Parting Thoughts
fit TECH THE SKINNY ON FITNESS WEARABLES, SHAREABLES AND APPS ARTICLE MEG SIMON
T
he last few years have seen an explosion of new fitness technology, making it easier to track everything from the number of steps taken in a given day to how our friends are doing with their gym aspirations. To help make sense of the overwhelming
number of fitness wearables and apps currently on the market, Highlands Ranch Lifestyle talked to Nate Billings, Metabolic Specialist at Lifetime Fitness in Centennial. Billings highlighted some of his favorite features in fitness apps and wearable technology, ranked by athlete intensity. Beginner, intermediate and elite athletes: It's time to get digital!
BEGINNER
INTERMEDIATE
Apps APPS
TRAINING PEAKS E)
EXPERT
Wearables WEARABLES
FITBIT (B) One of the most popular fitness accessories of the past year, Fitbit
Training Peaks is an app designed specifically for the long-
is a small, wearable wristband that comes in a variety of colors,
term goals of elite athletes. The app allows you to set long-
sizes and styles. While Fitbits are great for entry-level athletes
term goals and pair with experts to determine the best pos-
looking to keep track of their overall health, they’re less useful for
sible training plan and design workouts. You can log your
people pursuing more intense, specific fitness goals.
workouts within the app and receive immediate feedback to help reach your goals.
POLAR (B) The fitness company Polar makes a wide variety of wearable fitness
MYFITNESSPAL B)
products including heart rate monitors, fitness trackers and GPS
Myfitnesspal is a free calorie counter app that also gives us-
watches. Their products are good for tracking specific fitness pa-
ers access to a substantial nutrition database, complete with
rameters like speed, distance and heart rate, but, Billings notes, they
nutritional advice and healthy recipes. Perhaps the biggest
“missed the boat on the community aspect” of fitness products.
benefit of this app is that it helps users become more mindful of their eating habits. A downside to the app, and to calo-
GARMIN (B, I, E)
rie-counting in general, is that losing weight is more compli-
Most Garmin wearables span all levels of intensity, from the person
cated than the long-held belief of “calories in, calories out.”
who has just recently invested in their fitness to the elite, practiced athlete. Garmin does a good job with the communal element of
STRAVA (E)
wearable technology, allowing data to be shared so that friends can
Strava is a running and cycling app for endurance athletes,
support and compete with one another to reach their fitness goals.
which Billings uses frequently to help train runners and triath-
The biggest downside: cost, which can be triple-digit for the more
letes. As a trainer, Billings has experienced a lot of benefits
feature-rich models.
from the app; he can easily see how far a client went, how
One of the most important things Lifestyle took away from talking
many calories they burned, total elevation gain and much more.
with Billings is that, while wearables and apps can give athletes an
Strava is a free app; however, more in-depth workout analysis
incredible amount of valuable data and can help foster athletic com-
is available with its pay-to-play counterpart, Strava Premium.
munities, they are not a replacement for face-to-face contact. “Tech will not replace the walking club, the triathlon group or walking with your best friend every Thursday after dinner," says Billings, "but it can add value to the face-to-face contact you do have.” Billings can be reached at nbillings@lifetimefitness.com
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Highlands Ranch Lifestyle | October 2016