We recently talked about the benefits of smart scales and thought that this would be a good time to discuss the advantages of fitness tracker.
Are fitness trackers worth it? They show you how many steps you walked and how many calories you burned. They also log your sleep time and monitor your heart rate, and a select few can even predict recovery time.
Non-athletes have been getting on the fitness tracker bandwagon for years to lose weight and stave off diabetes, heart disease, and other health issues. But are fitness trackers actually useful?
Read on for a quick look at what makes fitness trackers important for sports folk.
1. They Boost Your Motivation and Keep You Accountable
While it’s non-athletes who usually need help staying motivated and accountable, serious athletes aren’t immune to off days. Your tracker can remind you of your scheduled workout. It can also cheer you on with a congratulatory text message when you accomplish your daily goals.
In a way, your tracker doubles as an electronic mini-coach, hounding you about your workout goals relentlessly yet effectively.
2. They Log Everything
You no longer need to squint at a spreadsheet of your training data over the past few weeks, or try to remember whether your new running trail has given you better results than your old one.
Fitness trackers monitor and log all your data and have it ready for you to peruse and compare at the click of a button. Some of it can be visible if your tracker has a digital display, but you can retrieve all your data through your tracker’s app.
Having all your data ready is a great way to see how closer you are to your goals. Some trackers even record stats like stress and allergy reactions and their severity. This kind of information can be extremely challenging to notice no matter how sharp your memory is.
3. They Pinpoint Areas of Concern and Room for Improvement
Does that cramp always happen when you go overboard on a certain workout? Instead of relying on your memory, which is naturally brimming with other important numbers like marathon dates and competition results, you can simply consult your fitness tracker data.
Your fitness tracker can show you patterns you’ve missed. This can help you discover important information, from weaknesses in your training regimen to moves you should avoid. You can tweak your workout and marvel at how your best results got even better.
This can also help you zoom in on areas with room for improvement. Your tracker will then monitor any changes you make so you can judge the effectiveness of your attempts later on.
4. They Show You What Works for Your Body
More importantly, they also show you what doesn’t. Science has shown that different people can get different results from the same workout. Blood pressure, muscle mass, hormone levels, and myriad other physical issues can mean varying results.
Instead of wasting weeks on the wrong workout, you can save valuable time by figuring out the right regimen for you.
5. They Monitor Your Zzzs
Many fitness trackers measure your sleep patterns and provide detailed graphs that show your periods of light and deep sleep. This gives you a much clearer idea of your sleep habits, which is extremely valuable information that affects your daily life and athletic performance.
Getting to know your sleep phase and body clock helps you know when you’re more alert throughout the day. You can thus schedule your workouts for those times. Instead of forcing your body to work when it’s naturally in need of sleep, you’ll be setting yourself up for success.
The waterproof Garmin Vivosmart 4 does an excellent job measuring sleep, in addition to tracking your steps and calories burned, heart rate, and oxygen saturation levels in your blood.
6. They Monitor Your Heart Rate
Fitness trackers with this function provide readings of your heart rate and even skin temperature. Some trackers don’t have a built-in heart monitor. Instead, they need to work with a heart sensor that you strap to your chest.
The Garmin HRM-Run, for instance, gives a wealth of advanced info, such as ground contact time and oscillation, although it only works if you already have a Garmin fitness tracker, like the Garmin Forerunner 735XT.
On the other hand, the Polar M430 GPS features a built-in heart monitor, so you don’t need a separate chest strap. An excellent fitness tracker for the serious runner, it also comes with improved indoor tracking capabilities for treadmill runners.
7. They Keep You Connected
Most fitness trackers come with wifi, bluetooth, and other connectivity bells and whistles, so you don’t need to worry about missing a date change or event delay while you’re working out.
They also let you share your triumphs and goals met with online communities you belong to, allowing you to receive and give encouragement, which inspires your fellow athletes as well. This feature takes excellent advantage of every athlete’s natural competitiveness.
Any update about a successful new workout goal in the community will spur you to work even harder, eventually leading to greater improvement.
8. They Are Sport-Specific
Fitness trackers that give information relevant to your particular sport are a great help. For instance, the Garmin Forerunner 735XT provides triathletes with a wealth of pertinent data that includes recovery time, something you won’t find easily in many trackers.
Cyclists will appreciate trackers that calculate power and cadence, while skiers will benefit from a fitness tracker that measures altitude.
Fitness trackers geared for swimmers are obviously waterproof, while those that serve serious runners have alternatives to a touchscreen, so you can navigate them on your freezing run without taking off your warm gloves.
Wrapping Up
Now that we discussed some huge advantages of fitness tracker, we would feel safer to draw some conclusions on it.
Fitness trackers measure your biometrics, which helps you stay aware of them. This in turn means you can pinpoint areas that need improvement and evaluate your efforts toward that, leading to a more personalized regimen and greater successes.
As long as you use the right fitness tracker and keep in mind other aspects that may impact your results, like hormone levels and other health concerns, fitness trackers are a great friend to bring along as you puff, pant, and work your way to the top.
