Technology like Apple watches and Fitbits have become a popular method to track your workouts and collect data. By gathering information from your workouts, these wearable devices can track changes in your fitness and progress over time. Smartwatches offer personal accountability, goal tracking, and sharing options that can increase your motivation and support healthy habits.
Wearing a small device on your wrist makes it possible for you to track data like:
- daily step count
- calories burned
- workout duration
- sleep
- sleep quality
- resting heart rate
- max heart rate,
- heart rate variability
What does it all mean, and does measuring all this get you any closer to your goals?
Recent studies have shown positive benefits of using a device like an Apple Watch. Still, other studies point out that the technology and measuring of data aren’t enough to create sustainable change.
“Fitness trackers are equivalent to a bathroom scale. They’re a measurement tool, not an intervention tool. They tell you something, but don’t give you a strategy for how to change it.” (Eric Finkelstein, source)
Putting on a watch might be a way to view data, but it isn’t enough to change your behavior or improve your fitness. To get the most out of your watch, you must do something with all the information it collects.
To get more out of your smartwatch and its data, follow these steps:
1. First, define your fitness goals.
2. Then, come up with a plan for how you will achieve these goals. Decide what data would help you with carrying out your plan. For example, if your goal is to work out at a certain intensity, then you might want to track your heart rate and target a specific heart rate while you’re working out.
3. Finally, use the data from your watch to gauge your progress.
Concrete, measurable data contribute to your long term fitness success and positive habit changes.
To learn more about how to get started on achieving your goals at Class A Fitness in Greendale, contact us today.
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