall.

Dr. Wall adds that a schedule that changes significantly from one day to the next can make it harder for the body to anticipate when it should be alert and when it should be preparing for sleep.

"Even if someone averages eight hours, regularly shifting their sleep and wake times can create a mismatch between their internal clock and their daily schedule."

This mismatch can result in poorer health outcomes, with Dr. Tahir warning how research has found links between irregular sleep and long-term health risks:

"A 2024 UK Biobank analysis of over 60,000 people published in Sleep, found that sleep regularity predicted mortality risk more strongly than sleep duration did.

"The health risks of an inconsistent sleep schedule, even with 8 hours of sleep, include higher rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and mood disorders, driven by social jet lag."

3 ways to boost your sleep quality

1. Set a reminder to go to bed

Dr. Tahir says that your wake-up time should dictate your bedtime, and not vice versa.

"Set a 'bedtime alarm' by counting back from a fixed wake time, so you start winding down, dimming lights, and putting screens away about 8 hours before you need to be up," she advises.

2. Get at least 7 hours of sleep a night

Getting seven hours of sleep is the minimum amount most adults need for optimal health.

Researchers at the Oregon and Health and Science University reported that sleeping for less than seven hours a night decreases life expectancy more than poor diet and lack of exercise would.

Meanwhile, a study by Vitality and The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) found that getting at least seven hours of sleep, falling asleep within the same one-hour window (for a minimum of five nights a week) by following the 7:1 sleep rule could increase life expectancy by up to four years (lots of other factor affect this).

"The average healthy adult should aim for at least seven hours per night, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, with most people doing best between seven and nine hours," says Dr. Tahir.

3. Don't sleep in on weekends

According to Dr. Wall, consistency is the cornerstone of getting good quality sleep.

But if you find yourself unable to maintain a regular sleep schedule, Dr Wall recommends following this golden rule of thumb: "If I had to give someone one rule, it would be to keep their wake-up time as consistent as possible, including on weekends.

"That gives the body a reliable anchor for the rest of the sleep-wake cycle."

Despite writing about fitness tech for a living, I’m always surprised when devices strapped to my pulse points spot things before I do. A few years ago, I wrote how my Oura Ring spotted I was pregnant weeks before I did a test; this week, the Apple Watch Vitals app knew my toddler had passed on his germs before I felt the rumblings of a cold.

Impressive, I know, but if you’re new to Apple Watch, you might not know a few tweaks can help you get the most out of the Vitals app. This applies to all Apple Watches, not just the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4, which have the new Readiness and Daytime Vitals functionalities.

This week, my overnight vitals told me my resting heart rate and respiratory rate were slightly off — signs that my body was under increased strain. A few days later, I developed a head cold.

Knowing you’re getting sick before you actually get any symptoms not only allows you to prevent spreading germs, but also to get ahead of your recovery, allowing your immune system to fight the virus before it takes hold.

I’m a few weeks out from my seventh marathon, so I've spent this week dialing my mileage back and focusing on rest and hydration to give my body the best chance to shake the illness before race day.

But how can you be sure your watch is tracking your health correctly? Here are some little tweaks to improve the accuracy of the Vitals app on your watch.

1. Ensure your watch fits correctly

This is probably more of an issue if you have wrists as scrawny as mine and you’re wearing an Apple Watch Ultra, but to track correctly, the watch needs to be sitting close to your skin.

Make sure your watch is tight enough to ensure it’s not moving around your wrist when you sleep, but not so tight that it’s cutting off circulation. It should also be sitting above your wrist bone, toward your elbow, not on your wrist bone or leaning toward your hand.

2. Wear your watch continuously overnight

The best way for the Vitals app to spot an outlier is to have enough data to establish your baseline. Make sure you wear your Apple Watch to bed every night so it can collect this data.

If you have a new Apple Watch, the Vitals app will need seven nights of data to establish typical ranges for things like respiratory rate and heart rate.

3. Make sure you turn sleep tracking on

You’ll probably already be doing this if you want a sleep score when you wake up, but to see your overnight vitals, make sure your watch is in Sleep Focus. If, like me, you forget to do this, you can set up an automatic Sleep Focus window.

4. Make sure the required settings are enabled

If you’re not seeing anything in your Vitals app, chances are you need to check that you’ve enabled everything correctly. To do this, head to the Watch app on your iPhone, click on Passcode, and make sure you’ve turned Wrist Detection on. Go to your iPhone and Watch privacy settings and make sure that Heart Rate and fitness tracking are enabled.

It’s also worth keeping your iPhone and Apple Watch updated with the latest software to ensure you’re getting the most accurate health algorithm.

More from Tom's Guide

• Can the $99 Fitbit Air beat the $799 Apple Watch Ultra 3 at fitness tracking? I manually counted 4,500 steps to find out
• I walked 4,000 steps with the Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 — and the winning margin was razor-thin
• Oura vs Whoop vs Fitbit Air — 5 questions to ask yourself before buying a screen-free fitness tracker

Vagus nerve stimulators are designed to calm your nervous system by (as the name suggests) stimulating your vagus nerve, which is also known as the gut-brain axis. I've tried vagus nerve stimulators before, using a device that you hold to the pulse point at your neck for several minutes, but this is the first device I've worn on my tragus.

Given NuroPod is the "world's most studied wearable vagus nerve stimulator" with 60+ clinical studies behind it, I was keen to give it a try. NuroPod supports nervous system regulation via your vagus nerve, which plays a huge role in the body's stress response and recovery.

I committed to the device for 30 days, and this is what I learned.

What is NuroPod?

NuroPod VNS is a non-invasive medical device. You wear it on your ear, specifically clipping it to the tragus, and it sends targeted electrical signals to the brain via the vagus nerve, which should help calm the nervous system, moving it to the parasympathetic system or "rest and digest."

One of the clinical studies conducted on the device revealed it can improve sleep by 19% and reduce fatigue by 48%. My colleague tested the NuroPod device and spoke with neuroscience expert Dr. Elisabetta Burchi, and who works for Nurosym, to explain how it works.

The vagus nerve acts as an "information highway" between the brain and organs. Dr. Burchi said that it carries "parasympathetic fibers in the body" and maintains "balance" between the fight-or-flight response and the rest-and-digest response.

Activating it using a device is thought to help lower blood pressure, improve relaxation, reduce stress and even help you sleep better. You can wear the device while you go about your day and simply unclip it once you're done. That said, the advice is to wet the ear with a little cold water to improve conductivity, so you'll need access to that.

What happened when I tried vagus nerve stimulation for 30 days

Note that the device is called NuroSym in the U.K.

All you have to do is charge the device, then clip it over the tragus of your left ear and set the timer and intensity via the handy remote. As mentioned, the guide recommends a little cold water dabbed to the ear, but I found that doing this made the device slip off, though without it, I didn't feel much.

I was really looking forward to testing a device backed by science that indicated it could help reduce stress. I'm quite a high-anxiety person despite my best efforts to bolster stress resilience through my lifestyle. A little help with a pocket-sized device? Perfect.

My colleague, Eve, had been recommended a 30-minute stint (suitable for first-timers) and an intensity level of 18 by Dr. Burchi. Ideally, though, you'd continue dialing up the intensity until you actually feel something, and this depends on your sensitivity threshold.

I didn't feel much until I cleaned my ear with cold water. But when I did, the tingles were far from subtle. Eventually, I found a level I could manage for 30 minutes, but I found it impossible to go about my day as normal without it slipping off my ear, so I had to lie down on my side. For that reason, I started using the NuroPod at night before bed.

Lots of factors impact my sleep hygiene, including social plans, late meals when I'm coaching, or too much blue light if I'm working late or chatting to friends and family on my phone. For that reason, I didn't really think it would be fair to use the NuroPod from a sleep perspective.

My interest was less in tracking device data and more in how I actually felt in my body and from my own perspective. Old school, I know. That said, I knew my Oura Ring 5 was tracking everything in the background, so I could refer to the data at any time.

Firstly, the act of doing something mindful offers relaxation as a standard. Because I took 30 minutes to sit without distracting myself with chores or work, it gave me the opportunity to wind down. Naturally, I felt a little more relaxed when the device had finished.

However, I didn't notice a huge difference in my sleep at night, and when I did eventually look into my sleep and stress scores on my Oura Ring, the biggest differentiators were whether I had drunk alcohol or eaten a late meal and tagged them in the app before sleep.

I tried increasing by a level or two every few days and continued this way for 30 days total. And if I am being really honest? I'm not sure I could justify a whopping $900 for what was a very minor boost in mindfulness.

The biggest difference I noticed in my sleep and stress scores came when I quit alcohol for 30 days, whereas any changes in how I felt by my own assessment or when looking at device data during this experiment were subtle at best.

It's worth noting that the device isn't advised for pregnant women, people with sleep apnea, or people with implanted electrical devices like pacemakers. And if you have an ear piercing you can't remove, you can use your other ear. If you're unsure whether Nurosym is suitable for you, consult your healthcare provider.

Would I recommend the device? Unless you're studying the data in a strictly controlled lab setting, it's very difficult to tell what is causing upticks or downticks in your sleep, stress and general wellbeing. A particularly good night of sleep could be the vagus nerve stimulator, or it could be that you did lots of exercise that day and limited blue screen time. It's hard to know.

Do I think $900 is justified for NuroPod? I don't believe it is, and I didn't notice a noticeable shift in my wellbeing, data aside, during the experiment. If you can afford to splash out and take the risk, this might be the device for you. But otherwise, I'd save your money and look at $0 stress relief hacks instead.

Finally, I found the ear piece didn't really fit my ears properly. If you have small traguses, you may well agree. So if portability is important to you, this is something to consider.

More from Tom's Guide

• Anxiety and depression affect sleep differently — expert explains why and how to cope
• I've been taking creatine for almost 3 months, and here's exactly what's happened to my body
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The Nike Pegasus has always inspired a high degree of loyalty in runners, and if you are a devotee the Pegasus Plus 2 is a great addition to the line, offering a more enjoyable and versatile ride than the Nike Pegasus 42.

It’s the best Pegasus you can get right now and a strong pick for any runner who prefers a high-drop shoe. I certainly enjoyed my miles in the Pegasus Plus 2, but I do think there are more exciting and impressive daily trainers available for less.

These include the Asics Novablast 6 and Puma Deviate Pure Nitro, two of the best running shoes I’ve tested this year, which offer a great combo of comfort and energy return at a lower price than the Pegasus Plus 2.

Nike Pegasus Plus 2 review: Price and availability

The Nike Pegasus Plus 2 launched in August 2026 and costs $170 in the U.S. and £155 in the U.K., making it $25/£25 more expensive than the Nike Pegasus 42, and $50/£35 cheaper than the Nike Pegasus Premium.

It’s competitively priced for a cushioned daily trainer, though there are some excellent options available for less, like the Asics Novablast 6.

Nike Pegasus Plus 2 review: Design and fit

The Nike Pegasus Plus 2 is currently available in four colors, including the white and yellow shoe I tested. I find Nike’s shoes to be very consistent in sizing, and I had a good fit in my usual running shoe size.

Like all Pegasus shoes, the Pegasus Plus 2 has a 10mm drop from heel to toe, which is a little higher than the industry average these days, I’d say.

It’s a well-cushioned shoe, with 38mm of foam at the heel and 28mm at the forefoot. It’s not as maxed out as some rivals, though it certainly feels cushioned enough on the run for me.

The Pegasus Plus 2 weighs 9.3oz in my US men’s size 10, which makes it lighter than the other Pegasus models.

Upper

The Pegasus Plus 2 has a mesh upper with a thick layer of padding around the collar of the shoe.

It’s quite a thick upper and not the most breathable in hot conditions, but I found it comfortable on long runs, and it held my foot securely at faster paces.

Midsole

The biggest change to the Pegasus Plus 2 compared with the Nike Pegasus Plus is that Nike added an Air Zoom pod to the forefoot of the midsole, which is otherwise made from the brand’s ZoomX foam.

Nike uses different versions of ZoomX across the shoes that have it in their midsoles, and in the Pegasus Plus 2, it is a slightly firmer, more resilient material than in racing shoes like the Alphafly 3.

It’s still soft and springy, though, and the Air Zoom pod adds firmness in the forefoot to boost energy return as you come off your toes.

Outsole

The Pegasus Plus 2 uses Nike’s waffle tread rubber for its outsole, and while there is a fair bit of exposed foam in the midfoot, the heel and forefoot are well covered.

It might not prove as durable as the outsole on the Pegasus 42, which is thicker and covers more of the bottom of the shoe, but I’ve not seen any wear and tear after 40 miles, which has included several runs on light trails.

Nike Pegasus Plus 2 review: Running performance

I tested the Nike Pegasus Plus 2 over several weeks of marathon training, using it for a mix of runs including several easy efforts, a progression run, and a 10-mile long run.

I’ve also tested all past models of the Pegasus Plus and Pegasus Turbo line, along with the past eight versions of the standard Pegasus and the Pegasus Premium. That’s a lot of Pegasuses (Pegasi?), and the Pegasus Plus 2 is the one that’s made the best impression on me since the original Pegasus Turbo.

It’s softer, lighter, and bouncier than the Pegasus Plus and the Pegasus 42, and a little smoother in transitioning from heel to toe.

I still found it quite a slappy shoe in how the forefoot comes down, which is often the case with 10mm drop shoes, but the softer foam helps it to roll through, and then the firmer Air Zoom pods add a little punch to your toe-off when running at faster speeds.

It’s not a particularly quick shoe though, and if you’ve come looking for a super-trainer or an all-rounder that’s great for intervals as well as easy runs, I don’t think you’ll find it here — the Nike Zoom Fly 6 is the shoe that does that for me in the Swoosh’s line-up.

The Pegasus Plus is instead a lively cushioned daily trainer that works best for easy and long runs. In that sense, it really lives up to its name — it does the same job as the Pegasus 42, but has a more enjoyable ride feel and a little extra pop at pace.

Should you buy the Nike Pegasus Plus 2?

If you’re a big Pegasus fan, then I think the Pegasus Plus 2 is worth getting as the best version of the shoe right now, even if it costs you a bit more than the Pegasus 42.

Similarly, if you prefer a 10mm drop shoe, I think it’s a good cushioned option for daily training and more fun to use than rivals like the Brooks Ghost 18.

However, if you’re happy to shop around a bit more, I do think there are better options, whether you want a speedy all-rounder or a cushioned daily trainer.

The Asics Novablast 6 springs to mind as an excellent cushioned option that costs less than the Pegasus Plus 2, while the Puma Deviate Pure Nitro is cheaper, lighter, and more versatile than the Nike, making it better for workouts.

If you want a speedier shoe for daily training, the Adidas Adizero Evo SL is one of my all-time favorites, and the Kiprun Kipstorm Tempo is a max-stack, lightweight super-trainer that can handle any kind of run well.

While the Pegasus Plus 2 is a welcome evolution of the Pegasus line and better than the competent but uninspiring Pegasus 42 and the heavy, overpriced Pegasus Premium, it still suffers a bit in comparison to top options from other brands.

I've been training my dad since 2020, and alongside two mobility sessions a week, he lifts weights once a week and keeps a very active lifestyle. We switch up his routines every few months and progressively overload his exercises as he gets stronger; one move that has stayed within his upper-body routine is called the martini glass.

You will need either a pole, light barbell, or broomstick for this exercise. If those don't work, you can use a resistance band. As you get better, consider adding a heavier barbell, weighted plates, or a thicker band. You can also adapt your tempo, reps and sets to suit your needs.

If you’re ready to get started, check out the exercise and its benefits below.

How to do the 'martini glass' mobility exercise

Before we get into how to do the martini glass exercise, I want you to think about the shape of a martini glass; this is what you will replicate with your arms in a Y-shape and your torso long and tall.

From here, it looks similar to a lat pull-down, but the bar or band will travel behind you as you draw your elbows down, then press upward again. It's a test of upper-body mobility and, if you choose to load the exercise, strength.

Your ability to flex and extend your elbows while traveling behind your body will be limited to how much range of motion you have available, so try to pull your shoulders together, back and down away from your ears before you initiate any movement.

• Stand tall with your core engaged, shoulders drawn down and ribcage and pelvis tucked so that you don't arch your back
• Hold a bar overhead using an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart or wider if you have very tight shoulders
• Focus on knitting your shoulder blades together so that the bar aligns just behind your head
• Bend both elbows and draw your them down toward your hips as you lower the bar down your back
• Pause at the bottom, then press upward to the starting position
• Complete 6-8 controlled reps and 2-3 sets.

Tips for proper form

The most common error I see during the martini glass drill is thrusting the hips forward and flaring the ribs, which arches your lower back. Try to keep everything tucked in and initiate the movement with your shoulders, arms and upper back and chest.

Keep your feet hip-width apart and hands just wider than shoulder-width. My dad started even wider at first, then adjusted his grip as he found more room in his shoulders.

If you choose to use a band instead, focus on pulling it apart like you're trying to snap it. The benefit of the band is a lot of tension as you lower, but little tension as you lift, whereas the bar stays the same throughout. A great progression to try is to balance the bar in your palms without gripping it.

This mobility drill stands alone, but I've also found it useful as a dynamic warm-up exercise to prepare your joints and muscles for lifts like the overhead squat, overhead press and snatch.

Over time, you should be able to lower the bar further down or adjust your load, reps, or sets. You should also notice better range of motion, looser shoulders and more stability and control in those overhead positions.

Give it a try, and let us know how you get on in the comments.

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2026 is the year of the screenless tracker, and as a health editor, I’m here for it. These discreet devices are designed to sit unnoticed on your pulse points and track your steps, stress, workouts, and cycle, without the constant buzz of WhatsApp notifications or emails.

Two big releases this year are the $99 Fitbit Air, an excellent, affordable tracker that’s comfortable to wear, and the $399 Oura Ring 5, which is the smallest and lightest smart ring on the market. I’ve been wearing both for five months, and below, I’ve broken down which I’d pick based on all my testing.

Fitbit Air vs Oura Ring 5: Counting calories

One of the main reasons people buy a fitness tracker is to keep track of their health goals. If losing weight is your goal, you’ll know that the best way to do this is to be in a calorie deficit — in other words, burning more calories than you consume.

As a health writer, I’m here to tell you that none of the best fitness trackers are particularly good at this. No wearable can directly measure your metabolic activity, oxygen uptake, or heat production to fully understand your true calorie burn; instead, they take a fairly educated guess.

A lot of the algorithms are based on your age, sex, weight and height, but won’t account for biological differences like your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and body composition (muscle burns more energy at rest than fat).

