Pros of Wearable Trackers
Dan Roberts, strength and conditioning coach: The distinction between a smart watch and wearable tracker is increasingly blurred, but the main benefit of all trackers is that they build awareness. For many of us, it’s interesting and useful to get real, live data about two key components of health: our activity levels and sleep pattern. Also, the more advanced ones have pretty good GPS functions—particularly handy for runners.
Jane Wake, fitness expert: I am all for fitness trackers, but I think it’s important to recognize what they can and cannot do for us. They are very useful monitoring tools that can boost an individual’s motivation to start moving and to continue to move. They are also far more accurate now than they used to be—GPS signalling being the revolution that made tracking easy even from a basic app on your phone. And I think this is the key. You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars to find a tool that actually works for you—most apps can be downloaded for free.
Joanna Hall, sports scientist: Fitness trackers have been an invaluable tool for increasing individuals’ awareness of their base activity levels. In today’s society, we lead such busy, fast lives that our perception of our physical activity levels is often far higher than reality—research has shown that individuals considerably overestimate their daily physical activity levels.
Sam Murphy, running coach and fitness expert: It’s been shown in studies that quantifiable measures, like counting steps, do lead to an increase in activity, and I do believe that having targets to work towards can be helpful in motivating people to be more active. You set a baseline and then feel motivated to try and beat it. So, simple trackers, which count steps, or miles walked or run, are often very useful. I use a GPS tracker which monitors pace, heart rate, and distance, as well as a daily step counter.
