Staying motivated to exercise is tough. Between crazy work schedules and everything you have to get done during the day, finding the time to get outside or to the gym is hard.
That’s why fitness trackers are such a great tool for anyone interested in getting the most out of their workout or just adopting some healthy new habits. I’ve tested out a lot of wearable technology and used quite a few different fitness trackers, and although they all have different features that will appeal to a different type of user, the common thread I found with all of them is how incredibly motivating they are.
If you’re someone who just wants to track their steps every day or you’d like to get out there and run a 5K, 10K, and beyond, there’s a fitness tracker with features designed exactly for you.
Fitness trackers make great gifts for the holidays too, so if you’d like to choose one for yourself or pick one up to put under the tree this year, here’s a few types you can choose from:
Clip On
Quick, compact, and really easy to use – when you just want to grab your fitness tracker and head out the door, a clip-on tracker may be the device for you. They come with a clip on the back you can slide on your shoes, buckle, shirt, or anywhere you’d like and it will keep track of your movements.
Take the FitBit Zip for example – from the FitBit family of fitness products, this activity tracker clips onto anything and tracks your steps, distance, and calories burned. When you want to assess how far you’ve gone or measure your workout goals, you can wirelessly synch all of the FitBit Zip data with your computer, smartphone, or tablet. You can also use the FitBit website to log your food choices every day and keep track of your diet.
Thinking of giving a clip on fitness tracker as a holiday gift? They’re great for people who are just starting out tracking their steps or runs, and they’re perfect for people who want a quick and easy tracker to take with them on the go.
Faceless Fitness Trackers
They’ll sit on your wrist or hang from chain around your neck, and although they don’t have an LED display, they will have LED lights that guide you along the way to your fitness goals. They’ll also share so much data about your exercise habits that you’ll wonder how you ever exercised without one.
There are a lot of different faceless fitness trackers to choose from. The Misfit Shine is a sleek and stylish, and it will hang on a chain around your neck or you can wear it on your wrist as a faceless watch. It tracks your activity level, calories, burned, and even lets you know how well you sleep. The Misfit Shine is also water resistant, so if you’re a swimmer, it’s a great choice.
The Jawbone Up is lightweight, has a flexible band, and tracks your eating, sleeping, and movement. It’s a great fitness tracker for people who want to keep complete track of their health and fitness, and it’s comfortable enough to wear all day.
With an LED light to show you how you’re progressing through the day, the FitBit Flex is a great looking fitness device that will track your steps, distance, calories, and sleep, plus it has an alarm to wake you up. You can synch your fitness stats wirelessly with your computer or your smartphone so you can see exactly how far you’ve come. You’ll even be able to earn badges and share your progress or compete with friends.
A faceless fitness tracker is a great gift for people who like to use their smartphones along with their fitness device, or people who like the idea of a stylish wristband instead of a full smartwatch.
Fitness trackers with readable screens
When you rely on cold, hard numbers to motivate you and you want them to flash on your fitness tracker, a device with a readable screen is your best choice.
Garmin might have been well known for their GPS, but the Garmin Vivofit put them on the map in the category of wearable technology. The Vivofit will track everything from calories to steps and distance, with the added bonus of tracking your heart rate too. It comes a variety of great colours and has an LCD screen.
As a gift, a fitness tracker with an LCD screen like the Garmin Vivofit is a great choice for fitness enthusiasts or someone who likes instant access to their fitness data.
Smartwatches
For the person who has ‘everything’, or someone who likes everything in one space – a smartwatch gives you the benefit of a fitness tracker with an on-wrist message notification system.
Want an example of a great smartwatch? Take a look at the Martian Notifier. It gives you an OLED readout of all of your smartphone notifications and alerts, including texts, calls, and even tweets. You’ll also get Caller ID, Instagram, Facebook, or weather alerts, plus the Martian Notifier tracks all of your fitness stats and stores them for you. The battery on the Martian Notifier will last up to 5 days, so you can wear it without worrying about recharging all the time.
The Garmin Forerunner 205 Outdoor GPS is a smartwatch with a serious fitness background. It has a high sensitivity GPS receiver so you can run through the forest or up a mountain and it will still monitor your speed, distance, pace, and calories.
It’s the perfect device for running, biking, or skating, and you can even customize your screens so you receive the data you want when you want it. Auto Pause will pause and resume your training automatically when you hit a certain speed, and Auto Lap will record your data when you reach a specified time or distance so you don’t have to push a lap button. There’s even the option to have a Virtual Partner if you’re feeling competitive and want to be pushed to your limit.
A smartwatch is really the best of all worlds, and a great gift for the fitness or tech enthusiast.
It’s hard not to be excited by the latest fitness trackers. They make great gifts for friends and family, and you may even want to put one on your own list this year.
You can check out what’s new in wearable technology anytime by visiting Bestbuy.ca.