I’d take all readings with a pinch of salt and instead look at how active you were week on week, how many workouts you fit in, or whether you’re eating a healthy, balanced diet to fuel the movement you’re tracking.

Winner: It’s a tie

Fitbit Air vs Oura Ring 5: Counting steps

Again, steps aren’t the best metric for how healthy we are, but they are a good place to start and something a lot of people care about. After five months of testing, I’d say the Fitbit Air is more accurate for my daily step count compared to the Oura Ring.

Ways to make the Oura Ring more accurate in tracking your steps are to ensure you’re wearing the ring the right way — the sensors should be on the bottom of your finger. Your ring should be tight enough to track your data, but not so tight it’s cutting off circulation. It’s also a good idea to connect your ring to the Apple Health app on your iPhone or the Android Health app.

Winner: Fitbit Air

Fitbit Air vs Oura Ring 5: Design and comfort

Both of these devices are extremely comfortable to wear. The Fitbit Air is far smaller and lighter than the Whoop 5.0 or the Garmin Cirqa; plus, unlike the Whoop and Cirqa, it doesn’t stay wet for hours on your wrist.

That said, the winner here is the Oura Ring 5, which really does disappear on your finger. It looks like jewelry, and it would be the device I recommend to anyone who doesn’t want to be seen wearing a fitness tracker. The Oura Ring 5 also comes out on top for hygiene, as it’s really easy to clean and you’re never going to have to worry about the band getting smelly or dirty.

Winner: Oura Ring 5

Fitbit Air vs Oura Ring 5: Battery life

Again, this one is pretty much a tie. The Fitbit Air gives you seven days of battery life from a single charge. The Oura Ring 5 gives you up to nine days of battery life, depending on the size of your ring. I wear a size 8 and find I get about a week between charges.

Either way, you’re charging both trackers a lot less than your Apple Watch.

Winner: It’s a tie

Fitbit Air vs Oura Ring 5: Sleep

Far from just being an interesting thing to look at every morning, how well you sleep is actually as important as how much you move. Experts say sleep rivals diet and exercise as a core pillar of longevity; the American Heart Association, for example, uses sleep data as a metric for heart and brain health.

Both trackers do a good job of making it easy to understand how well you’re sleeping. Both give you a sleep score out of 100, a breakdown of the different stages of sleep you’ve entered, and tips on how to improve your quality. That said, Oura goes far deeper, and to get the same level of sleep insights from the Fitbit Air, you have to pay for a Google Health membership.

Winner: Oura Ring 5

Fitbit Air vs Oura Ring 5: Stress and recovery

Again, this is a tough one, as both devices do a pretty good job of looking at how well your body copes with stress over the day. Neither goes into as much detail as the Whoop, which largely focuses on your overall strain score, but both definitely have a focus on resilience.

I’d say the Oura tips it slightly, but this one is hard to call. I’d also say that if you do subscribe to the Google Health membership, Fitbit’s AI health coach is the best I’ve used. It doesn’t just regurgitate your workouts; instead, it gives you actionable advice based on how well you’ve slept, how hard you’ve pushed yourself, and the recovery data the device has collected.

Winner: It’s a tie

Fitbit Air vs Oura Ring 5: Female health tracking

This one is easy — the Oura Ring 5. Oura has always been a leader in terms of menstrual tracking, pregnancy tracking, and now menopause features. Heck, my Oura Ring 3 knew I was pregnant weeks before I did.

It’s also compatible with Natural Cycles, allowing you to use the ring with the app to plan or prevent pregnancy. At the time of writing, the Fitbit Air isn’t compatible with Natural Cycles, and while it has the ability to track your skin temperature, it’s not using this data as part of its menstrual tracking features.

Winner: Oura Ring 5

Fitbit Air vs Oura Ring 5: Price

Another super easy one: for $99, the Fitbit Air is the screenless tracker I’d recommend to most people. If you’re not bothered about the deeper sleep insights or AI health coach, it’s also a one-time purchase, compared to the ongoing subscription you’ll need with the Oura Ring.

Winner: Fitbit Air

Fitbit Air vs Oura Ring 5: Which should you buy?

So, which should you buy? If you’re on a budget, you don’t really care about wearing a watch and a screenless tracker, and you don’t need female health tracking features, the Fitbit Air is the obvious choice.

You don’t need a subscription to get all you need from the device, and it’s super lightweight and comfortable to wear. If you do pay for the subscription, the Gemini-powered health coach is the best I’ve used.

If you want to wear a beautiful watch to the office, or no watch at all, and still track your health metrics, the Oura Ring 5 is the obvious choice. It looks stunning, it’s easy to clean, and it gives you tonnes of data. If you forced me to choose, I’d still pick the Oura every time, but it is undeniably more of an investment.

More from Tom's Guide

• Can the $99 Fitbit Air beat the $799 Apple Watch Ultra 3 at fitness tracking? I manually counted 4,500 steps to find out
• I walked 4,000 steps with the Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 — and the winning margin was razor-thin
• Oura vs Whoop vs Fitbit Air — 5 questions to ask yourself before buying a screen-free fitness tracker

Despite being the exercise you might think of first when you hear the words "ab workout," crunches aren’t actually the best way to target your abdominal muscles. Plus, if you’re like me and you suffer from sciatica or lower back pain, they can actually do more harm than good.

I swear by Pilates for building a strong and stable core, and it turns out Jennifer Aniston’s trainer does too. Dani Coleman, VP of training at Pvolve, frequently shares workouts on her Instagram, and one of her recent 10-minute core blasts featured a dead bug variation that completely torched my core — read on to find out more.

As a reminder, if you’re a complete beginner, pregnant or postpartum, or recovering from an injury, this might not be the best exercise for you and your body. Always seek personalized advice from a qualified professional before trying something new.

What is the exercise?

The elevated dead bug exercise featured in one of Coleman’s “mini-meltdown” workouts on her Instagram. All you need is your bodyweight and a Pilates ball — Coleman uses the Pvolve ball, but you can grab a similar Pilates ball on Amazon for less than $10. Here’s how to do an elevated dead bug with good form:

• Lie on your exercise mat with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.
• Place the Pilates ball under your glutes — the ball doesn’t need to be fully inflated for this exercise.
• Raise both legs into tabletop position, keeping a 90-degree bend in your knees.
• Engage your core, squeezing your belly button into your spine.
• For this variation, Coleman works the same side of the body at one time. Moving slowly and with control, extend your left arm and leg away from your body, pointing your toes and reaching your arm away from your torso. At the same time, place your right hand on the thigh of your bent right leg.
• Bring your left arm and leg back to your starting position, and repeat on the right side. Keep alternating sides until you’ve completed 15 reps on each side.

For the elevated dead bug, the key is to move slowly and with complete control — the slower you move, the harder your core has to work. Another alternative is to extend the opposite arm and leg like a traditional dead bug while balancing on the ball.

What are the benefits?

I swapped this exercise into my core routine for a week and immediately felt the benefits. Here’s why:

It targets your deep core

In a bodyweight dead bug, it’s easy to rush, which tends to mean your lower back peels off the floor and your deep core muscles aren’t working as hard. By balancing on the ball, you have to keep your core engaged or you’ll wobble off. This balance fires up the transverse abdominis, the deepest layer of your abdominals and your body’s natural corset.

Your non-working side is working harder

Again, compared to a normal dead bug where your static limbs won’t be working, in this variation they are under constant, dynamic tension. To increase this, rather than resting the non-working hand on your leg, keep light pressure by pushing into your thigh. This isometric squeeze keeps your core working.

You’ll be testing your coordination

Especially if you opt for the classic dead bug, the cross-body stabilization needed to extend your opposite arm and leg while remaining balanced on the ball is high. I felt this in my core after a few reps, and I had to keep resetting and focusing on squeezing my core to stay balanced on the ball.

What are you waiting for? I can’t promise this will give you abs like Jen (a girl can only dream), but if you’re looking for a quick ab blast, add this to your next finisher.

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I’ve tested every model of the Apple Watch to date, and ever since they updated the sensor on the Apple Watch Series 4, I’ve found that it has been one of the best smartwatches for heart rate accuracy during workouts.

The latest models — the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 — now promise the most accurate heart rate sensor on the market, based on an in-house Apple study comparing the Series 12 to other wearables and using the Polar H10 chest strap as a reference.

I was keen to put these claims to the test myself, and along with racing a half marathon while wearing both watches and a chest strap, I’ve done a variety of workouts with the Apple Watch Series 12, comparing its heart rate readings to a Garmin HRM 600 chest strap.

How I tested the Apple Watch 12’s heart rate accuracy

My main sport is running, and I’ve logged over 100 miles with the Apple Watch 12 while also wearing a chest strap. I’ve also done two strength workouts with weights, a bodyweight HIIT session, and an indoor bike ride.

For each test, I paired the Garmin HRM 600 chest strap to the Coros Pace 4 Pro on one wrist and wore the Apple Watch 12 on the other, then checked the graphs of their readings using the DC Rainmaker Analyzer.

I used the Apple Watch 12 with both the silicone and nylon sports bands, and it was similarly accurate with both, but mostly, I used the nylon sport loop as I find it more comfortable and easier to tighten quickly for a snug fit for heart rate readings.

Chest straps are the gold standard for consumers seeking accurate heart rate data because they measure electrical signals directly from the heart, rather than using lights to measure your pulse at the wrist like optical sensors in watches. They're generally more accurate and faster to respond to changes in heart rate as a result.

However, most people find just wearing a watch more comfortable and convenient than putting on a chest strap — especially in winter when putting a cold strap on your chest is no fun, trust me. So if a watch proves to be just as good, it’s a better option for most people.

Let’s dive into the results, starting with how the Apple Watch 12 fared on the run.

Apple Watch 12 heart rate accuracy test: Running

I’ve got a lot of data from my runs with the Apple Watch 12, and the vast majority of it shows the watch to be very accurate with regard to heart rate accuracy during those runs.

One common problem is that the watch would gray out the heart rate reading at the start of a run if it lacked confidence in the reading.

These periods without readings were always short and show on the graphs below as straight lines between readings the watch did take.

As an aside, the Apple Watch 12 has been better than the Apple Watch Ultra 4, which has often grayed out its readings for long stretches of my runs during testing.

Once locked on, the Apple Watch 12’s heart rate sensor has stuck closely in line with the reading from the chest strap on all my outdoor runs, including a lot of easy miles, a half marathon race, and several challenging workouts in training.

I also did one treadmill run comparing it to a chest strap, which did feature a few more minor errors from the Apple Watch 12 that results in a slightly higher average heart rate reading from the watch by the end of the run.

It hasn’t been perfect, with the odd erroneous dip or spike, and it doesn’t respond to fast changes in heart rate quite as quickly as the chest strap, which is common for optical readings, but the Apple Watch 12 impressed me overall during my runs.

It could certainly be used to judge my training based on heart rate, which is the main benefit of it being accurate, in my mind.

Apple Watch 12 heart rate accuracy test: Indoor cycling

I did one indoor bike ride testing the Apple Watch 12 against the Garmin HRM 600 chest strap, cycling for just over 40 minutes total, with most of that done at an easy effort.

To put the Apple Watch 12’s sensor through its paces, I did 30-second sprint efforts every five minutes during the cycle to spike my heart rate quickly — something that can be very hard for optical sensors to track as quickly as a chest strap.

The Apple Watch 12 performed brilliantly during this test, responding rapidly to these spikes and drops in effort and ending up with an average heart rate of 109.97 compared to 109.89 for the chest strap.

While the graph shows it lagged a tiny fraction behind the chest strap when I started an interval — something I could see when looking at the watches during these efforts — the Series 12 captured each and every sprint well, and should be a reliable option if you love spinning sessions.

Apple Watch 12 heart rate accuracy test: Strength and HIIT workouts

In my experience, the hardest test for an optical sensor is gym workouts, because unlike sports like running and cycling, you don’t move in a predictable, consistent way when lifting weights or doing HIIT, which means the watch has more random noise to filter out when trying to detect your heart rate.

It’s such a challenge for watches that when you select a HIIT workout on the Apple Watch 12, a message actually pops up saying you can connect a chest strap to the watch via Bluetooth if you’re not getting consistent heart rate readings from the watch.

I did two strength sessions lifting weights with the watch, where my heart rate was mostly quite low, and a bodyweight HIIT session doing circuits of five exercises, three of which were jumping moves like burpees that get the heart pumping.

In both strength workouts, you can see the heart rate readings from the watch largely rose and fell in line with the chest strap but lagged and were rarely in line. The watch also missed one small jump in heart rate during one of the workouts.

The average heart rate reading was only a couple of beats off from the chest strap overall, though, and most spikes in effort were spotted and logged by the watch, even if it was a few seconds behind the strap.

It was a similar story with the HIIT workout, where I was actually pretty impressed with the Apple Watch 12’s readings. It lagged behind the chest strap, but did catch each of my intervals and rise to the right level.

It did also add in a couple of erroneous spikes, though, and for both HIIT and strength workouts I’d say a chest strap, or even an armband, will still deliver better results than a watch.

Apple Watch 12 heart rate accuracy test: Verdict

The Apple Watch 12 performed well overall in my testing, but I wouldn’t say it’s a marked improvement over other watches I’ve used for heart rate accuracy.

I typically wear a Garmin watch for training and have found the latest Garmin models like the Forerunner 970 that use the brand’s Elevate v5 heart rate sensor very reliable for heart rate accuracy; at least as good as the Apple Watch 12.

I’d say the Apple Watch 12’s heart rate accuracy is up there with the best wearables for me, but if you are relying on heart rate to judge your training, especially in HIIT or strength sessions, a chest strap might still be a worthwhile investment.

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Bulgarian split squats have been having a real moment in the world of fitness, partly because they are torturous and partly because they are incredibly effective at building your legs and glutes when done properly.

There's a lot of debate around how to do Bulgarian split squats with proper form to maximize the return on your glutes or quads, but there's a BSS with a twist (quite literally) that can build strength and increase mobility, too.

Never one to turn down an exercise with double, or even triple, benefits, I strongly recommend trying this move the next time you want to work your lower body hard. Here's how to do it, plus the benefits.

How to do it

I'd classify this BSS variation as low impact, but if you experience pain at any time, stop and rest. If you're working with an injury or health condition, I recommend seeking advice from your physician or a trainer before starting this exercise, especially if you suffer from knee pain.

For many, the knees are an all-too-familiar problem area, but that doesn't mean you can't build strong legs and glutes; it just means choosing the exercises that remain low impact while offering high return in building strength and muscle. What works for one person won't always work for another, so it's about trial and error in the beginning.

• Stand with your back leg on a chair, box, or bench, top of the foot pressed down.
• Square your hips so that you balance on your front leg, with a soft bend in both knees.
• Hold a weight in both hands or bring your hands to your hips and engage your core.
• Bend your knees to lower toward the ground. As you do, arc your back knee toward the bench behind you rather than moving vertically. Vertical will better load the quads. whereas the arc will emphasize the glutes.
• Hinge forward slightly as you lower, keeping your spine long. This will also help activate your gluteal muscles and load the front leg.
• Pause, then drive upward to stand.
• Rotate to the side away from your front leg, pressing your foot down into the box and drawing your knee outward while leaning into the stretch to open your hips and adductors.
• Complete 6-8 heavy reps, then switch sides.
• If you'd like, add a twist over the front leg at the bottom of the split squat.

Why?

Bulgarian split squats famously build your hips, glutes and legs, strengthen your core, improve balance, stability and coordination and test unilateral ability by emphasizing one side of the body at a time.

It's a tough move you can load heavily while focusing on single-leg balance and control. The added benefit of the twist at the bottom of the split squat is that torso rotation works the internal and external obliques, which are extremely important core muscles.

The twist at the top of the exercise offers even more benefit for your hips and inner thighs, as you rotate and draw the top knee over the ankle, leaning away from the front leg. It's a great way to open the lower body through dynamic stretching while gently increasing joint mobility.

Follow Tom's Guide fitness on Instagram for more workouts, routines, tips, and tricks.

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As someone who is active and has scoliosis, I’m all too familiar with muscle aches and pains. I often use heat and anti-inflammatory medications to get through my day-to-day activities so I can keep climbing mountains and running in the mornings. But it turns out that investing in one of the best massage guns can be extremely beneficial too.

The Hyperice Hypervolt Go 3 has been a welcome addition to my recovery routine, delivering effective performance and supported by the companion app. It’s great value for money and has four hours of battery life to carry you through your weekly sessions without reaching for the charger.

There’s no Bluetooth connectivity for in-app control, and there are only two attachments in the device kit. But these could be acceptable sacrifices for the cost savings. To find out more about the percussion therapy device, you can keep reading this full Hyperice Hypervolt Go 3 review.

Hyperice Hypervolt Go 3 review: Specs

Hyperice Hypervolt Go 3 review: Price & availability

The Hyperice Hypervolt Go 3 is available for $149 from Amazon U.S. and £129 from Amazon U.K. The massage gun is only available in black. The Hypervolt Go 3 is an entry-level model with two interchangeable heads, but Hyperice also offers the Hypervolt 3 with four interchangeable heads.

The Hyperice Hypervolt 3 is the option for someone who needs a more robust muscle-care routine with heated heads and pressure sensors, but it is more expensive at $249. But I think the Go 3 offers the best value for money.

The previous version of the Go 3, the Hyperice Hypervolt Go 2, is a little cheaper at $139. I think it’s worth spending an extra $10 on the new model for more speed settings and longer battery life, with four hours instead of the previous three hours.

Other affordable massage guns include the Bob and Brad M7 Plus Mini, which costs $89 and has a higher speed. It also comes with more attachments, including heat and blue light. However, the Go 3 has a significantly longer battery life and 10mm of amplitude compared to the 9mm of the M7 Plus Mini, so it depends on what you need in your own routine. The amplitude is the distance of travel of the head attachment, and 10mm is middle of the road for massage guns and is best for moderate activity.

Hyperice Hypervolt Go 3 review: Design

The Hyperice Hypervolt Go 3 looks very futuristic, but I’ve come to expect this from Hyperice. It has a long oval-shaped handle that meets a long cylinder at the top, which drives the massage gun. It’s a very similar shape to the Hyperice Hypervolt Go 2, but without the cooling vents on the top.

The long handle has padding that’s very comfortable to hold throughout treatment. I found it easy to grip in any position, even when working behind my back. It only weighs 1.6 pounds, so it’s not too taxing to hold. But keep in mind that, although it’s designed for travel, it’s still quite large, measuring 7.5 x 6.8 x 2.4 inches.

