Workout Shirt Reveals Your Inner Hulk

Have you ever wondered which muscle groups you’re activating during a tough workout or whether you’re exercising hard enough? Now there is a shirt that purports to show you just that, and it’s lighting up on Kickstarter with thousands of contributions.

It’s called the Radiate shirt and it changes color as you exercise. The shirt is made with thermochromic dyes and registers temperature fluctuations. NASA first invented the technology in the 1960s but Kenneth Crockett, the shirt’s creator and CEO of Radiate Athletics, has found a new use.

“We raised the bar on [thermochromic technology] and engineered it to a precise and specific temperature range,” Crockett said, “and with that temperature range, we were able to calculate just how hard you’re exerting certain muscles.”

In order to demonstrate the shirt’s effectiveness, we met with Crockett at a New York Sports Club near ABC News. He donned a dullish, grape-colored Radiate shirt and then wasted no time in lighting it up bright pink with three sets of chest presses.

“It’s the only shirt that shows what you’re doing in real time,” Crockett said between sets, his chest, shoulders and biceps all glowing. “And as I work out harder and harder, it gets brighter and brighter.”

Crockett’s chest and shoulders were still glowing pink after the presses, so he knew he had hit the right muscle groups. Next up were some chin-ups, which lit up his upper back.

So far the shirt has practically sold itself online. Crockett’s company, Radiate Athletics, reached its Kickstarter goal of $30,000 within 30 hours of posting the page in late March. The campaign has raised more than $222,000 in funding with another two weeks until the deadline date for Kickstarter, the crowd-funding company.

Crockett aims to bring the Radiate shirt to department stores in 2014 but it’s available by contributing to his Kickstarter campaign. Shirt prices start at $25.