Fitness Trackers – Are They For You?

How do you track your training sessions? At worst I’m hoping you have a notebook to record your loads, weights, reps, sets, rest breaks etc and be able to refer to this information from one workout to the next.A training journal is a necessity for those seeking the best results.

A training journal is a necessity for those seeking the best results.

With something as simple as bringing a notebook to the gym you’d think everyone would do at least this much. it doesn’t cost anything and takes no extra time or effort. You can make all your entries during a rest break or immediately after training.

But besides going old school and low-budget with a journal there a number of fitness trackers which will monitor and record everything from heart rate intensity and averages, caloric output and even sleep cycles at night.

Recently, a study at the Iowa State looked at the accuracy of 7 different fitness trackers. Researchers looked at BodyMedia FIT, DirectLife, Fitbit One, Fitbit Zip, Jawbone UP band, Nike+ Fuel Band and the Basis B1 Band. BodyMedit Fit and the Fitbit Zip were found to be most accurate. And in a related story Nike may be killing off its fuel band in the near future.

But back to the point of gadgets to track your caloric output I have never really been sold on them. I’ll admit there are benefits to knowing what your heart rate data is and to monitoring the length of your workouts. However when you think about it these type of products are usually favoured by those with a few pounds to spare.

And my concern is that individuals tracking how many calories they burned at Zumba or spin class will then see this as a credit to indulge later. For example, if a fitness tracker shows that I burned 473 calories sweating to the oldies can I then rationalize a 300 calorie treat later in the day? And does knowing how much I burned influence why decision to indulge and have a treat later that day?

To me it’s kind of like starting a new job. Most people know what they are to be paid. Yet they still wait to actually receive the cheque in their hands before they go out and spend what they know they’ve earned. Until they have the confirmation of how much is coming off for dues, taxes, insurance and everything else they may be reluctant to go out and spend by assuming their new paycheque will cover what they buy.

Case in point…once people have have a job for some time they may know exactly how much they will receive on each cheque and then spend accordingly. They know not only how much they can spend but when payday is and how long the wait is until they can spend again.

Nutrition and creating a caloric deficit probably works in similar way. If we know exactly how many calories we have burned we may feel justified or even entitled to bigger and more frequent indulgences.

The problem then becomes one of accuracy. If we are using one of the less than accurate fitness trackers we may be over-estimating our caloric output. If the best devices were 10% off then how inaccurate were the less accurate ones? 15%? 25%?

Imagine for a second if you were using a less accurate fitness tracker that displayed 500 calories burned for a workout. And then you decide you can have a treat that is only 380 calories. You are still 120 calories ahead, got in your training session and were able to enjoy life by having a treat. Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too?

But let’s back up for a second. If your fitness tracker was 20% off in its accuracy than that means you really only burned 400 calories instead of 500. And if the restaurant that prepares your treat makes it a little differently than advertised you may end up with more than 380 calories as expected.

Now not only is your training a wash when you factor in your treat but you also no longer have  a 120 calorie credit left over from believing you burned 500 calories. And how do people behave when there is surplus? They spend it as quickly as they can! Nobody invests extra money from a tax return or a bonus at work. No way! This is free money to do whatever you like without any pain or guilt associated.

So what is the take home from all this? Well if you use a fitness tracker be aware of the limits on accuracy. And if you are going to pick one up try one of the ones in the study that provided the truest record of calories burned. Either way know that caloric outputs are simply estimates and should not be used as tools to budget your nutritional consumption.

Chris [fb-like]

Train Smarter Not Harder

There seems to be a theme in fitness these days regarding intensity. Check out any number of YouTube videos or social media updates and they all seem to be tagged with descriptions of beast mode, strong is the new sexy or something similar.Seek results not soreness.

Seek results not soreness.

Add to this the popularity of obstacle course racing where the greater the chance of serious injury the more people talk about it. Now no one seems to bat an eye to hear you’ve done a 10 km race. Unless it involved electrocution, possible hypothermia and challenged you completely in all areas physically.

And for the right person at the right stage of their training this can be a great thing. But there are a lot of conditions attached there. This is not something for the person just getting started in fitness or is not already training regularly with a high level of intensity.

So while you want to push the intensity and challenge yourself make sure you aren’t overdoing it from the get-go or getting strong-armed into signing up for an event you aren’t physically ready for. When you consider the injury rate at a Tough Mudder can be 20% you can quickly appreciate how many people are in over their heads when they step up to the start line. 15,000 at the start line and as many as 3000 injured is not a good statistic. Unless you are a physiotherapist than you may be glad to hear the phone ringing off the hook Monday after an event.

So what are you to do? Play it safe and never enter these events? Or can you be a little smarter with your training and still push yourself, get great results and do some fun races?

Absolutely you can. And the key is listening to your body.

I know this expression can sound trite and over-simplified but here are a few tips to ensure you are on the right track.

1. Ease into your workouts

When you are doing multiple sets think of slowly building up. For example, if I was doing 4 sets of something I might think of giving 70%, 80%, 90% on the first three sets. Then depending on how things are going I can decide how much to push on the last effort.

2. Use a heart rate monitor

If you aren’t measuring what you’re doing you have no way of knowing if you’re improving. Using a heart rate monitor helps you know the highs, lows and average heart rates achieved. You will also know know how long your session lasted, have a clock for rest breaks and get an estimate of calories burned.

3. Pay attention to how a movement feels

Imagine taking a transatlantic flight then stepping under a bar to do some overhead squats. How would that feel? Probably not very good. But after a bit of a stretch and warm-up and a few lighter sets you’ll start to feel things loosen up.

In the same way that movements can start to feel better with more mobility and warm up we also want to pay attention to when our form changes for the worse. If you feel pressure at certain parts of the body we should know to not power through but adapt our training to this feedback. This might mean adjusting the range of motion, the tempo, the load or the reps. Sometimes making these adjustments makes minimal to no difference and we have to call it a day. Better to forgo a step forward with our training at the risk of taking two steps back with an injury.

4. Pay attention to your breathing

One of the easiest things you can do is to be aware of your breathing. And don’t think this is only a quantitative thing in terms of how many breaths you take in a certain period of time but only the quality of your breathing.

Do you breath through nose our mouth? Is your breathing balanced with equal time spent on inhalation as exhalation? Do you breath with your chest (thoracic) or you abdominals (diaphragmatic)? Is the expansion when you inhale three dimensional or anterior? And is the breathing relaxed or laboured?

Since #4 is the easiest to do and you have everything you need to practice already start to track your breathing when you train. It’s easiest to do flat on your back a little harder from a seated or kneeling position and most difficult from a standing position. Perform your workouts with more attention given to your breathing. When you notice your breathing changes to being more laboured, unbalanced and through the chest this is a good time to switch exercises or grab a water break. As your fitness improves you’ll notice you can go longer or more intensely and eventually build up to beast mode.

Chris [fb-like]