It comes with two head attachments: Flat and Wedge. The Wedge attachment gets a little deeper into the muscle by targeting the force to a smaller point, while the Flat attachment is a little more soothing. The heads easily attach to the gun by pushing them into place. But be aware that if you don't push them in far enough, they will pop out when the gun is turned on.

The Go 3 comes with a hard shell case, so you can easily take it with you anywhere. There are two holes to store the attachments and a larger one for the device itself. It also has a mesh pocket for the USB-C cable. I’ve found it very handy for keeping all of the components together.

Controls

The controls for the Hyperice Hypervolt Go 3 are easy. You hold down the power button on the back of the device to turn it on and then turn the dial to increase the speed of the treatment. It has five speeds, but I only managed to get up to two since any higher felt quite strong and a little painful — that means the gun is powerful, which is a good thing.

Hyperice Hypervolt Go 3 review: App

Personally, I don’t believe a massage gun needs an app. In fact, I don’t believe a lot of the devices I test need an app. Call me an app cynic. However, I actually enjoy the Hyperice app.

I also enjoy using the app for other devices I’ve tested from Hyperice, like the Venom Go, because, depending on where it’s positioned on your body, you can’t reach the physical controls, but you can use the app. But with a massage gun, since it’s always in your hands, you can always adjust the controls manually.

The reason I like this app is the guided sessions. These can take you from prep and warm-up to cooldown and recovery, with timers to keep you on track and a video you can follow. The video walks you through the exact workout, and pictures on the side tell you which attachment to use. Since the Go version of the massage gun only has two attachments and the programme is made for the entire range, I had to make do with what I had for some sessions. Downloading the companion app for this device made me feel like I was getting the most out of it.

However, there’s no Bluetooth connectivity for the Hyperice Hypervolt Go 3, so you can’t control it from the app. You just use the app for guided sessions. If you want control over the device in the app, you need the Hypervolt 3.

Hyperice Hypervolt Go 3 review: Performance

I used the Hyperice Hypervolt Go 3 to help with cooldowns during my current training block and for general muscle aches that stem from my scoliosis. I have to say: I’m very impressed and probably the most relaxed I’ve been in a long time.

The massage gun succeeded in releasing knots to improve my range of motion, accelerating warm-up and reducing recovery time. It does this by using percussion therapy, which uses targeted pulses to drive into the muscle.

I have scoliosis at the top of my back, which can lead to shoulder and neck pain, especially if I’m doing a lot of heavy lifting. I use a lot of home remedies such as heat packs and anti-inflammatory gels to help with this, but the Hypervolt Go 3 has added an extra layer to my routine that helps the relaxation last longer. I used speed two for this. More seasoned massage gun users may be able to use higher speeds, but I didn’t need to.

I’ve recently started a new running plan too, so my legs are feeling a little more stiff than usual. I followed the Lower Body Relief guided session in the app and started using the Flat head on my feet before moving to my calves, hamstrings, quads and glutes. I made an effort to implement this routine after each run and saw a huge difference in how I felt the following day.

I’m not a professional athlete, so this gun was more than enough to take care of my aches and pains, but if you need something more intense with a deeper amplitude, you can try the Hyperice Hypervolt 2 Pro.

Hyperice Hypervolt Go 3 review: Battery

The Hyperice Hypervolt Go 3 had a battery life of up to four hours. This depends on the speeds you're using on the device, but when using the lower speed, I was able to complete my sessions for the week without needing to charge again. It charges via USB-C.

The Bob and Brad M7 Plus Mini, for example, only has an hour of battery life, which is fine for short sessions, but you’ll be charging it often with daily use. It’s worth spending a little extra money to get reliable usage.

Hyperice Hypervolt Go 3 review: Verdict

The Hyperice Hypervolt Go 3 is a value-for-money massage gun. It’s all you need to get started with at-home percussion therapy and delivers an effective performance, releasing tension and supporting my sports recovery. The four-hour battery life is impressive and means I can get all of my sessions in for the week without needing to juice up. I also enjoy the app; although it doesn’t connect to the device directly, I was able to make the most of it by following recommended treatment plans.

But keep in mind that it doesn’t have the bells and whistles of the more advanced models in the range from Hyperice. The Hypervolt Go 3 only comes with two attachments and has no Bluetooth connectivity for control within the app.

Still, the Go 3 proves that massage guns don’t really need Bluetooth or extra features. Those haven’t stopped me from reaching for this gun every day.

The Adidas Pro Evo line has been controversial from the moment the original shoe launched with a $500 price and suggestions it would only last one race.

Those negatives are enough to put off most amateur runners, but the bigger problem I had with the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2 when I tested it was that it didn’t feel all that special to me.

It was light and fast, but didn’t feel a step up on the best carbon plate running shoes that cost half as much and lasted twice as many miles or more.

The Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 is something truly special, and so the same negatives — high price, low durability — don’t feel quite so important to me.

It’s not a shoe that will suit everyone, either with regards to price or its wildly springy and unstable ride, but the Pro Evo 3 is lighter than any other racer I’ve tried, and makes running fast feel near effortless at times.

Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 review: price and availability

The Adidas Pro Evo 3 sticks to the same price as past versions of the shoe; it’s $500 in the U.S. and £450 in the U.K., making it the most expensive carbon plate racer on the market.

It’s also hard to get hold of, with the limited stock Adidas sporadically makes available generally getting snapped up in seconds. In the UK, you can enter a draw for when the shoe next goes on sale on 5 October, and more stock is expected in the U.S. at some point this Fall.

Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 review: design and fit

The Adidas Pro Evo 3 has only been available in the white and black color it launched in so far, though some Adidas athletes did use a model with a red splash on the forefoot at the Berlin Marathon.

I’m generally in between two sizes and went for the larger one with the Pro Evo 3 to get the best fit — I find with Adidas racing shoes they can come up a bit small, so even going half a size up is worth considering.

The Pro Evo 3 made headlines for being the first sub-3.5oz/100g carbon plate super-shoe at launch and it is absurdly light. It’s 3.7oz/106g in my US men’s size 10, which is around 1.4oz lighter than any other racer I’ve tested in my size, and half the weight of many.

This featherweight design is not down to a lack of cushioning in the midsole either — the Pro Evo 3 stands 39mm tall at the heel and 36mm at the forefoot for a 3mm drop.

Upper

When I spoke to the team behind the design of the Pro Evo 3, they told me the upper on the shoe is inspired by materials used in kitesurfing.

It’s very light and flexible, and there’s minimal cushioning and reinforcement on the upper around the back of the shoe, as you’d expect with low weight being a priority.

On my runs in the Pro Evo 3, the upper has held my foot securely, though, even when pushing to all-out paces, and so far I’ve not seen any worrying wear on this part of the shoe.

Midsole

The Adidas Pro Evo 2 was one of the lightest shoes ever made, and yet with the Pro Evo 3 Adidas found a way to make the new Lightstrike Pro Evo foam in its midsole almost 50% lighter than the stuff in the Pro Evo 2.

It’s an extremely soft and springy foam too, and you feel the softness even more because the Pro Evo 3 doesn’t use a full carbon plate. It instead has a carbon rim that runs around the outside of the midsole, which is called ENERGYRIM.

This adds the stiffness required to maximize the propulsive feel of the midsole while also being lighter than a full plate or the carbon rods Adidas used on past models of its racing shoes.

The soft midsole foam is already showing signs of wear on my shoes, with some small chunks coming out around the forefoot, but it still feels just as bouncy as it did when new.

Outsole

The outsole on the Pro Evo 2 was a bit of a disaster, offering little to no grip in wet conditions, and Adidas has taken steps to improve this on the Pro Evo 3 without increasing the weight on the bottom of the shoe.

There are rubber patches covering the forefoot and heel of the shoe, both of which are just 0.5mm thick, and I have found that the Continental rubber used on the forefoot grips well on wet and dry roads in my runs.

Once again, there are worrying signs of wear on this part of the shoe after 30 miles of running. The back patch on one of my shoes has started to flake away and the tread pattern on the forefoot has worn thin in some places.

Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 review: running performance

The Adidas Pro Evo 3 has already proven itself to be very effective when on the feet of elite athletes. Sabastian Sawe ran the first official sub-2-hour marathon in the shoe at the London Marathon in April, Yomif Kejelcha broke the half marathon world record while wearing it in Buenos Aires in August, and all six podium spots at the recent Berlin Marathon were taken up by men and women wearing the Pro Evo 3.

It’s not hard to see why it’s been so successful when you run in the shoe. I’ve done three runs in the Pro Evo 3, including a 20-miler on the road and a long track session running 24x400m reps at my various race paces, and it’s felt exceptionally good on all of them.

I’ve tested pretty much every major carbon shoe ever made too, so I don’t lack for comparisons, and the Pro Evo 3 does feel genuinely special. It’s not just extremely light and bouncy, but also pushes you through each stride so smoothly that hitting and holding fast paces feels like a breeze at times.

What I noticed in both the track session and 20-mile long run, where I did the second half in 59:30, is that my heart rate was lower than normal at faster speeds, and that I recovered more quickly in between reps on the track.

I’ve done similar 20-milers in many different carbon shoes over the past five years as part of my marathon training, and it’s never felt as good as it did in the Pro Evo 3.

There are drawbacks to the design, though. I would definitely say the soft, unstable feel of the Pro Evo 3 will not suit every runner. I’m not sure it would be supportive enough for me as a 2:25 marathoner, especially in the later stages of the race.

If feels like a pinnacle racer built to deliver the fastest times in history, so us mere mortals might only get the best out of the Pro Evo 3 for shorter events than the marathon, and even then you’ll have to be happy running in an unstable shoe that might only be at its best for 100 miles or so.

Should you buy the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3?

There’s a case for saying that anyone who has to buy the Adidas Pro Evo 3 probably shouldn’t. Unless you’re a pro runner getting handed the shoe for free to use at one key event, it’s not a great investment.

It’s wobbly and lacks durability, and my top alternatives like the Puma Fast-R Nitro Elite 3, Asics Metaspeed Ray and Asics Metaspeed Sky Tokyo are also brilliantly fast and efficient racing shoes that cost a lot less than the Pro Evo 3.

However, as an innovative, elite racing shoe, the Pro Evo 3 does deliver on its promise of being the best yet, in my opinion, and that will be enough for many runners to want to give it a go.

There have been points over the past couple of years where I’ve wondered exactly what brands can do to keep improving their super-shoes, given the quality of what’s already out there. The Pro Evo 3 proves there’s still scope to produce something special.

You may have heard of animal flow and primal movement; this popular exercise form combines bodyweight exercises into a sequence or flow, a bit like strength training meets yoga.

And getting adults to exercise more like animals is proving pretty popular as a way to improve mobility and build functional strength, which means it's also good for your bones, joints and ligaments.

And all you need is your body and the ground to give it a go. You could also use one of the best yoga mats, but this is optional. Read on to find out more, plus three must-try moves you can do yourself.

What is animal flow?

Animal Flow involves a floor-based style of bodyweight training that mimics animal poses and how they move, like crawling, pouncing and squatting.

There are multiple layers to official animal flow routines, including wrist mobilizations, "activations" (a bit like a warm-up), form-specific stretches (for mobility and flexibility), "traveling forms," which include animal locomotive movements, and switches or transitions that allow you to develop a flow.

Why strength coaches are making adults exercise like animals

True animal flow is a bit like an art form, but many strength coaches are drawing inspiration from the style to inform their clients' programs and improve how well they move.

It’s the definition of functional training because it helps improve flexibility, functional strength, movement quality and mobility, all while making your body more injury-resistant.

Moving in a primal way also reconnects you with a sense of grounding, improving connection with body, breath and mind and accessing the inner animal that exists within everyone. In other words, it looks and feels natural and innate. This can also act as a form of mindfulness through finding a flow state. And most importantly, it's fun.

Being in contact with the ground and continuously moving means you also increase balance, coordination, stability, range of motion and proprioception in all planes of motion.

Over time, adding primal movement into your routine, whether that's as a workout or a warm-up routine, should help you build better strength and control.

A study by Animal Flow and Dr. Jeffrey Buxton looked at the effects of a "quadrupedal movement" training (QMT) program on functional movement, range of motion, muscular strength and endurance. QMT is a bodyweight training program that incorporates animal poses, transitions, and crawling patterns. Researchers found improvements in whole-body stabilization, flexibility and range of motion.

One study even found improvements in cognitive function and working memory following meditative movement. Rhythmic motion can be therapeutic for the nervous system, helping relieve stress.

3 moves to try

• Loaded beast: The move targets your hips, glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, arms, shoulders, chest and core as you move forward and backward horizontally. It also develops lower-body mobility, targeting the hips, knees and ankles, and testing range of motion and shoulder stability. Think of a coil ready to spring as you sit your butt back, allowing you to load power.
• Cat crawl: Crawling develops reflexive strength and coordination, teaching your body to recruit both sides and your upper and lower body to work together. Your core will be working hard throughout.
• The frog: Frog builds upper-body strength and foundational pushing power. It will improve hip mobility, improve control and help you develop the skills needed for yoga poses like handstand and crow.

Follow Tom's Guide fitness on Instagram for more workouts, routines, tips, and tricks.

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Prime Big Deal Days is in full swing, which means there's no better time than right now to shop all things beauty and haircare at Amazon.

I review hair tools for a living, and even I’m flabbergasted by how good this week’s deals are. There are discounts on quite literally everything, from K-Beauty and skincare tools to haircare and stylers; your options are truly endless!

There are even savings to be found on recently released hair tools, including ghd's new Duet airstylers, Dreame's AI-powered Aero Straight Pro and Shark's Glossi hot air brush. And if you've been considering stepping into the world of LED skincare tech, some tidy savings are going on Shark's CryoGlow mask and Dreame's Chroma Photon mask.

• Shop Amazon's full Prime Day sale

I've spotted 18 of the best hair tool and skincare deals and popped them for your perusal below. It's worth noting, though, that these discounts won't last long, as they're set to expire on Monday, October 5.

Best Prime Day Hairtool deals

Best Prime Day Skincare deals

We've all experienced that bleary-eyed panic of suddenly waking up and thinking you've missed your alarm — only to discover that it's 5 a.m. and you don't need to get up until another two hours.

But for the past few weeks I've waking up hours before my sunrise alarm most mornings, usually between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., leaving me crawling through each day in an exhausted fog.

I was at a loss as to why this kept happening, until a new study revealed the culprit. Here's the surprisingly small thing that kept waking me up way too early, plus the cheap, easy fix that helps me stay asleep all night.

Key takeaways from the new study:

• Researchers at Tulane University have found that light exposure (over 3 lux) from electronic products such as chargers and stand-by lights can cause shorter, disrupted sleep and body clock changes.
• People with the brightest bedrooms at night slept about 48 minutes less each night (6.9 hours) compared to people who slept in total darkness (7.7 hours).
• This shorter sleep duration can change the way the heart functions, leading to cardiovascular damage over time.
• To limit nighttime light exposure, experts recommend covering lights from electronics with LED light-blocking stickers, using blackout curtains, and wearing eye masks.

Why I kept waking up hours before my alarm

According to a new study conducted by researchers at Tulane University, exposure to light at night can shorten our overall sleep duration.

This reduced sleep duration over a long period of time can lead to impaired heart health, say scientists — and 50% of that cardiovascular damage is caused by light exposure cutting sleep prematurely short.

The study also found that people with the brightest bedrooms at night slept about 48 minutes less each night (6.9 hours) compared to people who slept in total darkness (7.7 hours).

When I first read the results of this study, I found them fascinating — but couldn't see how they were applicable to me. After all, I keep my blinds closed, I don't use a night light, and I put my phone on Sleep Mode so my phone doesn't light up with notifications throughout the night.

However, when I found myself waking up at 5 a.m. again, I looked around the room and spotted the culprit: the light from my laptop charger, making my room look as if it were bathed in blue light.

I must not have spotted the charger's glow when I first turned off the bedroom light, but I could now see the charger light's full disruptive impact once my eyes adjusted to the dark.

How does bedroom light affect sleep and health?

The same study also found that the cardiovascular damage caused by nocturnal light exposure also stems directly from the artificial light disrupting the body's circadian rhythm.

However, the main ramification of light exposure remains shorter sleep, with exposure to light at night (>3 lux) suppresses melatonin, resulting in shorter sleep duration which in turn leads to "cardiac remodelling".

“This is the first study of its kind, and it shows that exposure to higher levels of light at nighttime is linked to cardiac remodelling," says Professor Lu Qi, who led the groundbreaking study.

"Cardiac remodelling" is where the structure and function of the heart changes in response to stress.

"It’s our body’s way of adapting to that stress, but ultimately it weakens the heart and can lead to heart failure.," explains Professor Li.

Of course, this isn't the first piece of research to examine how light exposure during sleep can cause nighttime awakenings.

One 2020 study discovered that those living with heavy light pollution tend to get much less sleep, while a 2021 study found that sleeping in a room with even a small amount of light elevates heart rate throughout the night and lead to disrupted sleep.

How I fixed my nighttime light exposure with this genius $5 product

Fortunately, the study's accompanying editorial provides some guidance on combating nighttime light exposure, and it's pretty simple.

"The advice is simple and inexpensive: blackout curtains, warm-coloured bedside lighting, and covering the small standby LEDs on household electronics," writes Professor Thomas Münzel in the commentary.

So, the first thing I did was order something that would block the charging light on electronics. I stumbled upon these Light Blocking Stickers, now $4.98 (were $8.99) at Amazon, which promise to dim up to 100% of electronic light.

I was sceptical, but to my surprise, this $5 product effectively blocks light from my computer monitor, laptop charger, and extension lead switch. I simply choose a sticker (they come in various shapes and sizes) that can effectively cover the light source, stick it down, and then the problem is fixed.

Now, my early morning awakenings have come to a halt — just in time to try out the best sunrise alarm clocks.

3 top-rated products to help block out sleep-disrupting light

If you're looking for a rugged watch and you're reading Tom's Guide then chances are you're thinking about the Apple Watch Ultra 4 or perhaps the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 or even the Garmin Fenix Pro 9.

But those timepieces are kindergarten toys compared to Casio's iconic G-Shock watches. And today the brand has unveiled two new additions to the family — one of which is the most expensive G-Shock ever made, and the other a much more accessible option. As a longtime G-Shock wearer, I need to tell you about these watches.

I'll break the bad news first, the MRG-D5000, known as "The Blue Rose Project" is not something you or I are ever going to be able to buy. Its bezel and outer case are formed entirely from blue sapphire crystal, which gives it clarity, hardness, a distinctive color, and a £67,000 (roughly $88,600) price tag. Moreover, there are only 20 of them being made. So when Casio says it's the "rarest and most valuable production G-Shock to date", it's not kidding.

