Wearable Technology: Track Your Way to Better Health
- Brad
- Mar 29
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 7
How Smartwatches and Fitness Trackers Help You Move More
It's hard to stay active sometimes. However, wearables like smartwatches and fitness trackers can make a significant difference! These gadgets count your steps, workouts, heart rate, and even track your sleep patterns. At MEF, we believe these tools are valuable. They help our members stay excited about fitness and reach their health goals.
Why Do People Love Fitness Trackers?
See Your Progress
You can quickly see how many steps you take, calories you burn, and how well you sleep.
Stay Excited
These devices allow you to set goals, win badges, and join fun challenges.
Get Reminders
Your watch can remind you when it's time to stand up and take a breather.
Join Others
You can compete with friends and share your progress.
How These Gadgets Help You Stay Active
1. Set Goals You Can Reach!
Fitness trackers allow you to set reachable goals. For example, aim for walking 10,000 steps or working out for 30 minutes a day. Studies show that people who actively track their activities move 27% more than those who do not (Finkelstein et al., 2016). Setting attainable goals makes it easier to stay motivated.
2. Makes Exercise Fun
Many fitness trackers gamify your workouts! You can earn prizes, compete with friends, and maintain your streaks. People enjoy challenging themselves to beat their own records or climb to the top of the leaderboard.
3. Tracks More Than Just Steps
Modern smartwatches monitor not just your steps but also your heart rate, sleep quality, and stress levels. Many also help you track your hydration by monitoring how much water you consume daily. They enable you to train smarter, preventing overexertion. Good rest is vital for better performance and results.
Popular Fitness Trackers & What They Do Best
🏃 Apple Watch
Tracks workouts, heart rate, and provides notifications reminding you to move.
⌚ Garmin Watches
These are perfect for runners and offer a wide array of tracking options.
💪 WHOOP Band
Guides you on when to rest to help optimize your training.
⏳ Fitbit
A more affordable option for tracking steps, sleep, and heart rate.
💍 Oura Ring
A compact ring that monitors your sleep as well as how you feel throughout the day.
Trackers + Max Effort Fitness = A Great Team
At Max Effort Fitness, we enhance your fitness journey! Our Max Effort Fitness app works seamlessly with your watch or tracker. This means:
✅ Immediate insights on your performance.
✅ Your coach stays updated on your workouts and recovery times.
✅ Receive personalized tips to reach your goals faster.
There’s no more guessing if you’re progressing well. Your data helps both you and your coach to make more informed choices!
Are Fitness Trackers Worth Buying?
The answer is both yes and no. These devices provide valuable feedback about your body, especially if you're data-driven. However, some individuals may overly fixate on precise details like sleep quality, recovery time, and various metrics.
Research indicates that fitness trackers are not always flawless. A study from Stanford revealed that most fitness trackers measure heart rate with only a 5% margin of error but can be off by up to 27% when estimating calories burned (JAMA, 2017).
My recommendation? If you are already considering purchasing a new watch, it makes sense to get one that includes fitness tracking features to aid your fitness journey. However, don’t be rushed into acquiring one just for the sake of having a gadget give reminders to exercise.
💪 Stronger Together | Movement First
What To Do Next?
Set a Goal
Try to walk 10,000 steps daily for one week! Research supports this target for effective weight loss. (More on this in an upcoming blog!)
Connect Your Fitness Tracker
Link your fitness tracker with the Max Effort Fitness app.
Train Smarter
Utilize tips from your coach to enhance your workouts and efficiency!
References
Finkelstein, E. A., Haaland, B. A., Bilger, M., Sahasranaman, A., Sloan, R. A., Nang, E. E., & Evenson, K. R. (2016). "Effectiveness of activity trackers with and without incentives to increase physical activity (TRIPPA): a randomized controlled trial." The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 4(12), 983-995.
Shcherbina, A., Mattsson, C. M., Waggott, D., Salisbury, H., Christle, J. W., Hastie, T., Wheeler, M. T., & Ashley, E. A. (2017). "Accuracy in Wrist-Worn, Sensor-Based Measurements of Heart Rate and Energy Expenditure in a Diverse Cohort." Journal of Personalized Medicine, 7(2), 3.
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