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Last updated: Friday, December 12, 2008

The training regimen — if you can call it that — for my first triathlon included nothing more high-tech than a $35 digital watch and a basic MP3 player. But now that winter is arriving, sapping my motivation to get off the couch, I’ve started looking at fitness gadgets that could help refresh my workouts. A swimmer, biker, runner or walker on your holiday list might like a high-tech nudge out the door, too. — Garmin Forerunner 405, $300 Even though I had never used a GPS watch or a heart rate monitor, a few minutes with the quick-start guide were all I needed to get this oversized sports watch into action, tracking how far and fast I was going. Cool: It wirelessly sends workout data to a PC if you plug an included USB stick into the computer. The free software I downloaded from Garmin’s Web site looks a little outdated, but organizes workouts by date, displays routes on a map and draws charts for heart rate and speed over time. Useful for all land activities, including walking, biking and gym workouts (as a heart rate monitor). It can pause automatically when you stop moving. And there’s lots of room to grow with advanced settings, like custom workouts with heart rate or pace goals. Confusing: The watch has two buttons and a bezel that’s sensitive to touch; navigating menus involves a frustrating combination of pushing buttons and tapping and swiping the bezel. The menus themselves aren’t intuitive, so reading the whole manual is a must. — Nike + iPod Sport Kit, $29 This is an inexpensive way to get excited again about walking and running with an existing iPod Nano or an iPod Touch. When synched with a sensor in your shoe, your iPod’s screen shows time, pace and calories burned. A voice interrupts the music to…

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Gift Guide: Fitness Gadgets To Revive Motivation

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