Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time: winning no fewer than 28 medals during his career, 23 of which were gold. He competed in his first Olympic games at the tender age of 15 and set many world records during his career. If anyone should know what makes decent swimming gear, it is him.

This year I seem to be constantly training for one sports event or another. Having previously got terrible times for both the London Marathon and Great North Run, I was taking no chances with a 10k in my home city, and with all the gadgets I was taking out for a run, I was resembling Robocop more than Paula Radcliffe. I was pleased to see the Stryd was both a compact and discrete little running gadget.

There are so many fitness trackers out there that cover a wide variety of sports, often running focused with attention to heart rates and step count, however there isn’t a huge amount out there for football enthusiasts in the mid-price range. The PLAYR is a pod style tracker than needs to be used with the SmartVest, which are unisex and come in sizes from XXS-XXL.

It is almost impossible to think of a running watch without Garmin being the first name that pops into your head, leaders in this field and quite rightly so, the Garmin Vívoactive 3 Music allows you to completely detach yourself from your phone by allowing you to upload up to 500 songs and listen to them via Bluetooth headphones for a free running experience. This GPS smartwatch includes Garmin Pay which lets you make payments with your watch, so that’s the wallet and cash left at home too, and you can personalise the watch face with thousands of options,

Finisterre was born in 2003 from the mind of Tom Kay who wanted to create products and appeal for the needs of British surfers, those crazy folks whose love of surf drives them into the cold and harsh British coastlines; Finisterre (which literally translates into end of the earth or land’s end) aims to design functional and sustainable products for those that share a love of the sea and natural world. There are two important things to consider when choosing surf wear, one, the performance capabilities of the apparel, and two, how cool you look in them (th

One of the downsides to working out a lot is how often you will end up washing your gym gear. Unless you want to gross out your gym buddies, you can only get away with wearing something once before you need to throw it in the wash again. This means, as I work out 5-6 times a week, I have a hell of a lot of gym tights, so I like to think myself as a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to what makes a decent pair of work out bottoms.

It has been a very hot summer so far for training and with only a handful of tanks in my collection, I was pleased to see the UA Vanish Tank arrive.

Available in Black, White, Red and Orange, I received the Orange version which, although orange isn’t necessarily the best colour with my pasty skin-tone (English rose is a more romantic term), the bright colour will help you be seen which is especially important for road running.

With the summer days slipping past us, it won’t be long before the nights begin to draw in and those sunny and warm evening runs will give way to cooler climates. The Under Armour Vanish Seamless Long Sleeve is ideal for keeping the chill off without overheating or hindering performance.

I am going to let you into a secret here lads: us girls don’t wear gym and running leggings just because they make our butts and legs look great. It’s a bonus but they serve a much more important benefit than that.

One of my least favourite things is to go shoe shopping (in fact, make that any kind of shopping) when the old reliable trainers have to be retired due to falling apart with every step, or the smell has just become too overpowering. You pop into your favourite sports store only to be faced with an intimidating wall of shoes, which, more or less, all look the same.