"The story began with the Dream Project led by G-Shock creator Kikuo Ibe," Casio revealed in a press release.

"In 2018, the project produced the G-D5000, a watch crafted from 18-carat gold while retaining premium shock resistance. The same year, Casio revealed a sapphire crystal concept watch in Basel, Switzerland, that demonstrated the idea’s beauty but could not yet meet G-Shock shock-resistance standards."

"While many thought the challenge impossible, G-Shock’s relentless pursuit of perfection in the search for toughness meant that after years of research, the MR-G engineering team found that dividing the outer case into multiple interacting components could disperse impact more effectively than a conventional single-piece construction. The breakthrough informed the Multi-Guard Structure introduced with the titanium MRG-B5000 in 2022 and, ultimately, the Multi-Guard Structure for Sapphire used in the new MRG-D5000."

These watches will almost certainly be snapped up by collectors and watch fanatics — some of whom have very deep pockets.

As mentioned, it's not like we'll be able to buy it, but the MRG-D5000 boasts 20-bar water resistance; solar power; Multi Band 6 radio control; 1/100-second stopwatch; countdown timer; five daily alarms; full-auto LED backlight.

The Mudman GDG-B100 could beat the Apple Watch to a pulp

With all the glitz and glamour out of the way, let's get down in the dirt with the second G-Shock revealed today — the one we can realistically strap to our wrist while training for the next Hyrox or Ironman.

The G-Shock Mudman GDG-B100 is available from £200 ($264) and has been built with military and first responders in mind. Casio has employed carbon fiber-reinforced resin to increase the rigidity of the case, helping it resist damage and deformation. There's a complete airtight seal on this watch, with gaskets fitted to the button shafts to help prevent mud and dust from entering the case.

The display is a memory-in-pixel (MIP) LCD and, in similar fashion to the Apple Watch Ultra series (and Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra), there's also a red LED backlight that kicks in after dark to preserve night vision.

The GDG-B100 measures distance, speed, pace and calories burned in addition to stopwatch timing. It can store up to 100 lap times, offers an interval timer with up to five time settings and counts steps using a built-in accelerometer.

You'll need to use Smartphone Link to connect the watch to the Casio app via Bluetooth where you'll find training and daily activity records. When the watch is connected to your phone, you can also get vibration alerts for incoming calls, emails, social media updates, calendar notifications and reminders. But, if I'm honest, you're not buying a G-Shock to get calendar notifications — you're buying it to survive a weeklong trip into the wilderness.

There are three different styles to choose from: all black, dark green with orange accents or a sand-colored band with a black bezel.

More from Tom's Guide

• Forget sit-ups — I did suitcase carries for a week, and my core was on fire
• 'Stop doing overhead presses until you fix these 3 huge mistakes,' says a personal trainer
• Your using your iPhone Action Button wrong — how iOS 27 unlocks three features at once

I’ll let you in on a secret — I really hate sit-ups and crunches. I don’t really feel them in my core; they hurt my lower back, and according to just about every personal trainer out there, they’re not even the best way to target your abdominal muscles.

With that in mind, as I gear up for my seventh marathon in a few weeks, I’ve been looking for better ways to build functional core strength. Our resident personal trainer, Sam Hopes, told me to try the suitcase carry, so I grabbed a set of the best adjustable dumbbells and did just that. Read on to find out more.

As a reminder, if you’re a complete beginner, pregnant or postpartum, or currently recovering from an injury, this might not be the best exercise for you and your body. Always seek personalized advice from a qualified professional if you are unsure.

How to do the suitcase carry

All you’ll need is one heavy weight and your body weight. Here’s how to do the suitcase carry with good form:

• Stand next to a heavy dumbbell and hinge at your hips to lift the weight with a flat back. Make sure your feet are shoulder-width apart.
• Stand tall and engage your core, lowering your shoulders down and back from your ears. Your torso should be completely upright.
• Walk forward in a smooth, straight line. Keep your gaze ahead and hold the weight loosely beside your thigh.
• Keep your shoulders and hips completely square — you don’t want your body to lean to the side. One way to do this is to imagine you’re holding an invisible weight in your opposite hand.
• Once you’ve reached your distance or time goal, lower the weight to the floor and repeat on the other side.

As a reminder, the right weight will feel challenging, but not impossible, by the final few reps. If you find it difficult to stop your torso from leaning or your leg keeps brushing the dumbbell as you walk, it’s too heavy. Reduce the weight and keep going. Moving with improper form can put your spine at risk of injury.

I did suitcase carries for a week — here’s what happened

I had to really think about keeping my core engaged

Compared to a farmer’s carry, where you’re holding a dumbbell in both hands, the difficulty with the suitcase carry is that all of the weight is loaded to one side. As a mom, this felt very apt, as I often cart my toddler around on one hip, but the key to this functional move is to really engage your core. I had to think about sucking my belly button into my spine and standing tall with every step.

The good news is, this simple-looking exercise gets you a lot of bang for your buck. When done correctly, you’ll be working your obliques, transverse abdominis and QL (the stabilizing muscle that runs along your spine) to prevent you from leaning. This builds deep rotational stability in the core.

It’s a good one for runners

Although, at times, this felt like walking up and down my living room with a weight (I opted to do a minute on each side), this ab move might actually help my form at my next marathon. By nature, the move is challenging your single-side stability. Running is a single-leg sport, so by strengthening the gluteus medius and helping you work on stabilizing your hips as you step, this exercise can actually make you run more efficiently.

My grip strength needs work

Holding a heavy dumbbell for 60 seconds isn’t something I do all that often — my reps tend to be shorter and lighter, and this exercise taught me my grip strength needs some work.

This sneaky move felt like a full-body workout in itself, as I felt it in my shoulders and forearms as much as my abs, but it’s one I’ll be keeping in my strength sessions going forward. What are you waiting for? Grab a heavy dumbbell and get carrying.

More from Tom's Guide

• I'm a personal trainer who works with clients over 50 — these are the 3 mobility exercises I never skip
• After 60, this is the 10-minute routine I use with my clients to stay strong, mobile and independent
• 'I’m a Pilates instructor, and I recommend these 5 core exercises to help older clients build strength and improve posture'

The overhead press, shoulder press, or military press looks simple — but it’s surprisingly easy to lift with bad form, and many more people than you'd think end up on the physical therapy couch because of poor lifting mechanics.

To maximize the benefits of this weightlifting move, we recommend learning how to overhead press before bad habits set in. As a trainer, I have a few tips to help you supercharge the muscle and strength-building benefits of the overhead press and its many variations.

Scroll on to see if you're making these common mistakes below, and my top tips to fix your form fast.

How to overhead press (and why)

As a common compound exercise cropping up in functional training workouts and strength programs everywhere, the overhead press is one of the big five lifts that works the upper body to build strength (and muscle) in your triceps, shoulders, upper chest, upper back and core while developing explosive pushing power and overhead strength.

The move recruits the upper pectoral muscles, anterior deltoids (the fronts of the shoulders) and triceps, and it also strengthens your upper traps. When done correctly, you can expect to develop maximal strength when you work to failure.

Your core muscles engage throughout to stabilize your torso, and your shoulder stabilizers support this exercise, so they require proper activation and positioning; it’s a surprisingly technical foundational lift.

Here's what I see go wrong, and three quick fixes:

• Hunching as you lift: Commonly, people will start the lift with their shoulders by their ears, meaning the rotator cuff (shoulder stabilizer muscles) can't properly activate. Not only does this increase injury risk, but it means less stability, overfiring of the bigger, powerful muscles and under-firing of the muscles that keep the move safe, causing imbalances. Fix: Draw your shoulder blades back and down and slightly together to "set them in place" and keep your shoulders away from your ears while you perform reps.
• Arching your spine: Pushing your hips forward hyperextends the spine and puts more pressure on your lower back. It can also signal you might be lifting too heavy for your core to properly engage and support the lift. Fix: Learn to brace your core properly, imagining you're expecting someone to punch you in the gut; breathe toward your diaphragm, not your chest. Next, slightly tuck your pelvis under so that you don't stick your butt out or flare your ribcage.
• Rushing your reps: Evidence suggests eccentric loading and time under tension are great ways to build control, stability and muscle mass. In this case, the eccentric phase is the lowering of the weights. Fix: Focus on a three-four second tempo down, then press up for one second, rather than getting your reps out as quickly as possible.

Why does it matter?

In short, you're wasting your time if your form is off. And we're busy humans who don't like our time being wasted, right?

Leaning back too far removes tension from your upper body and overloads your lower back. Keep your torso static — don't swing or use momentum to push the weight upward. Draw your ribcage down, engage your glutes, and slightly tuck the pelvis to keep everything locked in place.

Next, think about your shoulders; as I mentioned, draw them down and keep them there, even when you press. Our shoulders spend a lot of time protracted as we hunch over desks, slump into chairs, or sit for long periods, so retraction is key to developing healthy shoulder movement patterns while improving stability and posture. It’s also a great way to help safeguard your shoulders from injury.

Taking time during the eccentric contraction will prevent you from rushing and get the most from each rep. Pause and squeeze at the top and bottom of the movement to help maximize activation.

The rotator cuff muscles — a group of four muscles surrounding and supporting the scapulae — are crucial for shoulder stability. If you want to practice using them, I recommend adding scapula push-ups and scapula pull-ups into your warm-up routines.

If you have a shoulder-related injury, pre-existing health conditions or injuries, or you experience pain, speak with a qualified personal trainer or physician first.

Follow Tom's Guide fitness on Instagram for more workouts, routines, tips, and tricks.

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• Australian pull-ups for beginners: How to do them
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• I'm a personal trainer, the candlestick roll is the best bodyweight exercise for your barbell squats

I love golf apparel. Ask anyone who knows me, and they'll tell you that I wear golf clothes almost exclusively. But if there's one thing I hate about golf apparel, it's the high price of some brands. I say this as someone who often wears Greyson, Malbon, Holderness & Borne and all the other premium brands.

But I also wear lots of affordable polos to round out my collection. There's a whole world of cheap golf polos out there that will set you back less than $40. And here's the dirty little secret: they're comparable to the far more expensive brands in terms of quality. Sure, they may not be made with the exact same materials, but they're close, and for less than half the price, you can't go wrong.

So here are 5 golf brands that make polos for $40 or less that I think you should keep on your radar. Trust me, there's still room in your closet for ultra-expensive polos, but these affordable options will help you round it out while keeping your bank account intact.

The polos

Uniqlo

Uniqlo isn't a brand that's as synonymous with golf as some, but what it is known for is making high-quality clothes that don't cost too much. It's also known for simple designs that look stylish without being too in your face. Its limited selection of golf polos meets that criteria perfectly.

Quince

Quince isn't necessarily associated with golf, but it should be, because its golf apparel is actually quite solid. In fact, I actually wore a pair of Quince pants today (though I wasn't golfing; I just like the pants so much that I wore them anyway). The brand's polos are well-made and comfortable without costing a lot.

Walter Hagen

Okay, hear me out on this one. Walter Hagen is the Dick's Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy house brand, and the polos typically retail for around $70. So what's it doing here? Well, because it's the house brand, you can almost always find their shirts on sale at a massive discount.

It’s safe to say that there are a fair few perks to working from home. My laundry pile has never been smaller, and my dog certainly seems to enjoy my company. But my neck, back and joints have all taken one for the team since I moved to a hybrid way of working. Forget ‘tech neck’. I’m certain I’m operating more in ‘shrimp posture’ territory. But that’s where the best under-desk treadmills can be genuinely transformative.

I was already a fervent walking-while-working convert, thanks to a seven-month stint a few years ago with a cheap treadmill that I’d picked up in a Black Friday deal. When it unfortunately limped its way to a frustratingly premature death, I was hesitant to get another. However, testing the UREVO FoldiMix 5L has done a lot to restore my faith in the product concept.

Not only is it a treadmill with its own height-adjustable folding workstation, but it’s also capable of something pretty unusual in this space; it has a max speed of 7.6 MPH. Most walking pads are just that - walking pads. A treadmill that offered the ability to double up as a way to be healthier at work and a vehicle for a good running workout definitely piqued my interest.

UREVO FoldiMix 5L Smart Treadmill Review: Specs

• Dimensions: 52"L x 24.6"W x 43.7"H
• Weight: 65.3lbs/29.6kg
• Max. user weight: 400lbs/181kg
• Speed range: 0.6 - 7.6 MPH
• Incline: 9-level incline selection
• Wheels: Yes
• Walking area: 39.4"L x 15.8"W

UREVO FoldiMix 5L Smart Treadmill Review: Design

Setting up the UREVO was a simple, streamlined process. I was able to get the treadmill out of the box by myself (with only some mild cursing due to its weight), which was definitely the most challenging part. Once it was on the floor, plugging it into the power outlet and downloading the app was so easy that the treadmill was up and running (no pun intended) within five minutes.

One of the most attractive features of the treadmill is the folding height-adjustable desk. A frustrating barrier to purchasing a walking treadmill is the fact that you would ordinarily need one of the best standing desks as well. That makes walking-while-working a pretty expensive lifestyle habit to invest in - especially if you aren’t even sure whether it’s something you’ll enjoy in the long term.

Is the UREVO’s workstation the best desk I’ve ever used? No, but it was never going to be. I live and die by my second monitor, so when I already have a standing desk, I’m just not going to use the workstation feature regularly. However, it’s perfectly serviceable for what it is; a useful place to rest a laptop or tablet while you walk. I particularly appreciate the fact that it’s height-adjustable, which makes the experience far more ergonomic than a static pre-set height.

During my testing, I would regularly swap around the UREVO for my normal desk chair. This was honestly easier than I expected it to be, as the treadmill is relatively heavy. However, the wheels at the front of the walking pad can be easily maneuvered, especially if you lift it up so that it’s almost vertical. I have a pretty small office, so I thought that moving the treadmill around would be a major pain point, but it was surprisingly simple.

Despite its workstation feature, the treadmill isn’t overly bulky when folded down. I’m easily able to slide the top half under a chair to save some room when I’m not using it. However, it’s worth noting that this slim, low profile does mean that it works best on hard floors (UREVO does sell a foldable treadmill mat for customers that have carpets).

UREVO FoldiMix 5L Smart Treadmill Review: Controls and app

The UREVO FoldiMix 5L comes with both a remote control and a connected app. However, one of my small frustrations with the treadmill is that the remote doesn’t come with batteries. This means that if you don’t happen to have the right batteries in your house, then you have to download the app in order to get started. The cynical part of me might wonder whether batteries are purposefully excluded to encourage users to sign up for an app that they might have otherwise not downloaded.

However, that being said, the app was both well-designed and very easy to navigate. As an iPhone user, I particularly appreciate that the app can directly connect to Apple Health. This means that my workouts are automatically uploaded to my main health tracking app.

Within the Home screen of the UREVO app, you’re able to quick-start a workout through choosing a set amount of time, distance or calories. You’re also able to simply select the ‘Free’ option, which will start the treadmill and allow you to walk for as long as you like. This was the option I used the most (and I suspect it will be the same for most users), so I wish that this was the very first option presented rather than the last.

There’s a selection of pre-set running and walking workouts to choose from. Most of the workouts appear to be specifically for walking, which is understandable when this is primarily a walking-focused treadmill. However, I tested the 45-Min HIIT Fat Burning Run and found it perfectly serviceable. The transitions between speeds were neither sluggish nor overly abrupt and I felt like I’d had a good workout by the end.

UREVO FoldiMix 5L Smart Treadmill Review: Performance

The UREVO provided a great walking experience. While using it for work, I walked in just socks and had no issue with this at all. Generally, I found that a speed of 1 MPH was a good ambling pace that enabled me to maintain my walking while I typed, navigated my mouse and conversed during meetings. A typical day of walking tended to be around 9,000 steps, 165 minutes of active time and a distance of around 3 km. However, this is typically split into two to three separate sessions over the course of a day.

I primarily used the app over the remote and found it to be super responsive for the treadmill’s speed. There does seem to be a small delay for the incline, but it’s negligible in the grand scheme of things.

While there is some noise while using the machine (as I would expect), it honestly faded into the background very easily. The soft whine of the motor is impressively quiet, with most of the noise coming from the steps on the walking pad itself. I was reassured by multiple people that the noise didn’t come through during meetings, so I felt confident using the treadmill even when I wasn’t on mute.

As a woman of an average height, I found that my stride length wasn’t an issue while walking on the UREVO. However, running is a slightly different experience, as my feet will occasionally hit the end of the belt in a disconcerting way. If I was much taller, I think this would be a far more significant issue. While I didn’t come close to slipping off, there is absolutely zero way that I would run on the UREVO without the safety clip (which, to be fair, you are advised to use!). While I enjoy the novelty of having a running treadmill that I can use to get a quick workout in when it’s raining outside, I think it will remain just that; a novelty.

UREVO FoldiMix 5L Smart Treadmill Review: Verdict

Overall, this is a great walking treadmill - especially for those who haven’t invested in a standing desk, but still want to experience the benefits of walking while at work. The controls are nice and responsive, and it’s great to be able to control both speed and incline for a satisfying walking workout. Noise wasn’t an issue, making this a good option for those who are constantly hopping on and off video calls.

Compared to competitors, the UREVO’s one major drawback is that it doesn’t fold in half like the space-saving WalkingPad Z1. However, it more than makes up for this with its foldable and height-adjustable workstation, and the fact that it doubles up as a running treadmill too.

While I wouldn’t say that the UREVO FoldiMix 5L could ever be a contender for one of the best treadmills for running, it’s absolutely a nice perk to have. However, I would caution taller runners about using the running function in particular. I’m an average height for a woman, but I can imagine that anyone with longer legs could find the length of the treadmill a little short for hitting a comfortable running stride.

Ultimately, if you’re looking for a serious running treadmill, then this isn’t the product for you. However, if you’re interested in a good quality walking treadmill that has the capacity for the occasional run, then this is a great choice.

Until our stride starts to feel slower, shorter, or less steady, it’s easy to take walking for granted. While some changes in walking speed are a normal part of aging, maintaining strength, balance and mobility can help us keep moving confidently and comfortably as the years go by.

Walking speed is also closely tied to how well we can keep up with our everyday activities. Whether it’s crossing the road, climbing stairs, or catching up with friends on a walk, having a strong, stable stride can make a big difference to how independent and active you feel.

But which muscles should we be working to keep our walking speed up? I asked Dr. Matthew Cifelli, physical therapist and strength and conditioning specialist at Attain Physical Therapy, to share four exercises that can help support a stronger stride. And the good news is that these moves are simple enough to do on a daily basis — no complicated gym equipment required.

