Amazfit Helio Strap Pro adds a new layer to hybrid training

We attended Amazfit’s presentation during the HYROX World Championships in Stockholm, where the company introduced Helio Strap Pro, a two-sensor body-worn training system built for hybrid athletes. The setup pairs an upper-arm heart-rate sensor with a waist-mounted motion sensor.

The package includes Helio Core Motion HR, Helio Core Motion Waist, Helio Pro Clip, wristband, armband and magnetic charging head. Sales are expected to start in a few weeks, so pricing will be the next important piece.

The recent FCC trail also makes more sense now. That paperwork pointed to this device rather than Helio Strap 2. Zepp Health was not preparing another simple strap. It was preparing a multi-position training system.

A strap becomes a system

The original Helio Strap was the company’s answer to screen-free training and recovery tracking. It turned out to be hugely popular and Zepp Health struggled to meet demand at the end of last year.

Helio Strap Pro is the next step up. It turns the strap into part of a wider body-worn system, rather than just another heart-rate accessory.

The key addition is Helio Core Motion Waist. This 9-axis motion sensor sits at the waist and tracks core-body movement, positioning and stability during training. It works alongside Helio Core Motion HR, worn on the upper arm, which handles heart-rate tracking from a location that should be less affected by gripping, wrist flexion and equipment contact.

These things are important for sports like HYROX. Heart rate can tell you how hard an athlete is working, but it does not show how movement starts to fall apart under fatigue. A sled push, farmer’s carry or wall ball session can look very different by the final round, even if the heart-rate curve looks fairly predictable.

This is where Zepp Health is trying to add a sharper layer of context. The Pro setup looks at cardio effort, movement quality, stability and muscle load together, then pulls that into the Zepp Health app after training.

Built around HYROX first

At launch, Helio Strap Pro works with HYROX Race and HYROX Simulation modes on the Amazfit Balance 3 and Balance Ultra. That makes the Pro system more focused than the regular strap, but also more dependent on Amazfit’s latest performance watches.

The launch experience centres on the eight HYROX movements: SkiErg, sled push, sled pull, burpee broad jump, rowing, farmer’s carry, sandbag lunges and wall balls. These are movements that expose the exact weakness of wrist-only tracking. A watch can struggle when hands are gripping handles, carrying kettlebells or bracing against the floor.

Our takeaway

Zepp Health has been pushing hard into hybrid training, HYROX and multi-device performance tracking. Its Amazfit brand now has a three-year global partnership with HYROX.

Helio Strap Pro fits that strategy because it tackles a real gap in hybrid workouts. Wrist tracking can work well for steady running, but HYROX is full of gripping, pushing, pulling, carrying and floor work. That is exactly where a watch can start to struggle.

The upper-arm sensor should give heart-rate tracking a cleaner position during those movements. The waist sensor then adds another layer by looking at how the body moves under load, especially as fatigue builds.

Our question now is how far Amazfit can take the waist sensor beyond the launch HYROX setup. A body-worn pod could have uses across the wider range if Zepp Health opens it up properly, especially for movement metrics where the wrist has obvious limits.

It could potentially work a little like Garmin’s Running Dynamics Pod for movement analysis, or help the Zepp Health app identify strength exercises more reliably during weight training. That is speculation for now, but it is the obvious direction to watch.

Helio Strap Pro starts as a HYROX-focused system, but its longer-term value may depend on how far Zepp Health can stretch that upper-arm, waist and wrist data across the rest of its sports watch range.