Fitness Technology

Many of us, myself included, get so involved with using fitness technology.  There are so many new, fancy, fun options out there, but what do they really tell us?  Will they really improve our fitness?

My goal is to feel like this at the end of every workout!!!!

Here are my own thoughts on the topic.  One main idea: If you workout and you don't track it/use technology, IT STILL COUNTS!!!!!  I've found myself getting frustrated if my GPS stopped working mid walk, or if I forgot to turn something on, but guess what?  My body still knows it happened, so who cares about the technology!  You don't need to track it to do it and see the results!!!  I just figured out that my miles being logged via GPS were not the actual miles I've been walking, and have since fixed that problem, but took a slight mental beating.  Im over it now!  That being said...

Fitness technology use depends on the kind of person you are and what your goals are.  I know that, for me, keeping a diary of my food really holds me accountable.  There's no use in lying to yourself, so even on a bad day, writing it out makes it reality and gives me an incentive to improve the next day.  

I choose to use MyFitnessPal to track my calories and exercise.  I like the website and the app, it works for me, and it also allows me to connect with friends using the app and provide/receive encouragement and support.  I also like using it to keep track of my weight and measurements, and seeing the graphs of my progress keep me going!  I also find it gives a great calorie estimate for cardio workouts.

As far as exercising, I had been debating a few things for a while.  I use Endomondo to track my distance and times of walking, jogging, kayaking, etc.  After a workout, it gives you a plethora of information- distance, average speed, best speed, lap times, altitude changes, etc.  It estimates calories, too, but I've found that it grossly over-exagerates just how many calories you are really burning.  

 

Endomondo on the left, Polar FT4 on the right, same workout, 333 calorie difference!!!

Get with it, endomondo!

I was going back and forth about getting a FitBit.  I know a lot of people who have them, and I really liked the social aspect of being able to "compete" with your friends to achieve the most steps.  I think that this would really benefit someone who wanted to increase their daily activity.  For me, that's something I already do, and wanted something more specific to use with my "exercise" activities.

I ended up going with the Polar FT4 heart rate monitor.  I LOVE IT!!!!  It gives you a real-time look at just how much you are working yourself, and beeps whenever you are outside of the optimal heart rate zone for activity.  This has made me push myself a lot more during my walks.  I wasn't really getting the most out of them before I got the FT4.  It made me really concentrate on keeping my pace up and moving my arms to keep my heart rate where it should be.  

Do you use fitness technology?  Why?  Why not?  If so, what gadgets do you find most/least helpful? Post in the comments below!