Amazfit Introduces Helio Strap Pro, Bringing Body-Worn Movement Intelligence to HYROX and Hybrid Training

MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 18, 2026--

Amazfit, a leading global smart wearable brand owned by Zepp Health (NYSE: ZEPP), today announced Helio Strap Pro, a body-worn training system designed to help HYROX and hybrid athletes better understand how their bodies perform under load.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260618031434/en/

Building on the screen-free Helio Strap, Helio Strap Pro adds a dedicated waist-mounted motion sensor that captures core-body movement and stability during training. Combined with upper-arm heart-rate sensing and compatible Amazfit smartwatches, the system provides a more complete picture of cardio effort, movement quality and muscle load than wrist-based tracking alone.

Helio Strap Pro represents the next evolution of Amazfit's Hybrid Training System, extending performance tracking beyond heart rate to help athletes better understand how movement, efficiency and muscle load change as fatigue builds.

“Heart rate tells athletes how hard they are working, but it does not fully explain how their movement changes as fatigue builds,” said Scott Shepley, Head of Global Marketing at Amazfit. “Helio Strap Pro introduces an innovative new approach to hybrid training by connecting upper-arm heart-rate data with waist-based motion sensing and smartwatch performance data. It represents the next step in our Hybrid Training System, giving athletes a more complete understanding of how effort, movement and performance change across a demanding workout.”

Built for HYROX and hybrid performance

Helio Strap Pro works with the HYROX Race and HYROX Simulation modes available on the Amazfit Balance 3 and Balance Ultra. At launch, one of these watches is required to use the full system. During supported workouts, the watch and two Helio Strap Pro sensors work together to capture data across the body:

After training, the Zepp App brings movement, muscle load, and cardio effort together into a structured view of performance. Post-workout, athletes can review and evaluate their performance at each individual HYROX station, including SkiErg, sled push, sled pull, burpee broad jumps, rowing, farmer’s carry, sandbag lunges, and wall balls. The launch experience is focused on the eight movements used in HYROX competition: SkiErg, sled push, sled pull, burpee broad jump, rowing, farmer’s carry, sandbag lunges and wall balls.

One system for training, recovery and daily life

Helio Strap Pro is part of Amazfit’s broader Hybrid Training System, which connects workout execution with recovery and daily readiness.

The Zepp App brings structure to training by connecting workouts, recovery, daily habits, nutrition and performance trends into one continuous view of progress. HybridCharge™ Energy Intelligence incorporates BioCharge, Training Load and LifeLoad to help athletes understand how workouts, recovery and real-world factors such as stress, travel and fatigue affect their capacity over time.

Because the Helio Strap Pro can be worn without a screen, tracking can continue when an athlete removes their watch. It can also be paired with compatible Amazfit smartwatches or used alongside a traditional timepiece, helping reduce gaps across training, sleep and recovery.

Designed for Accuracy, Open Connectivity and Ecosystem Integration

Wearing the heart-rate sensor on the upper arm reduces interference commonly caused by wrist movement, gripping and equipment contact during strength and functional training.

Real-time heart-rate data can be shared over Bluetooth with compatible Amazfit smartwatches, third-party sports watches, cycling computers, fitness equipment and training apps, giving athletes the flexibility to train within the ecosystem that works best for them. Health and activity data, including HRV, can also be synchronized with Apple Health through the Zepp App.

Additional features include:

Pricing and availability

Helio Strap Pro is available end of June 2026, for $199.99 through Amazfit.com and select retailers. Regional availability and shipping timing may vary.

The package includes Helio Core Motion HR, Helio Core Motion Waist, Helio Pro Clip, wristband, armband and magnetic charging head.

Helio Strap Pro supports Android 8.0 and above and iOS 17.0 and above through the Zepp App.

About Amazfit

Amazfit, a global smart wearable and fitness leader is part of Zepp Health (NYSE: ZEPP), a health technology company with its principal office based in Gorinchem, the Netherlands. Zepp Health operates as a distributed organization, with team members and offices across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and other global markets.