Here are the four exercises Dr. Cifelli recommends for maintaining walking speed as you age.

1. 1. Sit-to-Stand

“The sit-to-stand exercise helps strengthen the quadriceps and glutes, which are the primary muscles responsible for forward propulsion during walking,” Cifelli explains. “By improving our strength in this area, we increase our stride power and reduce the ‘shuffling gait’ common with age-related weakness.”

• Sit on a sturdy chair with your feet hip-width apart.
• Lean your chest slightly forward.
• Press through your heels and rise to standing.
• Slowly lower back down with control.
• Aim to complete 2 sets of 8-12 repetitions.

2. Heel raises

Calf strength – which is what heel raises help to create – is directly tied to push-off power, which in turn determines our stride length and walking speed. “That’s why stronger calves help us walk with more confidence and reduce the feeling of heavy legs,” Cifelli says.

• Standing behind a counter or chair for support, rise up onto your toes slowly.
• Pause for 1-2 seconds.
• Lower your heels back down with control.
• Aim to complete 2-3 sets of 10-15 repetitions.

3. Standing side leg raises

Engaging the stabilizing muscles in our hips is key for maintaining walking speed, as these help prevent swaying and unsteadiness. As Cifelli puts it: “Better hip stability improves balance, reduces fall risk, and allows for a smoother, faster walking pattern.”

• Stand tall holding a counter or chair for support.
• Lift one leg out to the side, without leaning.
• Lower back down with control.
• Aim to complete 2-3 sets of 8-12 repetitions per side.

4. Wall sit

Wall sits can be tough, but they’re great for building endurance in the quads and glutes. “They’re one of the best exercises for maintaining walking speed over longer distances without fatigue or having to slow down,” Cifelli advocates.

• Stand with your back against a wall.
• Slide down until your knees are slightly bent, or if you can, until they’re at a right angle. Your back should be pressed firmly against the wall.
• Hold for 10-20 seconds.
• Rest and repeat 3-4 times.

Why is it important to maintain walking speed as we age?

Walking relies on a combination of leg strength, balance, coordination and joint mobility, so changes in any of these areas can affect how efficiently we move.

And while it is natural for walking speed to slow down as we get older, maintaining a steady pace is important if we want to stay independent. Everyday activities like climbing the stairs and getting groceries become easier if we can walk easily, which is why training the right muscles helps. A few simple exercises, performed on a regular basis, can go a long way in maintaining the strength and stability needed for a confident stride.

More from Tom's Guide

• I'm a personal trainer who works with clients over 50 — these are the 3 mobility exercises I never skip
• After 60, this is the 10-minute routine I use with my clients to stay strong, mobile and independent
• 'I’m a Pilates instructor, and I recommend these 5 core exercises to help older clients build strength and improve posture'

You just need five moves and 15 minutes to complete this 5-4-3-2-1 bodyweight ladder workout. This is one of my favorite workouts when I have no time or equipment, and it improves functional, relative strength all over.

You can do the ladder workout as an AMRAP, meaning you’ll do as many rounds as possible, or you can go up and down the ladder once and stop.

I originally designed this bodyweight workout as a full-body finisher because it can fatigue muscles as a “burnout" set at the end of your routine. But it actually stands alone as a workout, too. Get ready to feel the burn.

This five-move ladder workout builds foundational strength all over — without weights 

I categorize it as another functional bodyweight workout using five simple compound exercises, hitting multiple muscle groups at the same time. You can scale each move according to your ability, and I provide some helpful tips below for doing so.

Perform exercises back-to-back, taking a quick rest here and there if you need it. I would rest after a round of exercises is complete rather than stopping between movements.

Start with five reps of each move, then drop to four and so on. Once you finish one rep of each move, go back up the ladder to five reps. You could continue this and set a 15-minute timer, or simply move once up and down the ladder.

And if you're trying to figure out whether or not using just your bodyweight can benefit you, I assure you it can. According to research, benefits of bodyweight training include muscle growth and joint stability, increased strength and endurance, and better flexibility. Grab one of the best yoga mats and hit save.

1. V-sits

Lie on your back with your arms and legs extended. Engage your core. Lift your upper body and legs away from the mat to touch overhead. Lower down to the ground again. Try to imagine a book opening and closing, with the spine of the book mimicking your own spine. Draw up through your abdomen and reach toward your toes.

You can bend your knees to make this easier or point your toes to make it harder, keeping your legs pressed together.

2. Reverse burpees

Lie on your back with your legs extended down the mat. Engage your core. Bend your knees, draw them toward your chest, then shoot them into the air overhead, slightly lifting through your tailbone as you extend.

Reverse the movement to extend your legs away from you just above the mat without dropping them, and continue for reps.

3. Sprawls

Start in a plank position. Jump your feet to the outside of your hands, then lift your hands so that you're sitting in a low squat. Place your hands down, then jump back into a plank and lower your chest to the ground. Press up to the plank position and repeat.

You don't need to bring your chest all the way to the ground as a beginner. For a more advanced variation, bring your chest down and use your core to explosively press up.

4. Deficit push-ups

You can place your hands on anything that elevates them; I like to use yoga blocks or push-up bars. Start in a high plank position with your shoulders stacked over your wrists.

Bend your elbows and lower your chest to the ground, keeping your arms close to your ribcage. Press upward as you exhale, ensuring your hips and chest move as one unit, and you don't leave them behind.

Bring your knees down or shoot for regular push-ups if creating a deficit feels too difficult.

5. Cossack squats

Start with your feet wide and toes pointed out. Bend into one leg and send your weight over to the side, sitting your butt as low as you can, keeping your chest proud and back straight. Your heel should stay planted.

Press upward to stand and sweep straight over to the other side.

Follow Tom's Guide fitness on Instagram for more workouts, routines, tips, and tricks.

More from Tom's Guide

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Hang around the Tom’s Guide fitness desk long enough, and we’ll strap a tracker to your wrist and ask you to start counting your steps. Sure, most gadgets on the market these days do more than track steps, but we think if a watch does the basics right, it’s probably doing the bigger things well too.

Next on our list of watches to test is the new Apple Watch Series 12 (starting at $399) and the Garmin Forerunner 570 ($549). Both devices are designed to be worn 24/7 and track your sleep, readiness, activity, and heart rate, not just your steps. Apple says it made its pedometer more accurate in the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4, so I was keen to put the two watches head to head to find out more.

Like all of these walk tests, I strapped one watch to each wrist, and used a $5 clicker tool from Amazon to count my steps as I walked manually. Both trackers count your steps using an internal accelerometer, which measures the swing of your arms. Each swing counts for two steps, and it doesn’t matter whether you wear your watch on your dominant or non-dominant hand. It doesn’t matter if you walk with your hands in your pockets or holding a cup of coffee; the accelerometer should still measure your body’s movement.

Read on to find which watch came out on top, and read our Apple Watch Series 12 review and our Garmin Forerunner 570 review here on Tom’s Guide to take a deeper dive into both watches.

I walked 5,000 steps with the Apple Watch 12 vs Garmin Forerunner 570

As with all of the best Apple Watches, the Apple Watch Series 12 still doesn’t tell you the number of steps you’ve taken during a specific workout; instead, you see an overall number of steps throughout the day, which you can now pin to your home screen. This is probably because steps aren’t actually that useful a metric beyond a certain point, but annoying for me when writing these articles. For this comparison, I downloaded a third-party Pedometer+ app onto my Apple Watch.

Here’s the results:

As you can see from the results, the Apple Watch Series 12 won in this walk test, only counting an extra 50 steps. That’s not to say that the Garmin Forerunner 570 was inaccurate, however, only overcounting by 72 steps, but the Apple Watch got closer to my manual step count.

It’s worth noting that 50-70 steps is pretty much spot on. The average person takes 2,000 steps a mile, so an extra 50 steps is nothing.

To really put these two watches head-to-head, you’d need to look at a lot more than just how well they count steps. Both are designed to be worn 24/7 and help you track more than just walking workouts. There are some big differences, however: the Garmin Forerunner 570 has a far superior battery life, at 10 days in smartwatch mode for the 42mm version, and 11 days for the 47mm watch.

That said, the Apple Watch Series 12 is like having an extension of your iPhone on your wrist, and with the new heart rate sensor, it’s definitely the best Apple Watch on the market for most people. We’ll continue to compare the two watches head-to-head, so stay tuned for more testing.

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The best hip mobility exercise doesn't exist. You ideally need a combination of exercises that move your pelvis through different planes of motion, including internal and external rotation.

It can be confusing to know what does and doesn't help, which is why I regularly test hip mobility exercises and share the ones I swear by as a trainer.

While I encourage strength training to maintain as much strength and muscle as possible, surprisingly, I'm more passionate about encouraging regular mobility training, and I encourage it even more strongly after 50.

For many of my clients, I recommend the same exercises at any age, but how we approach them might differ from person to person. For me, this move always stands out.

If you experience pain at any time, stop and rest. If you're working with an injury or health condition, I recommend seeking advice before starting these exercises.

Watch: Internal rotation hip exercise

When you think of warming up, you might think of hip rolls that externally rotate and open the hips, or leg swings that stretch the hip flexors, using a forward-back motion. How often do you think about internal hip rotation?

In this instance, I mean drawing the knee toward your midline, rotating the hip inward. Strong, healthy hips should be able to move in all directions, so picking exercises that strengthen your hips in multiple ways is a great place to start.

I'd pick this move, as you can do it anywhere using your bodyweight, gradually increasing your range of motion as you improve.

I recommend 8-12 reps per side and 3 sets. Focus on the quality of your reps rather than speed.

What are the benefits?

Internal rotation helps build mobility, control and strength around the pelvis, offering a deep stretch at the same time. Increasing hip internal rotation translates to better movement and range of motion, too.

You’ll feel the stretch primarily in your glutes, hips and groin, but more generally, improving your internal rotation abilities will target the gluteus minimus, medius, adductors, hip flexors and tensor fascia latae, to name a few muscle groups.

• Follow Tom's Guide fitness on Instagram for more workouts, routines, tips, and tricks.

To modify this exercise, move slowly and don't reach as far into the stretch; pause for a moment, then release. You might choose fewer sets or reps, or play around with the equipment you use.

If you find this exercise hurts your knees, stop immediately. Try to keep a soft bend in your standing leg, square your hips and lean your weight slightly forward while keeping your back straight; this will improve balance and glute activation.

Remember, while you are trying to draw your raised knee toward you, you're not twisting over to the side, as this will take away from the range you can achieve during the exercise. Instead, consider placing a hand on your hip as you rotate so that you can feel your pelvis doing the work.

More from Tom's Guide

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• I’m a personal trainer who works with clients aged 65+ daily. Here are the 2 exercises I always recommend when it comes to building mobility and balance
• I swapped bone conduction headphones for open buds on my runs, and I’m not going back — here’s why

A personal training client of mine recently asked why squats are a good exercise. It was an easy question to answer: they’re a functional movement that requires effort from multiple muscle groups at once, and doing them regularly can lead to stronger quads, glutes, hamstrings, and even abdominals.

Squats are definitely one of my favorite exercises, but what they don’t do is train each of your legs separately from the other. That means your stronger leg will inherently do more of the work in a squat without you even realizing it. In order to address any strength deficits between your left and right legs, you’ll need to do exercises that train them independently.

I include the following three exercises in my routine to ensure that both of my legs are getting stronger equally, and it’s led to heavier squats, faster runs, and better balance. If you have similar goals, or if you’re looking to add variety to your lower body workouts, pick up some dumbbells and give them a try.

How to do the three exercises

Before starting any new activity or exercise program, consult with your medical team. They may suggest alternatives or avoidance based on your history.

Beginners should consider meeting with a certified personal trainer or physical therapist to learn how to do these exercises properly. Performing them with improper form can lead to injury. A trainer or therapist can provide modifications for exercises when necessary, and progression options when you’re ready to advance.

You’ll need a set of moderately heavy dumbbells and a raised platform, like a stair or aerobic stepper. A good dumbbell weight will allow you to get through all reps in a set without needing to rest, but will leave you feeling fatigued. Adjust your dumbbell weight as needed, keeping in mind that you may need different weights for different exercises.

Start by doing one set of 10 reps for each exercise. Do the step-ups and the lateral lunges unweighted at first. As you get stronger, increase your reps to 12, add an additional set, and pick up dumbbells for the step-ups and lateral lunges. Work your way up to 3 sets of 12 reps.

These exercises can be done as their own workout, or you can add them to your current lower body workout. Here’s how to do them:

1. Step up to balance

• Stand in front of a raised platform, like a stair step or aerobic stepper.
• Engage your core muscles.
• Place your left foot on the step.
• Push into your left foot and come to a standing position on the step.
• Bring your right knee to a 90-degree angle in front of you.
• Pause briefly.
• Lower your right foot back down to the floor.
• Continue for 10-12 reps, then repeat on the other side.
• After you’ve built up strength, consider holding a dumbbell in one or both hands while performing this exercise.

2. Lateral lunge to balance

• Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart.
• Engage your core muscles.
• Step your right foot to the right, keeping your toes pointed forward.
• Bend your right knee and lower your hips towards the ground, keeping your left leg straight.
• Push off your right foot and bring your right knee to a 90-degree angle in front of you.
• Pause briefly.
• Continue for 10-12 reps, then repeat on the other side.
• After you’ve built up strength, consider holding a dumbbell in one or both hands while performing this exercise.

3. Single-leg Romanian deadlift

• Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart.
• Hold a dumbbell in each hand.
• Engage your core muscles.
• Bend your right knee slightly and bring your torso forward, lowering the dumbbells towards the floor and lifting your left leg behind you.
• Pause briefly.
• Return to a standing position.
• Continue for 10-12 reps, then repeat on the other side.

Benefits of the three exercises

It’s common for one side of our bodies to be stronger than the other (it’s usually, but not always, our dominant side). While strength deficits between our left and right sides are common, it can lead to muscle imbalances, pain and stiffness, and ultimately, injury.

The three exercises in this workout strengthen your left leg and right leg independently. You may notice these exercises feel easier on one side and much harder on the other, which signifies a strength deficit. The more you do these exercises, the more your “weaker” side will catch up so that both legs have a sufficient amount of strength, stability, and power.

These moves work the quads, hamstrings, hip abductors and adductors, and glutes. Additionally, the “balance” element of all exercises forces our deep core muscles to stabilize our bodies as we move.

More from Tom's Guide

• I'm a personal trainer who works with clients over 50 — these are the 3 mobility exercises I never skip
• After 60, this is the 10-minute routine I use with my clients to stay strong, mobile and independent
• 'I’m a Pilates instructor, and I recommend these 5 core exercises to help older clients build strength and improve posture'

Once you try a full foldable treadmill, it’s very hard to go back. The trouble is that most of the best treadmills that do fold fully flat are small and under-specced compared to larger machines.

Not so the Urevo CyberMega Smart Treadmill, which matches the max speed and incline settings of much larger machines and has a similarly powerful motor, in a fully foldable design that’s easy to store and doesn’t take up too much space.

I’ve tested the machine for several weeks, running on it regularly as part of my marathon training, and it’s impressed me with its performance. It runs smoothly even on long runs at fast speeds, and while it’s not as large and robust as a gym-ready machine, it did everything I needed it to.

The partner app is a little underwhelming, and there’s no AMOLED display to follow workouts, but you can easily connect the CyberMega to other apps for guided workouts or virtual training.

For $1000, the Urevo CyberMega is pretty good value, too, given its spec sheet and performance. If you’re a keen runner who needs a fast, reliable machine for home training and aren’t too bothered about guided workouts, it’s worth looking at it.

Urevo CyberMega Smart Treadmill review: Price and availability

The Urevo CyberMega Smart Treadmill launched in August 2026 and costs $1,000 in the U.S. and £999 in the U.K., which is good value compared to other machines with similarly high speed, incline and motor specs from brands like NordicTrack and Bowflex.

Urevo CyberMega Smart Treadmill review: Design

The Urevo CyberMega Smart Treadmill comes fully assembled in its box, and setting it up simply involves getting it out of the packaging and unfolding it. I managed to do this by myself, but it would certainly be easier with two people, as it’s tricky to manoeuvre the machine out of the packaging.

You can fold and unfold the console on the machine without a tool, and it locks into place once it’s raised. It feels pretty sturdy, and you have to press two large buttons simultaneously to fold it down, but I still felt a bit wary about putting significant weight on the console or handrails while the treadmill was running.

The CyberMega isn't as light and compact as some treadmills I’ve tested, like the DeerRun A1 Pro, but it offers a higher max speed and incline, and it’s impressively small and easy to store for such a capable machine.

Once folded flat, you can lift and move the CyberMega using the wheels under the front. It’s a lot easier to move than bigger machines I’ve tested, like the Bowflex Treadmill 10, and I managed to transfer it between my house and garage by myself.

The console has a central dial used to change speed and incline, as well as a touch panel with shortcuts for certain speed and incline settings. The dial changes the speed in 0.5km/h increments on my machine — for more precise speed changes, you have to use the partner app.

It doesn't have buttons on the handrails to adjust speed and incline, but there are sensors you can use to measure your heart rate.

On top of the console is a foldable LCD that also doubles as a tablet or phone holder. This just shows your stats during the run, rather than being a full AMOLED display you can use to set up your runs and follow scenic routes or instructor-led workouts.

For those features, you need to link to the Urevo app, which you can do via Bluetooth. You can also link to other apps easily with the treadmill — I mostly had it linked to Zwift for virtual runs during my sessions.

Urevo CyberMega Smart Treadmill review: Performance

I’m currently training for the Frankfurt Marathon and running around 70-80 miles a week, and I moved several of those runs each week to the CyberMega while testing the treadmill, with the longest runs I’ve done on the machine being around 10 miles.

I was concerned that despite having impressive specs, it wouldn’t actually feel robust enough to use at faster speeds and higher inclines, but it actually felt quite sturdy during my training even when holding speeds over 10mph for 30-40 minutes.

It’s not the fastest when changing speed or incline, but it doesn’t wobble about too much when you increase the latter while running, and the belt ran smoothly and fairly quietly at high speeds.

I checked that the speed of the belt was calibrated correctly by measuring the full length of the belt and marking it with tape to count the revolutions, and it was spot on.

It’s not the biggest running belt, though. It feels quite narrow, and you have to keep your focus to stay in the center of the belt, and while it was long enough for me (I’m 6ft tall), I do have quite a short stride length, so if you’re a taller person with a loping gait, it might feel cramped.

