Is it worth it? Sit-ups

You can work your core as much as you like, but you won’t get a six-pack until you stop eating so much cake

Is it worth it? Dodgeball

I’d seen the film and assumed it was just a larky way to spend a couple of hours with mates. It’s anything but

Is it worth it? Anti-gravity treadmill

It’s a clever riff on interval training – instead of speeding up and slowing down, you just make yourself heavier and lighter

Fitness trackers enjoy healthy sales despite lack of evidence they work

Soaring Christmas sales for Fitbit and Jawbone are, on the face of it, good for UK’s obesity crisis. But there are concerns about privacy and effectiveness

Tech house of the future: take a look around

Smart ovens, living carpets, robot butlers and beds that remind you to have sex – then make themselves. Welcome to your home of tomorrow

Fastest mum on the road

Jessica Bruce, currently awaiting confirmation from Guinness World Records that she is the fastest buggy-toting marathon runner in the world, talks to Ronnie Haydon

Sugary water better for performance than some sports drinks – study

Reserachers say cyclists find exercise easier when they drink ordinary sucrose – or table sugar – rather than only glucose

Pregnancy, the hardest race of all: ‘If miscarriage is so common, why does no one talk about it?’

Getting pregnant gave one runner a licence to relax – then, just before the 12-week scan, she lost the baby. She explains how she coped with her feelings of grief, anger and betrayal, and talks to Olympian Liz Yelling, who went through a similar experience

Is it worth it? YourZone

‘With heart-rate sensors and giant screens to show off your sweaty effort, this regime can burn close to 1,000 calories a session’

Jogging is so yesteryear. Walking, aka ‘steps’, is the technology-calibrated exercise du jour

Get fit by doing a bit more of what you’re already doing – what’s not to love about walking? Our panel has its say on the joys and stresses of the new step culture

One in three gym users take drugs or supplements to lose weight – study

One in 20 use amphetamine for same purpose, survey reveals, with many feeling pressured to achieve a certain body image

Is it worth it? One-on-one yoga

‘I’ve said it before: I’m terrible at yoga. I hide at the back of the classes, intimidated by everyone else. Going one-on-one meant I had nowhere to hide’

Both my husband and daughter are in and out of hospital – running is what gets me through

With caring duties, and a chaotic and unpredictable schedule, I can’t now do the marathons and ultras I once did. But I have been determined to keep running

Is it worth it? Resistance stretching

‘It’s weird and gruelling but my body feels lighter and looser, and my range of movement has improved’