The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) earlier this year surveyed thousands of fitness professionals to determine the Top 10 Fitness Trends for 2019 and the number 1 trend on that list was Wearable Technology.
This is not exactly any great surprise as so many people nowadays are wearing these sports and fitness watches for a number of reasons and I can’t remember when I last wore a traditional watch that just gave me the time.
They have features that monitor key aspects of your fitness and wellness such as daily steps, heart rate and even VO2 Max for example. You can play music while your working out and most can connect via Bluetooth to your phone for further connectivity and notifications. You can even pay for items with some watches.
But knowing exactly what you want from a sports watch is very important before making a purchase. I’ve seen this a number of times where for example, people want to use a watch to record their swims, which many watches do when you are swimming in a pool but many won’t work in open water. To record open water swims, you’ll need a watch that has GPS for starters and then a watch that has a swimming activity profile that includes ‘Open Water Swimming’ otherwise you’ll be recording your ocean swims using the running profile.
As an example, one manufacturer states that their watch can record swimming and goes on to say; “Built-in GPS gives you the freedom to take your activities outside. During a run, walk or ride, this watch is able to track distance, time and speed or pace and even map it out for you.” But this won’t record ocean swims.
So if you are in the market for a new smart watch, be sure to check exactly what features it offers and any limitations otherwise you may find yourself upgrading before long.