Go High Tech With Fitness!

In today’s Healthy Hollywood feature: With summer just around the corner, it might be time to get your lazy butt to the gym! After all, you will soon be slipping (or squeezing) into a swimsuit before you know it.

Right now, there’s no better motivator to get your workout on track than wearable fitness gadgets.

Yup! 2014 is turning into the year of the health & fitness tracker. Apps and gadgets have a major presence in the fitness world.

And, experts estimate in the next three years, consumers will be using more than 250 million such devices. That’s a lot of data tallying up our workout routines.

“Consumers have a desire to track and monitor fitness goals. These devices allow consumers to become part of like-minded community which promotes a healthy lifestyle through camaraderie and competition. Wearable tech can offer information to the consumer that a trainer or traditional training methods can’t offer, such as sleep patterns and how they affect a workout,” explains Josh Stolz, a T4 Fitness Coach with Equinox.

The most popular brands come in bracelet form and are simple to wear and don’t get in the way at the gym. They can track everything from steps, calories, activity, distance, etc.

“Wearable tech becomes a part of every workout routine by monitoring movement and expanding the consumers’ awareness and knowledge about tracking their fitness goals. The devices enable consumers to achieve lifestyle goals by monitoring behaviors which are critical for achieving results,” notes Josh.

So, is all this tracking a good idea? Josh tells me he’s fan of these devices and it helps getting his clients inspired, adding,

“Wearable tech allow consumers the opportunity to track things that don’t necessarily have to be done in the gym. Taking 10,000 steps a day is challenging for those who sit at a desk all day, but the feedback provides motivation and awareness to get moving!”

According to Josh, the only negative is that it can lead to an unhealthy obsession. “I personally get annoyed (and that’s putting it mildly) if I’ve gone for a run or walked around the city and I discover I forgot to put my band on! I almost feel cheated instead of feeling good about the run or long walk.”

For more fitness tips check out Equinox’s Q blog at www.equinox.com.

— Terri MacLeod

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