Keep your fitness on track

B DY S UL Berthoud Weekly Surveyor September 24, 2020 Page 5

Health • Fitness • Mind • Spirit • Medicine • Well-Being dicine •W Wh• Fitness •h pirit •pi Keep your fitness on track

The device called a fitness tracker/activity tracker has been around since the early 2000s. The features included vary greatly from just counting steps to measuring calories burned, monitor heart rate and blood pressure, body temperature and much more.

So far, I have relied on a free smartphone app to know about my health, but it s fairly basic. It tracks my steps, number of minutes

Surveyor walked and calories burned. It gives me weekly, month-

Columnist ly and yearly average steps taken. Two good free apps for this are Pacer and Stepz. For those wanting more information, the choices are many, to the point of being almost overwhelming. Here is a sampling with different features and at various price ranges. The armin Vivoactive 3 Music smartwatch is on the high end of price spectrum at 240. The music in the title means you can download 300 songs to

Bob McDonnell enjoy during your workouts. It comes preloaded with sports apps, running, swimming, strength training, etc. it has a round watch-like dial face.

Even pricier is the Apple Watch Series 5, with a price tag of 384. It addresses the issue of music like the Vivoactive in that it streams your entire Apple Music library, podcasts and audiobooks.

This version of the Apple Watch is waterresistant and can check your heart rate. Swimmers will be glad to hear its water-resistant. Fitbit Charge 4 There are many versions of the Apple watch

available.

Less pricy is the 130 Fitbit Charge 4. It has built-in PS to track your run or hike. Presumably, it would also be helpful if you get lost. There are other versions of the Fitbit with different features and prices. Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music smartwatch.

The Charge 4 monitors your heart rate 24/7 and can be set to buzz when you reach your target exercising heart rate. It plays music via Spotify and is water-resistant. It resembles a bracelet more than a conventional watch. One company, called Whoop has a membership plan that helps you get fit. For 30 a month (minimum of six months) you get a Whoop wrist strap. The strap tells you a lot about your body. If gives you feedback on your body s strain, recovery and sleep patterns. The strap also has information about your resting heart rate and respiratory rate. It should be noted that the WHOOP strap does not count steps and has no direct data readout. It looks like you need a phone app for that. A monthly performance assessment report is also provided with membership. One smartwatch/fitness tracker that caught my eye is the oretrak. The cost of 49.95 seems reasonable. I like the slim brace- let look of it. The oretrak shows the time of day KoreTrak and date and has some fitness features that interest me. This includes blood pressure, calories burned and how well you sleep.

One feature that may appeal to more than just me is the oretrak encourages you to stay active. When the device senses you haven t moved in a while (maybe sitting at a computer), it sends an inactivity alert.

I do have a couple of concerns about the oretrak. I have not determined if it counts steps. Also, some of the reviews of this fitness tracker have not been that strong.

In summary, there is a wide, wide range of body-worn devices that measure different aspects of your fitness and movement. The trick is to research thoroughly and find the one that provides the information you seek and is within your budget.