In the last few years, the market has been flooded with a vast array of fitness Bands trackers and watches. They range from cheap to affordable to exorbitant whereas they all seem to do the same thing. In this blog, we take a look at whether a fitness band is worth it and which one you should pick up.
Firstly let us break down what a fitness band is supposed to do and why it’s useful. A fitness band is supposed to track the various aspects of your fitness journey stuff like:
1. Calories burned
2. Heart rate
3. Steps walked
4. Distance covered in a day
5. Sleep monitoring
6. Send you messages detailing out your fitness goals of the day
While all of them do it in theory, a lot of cheap bands aren’t accurate and have a lot of false information ( the most basic being shaking it to increase the step count). Fancier “training trackers” do all this and also add more features for hard-core athletes. They track your heart rate and breathing, the miles you’ve logged, your speed, and even your altitude – a nice bit of info for cyclists and skiers. Some of them even provide music to go with your workout.
So why do people love trackers so much?
The main reason, most of them will tell you, is that wearing the tracker inspires one to be more active. For many people, exercise is more rewarding when they can see progress in terms of numbers, almost like a score telling them how well they’re doing. They get more excited about hitting a specific target, like 10,000 steps per day, than about the vague goal of being healthier. The other benefits of using a fitness tracker include:
● Understanding Your Overall Health.
● Measuring Progress Toward Goals.
● Training More Effectively.
Of course, fitness apps don’t actually do the work for you, and there are some drawbacks to them such as:
1. Inaccurate information – as we mentioned before, cheap trackers are prone to giving false results, which set you back from realizing your actual goals.
2. A loss of interest – once the fad of getting a new piece of tech fades fitness trackers usually start gathering dust.
3. Obsession with numbers- an obsessive need to keep track of your steps, etc. which in the long run can lead to depression when not met.
4. Cost – good fitness trackers cost between 5000 -10000 INR with smartwatches like the ape watch going even higher.
Some alternatives to fitness trackers are
● Mobile health apps
● Pedometers
● Heart Rate Monitors
So finally are fitness Bands worth it?
Well, there isn’t a yes or no answer but rather a set of questions you must ask yourself.
1. What Do You Want to Know? If all you want to do is count your steps, you can do that better with a simple pedometer – or an app that costs nothing at all. But if you want to track all aspects of your health – activity, sleep, heart rate, and so on – then a fitness tracker is the only tool that can do it all.
2. How Do You Work Out? If your main sport is walking, running, or cycling, you’re probably better off trying a smartphone app first. With many fitness trackers, you need to carry your phone anyway to use all the features, so you might as well see if an app alone can do the job.
3. Do You Carry Your Phone Everywhere? If you do, then an app could be a better bet than a basic fitness tracker. It’s cheaper, and it doesn’t require you to carry an extra device.
4. How Much Can You Spend? There’s not much point in buying a fitness tracker if you can’t afford a good one.
5. What Drives You? This is the big question. If you’re competitive, a fitness tracker’s social functions will be a big help for you.
Before we leave here’s a list of the best budget Fitness trackers around for you to maybe give one a try before upgrading to a more expensive, better fitness band.
● The Mi band 4
● The Honor band 5
● Redmi Smartband
● The Mi band 3
● The Huawei band 4
(For more information about the best fitness band for you, check out our previous blog on the best fitness trackers of 2020.)
With that we wish you the best in your fitness journey and we’ll see you next time.