The benefit of the smaller belt is how compact the machine is as a whole, and it’s much easier to move and store than the Bowflex Treadmill 10 I tested before it, and it takes up much less space in a room as well.

Urevo CyberMega Smart Treadmill review: App

The Urevo app is free and can link to the treadmill to guide you through workouts and scenic routes, including the full courses for the Boston and Berlin Marathons (you can do 5K, 10K, or half marathon runs along these routes if the full 26.2 miles seems a bit much).

You can also use the app to adjust settings on the treadmill mid-run, including smaller increments for the speed than are available on the machine’s console.

If you use a tablet or phone on the built-in stand/LCD screen on the machine, you can move the stats to display around your device. I found my phone and tablet rattled around a bit on the stand during long runs, and I had to prod them back to the center occasionally.

I also found that it took a few tries to establish the app’s connection to the treadmill, and the variety of workouts available isn't as impressive as apps that require a subscription, like Peloton or Echelon apps.

During my testing, I rarely used the app as a result — I preferred to link the machine to Zwift and run in its virtual worlds, which is easily done using the treadmill’s Bluetooth.

Should you buy the Urevo CyberMega Smart Treadmill?

The Urevo CyberMega is a compact treadmill that can match the demands of even experienced runners, and it’s the kind of machine I’d pick myself thanks to its high top speed, space-saving design, and ability to link to partner apps.

It’s not as strong an option if your priorities are features like guided workouts and in-run entertainment, which are better done by treadmills with large AMOLED displays and better apps that can show instructor-led workouts, like the Echelon Stride-6s-10.

I have only tested the machine for a few weeks so far too, so I can’t comment on its durability yet. It ran well throughout my testing, but the smaller, foldable design doesn’t have the hardy feel of a large, gym-ready machine like the Peloton Tread or Bowflex Treadmill 10.

For regular personal use, however, the fully foldable Urevo CyberMega is a lot more convenient, and I can’t fault its performance. I wouldn’t go back to a larger machine myself, and if you’re a committed runner looking for an affordable, foldable machine that can keep up with your training, it’s a great option.

It's scared of sunshine, comes out at night, and once it's got its fang into you, you're out like a light. It's not Dracula, it's the 'vampire hormone', and according to an insomnia doctor it's what you need for a good night's rest.

The 'vampire hormone' plays an important role in your circadian rhythm, the internal clock that controls your sleep-wake cycle. As sunlight fades, the 'vampire hormone' rises, preparing your body for good sleep. But when you don't have enough of it, you can come face-to-face with a real monster: 3 a.m. wake ups.

I spoke to Dr. Pedram Navab, neurologist, sleep medicine specialist and author, about how this 'vampire hormone' helps you fall asleep fast and sleep through the night. Plus, why he recommends sitting in the dark before bed if you want to improve your sleep quality.

What is the 'vampire hormone'?

The vampire hormone is friendlier than the name suggests. Think less Nosferatu and more The Count from Sesame Street. And you probably know it by another name: melatonin.

"Melatonin rises when it's dark, which makes sense, right?" says Dr. Navab. "Because from an evolutionary perspective we needed that darkness to tell us that is when to go to sleep, and to adhere to your circadian rhythm."

• Melatonin is a natural hormone that starts to rise about 2 hours before bedtime and helps you fall asleep
• It can also help you sleep through the Cortisol Awakening Response, which starts waking you up around 3 a.m.

Over a millennia of evolution, our bodies have learnt darkness is a signal to sleep. So when the light drops, melatonin levels rise and the 'sleep' part of your sleep-wake cycle starts. It's one of the reasons we recommend dimming the lights in the evening; so the 'vampire hormone' knows to come out.

Elevated melatonin levels also help you sleep through the night. In the early hours of the morning, as production of the 'vampire hormone' wanes, levels of awakening-chemical cortisol rise. This can cause sleep disruptions and 3 a.m. wake ups.

But when your body has enough melatonin, you can sleep through this hormone swing. "When you're talking about the vampire hormone, that's basically what it is," says Dr. Navab.

How to increase the 'vampire hormone': Two ways to get more

1. Familiarize yourself with the dark

Melatonin starts to rise around two hours before you go to bed, and darkness is key to the process. Dr. Navab's first tip can get the whole thing going, although it does sound a little eerie — sitting in the dark.

"We've relegated the night to things that are bad. Nightmares, horror films, paranormal experiences, where monsters and ghosts come out," says Dr. Navab. "But I tell my patients to really try to connect yourself to the night."

In other words, make like a vampire and become familiar with the dark.

"Just sit in a dark room, an hour before you go to bed, and try to make it a friendlier kind of space," he advises. "Once you make it friendly, sleep is not going to be as difficult for you."

He points out that nighttime is often when we "ruminate", getting lost in stressful thoughts and sending cortisol levels rocketing. But when we see the dark as a friendly place, the 'vampire hormone' can get on with its job.

"You don't have to lie in bed, just sit in a dark room, close your eyes, and think about what the night can offer you." (Hopefully, some decent snooze.)

2. Read a good (fiction) book

It's not just vampires and melatonin that come out at night. There's also werewolves... and anxious thoughts. Stress uses the cover of darkness to prey on your thought patterns and leave you lying awake. But Dr. Navab's second tip acts like a bulb of garlic to a racing mind.

"If you're in bed, get a paper novel — not a nonfiction book, not my book," he says. "Get a paper novel — not a Kindle — and just read about someone else's life."

Studies have found that reading in bed can help you sleep better. Even as little as six minutes of reading can lower stress levels.

For Dr. Navab, the type of book matters if you want to keep your vampire hormone levels elevated. "Paperback fiction puts you into someone else's perspective and you kind of lose your train of thought about your problems," he says. "That really helps."

Other tips to boost melatonin and sleep through the night

Briefly waking up at night is normal, as your body moves through different sleep stages. However, it becomes a problem when these wake ups are prolonged and impacting your sleep quality.

To help keep your sleep-wake cycle balanced and reduce late night disruptions, try incorporating these tips into your routine.

• Set a consistent bedtime: Your internal clock thrives on repetition. When you have a consistent bedtime, the body learns the best time to release melatonin, helping you drop off when you climb into bed.
• Dim the lights in the evening: If you aren't willing to sit in the dark, an easier alternative is to lower the lights and switch to amber bulbs. There are more sleep-friendly than blue lights, signaling to the vampire hormone that it's safe to come out.
• Put down your work emails: Vampires are notoriously work shy (you'll never see Dracula in an office cubicle.) The vampire hormone also hates work, as it can send cortisol levels sky rocketing. Set a firm time to switch off from your job — no more 'one last email'.

For runners and cyclists, the tech to track every element of your run or ride is endless, but until now, swimmers have been largely left behind. Sure, we’ve seen brands like FORM release smart goggles that display your data in front of your eyes as you swim, but most swimmers still rely on their smartwatches.

The simplicity of swimming has always been something that draws me to the sport — it’s just me and a pair of goggles. My time in the water is truly one of the only hours of my life free from the constant notifications on my phone, and I like it this way. Sure, I’ve always got a Garmin or Apple Watch on my wrist, but with my phone far away in the locker, I won’t see any notifications anyway.

For this reason, when Speedo floated the idea of testing smart goggles my way, I was hesitant. Yet Speedo has done what other brands haven’t — they’ve completely hidden the tech in the water; instead, you’ll get all the insights into your performance, but not till you’re on dry land. I’ve been swimming with the Speedo iQ Vanquisher 3.0 goggles — read on to find out more.

These goggles are designed to hone your technique

I’ve not had a swimming coach since I was in high school, so it’s no surprise my technique needs work, but let's take a step back before diving into my data. Out of the box, the goggles look like the standard Vanquisher goggles I’ve swum with for decades, yet these have an on-off button and a magnetic charging port. It sounds obvious, but the charging cable shouldn’t get wet.

Once charged and connected to your phone via Bluetooth, you can sync your swims to the Speedo iQ app once you get out of the water. You simply need to remember to turn your goggles on before you start swimming and off when you get out of the pool.

I’m used to, as a runner, looking at my pace, distance, and cadence when I get out of the pool. I don’t really know what to look for when it comes to swimming, but the app made it obvious.

One of the main areas of focus is head playback, allowing you to watch your head position as you swim — mine was dramatically out of range in front crawl, giving me a lot to work on. Things were slightly more positive during breaststroke, but I definitely need to remember to tuck my chin toward my chest, keeping my neck straight.

The goggles track all four strokes, capturing data on pace, distance, breathing, head position and turn performance. In the app, you can dive into this data and see your trends over time.

They’re not just for training

If you are serious about swimming, the app gives you a wealth of information to share with your coach when you get out of the water, but these goggles aren’t just for training. Speedo iQ has been approved by World Aquatics for competition use, meaning swimmers can train and race in the goggles.

For the best of the best, this deep analysis can help make all the difference to performance.

The experience was seamless

I was impressed with how easy these goggles were to use, both in and out of the water. The goggles fully charge in 90 minutes and have four hours of battery life, meaning, for me, they’ll last multiple swims between charges.

To start recording, press the button for two seconds, and you’ll see a blinking green light. When you finish, press the button again and the light will go from green to blue, indicating the goggles are ready to connect to the app.

If there’s been no activity for two minutes, the goggles will automatically turn off to save battery life, so you don’t need to worry about leaving them turned on in your swim bag.

As mentioned above, when swimming, I completely forgot I was even wearing smart goggles, allowing me to focus on my swim distraction-free. The Vanquish 3.0 goggles cost $189/£149 and are available now for anyone who wants to unlock a world of underwater data.

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• Apple Watch Ultra 4 first impressions: 5 reasons to buy and 2 reasons to skip Apple’s new rugged model
• What swimming stroke burns the most calories?
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I really do believe that age, to an extent, is just a number. Yes, things naturally change as we get older; lean muscle mass and strength markers begin to decline, for example, but you can still build and maintain fitness well into your 50s, 60s and beyond. My dad, who I train twice a week, is 72 and deadlifts 100kg, so I refuse to believe you hit a certain age and have to drop what you love doing.

As a coach who specializes in mobility, I also believe mobility routines hold as much value as a resistance program and staying active. Mobility isn't sexy like lifting heavy weights or running marathons. But improving mobility really matters if you want to move well and with less chance of injury.

How well you move determines how well you live in the future. With that in mind, I share three go-to low-impact exercises you can do to build strength and mobility.

Watch: 3 low-impact exercises for beginners to build strength and mobility

You can microdose mobility routines into your week to build strength, control and stability. Alongside resistance training, they're an anti-aging tool for healthier joints and more active muscles.

If you experience pain at any time, stop and rest. If you're working with an injury or health condition, I recommend seeking advice before starting these exercises.

• Good morning x squat combo: Start with your feet hip-width apart and hold a light weight in both hands behind your head, elbows pulled back, chest proud. Hinge forward at your hips, softly bend your knees and push your butt back, lowering your chest until parallel to the ground. Pause, then bend your knees and lift your chest, lowering your butt to sit into the bottom of a squat. Drive through your heels to stand. Repeat for 6-8 reps and 2 sets.
• Prone lat pull-downs: Start on your stomach and hold light weights in your hands. Extend your arms in front of you to shoulder height. Keep your gaze down. Bend your elbows and draw your elbows toward your hips. Squeeze your shoulders and back, then extend your arms in front of you again. Repeat for 8-10 reps and 3-4 sets.
• Half-kneeling rotations: Start in a half-kneeling position. Hold a weight in one hand. Sit your hips back and lower your weight-free elbow to the ground in front of you while pushing your knee outward in line with your toes. At the same time, raise the hand holding the weight overhead and allow your gaze to follow. Ensure the weight stays stacked over your shoulder. Raise to the starting position, keeping your arm raised. Repeat for 8-12 reps per side and 3-4 sets. When you switch legs, also switch arms.

What are the benefits?

Mix intensity to add weights, bands, reps, or sets.

Here are some benefits:

Good morning x squat combos are a mobility masterclass, combining activation of your muscles along the back of your body, known as the posterior chain, as you perform the good morning, then testing thoracic and lower-body mobility at the bottom of the squat. If you struggle with this exercise, reduce how far you move and remove the weights until you feel familiar with the movement.

Prone lat pull-downs: The goal is to work the lats and improve upper-body range of motion. If you're working to improve posture, I recommend this move without weights. Add weights to increase the resistance for your muscles, but ensure you can still raise your arms to shoulder level.

Half-kneeling rotations work the lower body and upper body in harmony. The half-kneel strengthens and opens your hips and groin with a focus on the inner thighs, while the rotations improve thoracic activation and help open your chest and shoulders. It also tests shoulder mobility as you learn to stabilize weight overhead.

All in all, and combined together, these moves work thoracic mobility and upper and lower-body strength. They also work the muscles along the back of your body and unlock tight joints that might hinder your squat depth.

As you get older, move your joints through their range of motion in a variety of patterns while loading muscles using resistance. Joints, ligaments and fascia respond well to low-impact movement, so as a beginner, use your bodyweight or light weights and focus on your control and form.

And remember, you might not notice progress straight away, but over time, you'll see huge benefits. Give these a try, and let us know how you get on in the comments.

Follow Tom's Guide fitness on Instagram for more workouts, routines, tips, and tricks.

More from Tom's Guide

• I teach people how to be more mobile: 3 low-impact back and shoulder moves that build stability and strength after 40
• According to a personal trainer, this exercise is 100 times more effective than crunches. I tried it and was humbled
• I teach people over 50 to be mobile: 3 low-impact moves that build more stability than a 30-minute walk

I’ve practiced Pilates for the past decade — I credit it with rebuilding my core following the birth of my son two years ago and getting me to the starting line of (nearly) seven marathons injury-free. But like most people, I spend far too much time sitting behind a desk, and my mobility suffers for it.

But how can Pilates help build mobility? To find out more, I spoke with Pilates instructor Olha Levchuk and asked her for the best exercise for mobility, plus what we should be focusing on in our 40s, 50s, and 60s to build longevity. Read on to find out more.

As always, if you’re a complete beginner, pregnant or postpartum, or you’re returning to exercise following an injury, it’s always best to seek personalized advice from a qualified professional.

What is the Pilates roll-up?

When it comes to mobility, Levchuk recommends the Pilates roll-up. Unlike a traditional sit-up, the Pilates roll-up focuses on sequential articulation of the spine — moving one vertebra at a time to restore full range of motion.

“Done with control rather than speed, it builds spinal articulation and hamstring flexibility that most people lose from sitting all day,” Levchuk adds.

Here’s how to do it with good form:

• Lie flat on your back. Engage your core muscles, thinking about squeezing your belly button into your spine so your lower back stays pressed into the floor.
• Extend both arms behind your head and both legs out away from your body, driving your heels into the floor.
• Take a breath in and squeeze your core. As you exhale, lift your arms toward the ceiling. As you do, tuck your chin to your chest, and lift your head, neck and shoulders off the mat.
• Pull your belly button in toward your spine and continue to peel one vertebra at a time off the floor. Move slowly and with complete control — the lift should come from your core, not the momentum of your torso.
• Keep your abs scooped as you lift, and extend your arms out toward your toes.
• Inhale with your spine in this C-curve, then exhale and reverse the movement, slowly lowering one vertebra at a time back down to your mat as you unroll.

Keep your heels pressed into the floor throughout this exercise to prevent your hip flexors from taking over. The movement should come from your core.

What are the benefits?

As Levchuk explains, this exercise helps restore mobility in the spine, as well as target the muscles in your core. When done with good form, you’ll work the deep transverse abdominis, obliques, and six-pack rectus abdominis muscles during this move. As you reach forward at the top of the roll-up, you’ll also target your hamstrings, calves and back muscles.

Mobility is important at all ages, but especially as we get older. “In your 40s, prioritize posture — years of desk work and daily habits start showing up in the spine, so alignment and shoulder-chest opening work becomes essential before it turns into pain,” says Levchuk.

But what about after that? “In your 50s, prioritize endurance and strength — this is when muscle mass and stamina naturally start declining, so consistent strength work matters more than ever to stay ahead of it. In your 60s, prioritize balance — stability naturally decreases with age, making balance-focused work the most important tool for fall prevention and staying independent,” she says.

Looking for more Pilates inspiration? You’re in the right place. Check out these 5 Pilates exercises to help seniors build strength and improve posture.

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I love a yoga block; it can make an exercise more challenging (try putting a block between your thighs during chair pose) or easier, depending on what you need it for. This yoga block hack has improved squat depth for many, many clients, and it's helpful if you have tight ankles or limited mobility.

While, yes, ideally, you'd work on fixing tight ankles using regular mobility routines, not everyone can achieve ideal squat depth (parallel or lower), and so this trick comes in handy if you want to work your quads hard without compromising your form.

Ready? Let's take a look at the exercise and some benefits.

Watch: yoga block trick for tight ankles

I have extremely tight ankles, and despite working on them for a while, I still struggle to squat well without the famous butt wink (when your pelvis slightly tucks under at the bottom of a squat). For that reason, I use a yoga block or weight plates under my heels to elevate them; it helps front-load the squat so you feel it in your quads, but also helps you sit your hips back deeper into the squat.

If you experience pain at any time, stop and rest. If you're working with an injury or health condition, especially knee pain, we recommend seeking advice before starting any new exercise.

• Stand with your feet hip-width apart or slightly wider. You can use one or two blocks depending on how wide you stand
• Engage your core and look ahead
• Step your heels onto the block(s) behind you, elevating your heels while pressing through the balls of your feet
• Sit your hips back and lower into a squat. Keep your chest proud and back straight
• Pause at the bottom, then drive upward to stand. Add weight if you prefer.

Why does elevating your heels help with squats?

As you sit back into a squat, there are multiple issues that can arise. A common one is tight ankles, which are commonly mistaken for a hip, back, or knee issue; when your ankles are tight, this acts as a catalyst for a chain of events that travel up to the knees and pelvis, impacting squat mechanics, creating potential imbalances, or even overfiring other muscle groups to compensate.

Here are some benefits to elevating your heels:

• Upright torso: You can maintain a more upright torso, which allows most people to achieve a deeper range of motion. As you raise your heels, your weight shifts forward. If you've ever seen weightlifting shoes, you'll notice the heel stack; others use plates or wedges.
• Ankle Mobility: If you struggle with dorsiflexion, squats might feel harder, so raising the heels can combat this issue and improve mechanics.
• Less strain: If you can sit more upright in your squats, you will place less stress on your knees and spine, helping you keep your spine straight and chest proud.
• More quad action: The raised position allows your knees to track over your toes, working your quads harder. You'll also sit deeper into the squat with better form, working the leg muscles properly and with correct posture. It's not just about working the muscles hard, but well.

