Fitness trackers have exploded in popularity over the past few years. Technology has obviously played a big role in this rise in popularity as fitness trackers have become smaller and more powerful, much like tablets and smart phones. The way ‘fitness’ used to be tracked was with tools like a simple stopwatch or pedometer and possibly a heart rate monitor.
But nowadays, a whole bunch of health and fitness data is available to you at the push of a button or tap of a screen on a stylish watch-like gadget on your wrist.
A fitness tracker will not only track your health and fitness activities, it can revolutionize how you train.
Most trackers go around the wrist but there are other options out there, such as a clip-on that will go on a pocket or waist band. Most trackers go with a smart phone app. You see, the tracker themselves only track things based around your movement. This includes things like the number of steps you take, your sleep (yes, it will track how much you move while sleeping), and your heart rate.
To track more specific things, unless your fitness tracker has GPS and other options, you’ll need an app that goes with the tracker. Depending on the model you get, this can unlock lots of other fitness information about your workouts such as distance traveled, time, elevation climbed, pace, and more. You can also get heart rate information, such as average heart rate, current heart rate and top heart rate as well.
The Fit Bit Surge fitness tracker has built in GPS, while many lower priced models do not. Obviously, the amount of information you can get from your fitness tracker will influence the price.
With some trackers co can program it to keep you in a certain zone, whether by heart rate, or even your mile pace when running. Want to run miles and stay within a seven to nine minute mile pace? Some fitness trackers can be programmed for that and will let you know whether you’re running too fast or too slow.
You can use this information to improve and customize your fitness training to get better results from your exercise. This means you need to keep in mind your fitness goals and what you’ll need from your fitness tracker. There is no point in paying for all the latest options if all you’re ever going to do is make sure you get in your 5,000 steps every day.
There are also models that use sensors. There are two types of sensors, optical sensors and bioimpedence sensors. The optical sensors will use a light to shine on your skin. This allows your tracker to “see” your heart rate.
The bioimpedence sensors use tiny electrodes that get placed on your skin. These are also used for determining your heart rate and are supposedly more accurate than the optical sensors.
More and more trackers are coming with a display screen. Most are touch screen design instead of using buttons. While a touch screen can be easier to check data during a workout, such as your current pace on a run, there are going to be more expensive than the typical wristband style.
The typical fitness tracker can handle any hot or cold weather you throw at it but if swimming is your thing, be sure to check whether the model you want is not only water proof, but designed to function under water.
Don’t forget the app. Most fitness trackers require an app to analyze your exercise results. Be sure and check out the app before buying a fitness tracker. You’ll want to make sure it’s compatible with your smart phone and also that it has all the features and information you want.
One simple example is to make sure it covers the sport you want. Just because an app has running as an option, doesn’t mean it’s good for cycling. For running, you’ll get data like your mile pace, fastest mile pace and average mile pace, in minutes. For biking, it’s all about speed, fastest speed and average speed, given in miles or kilometers per hour.
Just remember, fitness trackers are no guarantee of anything. You won’t improve your time in the mile or lose those ten extra pounds just by purchasing a tracker. All a fitness tracker can do is help you keep track of your workouts and make sure you are hitting your training goals, while also showing you areas where you’ve improved, or need to improve. You still need to put in the work.