But nowadays with nearly everybody wearing a fitness
tracker on their wrist, it seems that more of us are intent on
following Drago’s technology-driven approach rather than Balboa’s old
school approach!
This reliance on technology didn’t work out too well for
Drago but will it work for you?
Fitness trackers (fitbits etc) can be a good way of
highlighting an individual’s levels of inactivity and subsequently encouraging
them to become more active. Which is great.
But the problem is, fitness trackers are not perfect...
For starters, they are much like much like US Army –
inaccurate!
A study looking into the accuracy of seven different
wearable activity trackers found that not one of them accurately measured
calories burned! The best was off by 27%, the worst by a staggering 93%.
(However, the same study did show that the trackers were much more accurate at
measuring heart rate). It’s not just the wearable devices that are inaccurate
though. Those flash looking cardio machines you see in gyms don’t do a very good job of tracking calories
either!
Secondly, they might not be that good at helping you lose
weight!
One study found that, people wearing fitness trackers lost
less weight than those that didn’t wear them. The two-year study, conducted by
the University of Pittsburgh, involved 500 overweight volunteers engaging in a
structured exercise regime whilst following a diet found that the group wearing
trackers lost 8lb (3.6kg), but the ones who didn't lost 13lb (5.9kg)!
Another problem, is lost motivation
Some of my very own clients have suffered from negative
emotions because have failed to reach the calorie, steps, or sleep targets set
by their fitness trackers. But it’s not just me saying this, Andrew Lane,
professor of sport psychology at the University of Wolverhampton corroborates
with this too. In an interview with the BBC he questioned whether such negative
thoughts ultimately lead to demotivation "What if we start consistently not
reaching goals set for us by them (the fitness trackers)? Ultimately it would
lead to us feeling demotivated - the opposite effect they are supposed to
have." This is something I have personally witnessed with my own clients.
It’s as if the pressure to meet the targets takes the
enjoyment away from exercising and some therefore give up on exercising all
together!
In conclusion…
Before you dismiss me as a luddite, trying to resist the progress of technology, please rest assured that I’m most certainly not. It’s just that I’m more like a seesaw with a fat kid at either end – balanced. Balanced in my views that is, and I’m well aware that nothing in the fitness industry is 100% perfect (regular readers will know this). Fitness trackers have their pros but they certainly have their cons too and they are certainly not a panacea for solving our nations obesity crisis (which some people think they are). They will suit some people and work well for them, for others they won’t be quite so effective!
Before you dismiss me as a luddite, trying to resist the progress of technology, please rest assured that I’m most certainly not. It’s just that I’m more like a seesaw with a fat kid at either end – balanced. Balanced in my views that is, and I’m well aware that nothing in the fitness industry is 100% perfect (regular readers will know this). Fitness trackers have their pros but they certainly have their cons too and they are certainly not a panacea for solving our nations obesity crisis (which some people think they are). They will suit some people and work well for them, for others they won’t be quite so effective!
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