With all the recent influx of fitness trackers, from FitBit to the Apple Watch, you may be wondering if it’s time to incorporate a fitness tracker into your workout – and if so, what type should you get?
One thing to keep in mind is – there are two types of people – those that like to exercise, and those that don’t. The ones that do – are the early adopters of technology like a fitness tracker. But, given the benefits of using a tracker, it’s really the group that doesn’t exercise that should consider getting one.
The reason for this is that a fitness tracker is a great tool to keep you motivated. If your goal is to get in 10,000 steps a day, a tracker allows you to see, at any given moment, how you are doing in terms of hitting that daily goal. And, you get the “guilt” factor going for yourself if you didn’t hit that goal!
Plus, with some of the more expensive trackers like the FitBit Surge or the Apple Watch, these units incorporate heart rate tracking. Tracking what your heart rate is can help you when doing your cardio workouts, to make sure you’re working hard enough to make a difference, but not so hard that your workout is actually counterproductive. This is also great if you’re new to working out – it can help you get the most out of your workouts if you’re not sure what level of exertion you should be working out at!
Fitness trackers also can help you track your water and calorie intake during the day. If you’re dieting, knowing you have an app on your phone that you can add your meals & water intake to, and see how you’re doing against your goal throughout the day, can keep you from binging on items that may be keeping your diet off track.
Thoughts of recording these details, and looking at charts and graphs does bring thoughts of the quantified self movement, but there may be something a bit simpler than getting a fitness tracker and jumping full swing in to that movement. Similar to how someone would be told to keep a food diary if they are trying to diet and lose weight — wearing a fitness tracker and paying attention to the data will make you more aware of your activity. Or more accurate in some cases, your inactivity.
Those who do pick up a fitness tracker should follow one bit of advice to get started — you don’t have to start wearing the tracker and immediately going out for extra walks. You should go about your normal routine the first few days of wearing a tracker, this way you get a baseline of your true activity. Once you have an idea of what you are doing per day, then you can find ways to make changes and begin getting the extra steps. Possibly even looking to get that magical 10,000 steps per day down the line.
One last thing. Trackers are pretty inexpensive. Yes, FitBIt’s start at around $100, so that’s not that cheap. But, knowing you spent $100 on a tracker might be extra motivation to get your money’s worth out of your investment in your fitness plan and overall health, which means you’ll keep working out and reaping the benefits of a healthy lifestyle!
