Getting Fit with Tech Part 1 — Wearable Reviews
Getting fit is hard. There’s no easy way other than a good diet and a decent amount of exercise. That doesn’t mean it has to be a horrible experience. It can actually be rather fun with the help of some clever tech.
Fitness? Sounds gross.
Firstly, I want to define what being fit is. For me, if you’re feeling healthy, exercise relatively often and eat well — your fit! A lot of people tend to think being fit means you exercise daily, only eat kale and show-off your six-pack whenever possible but that’s not all true. Being fit is relative to you and your body not what the movies portray.
In this series i’ll be writing about how you can use technology to help you towards your goal of “getting fit”. Some people prefer a device free workout so this might not be for everyone but technology helped me so 💁♂️
Hold up, wait a minute. How do I get fit?
Find a form of exercise that you think you’ll enjoy and one that will keep you motivated. For example if you don’t like running then chances are you’ll try it for 1 week and then give up. For me personally I love running and boxing so doing either of those during the week is fun and often a highlight of the day.
Once you’ve found it, set a few goals. A good one for people that are just starting out is “workout at least 3x a week”. Other goals can be really simple like reach your first 1 km without stopping etc. You’ll know what’s doable.
From there it’s all about routine. You have to stick with it and remember to keep setting new goals once you’ve smashed the other ones. Trust me, after no time at all you’ll feel fitter, more awake, motivated and if you’ve timed it right you’ll be looking hot as for summer 🔥
Wearables FTW
Wtf is a wearable you say? A wearable is an electronic device that can either be worn on the body as an implant or accessory. Don’t worry I’m not saying you have to go get some weird device implanted into your body, instead i’ll be talking about the accessory side of things.
How can wearables help me?
Wearables not only make tracking your hard work fun but they also give you insights into how each workout or activity went. This is important because you want to be able to track your progress so that you can tick those goals off as well make adjustments.
Wearables can help you make decisions based on data e.g. Knowing how many calories you’ve burnt can help with choosing the right meal or noticing that your sleep quality was low last night can help you decide what activity you should do today.
All these things make getting fit easier and more enjoyable #winning
Fitbit Alta HR
Price: $260+ NZD
Who: Beginners, just getting started
I probably don’t need to explain what a Fitbit is as they’ve been around for years. They helped the wearables industry get to where it’s at now and have been leading it the whole time (until now). Fitbit sell 8 different types of wearables to suit any kind of lifestyle. Depending on what you do, what you like to wear will determine which one you would buy but for the purpose of this article i’ll be focusing on their latest device the Fitbit Alta HR.
Features? It’s got them all. It can track steps, count calories, auto-detect workouts like running & biking, monitor your heart rate, automatically track sleep quality and yeap it can even answer your phone calls!
That’s a crazy amount of tech to squeeze into a tiny device and still achieve a 7 day battery life. The best feature of owning a Fitbit though is having access to their amazing platform. From either the Fitbit app or website you can view all your raw data and view special insights like heart rate zones and sleep stages (very cool!). You can also compete with friends, track weight, water, and heaps more.
Fitbit is the ultimate “just getting started” device but it stands up with the best of them.
Apple Watch Series 2
Price: $649+ NZD
Who: Anyone
When: Series 2 now, Series 3 late 2017 early 2018
Apple’s first wearable didn’t disappoint and it’s Series 2 version set the bar even higher with features like built-in GPS and 50m water resistance. You can see how Apple quickly became the leader in the wearables industry.
The Apple Watch does a bunch of handy stuff which you can read about here but what I want to feature is its activity tracking. This thing tracks your heart rate all day (even under water), the built-in GPS is perfect for tracking all those runs around the park and being water resistant up to 50m means you can even head to the pool to track how well you breast stroke has improved. Its list of activities it can track is growing often and even includes snow based activities.
Apple really tries to get you off the couch. You’ll get notified every hour to stand up if you haven’t already. You also get 3 rings that you need to close daily, a Stand, Move and Exercise ring. Throughout the day you’ll notice these rings closing and within no time you’ll be wanting to run that little bit further just to close those damn rings! It’s a really fun way to get you moving ever day.
It is missing some features which I hope to see soon like built-in sleep tracking and improvements on insights. Apart from that though it’s a leader in its class (i’ve being wearing one for 2 years).
Garmin Forerunner 35
Price: $350+ NZD
Who: Runners, love the outdoors
Garmin make some of the best GPS enabled wearables available today. The Garmin Forerunner series is targeted towards people who are exercising frequently and are often outside. Don’t let all that fool you though the Forerunner still comes jam-packed with features. It can monitor your heart rate 24 hours a day, display smart notifications, monitor steps and calories and even detect different types of activities.
It’s display focuses on the information you need to see while working out like current heart rate and average pace and when you’re not sweating it out it can simply just show the time or notifications from your phone.
View all that data in Garmin’s app/platform and you get even more insights. Some of the top athletes around rely on these devices so you know the quality of tracking you get is top notch. Did I mention you get all that and a battery that lasts up to 9 days!
Nokia/Withings Steel HR
Price: $200-$300 NZD
Who: Anyone, fashion lover
When: Late 2017
The Steel HR has to be the most sleek looking of all the devices mentioned here. Nokia have done an amazing job putting all of the features you’d want in a wearable into a beautiful looking watch. The Steel HR has a focus on your heart rate because just like Nokia say, heart rate is a good indicator of overall health.
It of course can track all the goodies like number of steps, calories burnt and distance traveled. It can also connect to your phone to display information like incoming calls, txts and alarms.
The Steel HR can monitor your sleep so that you can view interesting insights like sleep duration and wake-ups, it can also wake you up during the most optimal point of your sleep.
Wait there’s more…It can be worn in the shower or the pool as it’s water resistant to 50m. And finally, battery life, which I’m sure Nokia are super proud of — up to 25 days! Not bad huh?
Misfit Vapor
Price: $275 NZD
Who: Anyone, larger hands, android user
When: Late 2017
One of the least known wearable providers is Misfit. They’ve been making sweet fitness tech since 2011 so don’t rule them out. They now have over 9 different devices, each one built with a specific purpose. I’ll focus on their new product which is due for release late 2017, the Misfit Vapor.
Apart from the cool name, the Vapor is packing some serious heat. It can (of course) track calories, distance and steps. It is water resistant to 50m so can handle a trip down the beach, it’ll monitor your sleep and something a little different from the others is that it’s powered by Android Wear 2.0 which will likely provide you with a handful of handy features like calling, notifications and access to third party apps.
Not enough? Well, it’s also a standalone wireless music player (no more taking your phone on those runs) and has one of best looking (full colour circular touchscreen) screens in its category.
They’re all so good, how do decide?
Unless one of the wearables above stood out or you think it would suit your training style and lifestyle then buy it now! Otherwise I recommend going out and trying a few on as each one has a different look and feel. The last thing you want is to own a $200+ device that stays in your top drawer.