Squats are one of the "big five" compound exercises. They're functional and one of the best leg exercises for building power, strength and muscle in your lower body. While developing ankle mobility should be a focus, alongside a more comprehensive mobility routine, there's no reason to suffer with your feet flat if you don't need to.

Adding plates or a yoga block will help reduce issues with balance and posture, though it's not a cure-all. Focus on an upright torso, gaze straight ahead and keep your core engaged. Only when you feel comfortable with your form should you add load.

If you're unsure, get someone to spot you, film yourself, or use a mirror. This will allow you to check if your tailbone is tucking under (the butt wink) or if there's any overcompensation elsewhere.

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Hang around the Tom’s Guide fitness desk long enough, and we’ll probably strap a fitness tracker to your wrist and ask you to go and count your steps. Sure, step counting isn’t the best measurement of how fit you are or how good a fitness tracker is, but our thinking is that if a watch can do the basics right, it’s probably doing the bigger things well too.

Next up on our list of trackers to test was the new $799 Apple Watch Ultra 4 and the $1099 Garmin Fenix 9 Pro. Apple says it made the pedometer more accurate with its new rugged adventure watch, and while both high-spec watches do a lot more than just count steps, I was keen to put them head-to-head.

To find out more, I strapped one to each wrist and used my trusty clicker tool to manually count 10,000 steps. Read on to find out which watch came out on top.

I walked 10,000 steps with the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Garmin Fenix 9 Pro

If you’ve read one of my walk tests, you’ll know we always start with the basics. For this test, I manually click every time I take a step, because counting to 10,000 while navigating traffic and a deaf dog is too overstimulating to describe in words.

I manually click every time I take a step. For this test, I wore the Apple Watch Ultra 4 on my left wrist and the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro on my right. Both trackers count your steps using an internal accelerometer, which measures arm swing.

Each swing counts for two steps, and it doesn’t matter whether you wear your watch on your dominant or non-dominant hand. It doesn’t matter if you walk with your hands in your pockets or hold a cup of coffee; the accelerometer should still measure your body’s movement.

As with all the best Apple Watches, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 still doesn’t tell you the number of steps you’ve taken during a specific workout; instead, you see an overall number of steps throughout the day, which you can now pin to your home screen.

This is probably because steps aren’t actually that useful a metric beyond a certain point, but annoying for me when writing these articles. For this comparison, I downloaded a third-party Pedometer+ app onto my Apple Watch.

I split this test into three walks, and when I got home, I downloaded all the data. Here are my results:

In all my years of doing these walk tests, I think this is the closest one yet. As you can see, there’s only a difference of 32 steps between the two watches, which is unheard of.

The average person takes 2,000 steps a mile, so 32 steps is nothing. The Apple Watch Ultra 4 was ever so slightly more accurate, only missing 43 steps, making it pretty much spot on.

To really put these two watches head-to-head, you’d need to look at a lot more than just how well they count steps. Both are designed to be worn 24/7 and cope with outdoor adventures. There are some big differences, however: even with a bigger battery life of 50-74 hours, the Fenix 9 Pro still offers 29 days in smartwatch mode and up to 54 hours in activity mode. The Fenix also has a built-in multi-LED flashlight and full offline mapping.

That said, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 is like having an extension of your iPhone on your wrist, and with the new heart rate sensor, it’s definitely the best Apple Watch on the market for anyone serious about training. We’ll continue to compare the two watches head-to-head, so stay tuned for more testing.

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Last month, I did the bear plank shoulder tap every day for a week and, while I found it an effective exercise for the deep core and upper arms, it is not one I’ll be adding to my roster. It’s a testing move and one seemingly designed to make you look ungainly. Having read the piece, my editor stroked her chin thoughtfully and said, “In that case, how about the bear plank bird dog for this month?” A variation on a theme, I mused, like an idiot.

What is the bear plank bird dog?

It is, as it sounds, another adaptation of the basic bear plank, which is itself a fairly difficult move that involves getting on all fours, then lifting your knees a few inches off the ground and holding yourself in place. The bird dog aspect means stretching out your left arm and right leg, then your right arm and left leg, while keeping your knees raised and back straight. It sounds tough, but it’s much tougher than that.

The bear plank with shoulder tap is an intense move that works your transverse abdominis muscles (the deepest layer of the abdominals), which are vital for the prevention — and even treatment — of low back pain. It also gives your upper arms something to think about.

The bird dog is a core exercise, too, but at the same time it hits the erector spinae muscles, which extend from the neck along the full length of the spine; the hamstrings; the trapezius muscles in your upper back; and the deltoid muscles, which form the rounded shape of the shoulder. Put them together and you have the bear plank bird dog, one major overachiever of an exercise.

How do I do it?

• Begin in tabletop position (all fours), knees in line with your hips and wrists in line with your shoulders.
• Push into your mat (I strongly advise using a mat, as this one is hard on the wrists), engage your core and raise both knees a couple of inches off the ground, keeping your palms flat and rising onto your toes. You should feel this in your core right away.
• Breathe in a controlled manner, keep your back straight and your head down.
• Once you feel you are balanced, raise your left arm and right leg at the same time until both are straight (or as straight as you can manage), pause for a second, then lower with control. Now repeat the move with your right arm and left leg.
• Begin with five reps on each side.

This is what happened when I did the bear plank bird dog for a week

Let me get to the point: I never mastered this move. I tried — how I tried! — but no matter how much determination I brought, no matter how patient I was, I could not do it properly. My knees came up too high, I lost my balance, I could not straighten one limb or the other… it was a mess. I still cannot pinpoint where I was going wrong, or where I am lacking strength or balance, but this one defeated me.

The daily humiliation

I keep notes when I’m doing these challenges and I began my account of day one with “almost impossible”. On both sides, I had to raise my leg before my arm could come up and even then I wobbled like a boozed-up foal. I have watched videos of this move and in them, the trainers are still as statues… while talking! And their knees rise no more than a couple of inches. Mine were headed for the ceiling. I managed three reps on each side and retired, surprised that my body was letting me down so comprehensively. Day two will be better, I reasoned. It always is.

It was not. When you are worried a move is not going according to plan and things are showing no signs of improving, you hold your breath as you tense up. This, of course, limits your options as the oxygen runs out. I completed an unsatisfactory five reps on each side and finished breathless and nonplussed. However, even though I was still not displaying anything like good form, I could tell this is an excellent exercise for the core and the upper arms.

If at first you don’t succeed…

There was no improvement on days three and four and I was now approaching the move with a negative mindset: I was no good at it, but I had a job to do. So, on day five, I decided to reset. Clear my head. Banish unhelpful thoughts.

I slowed everything down, paid close attention to everything from the position of my toes to the angle of my head, and reminded myself to breathe throughout. Then I tried a rep. Not bad. Not great, but not bad. Two. I could see my knees were still too high, so I lowered them as I tried for a third rep… and my form fell apart. The effort to keep my knees close to the ground while straightening an arm and a leg was simply too much.

…try something else

After a week, it was clear I was not going to be able to perform this move correctly. I’ve been doing these challenges for a long time and this was the first that defeated me. The bear plank with bird dog is to every other challenge I’ve taken on what playing with a ball of string is to understanding string theory. This is an advanced move that requires something more (strength? balance? co-ordination?) than I had to offer.

After the week was over, I decided to try it with leg bent to 90 degrees and this was far more successful. Not perfect, but I could hold the position. With my leg nearer to my trunk, my weight remained more centred and I could hold my knees closer to the ground. I was quietly delighted, then loudly. I also noticed in the days that followed that I could hold a normal plank for longer than usual. Causation or correlation? Who knows.

Even with my poor form, I could tell this is a savagely effective core exercise, but as I noted in my piece on the bear plank with shoulder tap, there is no shortage of exercises that work the same muscles, such as the hollow hold, the Russian twist, the dead bug, and the reverse crunch. I do not feel remotely disheartened that I could not perfect this move. It’s not for everybody, but it might be for you. Or it might be string theory.

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My kids treat almost anything with a scoreboard as a personal challenge, which made them the ideal testers for Strikesphere, a sports tech line from Golden Bear Toys that adds sensors, light-up targets and automated launch modes to familiar training gear.

We tested three of the company's products at home: the Soccer Launcher, the Speed Ball and the B-Ball Bounce. While my kids are very athletic, they are also very hard on toys (see the review of my youngest throwing the AT&T AmiGO tablet), and, they speak their mind when it comes to what they like and don't like.

My 5-year-old is drawn to anything that counts down, lights up or gives him a reason to run around the living room, while my 12-year-old plays soccer and loses interest quickly in gear that can't keep up with him. That split ended up being the most useful lens for judging all three, because the products that worked best were the ones that could hold a kindergartner's attention and still give a competitive player a reason to keep coming back. Some of them won over both kids right away, and one needed a little creativity on our part before it clicked for my older son.

One important thing to note is this toy is sold from the U.K. and not yet available on Amazon, so you'll have to adjust the currency to USD if you are purchasing in the states.

StrikeSphere Speed Ball

The Speed Ball was easily one of the biggest hits with my kids — and one won over my 12-year-old immediately.

The idea is incredibly simple, but unique, especially for kids working on their powerful kick. The ball has a built-in sensor that measures the power of each kick and displays your score directly on its LED screen, with scores going all the way up to 999. There's no app to download or phone to pair. You turn it on, kick it and immediately see how you did.

That instant feedback turned kicking a ball around into a competition pretty quickly. My 12-year-old kept trying to beat his previous score, which gave him a reason to take another shot and then another. It's one of those rare tech features that adds something to the game without making the product more complicated to use.

My one complaint is the size. The Speed Ball is a size 4 rather than a regulation size 5, which my older son noticed. For younger players that probably won't matter — and may actually be preferable — but I'd love to see StrikeSphere offer a size 5 version for older kids who are already accustomed to playing with a full-size ball. Also, being a size 4 it didn't fit on the StrikeSphere soccer launcher. Not necessary, but something to note for families who want to avoid switching the ball out while using both toys.

Still, this was one of those products I didn't have to convince my kids to test. Once they started trying to beat their scores, they just kept going.

StrikeSphere Soccer Launcher

Of the three StrikeSphere products we tested, the Soccer Launcher was probably our least favorite because it didn't keep the game going. Although it was still a hit, especially with my 5-year-old, I wouldn't suggest it for children much older.

The concept is pretty simple: you wind the handle and choose between a five-second countdown or three claps to send the ball into the air. There are six launch angles, and StrikeSphere says it can send a ball up to 13 feet, although for us, it was more like 9 feet.

My 12-year-old was harder to impress. He plays soccer and quickly found that the Launcher didn't have enough power to make it particularly challenging on its own. We eventually put it in front of our soccer rebounder, which completely changed the experience. Instead of receiving the relatively gentle launch, he could react to the ball coming back off the net, making it faster and much less predictable.

That setup also highlighted my biggest complaint with the Launcher: it's too lightweight. Ours frequently tipped or shifted when it fired the ball, and I found myself having to stand it back up or reposition it between launches. The lightweight design makes it easy to carry around, but I'd gladly trade some of that portability for a heavier, more stable base. That's the first thing I'd change in a second-generation model.

Still, I liked that one product could entertain kids at very different skill levels once we got creative with it. Younger kids may enjoy the simple thrill of waiting for the ball to launch, while older players can pair it with other training equipment to make the drill considerably harder.

Similar to the StrikeSphere Speed Ball, this toy is sold from the U.K. and not yet available on Amazon.

StrikeSphere B-Ball Bounce

If my 12-year-old claimed the Speed Ball, the B-Ball Bounce belonged to my 5-year-old. This was easily his favorite of the three.

What I liked most was that he could set it up and play with it completely on his own. That's a big deal with kids' toys, especially when so many supposedly simple games require a parent to assemble something, explain the rules or keep resetting it.

The B-Ball Bounce also gave him a way to burn off some energy indoors. That made it especially useful on rainy days when getting outside wasn't an option, although he was perfectly happy taking it outside and playing there, too.

The game became more fun for him as it sped up. He had to watch closely, react quickly and stay focused on what was happening rather than just mindlessly throwing a ball around. I could actually see the concentration on his face as he tried to keep up with it.

And that may have been my favorite thing about the B-Ball Bounce. It kept him moving, but it also demanded his attention. For a 5-year-old who has plenty of energy to burn, getting physical activity and a game that requires focus at the same time was a pretty great combination.

Bottom line

After testing all three StrikeSphere products, I can honestly say that we have found our new favorite brand of sports toys. For us, I think the biggest selling point is how easily they turn ordinary sports practice into something kids actually want to do.

My 5-year-old loved the B-Ball Bounce and Soccer Launcher, while my soccer-playing 12-year-old kept coming back to the Speed Ball to beat his previous score. The Soccer Launcher could use a sturdier base and a little more power, but pairing it with our rebounder made a noticeable difference.

What impressed me most was that none of these products required a screen or complicated setup to keep my kids entertained. They were moving, competing and practicing within minutes of opening the box. For a busy mom with very active kids, that was a huge win.

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The best plank variations depend on you and your body, but of all the ones I've tried over the years, the gymnastics plank is still my favorite for building stability, endurance, and strength. It doesn’t just strengthen your core; it also works your shoulders, arms, wrists, quads, hips and glutes.

I've been including them in place of standard planks for a few months now, especially for my clients over 50 who want to build a strong core and reduce back pain. Here's how to do it, and why I recommend giving it a shot next time you hit the gym.

How to do gymnastics planks

One of the best yoga mats is handy but not essential. Follow these steps:

• Start in a high plank position with your shoulders stacked over your wrists, hips aligned with your shoulders and a straight line from heels to head
• Brace your core, glutes and quads, creating as much tension through your body as possible while breathing toward your stomach
• Push your hands into the mat to broaden your upper back and create a soft hollow through your torso
• Roll forward over your wrists, keeping your arms straight, onto the tops of your feet. Your shoulders should pass in front of your fingertips
• Avoid dropping your hips, arching your back, or pushing your butt up to the sky
• Hold. Continue breathing.

I recommend trying for a 20-second hold and building from there. Slightly tucking your hips and pushing through your upper back will help you create the hollow shape through your upper body.

You’ll feel your forearms and wrists working a lot harder; if this causes pain, drop to your elbows or stop completely. It may feel uncomfortable and challenging, but it shouldn't be painful.

Gymnastic planks benefits: 3 reasons why I use them with clients

Gymnastics exercises focus on building functional strength and require a strong and stable core. They also build relative strength and power, and many "holding" exercises like planks, hollow holds, or handstands require endurance, stability and balance using isometric contraction, meaning your muscles are neither shortening nor lengthening.

Reasons enough right there.

Like a regular plank, the exercise is a full-body one, but for this variation in particular, focus on consciously contracting as many muscles as you can, especially the three Bs: belly, butt, back.

Your shoulders, arms, forearms, wrists, core, hips, quads, lower back, glutes, and ankles will get stronger, but shifting forward with your body places emphasis on the upper body, namely the shoulders, arms, and wrists. Rolling further onto the tops of your feet will activate more of your front body, like the hips and quads, rather than backloading the glutes and hamstrings.

Grip strength, which comes from your hands, forearms and wrists, has been shown to be a key factor for longevity, which is why everyone should include wrist-strengthening exercises in their routines as they get older, especially when muscle and strength begin declining, which accelerates in your 50s.

Yes, planking strengthens superficial muscles like the rectus abdominis (the six-pack), but also the deeper transverse abdominis (a stabilizing belt of core muscle), hip flexors and the obliques. These muscles support your spine and pelvis, so keeping them strong can protect you from injury.

The next time you decide to level up your planks, why not make it this one?

Follow Tom's Guide fitness on Instagram for more workouts, routines, tips, and tricks.

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The Keen Roam are an adaptive trail running shoe designed for gravel, dirt and pavement — basically they’re an everything shoe. Unfortunately, when you try to be good at everything, you can fall short in other areas, but it’s not all bad with these.

They have many traits of some of the best trail running shoes, like waterproofing, excellent traction, a great fit, and a breathable upper for long periods of wear.

However, there’s insufficient cushioning because of the stiff rubber on the outsole, and the shoes lack arch support. To find out more about the sneakers, you can keep reading this full Keen Roam review.

Keen Roam review: Specs

Keen Roam review: Price & availability

The Keen Roam waterproof trail running shoes are available to purchase from the Keen U.S. online store for $180, or from Keen U.K. for £140. The shoes come in women’s U.S. size 5 to 12 and U.K. size 2.5 to 9 with half sizes. In the women’s design, you can pick up the shoes in a variety of colors, including Black/Black, Huckleberry/Ballad blue and Faded denim/Lemon grass.

The men’s design of the shoe is available in U.S. size 7 to 15 and U.K. 6 to 14, again, with half sizes. You can pick up these shoes in colors including Black/Black, Dark olive/Burnt brick and Steel grey/Black.

I tested the waterproof version of this shoe, but you can also buy it in a non-waterproof version, which is a little cheaper. This version will only cost you $165, but for the sake of $15, I’d recommend going with the waterproof design for extra security against the elements.

For more effective cushioning, consider the Salomon Aero Glide 4 GRVL sneakers, which cost $160. These are gravel running shoes that can keep up with all terrains, and more cushioning for any unstable ground you may find yourself on is always best.

The Hoka Speedgoat 7 shoes are our top pick for trail running shoes, and it’s not hard to see why — these shoes can do it all. They are $165, so a little cheaper than the waterproof Keens, but they provide a stable feel that grips well to the ground. You’re trading away some cushioning for the impressive stability, though, so which shoe you opt for is down to personal preference.

Keen Roam review: Design & build

The Keen Roam look just like a regular pair of sneakers. They’re not flashy like most running shoes on the market, and even the brighter color combinations look understated. They have the classic Keen look with a wide toe box, but don’t look — or feel — too bulky.

Each shoe weighs 9.9 ounces, so they’re lighter than normal hiking shoes such as the Salomon XT-6s, which weigh 11.8 ounces, making them a great option for running. The shoes have a heel height of 1.5 inches and a drop value of 0.24 inches. This reduces strain on your calves, but I was feeling some aching in my knees since it shifts the workload higher in your body, such as your knees and hips.

Upper

The upper of the shoes is made from mesh with overlays on the front of the toe box for added durability. This was useful when I was on uneven terrain and would catch the front of the shoe on jagged surfaces. My feet didn’t get too warm when running, so the mesh lining felt breathable.

