Everyone has heard of FitBit, and Garmin, and a plethora of other fitness trackers that are available today. Did you know that there are fitness wearables available that can track very specific health stats for you? While many of these specific fitness devices can also track steps, they can do so much more. However, most of these specific devices won’t be your best option if you want smart notifications or the ability to add different apps to the device.
What can fitness wearables track besides steps?
Track Calorie intake with the GoBe2
When I am wearing this device, people ask me what it does. When I tell them it will calculate all of the calories I have consumed for the day automatically their mouth kind of drops. They almost always ask me how it does this, and my response is always “witchcraft”. Seriously, it doesn’t sound like something that is possible, and yet, here is this device.
Not only does the GoBe2 track calorie intake, it can measure your hydration levels and give you notifications when you need to drink some more water.
In my testing, the calorie intake measurements were fairly close. However, the company let me know that if it seems extremely off you can track your calories manually and send them both results so they can adjust the firmware on your device.
I do have a couple issues with this health tracker. First, it would be nice if it also had smart notifications. Since it does not, I found myself needing to wear both this and my smartwatch, which feels a little clunky. The second issue I have with the wearable is that it seemed to be way off on my step counts. It was usually about half of what my other tracker said.
All of that being said, it is pretty amazing that it can calculate calories at all, and really puts this tracker in a class by itself.
Track strength with GymWatch
I’ve been going to the gym pretty consistently for the last year. It has really helped me improve my strength, and I am going to kill my next Spartan race this summer. Aside from the fact that I can now climb a rope when before I could not, it is hard to really see how strong I am getting. Enter the GymWatch Strenx. When you workout with the Strenx attached to the muscle group you will be working, it will analyze your exercise execution and your movements. Over time you will see improved speed, range of motion, and more.
The app will tell you exactly how to do the exercises, and where to put the sensor for optimal tracking. Over time you will see your results improve, and you will have true measurements on how strong you are becoming. I really like using this, because it is hard to see when I should push myself to go a bit heavier. If I can see that I’ve become really fast at a certain weight, I can add more and try to improve there next.
Track your posture with the Lumo Lift
I will be the first to admit that I have terrible posture. Perhaps it is from working in the IT industry for over 15 years or writing a blog for the last 10 years. Maybe it is the fact that I have always had terrible posture. When I was younger my Mom would constantly nag me to sit up/stand up straight. I’m sure no one else can relate. Now that I’m an adult, I don’t have anyone sitting next to me all day telling me to sit up straight. Lumo Lift to the rescue!
As a pretty good replacement for my mother, the Lumo Lift will vibrate to let me know that I’ve been slouching for too long. You can set the notification interval at anywhere between 3 seconds and 2 minutes. The app recommends 15 seconds. If you are laying down to watch some TV you can turn the notifications off by pressing and holding the device for 3 seconds. Once you are back up and around, you can turn it back on by pressing it once to reset your posture.
The Lumo Lift will also track your steps, and I feel it does a pretty good job at tracking. I like tracking steps through something that is not on my wrist so it doesn’t track steps when I’m making scrambled eggs and things like that. Also, since this is not a device that I would wear on my wrist, I don’t feel awkward about wearing a smartwatch in addition to this health tracker.
How to wear it
It comes with a couple different magnets so it can blend in better with the shirt you are wearing, and it also comes with a way to attach it to your bra strap if you prefer it under your shirt. I typically wear an undershirt, so I just attach it to my undershirt and I don’t bother changing out the magnet color. The device itself is sweatproof… and laundry proof (as I have put mine through the wash a couple times on accident)
What will they come up with next?
With all these various ways to help us with our health and fitness goals, it just makes you wonder what will be next? I’ve heard rumors of Star Trek Tricorder‘s becoming a reality, and soon maybe I won’t even have to drink a gallon of nastiness for a colonoscopy. There really is no limit to what technology will be able to tell us about our bodies in the future!
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