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Fitness might not have changed, but technology has.<\/p>\n
The way we train has adapted to the science and technology around it \u2013 and fitness trackers are a great example of this process.<\/p>\n
The big question you might be asking yourself is \u201cdo I need a fitness tracker?\u201d. This question is actually pretty simple \u2013 and today we\u2019re going to take you through the answer, based on your<\/strong> approach to fitness and your goals.<\/p>\n Fitness trackers take a lot of forms, but you\u2019d usually expect it to be a watch or other wearable device. There are tons on the market \u2013 from independent tech companies all the way up to the big players.<\/p>\n You\u2019re going to see a bunch of different designs, but they share something very simple: they gather data on you while you move\/exercise.<\/p>\n They take measurements and give you some data on your physiological response: it might be steps taken, it might be heart rate, whatever. The features vary, but they\u2019re basically just sensors for detecting what\u2019s going on in your body.<\/p>\n This is the whole point of these devices, though they can do some cool stuff like talk to you about your workouts and provide on-the-fly recommendations. The software is constantly evolving, but we\u2019re just going to talk about the key points.<\/p>\n In an ideal world, you\u2019d have all the information on your body while you\u2019re training \u2013 everything from blood pressure to some complicated hormonal changes.<\/p>\n In reality, you can only get a few important pieces of information \u2013 and they\u2019re used by fitness trackers to keep you up to date on your workout.<\/p>\n Heart rate is one of the most important. This is a big factor for endurance exercise, where you need to try and keep to certain zones of intensity: you don\u2019t want to be training too hard or too light when you\u2019re training. Heart rate variability is also a big deal for overall health and wellbeing!<\/a><\/p>\n Steps are also worth counting, since they play a big factor in your overall movement throughout the day. This can be useful for training, but is primarily about NEAT: the amount of energy you use for movement that isn\u2019t exercise. Tracking this can be a great way to keep on top of your calorie output<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhat are fitness trackers?<\/h2>\n
What Should You Track?<\/h2>\n