The New Fitness Gadgets That Promise to Change Your Life

Every year, the fitness industry unveils new items aimed at self improvement—whether that means being faster, stronger, thinner, calmer—and every year, consumers embrace them.

It’s a bit of fitness theater, and whether the results are life changing or not, the annual rite is certainly familiar.

A look into the world of 2024 fitness gear continues this ritual, finding everything from a dryland swimming machine with gaming functions to an ab-wheel-style device that rolls up walls. Products claim to offer more detailed self tracking, speed recovery and optimize performance.

In 2022, the U.S. home fitness equipment market was valued at $4.8 billion and is projected to grow from more than $5 billion in 2023 to $8.5 billion by the end of the decade, according to market researcher Fortune Business Insights.

“People love the idea of one missing piece or one secret machine, because it simplifies something that is actually quite challenging and complex," said Sal Di Stefano, co-host of the popular “Mind Pump" podcast. “Finding a long-lasting sustainable approach to health and fitness requires developing a good relationship with food, exercise and one’s self."

OK, but what can we buy?

People have been asking a version of that question since the second century, when the Roman physician Galen wrote a treatise called “The Exercise with the Small Ball." And even before then, there were javelins and the like, wielded by athletes from a roster of naked male competitors in ancient Greece’s Olympic games. Back then, people even scraped the oil and sweat off their bodies after competition to create a mix called gloios, which was later bottled and sold for medicinal purposes at the ancient Greek equivalent of gyms, said Bill Hayes, author of the 2022 book “Sweat: A History of Exercise."

Some cardio contraptions and vitamin regimens used for fitness and health might look no less unusual to future generations than gloios seems today.

“We buy and use crazy supplements and things today that haven’t necessarily been proven to supposedly make us stronger or run faster or lose weight more quickly—we can look back and laugh and think that’s so ridiculous, but there’s a certain crazy logic to it," Hayes said.

Here, a look at some new gizmos to sweat over in 2024.

A Vibrating Stationary Bike

The REV from Power Plate vibrates to increase workout intensity. It feels like riding a bike over cobblestones, though the jiggling is not so extreme that it makes the user’s voice wobble, said Lee Hillman, chief executive of Performance Health Systems, the parent company of Power Plate.

“It’s not shaking you violently," said Hillman, who calls the bike’s accompanying whirring sound about as loud as a treadmill and “not deafening at all."

The company has spent 10 years refining the idea, including trying to get just the right amount of vibration—too much and the bike threatened to fall apart. An app takes users through 13 different types of workouts lasting from around eight to 25 minutes. The REV, priced at $5,995, was soft launched late last year with a formal marketing campaign planned for spring 2024.

Adjustable Compression Leggings

The new company Tighties features majestic names—Endurance, Strength and Support—for its compression leggings. The garments aim to increase blood flow to the legs during exercise and everyday life. Straps in one style help engage the muscles, like built-in resistance bands. But perhaps most notable to the casual observer are the dials on the outside of two models that can be twisted to control tightness. The discs lie flat; more snowboard boot dial than Frankenstein neck plug.

Tighties founder and chief executive Krystal Gillis calls her product “elevated activewear" that’s like a mix of shapewear and high-tech kinesiology tape.

A Sweat-Loss Tracker

The hydration monitoring company Nix Biosensors came out with a device just over a year ago that measures the user’s “sweat rate," calculating how much fluids and electrolytes are lost during a workout via a sweat-collecting arm patch secured to a biosensor that streams data to an app. In the first half of 2024, Nix plans to expand uses for its $129 starter patch kit beyond competitive athletes in endurance sports to a more general market of CrossFit gyms and school sports teams, as well as jobs involving manual labor.

The device delivers personalized data and recommendations so users can make more precise hydration plans during activities—crucial for positions like hockey goalies, who can sweat enough to lose 10 pounds in a single game, said Nix founder Meridith Cass. Sweat profiles vary: Cass says she needs to drink more than three cups of liquid during a workout to stay hydrated, and that’s on the low side.

A Wall-Climbing Exercise Wheel

The ZeroWheel is a smart-connected exercise wheel with adjustable resistance that will come with video tutorials for workouts that include rolling up walls. The device uses algorithms that adapt to users in real time by adding resistance or assistance, said ZeroWheel co-founder and chief operating officer David Ettenson. Green lights on the wheel indicate easier levels and red lights show tougher settings such as “Quicksand" and “Burn."

The $795 device, which evokes an ab wheel in looks but is marketed as a full-body workout machine, is largely aimed at gyms, which are looking for splashy equipment to boost membership. Small group gym classes using ZeroWheels are also in the plans.

A High-Tech Weighted Bar

The FLEX Bar—a tentative name from developer GymAware—uses velocity-based training to measure speed and movement during weightlifting exercises. What makes this device different is that instead of an external speed tracker in a separate piece of equipment, the technology is contained within the bar itself and connects to a phone app.

A Gamified Indoor Swimming Machine

For those interested in swimming without getting their hair wet, “virtual zwimming" is set to arrive from the dryland swim trainer ZEN8. The company is preparing to release the ZEN8 Smart Swim Trainer, an update of its indoor swimming device in which the user does swimming motions on an inflated bench while pulling paddles to build strength and improve technique. The new model is engineered to measure force and analyze form with real-time feedback. It also includes a gaming element and interactive features that allow users to program different swimming environments.

Gym Gear For the Living Room

IKEA is melding fitness with domestic life with its first line of exercise equipment in 2024. The 19-piece “DAJLIEN" line is meant to look like home furnishings, with ring weights that strive for design points and a bench for body weight exercises that doubles as a small table-slash-storage unit.

An Even Heavier Bangle

Bala Bangles, the Velcro-strapped ankle and wrist weights in half-pound, 1-pound and 2-pound versions, will be joined by a much-requested 3-pound bangle this year, made out of the same silicone that Bala calls “baby soft." Other new Bala wares include Pilates socks in muted colors that are studded with no-slip silicone dots.

Write to Ellen Gamerman at ellen.gamerman@wsj.com