I have worn an activity tracker for a few years now. Prior to that, I never wore a watch as I just didn’t find the need. I can be a bit obsessive about things and didn’t want to be constantly checking the time.
The decision to get a proper tracker came about when I started running more – I wanted a tracker with GPS where all my data could be stored and I could see trends and improvements. I have used Strava for many years, but I thought it would be good to add the heart rate stuff into my tracking, and to use it for other activities.
Fast forward to now and I find myself obsessively checking my activities and getting down on myself for not burning more calories, running faster, training longer, sleeping longer, getting my heart rate higher, getting my resting heart rate lower, improving my VO2 Max or doing more steps. It has made me wonder, was my life easier before I tracked every single activity?
Here are some pros and cons I have come up with:
Pros:
1. Accountability: Being able to look back on the session/day/week that was does provide accountability for your training and general movement. Seeing a low step count for the day might inspire a walk or run to try and get a bit more general activity in the day.
2. Progression: You can literally see how you’re progressing in your training. I have found this particularly useful for running, although I am not sure that I really collect more useful data using my Garmin than I did using Strava.
3. Goal setting: Setting yourself short and long term goals with the ability to track and compare is a major incentive for using a tracker. You can, for example, set daily goals for steps, workouts and sleep, or a weekly monthly goal to complete a certain distance running.
4. Motivation: Seeing your progress is motivating and ties in with accountability, progression and goal setting.
Cons:
1. Demotivation: If you are injured or sick it can be really demotivating seeing your results decline. I found this when I had surgery on my foot. My step count bombed, and obviously I wasn’t getting the heart rate peaks because I was so limited in my activities. This was actually really demotivating during a time when I should have been fully focused on recovery.
2. Obsession: If you’re already a little obsessive tracking will feed right into this. You’ll be constantly checking your step count, heart rate and sleep. And let’s face it, this just equates to more screen time.
3. Anxiety: If you get anxious about not meeting your goals having an activity tracker to tell you exactly which goals you have missed Is going to make you feel more anxious and put yourself down. I often check my sleep data and see I’ve had a bad night’s sleep and I’ll immediately start to feel tired, when I previously hadn’t.
4. Accuracy: Trackers aren’t 100% accurate. There are often quite big discrepancies between Strava and Garmin after one of my runs. As with any device, they are not perfect and can be unreliable. Also, they don’t track everything. My tracker doesn’t recognise yoga as a form of activity even though this is a valuable part of my weekly routine.
As with any device, you have to view a tracker for it’s benefits without getting too attached to the features and functions. I am considering going old school and not replacing my Garmin when it dies (although I think I would still use Strava for running).
I remember a time when I didn’t need a watch to tell me how active I was. While there is value in collecting data, it needs context to be truly valuable.
Your Garmin isn’t going to help you run that marathon, but it will show you the path you took to get there!