Insole

The insole of the shoe is cushioned with Keen’s QUANTUMFOAM. This isn’t as springy as I expected, and it actually felt quite tough to run on. Since these are trail shoes, more stability is needed to cope with uneven terrain, so it’s no surprise that these aren’t as bouncy as shoes you’d race in, for instance, but I would have liked a little more spring in my step. It feels like the same level of cushioning I get from their hiking shoes, so for walking in the Roams, this is great, just not for the trail running that they’re intended for.

Outsole

The rubber outsole has multidirectional lugs which aid in traction and grip. The shoe uses KEEN.ALL-TERRAIN traction, and I love this feature in my other Keen hiking boots, as the 2.75mm lugs really dig into uneven surfaces to give you the most stability possible. This feature works well on the Roams, and I noticed a complete difference from my regular running shoes, the New Balance Fresh Foam, that don’t have this level of traction support.

Keen Roam review: Break-in & comfort

Just like their hiking boots, the Keen Roam shoes are good to wear straight out of the box. I didn’t need to break in the shoes at all and didn’t experience any blisters even when trekking, running and climbing hills. This was no shock, as all other Keen shoes I’ve tested have been good to go right out of the box.

Comfort

I found the shoes to be very breathable, and I could wear them for hours at a time when walking. There’s a generous amount of space in the toe box, so anyone with wider feet will be impressed with the comfort of these shoes

As I mentioned above, I wish there was a little more cushioning, as my steps, especially when running, felt very blunt at times. This had a minor impact on my knees and shins, so that’s worth keeping in mind, but it’s something you’ll experience with shoes designed for all terrains.

Keen Roam review: Performance

Overall, I was impressed with the performance of the Keen Roam shoes. While I won’t be reaching for them on every run, I know they are a reliable option when running over uneven terrain, which is ultimately what they’re designed for.

Grip

The grip is excellent. I didn’t feel like I was going to slip or fall, even when the ground I was walking on was a little damp or wet. The lugs dug into the ground to give me the traction I needed in muddy areas, which I appreciated. I think they really come into their own when dealing with clay-like terrains, and this also makes the cushioning feel a little more forgiving. Because of the shape of the lugs on the base of the shoe, I ended up with a few stuck stones, but these were easy to remove.

Support

Personally, I didn’t get enough support from these shoes. Whether I was using them for running or trekking, I just didn’t feel like I had enough arch support. As I’ve mentioned in previous shoe reviews, I have high arches, but Keen is usually a brand I can rely on for some seriously good arch support, such as in their Leiki shoes. I was sad to see it missing here.

After running three miles, I was feeling strain in my knees and down into my shins from a combination of this lack of support and lack of cushioning.

Flex

There is flex in the toe box of the Roams, which is exactly where you want it for running, but walking felt extremely flat-footed. I felt comfortable on more even ground, but my strides still felt a little stunted at times. Having a stiff shoe can be good at times and actually offers more support, but flex is what I prefer for everyday walking.

Waterproofing

The version of the Roam shoes that I tested is waterproof and uses KEEN.DRY waterproofing. I’m familiar with this from previous hiking boots and sneakers I’ve tested from the brand, and I’ve never experienced any water making its way into my shoes. When running through puddles, the Roams didn’t let any water through.

Keen Roam review: Maintenance

Keen provides detailed instructions on how to care for the Roam trail running shoes on its website. It recommends using a soft, damp sponge to remove any loose dirt on the upper of the shoes. Take care not to scrub the shoes during this step to avoid disrupting the waterproofing. Keen adds that any stubborn stains on the shoes should be removed with a gentle cleaner. For this, I just use regular dish soap, which works well.

I also recommend brushing the outsole to dislodge any stones or clumps of dirt that may have become stuck in the shoes after your run or hike.

Keen Roam review: Verdict

The Keen Roam shoes are a good choice if you need one pair of shoes that can carry you through hikes, walks and runs. They’re very versatile thanks to the good traction and waterproofing, and I know I can rely on them come rain or shine. The fit is good, with plenty of room in the toe box, and the mesh upper is very breathable, meaning I could wear them all day and still be comfortable.

However, there isn’t enough cushioning in the soles of the shoes for me, and the lack of arch support meant I found my ankles turning in, which isn’t the best for posture. That said, I’d recommend them for anyone who encounters a lot of varied terrain or doesn’t want to invest in multiple pairs of outdoor shoes.

Ever wondered how a Navy SEAL stays in shape? We’ve got you. Below, former Navy SEAL DJ Shipley shares the four exercises he uses to build core strength and stability, without doing a single sit-up or crunch. Grab a set of heavy dumbbells and read on to find out more.

As a reminder, if you’re a complete beginner, you’re pregnant or postpartum, or you’re recovering from a specific injury, this might not be the best workout for you and your body. Always seek personalized advice from a qualified professional if you are unsure.

What is the workout?

The workout was shared on trainer Vernon Griffith’s Instagram and shows DJ Shipley doing four different exercises to target the core and lower back. All you’ll need for the exercise is one heavy dumbbell — remember, the right weight should feel challenging, but not impossible by the final few reps. If at any time you feel the weight is compromising your form, it’s too heavy.

You can check out the best adjustable dumbbells for working out at home here.

Here are the exercises:

• Half-kneeling dumbbell dig and chops
• Half-kneeling dumbbell lateral tilts
• QL-focused hip drops
• Suitcase carries

Griffith doesn’t suggest reps for each exercise, but we’d recommend starting with 10 reps on each side, and repeating the circuit two to three times through to build a longer ab and lower back workout.

What are the benefits?

All of the exercises above work on building rotational core strength and hip stability, as well as strengthening the muscles in the lower back. Unlike traditional core exercises, like crunches and sit-ups, this routine trains your core, hips and lower back to stabilize the spine under uneven or dynamic loads.

You’ll be working the deep stabilizer muscles, including the Quadratus Lumborum (QL), which is a deep muscle that runs from your pelvis to your lower ribs, the oblique muscles, and the gluteus medius.

During the first two exercises, the half-kneeling position locks your pelvis in place, preventing you from using any momentum from your legs to swing the dumbbell. Instead, your obliques will be doing all the work lifting the dumbbell in the diagonal line.

The hip drops work the QL, which often becomes tight, overworked, or weak if you spend a lot of time sitting down. This exercise strengthens the QL through its full range of motion, reducing lower back stiffness.

Finally, the suitcase carries help build the real-world functional fitness in the core needed to carry a heavy suitcase, bag of groceries, or child on one hip. By carrying the dumbbell on one side, you’re forcing the core muscles on the opposite side to contract to prevent your torso from tilting.

Follow Tom's Guide fitness on Instagram for more workouts, routines, tips, and tricks.

More from Tom's Guide

• I teach people how to be more mobile: 3 low-impact back and shoulder moves that build stability and strength after 40
• According to a personal trainer, this exercise is 100 times more effective than crunches. I tried it and was humbled
• I teach people over 50 to be mobile: 3 low-impact moves that build more stability than a 30-minute walk

Mizuno has always been one of the more innovative brands when it comes to carbon plate running shoes, with mixed results.

The Mizuno Wave Rebellion Pro line had crazy cutouts and an incredibly high midfoot stack height and was a bit too wild for my liking, but the Mizuno Hyperwarp Pure is an excellent lightweight racer I’ve loved for 5K and 10K events in particular.

While the Pure is light, the new Mizuno Hyperwarp 96 takes things to another level with a design that tips the scales at just 96g/3.4oz, making it the lightest carbon plate racing shoe yet.

It comes in a gram lighter than the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 on listed stats, and given the success of the world-record-breaking Pro Evo 3, runners will be itching to get their feet into the Hyperwarp 96 too — I know I am.

Here’s what you need to know about the Mizuno Hyperwarp 96.

The Hyperwarp 96 goes on sale in December and it will be very expensive

Mizuno has announced the Hyperwarp 96 today ahead of the Berlin Marathon, but it won’t be available to consumers until the end of the year.

The price is yet to be fully confirmed, but is set to be about £400 in the U.K., which I’d expect to translate to a U.S. price of around $450 based on the prices of other Mizuno shoes.

That would make it less expensive than the Adidas Pro Evo 3, which is $500/£450, but more expensive than every other carbon plate super-shoe.

It has a spray-on, laceless upper

The most striking aspect of the Hyperwarp 96’s design is the spray-on upper, which looks a lot like the LightSpray uppers On uses on some of its shoes, like the On Cloudmonster 3 Hyper LS.

This 3D-engineered upper is very light and designed to be denser at the bottom.

I like the LightSpay uppers on On’s shoes, but they can be tricky to deal with if you have wide feet or high arches, and you can’t adjust the fit if it’s not perfect out of the box.

The midsole is made from an all-new foam

A new foam called Mizuno Enerzy XP+ is used for the midsole of the Hyperwarp 96. It’s an extremely light material, and Mizuno shaved off every area not critical to performance to reduce weight as much as possible.

Unlike the Hyperwarp Pure, which achieves its low weight partly by having a lower stack height than most super-shoes, the Hyperwarp 96 has as much cushioning as rival racers.

It stands 39mm tall at the heel and 36mm at the forefoot for a 3mm drop, which is exactly the same specs as the Adidas Pro Evo 3.

It has a full-length carbon plate

The Hyperwarp 96 has a full-length carbon plate with a section cut out under the heel to reduce the weight.

This isn’t a novelty with super-shoes in general, but other super-light options have used other systems to add stability and propulsion without the weight of a full-length plate.

The Pro Evo 3 uses a carbon rim rather than a full plate, while the Asics Metaspeed Ray has a teardrop-shaped plate that only sits under the forefoot.

This means Mizuno might have an easy way to make the shoe even lighter if it wishes, by opting for a half plate or some other design, if it can do so without impacting performance.

Maybe this time next year we’ll see the Mizuno Hyperwarp 86?

More from Tom's Guide

• How long do running shoes actually last? I asked an expert who makes them, and they gave me a great tip for recognizing when your shoes are done
• What makes the new Nike Alphafly 4 special? I spoke to the VP of Nike Running Footwear to find out, and the answer surprised me
• I tested shoes from 5 up-and-coming running brands — here are the ones worth your money

Apple is slowly rolling out a revamped Health app for iPhone and Apple Watch, and you can try it now by downloading the iOS 27.2 public beta; you’ll also need to run watchOS 27 on your Apple Watch.

One of the coolest new features in the overhauled app is a series of at-home longevity assessments designed to be done in your living room using your iPhone’s camera and Apple Watch’s heart rate sensor.

These assessments provide insights into a user’s strength, balance, flexibility, and more. I tried both the balance and flexibility tests, which take about five to seven minutes each, and gained some valuable, surprising insights into my physical health. Here’s what I learned.

How Apple’s at-home longevity tests work

To perform one of these assessments, users are asked to place their iPhone on the ground, lean up against a wall, and then walk back ten to 12 feet, ensuring their entire body is framed within the front-facing camera’s view.

The assessments use a vision-based AI model to track your body movement as you perform each step. However, no video is actually being recorded during the assessment, and all the AI processing occurs on-device.

What I learned from Apple’s flexibility test

Once your iPhone is set up and you're well-framed in the center of the screen, it’s time to start the assessment.

An on-screen trainer demos the movements for each test with more than enough detail to easily follow along. For example, the flexibility assessment involves five different stretches to thoroughly determine your overall upper and lower body flexibility ratings. Ratings fall into one of four categories: Needs Improvement, Fair, Good, and Excellent.

So, how did I do? My upper body flexibility score was ‘Good,’ but my lower body flexibility score was only ‘Fair,’ lower than I expected. I performed the five tests in the assessment twice, just to be sure I properly followed all the instructions, and both times the results were the same.

Was I aware that my lower body flexibility could use some attention? Honestly, no, not at all. Now that I am, I plan to prioritize more workouts and stretches to improve it.

Helpfully, in addition to a rating, the new Health app also provides fairly comprehensive information on the best ways to make progress in either category, including suggested exercises to try.

My balance is better than my flexibility, according to Apple

The balance assessment is even easier than the flexibility one, involving just one test. Users are asked to stand on one foot, with their other foot suspended in the air behind them for as long as they can without touching the ground, for up to sixty seconds. You do this twice, once for each foot.

Once the countdown begins, calming music starts playing, while a voice periodically provides encouraging words. Balance is scored on the same rubric as flexibility.

Fortunately, this time around I scored an Excellent — again, I did the test twice — which was a lovely little ego boost after my mediocre flexibility performance.

Like an at-home physical exam

These are just two of the 17 longevity assessments found in the new Apple Health app. Once all the assessments are complete, the Health app generates a report based on the results to share with your doctor.

Ultimately, Apple’s new longevity assessment might be foreshadowing what the future of healthcare will look like, where users rely on a mix of AI-powered consumer tech and traditional doctor visits to better understand and improve their well-being.

What are your thoughts on Apple’s new longevity tests in the updated Health app in iOS 27.2? Are you looking forward to trying them yourself? Let me know in the comments below.

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple Watch Ultra 4 first impressions: 5 reasons to buy and 2 reasons to skip Apple’s new rugged model
• Here's how to enable the new Siri AI on your Apple Watch
• Apple just killed one of my favorite Apple Watch features with the launch of watchOS 27

As a trainer and fitness editor, I like experimenting in the gym, and what better way to do that than trying out some trending TikTok fitness challenges? I'm a bit of a mobility nerd, so I wanted to focus on the current viral mobility challenges I'm seeing everywhere right now.

There are five I want to share with you, but I really recommend two of them if you have limited mobility or particularly tight hips. I decided to use one of the best yoga mats and nothing else, which makes these mobility tests accessible for most people.

Ready? Me too; let's get stuck in.

Watch: 5 TikTok mobility drills for tight hips and ankles

Mobility and flexibility are becoming increasingly popular within fitness routines, so how well do you know yours? Your ability to stay agile, strong and mobile as you age can help prevent the natural decline in strength and muscle mass that occurs over time; this can impact overall mobility, joint health and balance, which are crucial for keeping you independent.

I've noticed a lot of mobility challenges going viral on TikTok at the moment, so I've put together five of my favorites, and I focus on two in particular that I think are worth your time, especially if you have tight hips or ankles. Check them out below.

If you experience pain at any time, stop and rest. If you're working with an injury or health condition, I recommend seeking advice before starting these exercises.

• Sit-up-to-stand: Lie on your back with your feet planted and knees bent, engage your core, then perform a sit-up without using your hands for support. As you sit upright, keep the momentum up as you drive forward through your feet and legs to a standing position, keeping your heels planted. Why? Core strength, leg power and ankle mobility.
• Stand-sit-stand: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, squat down, then lower your knees to the ground, close together, without using your hands. Extend one leg, then the other. Cross your legs by drawing your heels in, then roll into an upright kneeling position. Roll back onto your heels to the bottom of a squat position, then drive up to stand. Why? Functional lower-body strength and internal hip rotation.
• Shrimp squat: Lower into a half-kneeling position, then reach back and grip your back foot with one hand. Slightly lean forward, then push through your leg to stand. Why? Lower-body flexibility, single-leg strength and balance.
• Single-leg stand: Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Shift your weight into one leg, then come onto the ball of the other foot and bend the knee. Bend down, sending your hips back, then wrap your arms through and under the bent leg. With control, stand up with your leg still gripped with both arms. Release, then repeat on the other side. Why? Tests lower-body flexibility, single-leg balance, strength and hip mobility.
• Overhead wall squat: Face a wall with your toes close to the bottom of the wall and feet hip-width apart. Extend your arms overhead, then squat down, sending your hips back and pressing your weight through your feet. Lower as far as you can without your chest or arms touching the wall. Drive up to stand. Why? Tests thoracic mobility, upper-body tightness, poor squat mechanics and tight lower-body joints and hip flexors.

Which exercises should you focus on?

Of course, there's an element of personal preference, but the two mobility challenges I would focus on, from the perspective of a trainer, are the overhead wall squat and the sit-up-to-stand exercise, given their focus on core strength, functional strength and ankle and thoracic mobility.

The sit-up-to-stand exercise is a great way to test your ability to use your core when getting off the ground, which is a very functional movement. If you can do this unaided, it's a great sign. Coupled with this is your ability to stand once you've sat up, testing lower-body strength and ankle mobility, which are both crucial as you get older for walking, climbing, running and general daily tasks.

Next up, I would test the overhead squat while facing the wall. Many people assume their inability to perform an overhead squat well is down to shoulder mobility, but actually, much of overhead squat mechanics comes from thoracic mobility and upper-back tightness. That's as well as potential imbalances in the hips, knees, or ankles. It can be a combination of any of these factors, but testing your mobility will quickly help you assess which are relevant to you.

Notice if your chest and arms fall forward; if your heels lift away from the ground; whether your knees cave in or track forward over your toes; if your back begins to round or hunch. Also note how low you can sit into the squat and whether you can press your weight evenly between your big and little toes and heels.

Once you've identified whether you can do the challenges and which parts of each exercise you found most difficult (or impossible), the next focus is to build the strength, flexibility, or mobility required to get better at them.

Try to move your joints through their range of motion in a variety of patterns, which is known as planes of motion, while loading muscles using any form of resistance, even if it's just your body weight. Keep your body moving in ways that feel natural to help improve functional strength and overall mobility.

The more you move throughout the day, the better you can balance and stabilize; the more you load your bones and muscles, the stronger they get. This might include Pilates or yoga once or twice per week or adding in strength exercises like squats, step-ups, or lunges. I also recommend focusing on the fullest range of motion possible when you perform exercise.

I've included some ideas below to get you started.

Follow Tom's Guide fitness on Instagram for more workouts, routines, tips, and tricks.

More from Tom's Guide

• I teach people how to be more mobile: 3 low-impact back and shoulder moves that build stability and strength after 40
• According to a personal trainer, this exercise is 100 times more effective than crunches. I tried it and was humbled
• I teach people over 50 to be mobile: 3 low-impact moves that build more stability than a 30-minute walk

If you're looking for an early Prime Day Skechers deal, you better run! 🏃🏼‍♀️‍➡️

Right now, early Amazon Prime Day deals are live ahead of next week's member-exclusive sale, with discounts across tech, homewares, appliances, and, of course, footwear.

One of my top-rated shoe brands, Skechers, has a plethora of great deals already available in the lead-up to the sale, with up to 56% off men's and women's shoes. I've gathered 18 of the best discounts right now, categorised into men's and women's sections below. If none of the styles below tickle your fancy, check out Skechers' Amazon storefront for its complete range of discounted sneakers, slides and sandals.

You'll need to act fast to nab one of these Skechers bargains, though, as some pairs have already sold out since I started tracking them this morning. And I also don't expect these prices to hang around longer than the final day of Prime Week, which falls on Monday, October 5.

Best Women's Skechers Prime Day deals

Best Men's Skechers Prime Day deals