I’ve never had a fitness watch.
But recently I have seen ads for one called Whoop, which got me looking at the category in general. Some of these watches claim to track your “recovery” or “stress level”.
I’m curious, if anyone has used these products, what they think of these metrics?
Noteworthy background: I’m chronically sleep deprived, with 4 kids and the youngest still waking me up several times every night. On one hand I’m hesitant to even GET a tracker that monitors sleep quality, because I may become even more frustrated with how miserable my sleep situation is. On the other hand it might be useful just to corelate sleep with performance, and to see the trendline of sleep quality (hopefully) improve over the next few months.
I have one that specifically tracks sleep for recovery metrics, not the same brand though.
Using it to track recovery metrics is iffy to say the least, but i find it to be better used for tracking sleep quality and using that information to improve sleep quality.
I asked CT if he thought these watches/trackers were worthwhile and he said the tap test, grip strength, or vertical jump are better metrics. Have been following that advice recently.
I suggest Garmin watches. Its been a game changer in my athletic performance and even got me back into running long distance after injury using cadence metrics.
I’ve always had issues sleeping and my watch metric showed most of my sleep is light and i dont get enough deep or REM sleep which is why I always feel so tired and brain fogged. Ive changed my habits to improve my sleep. I also like stress and HRV metrics to see if I am over training.
I upgraded to the Garmin Fenix 7 recently its awesome. There are many great options for all budgets
It depends on my scheudule - if I have to train on a day it says rest bc I’m planning to rest another day when I go into the office, I don’t listen.
I have to say the watch pretty much just gives you a numeric for how you’re already feeling. When I reach a training status of overtraining or unproductive I usually am over training and feel fatigued. The watch doesn’t suggest rest days that much but it recommends it when it makes sense like the day after a 16 mile run.
The sleep, stress and HRV scores are awful after a night of drinking, so it pretty much is just quantifying how much damage I did to my body.
The watch is pretty accurate since it’s usually just corroborating what you feel.
Used to use the whoop device. Didn’t work for me so I returned it. About 6 months ago I started using a Oura ring and I found it much more informative. HRV, sleep stages, passive/active caloric burn, recovery index, blood oxy, etc. all useful. I already wear a watch so having something smaller but as useful was what drive me to this device and I have not regretted it. As others have said, knowing the details is only half the game… what you do with that info is more important.
When I was powerlifting, my coach had me use some training recovery analysis software that was based on heart rate plus joint and muscle soreness. It would tell me to 1) increase volume if I was well recovered, 2) stay the course, 3) reduce volume, or 4) not train at all. I generally followed it and found it useful. When I got the “don’t train” result, I generally felt like crap and so not training was an easy decision. That seems to be missing from the watches – there’s no subjective input. So I wouldn’t follow the watch without also taking into account how I feel subjectively.
I’ve used a fitness watch for a while, and the sleep tracking has actually helped me understand my patterns more, even though it can be frustrating at times. The recovery and stress metrics are pretty cool too; I find it useful to know when I’m pushing too hard or not resting enough.
