Electronic devices have changed the way we live. Gone are the days when phones were meant only for sending text messages or calling. Today, smartphones have also become a helpful tool for fitness enthusiasts. Need to get in shape and stay fit? There’s an app for that.
Smartphone
There is a range of fitness apps you can install on your phone. There are those that can help you monitor your diet, track your weight loss progress and even encourage yourself to get 8 hours of sleep at night.
People have been installing these apps on their smartphone to serve as a one-stop health and fitness hub that they can easily check amid their busy schedule. This explains why gyms, fitness centers, and even sports apparel brands are launching their own fitness apps.
Smartphones as a fitness device, however, met a new competitor with the advent of wearable trackers.
Wearables
Wearables monitor fitness-related metrics. They come in handy when you need to track the distance you covered during a run, as well as the calories you burned and your heart rate during a workout.
Just like with smartphone standalone apps, they also provide valuable data about your progress and development.
These devices popularly come in the form of wristbands or armbands, and can be synced with your smartphone for storing the collected data.
These devices used to be very expensive but their price has become more competitive as tech companies start to introduce budget-friendly wearables for consumers.
Which Should You Use For Your Fitness Journey?
Several factors need to be considered if you are to choose between using a smartphone or a wearable. Many fitness enthusiasts argue that wearables are better at tracking physical activities and other metrics of health.
Wearables, for instance, can provide an accurate estimate of a person’s caloric burn, one of the most important metrics related to weight loss and weight maintenance.
Wearables have heart rate monitoring abilities that give users accurate data for measuring the actual number of calories they burned.
How you go about with your fitness activities is also a factor. You can conveniently strap your wearable in your wrist to monitor the number of steps you took during your weekend jog. This won’t be the case with smartphones.
Many wearables can also be used in mild rain and even in the pool if you are into swimming. On the more technical side, wearable also have longer battery life.
Wearables may seem the better choice for a fitness device, particularly because they were designed for health buffs.
However, if cost is an issue when deciding for a fitness aid and you already own a smartphone, installing the appropriate fitness apps on your phone will be a less expensive option than investing in a new fitness tracker.
You don’t have to buy a wearable if you are not at all keen on getting real time data about your caloric burn, heart rate and other metrics. It is also worth knowing that many fitness buffs and even athletes do not rely on accurate and real-time data to achieve their fitness goals.