Amazfit builds smart wearables designed around movement — training with intention, recovery with balance, and evolution over time. Built for the way people train today, Amazfit blends endurance, strength, and recovery into a single, coherent rhythm to support sustainable progress over time.

Behind Amazfit is Zepp, which builds the intelligence that supports its training experience. For more information, visit www.amazfit.com.

Amazfit Introduces Helio Strap Pro, Bringing Body-Worn Movement Intelligence to HYROX and Hybrid Training

NEW YORK (AP) — Baseball owners proposed banning high school players from signing with major league teams, raising the age for international amateurs and slashing the money spent on signing bonuses in negotiations Thursday for a new collective bargaining agreement.

The amateur draft for players residing in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico would be cut from 20 rounds to 12 beginning in 2027 under the proposal Major League Baseball made during a bargaining session with the players' association. An identical 12-round draft would be started for international prospects, a proposal the union has rejected in the past.

Starting in 2028, a prospect for the amateur draft would have to be at least 20 years old by the Sept. 1 of his signing year and two years removed from the graduating year of his high school class — a restriction that also would eliminate players who completed their first year of junior college.

The amateur draft started in 1965, high schoolers have been eligible along with college players who are in or have just finished their junior years.

Raising signing ages would likely lead to players being older when they become eligible for free agency, which currently requires six years of major league service.

MLB cited increased revenue in college baseball as reasoning. In addition, MLB said 75% of high schoolers signed from 2012-19 did not reach the major leagues.

“Expanded scholarships, NIL opportunities, revenue sharing and significant investments in facilities and player development have made college baseball an increasingly important pathway that is producing major league-ready talent at an accelerated rate," MLB said in a statement. “By creating a draft system centered around college-aged players and making most college players eligible one year earlier, more players will benefit from both a college education and an elite development environment while reaching professional baseball — and ultimately the major leagues — more quickly.”

The players' association claimed the plan would decrease compensation by $1 billion over five years, including $400 million from this year to 2027.

“MLB made another set of proposals that are flat-out bad for baseball, ones that would cripple the next generation of players and damage the future of our game,” the union said in a statement.

MLB said it will not seek to reduce the 120 minor league teams in the top four levels when it negotiates new professional development licenses in 2030 to replace expiring 10-year deals. It would cap bonuses for undrafted players at $10,000 — Middle Tennessee two-way player Trace Phillips was bypassed in the draft last July and signed with Tampa Bay for $629,200.

For international amateurs, the age to sign would be raised to 18 on the Sept. 1 of their signing year, up from 17.

“The game's greatest stars are precocious talents. We always want to have a great window for them,” said Scott Boras, baseball's most high-profile agent. “International markets recognize this, as well. When you bar a labor force from opportunity in America, it is not an American concept.”

Each separate draft would have $200 million in signing pools in 2027. There would be hard caps for each draft.

Teams would be able to trade draft picks but a club couldn't trade its first-round pick in consecutive drafts. A team couldn't acquire more than three additional selections among the first three rounds.

Spending on signing bonuses for players eligible for the 2025 amateur draft have totaled $401.81 million and signing bonus pools for 2026 increased by 2.5%.

Each team would have the same amount to spend under the proposal rather than the current system which gives higher pools to teams with poorer records in the previous year. Pittsburgh is at just over $19 million this year and the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers at slightly under $4 million. Teams currently can go over their pools and often do as much as 5%.

Teams have spent $196.38 million on signing bonuses for international amateurs in 2026. The current signing period runs from Jan. 15 to Dec. 15 each year, but the initial international draft would be no earlier than September 2027 and no later than March 2028.

MLB proposed eliminating competitive balance round picks that began in 2023 and cutting the draft lottery that started in 2023 from the top six picks to four.

Bargaining began May 13 and the sides exchanged initial proposals two weeks later as management proposed a salary cap for the first time since 1994, which resulted in a 7 1/2-month strike and the first cancellation of the World Series in 90 years,

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

FILE - Attorney Bruce Meyer, the current interim executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, speaks at a news conference in New York on March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - Commissioner of Major League Baseball Rob Manfred answers questions during a news conference at the MLB winter meetings, Dec. 8, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux, file)