Fitness Wristbands: The New Coaches
Please forgive me for the thick, thick corniness, but my jaw dropped when I found out I’d get a chance to play with AT&T’s Jawbone Up. Back when Jenn and I met up with a group of snazzy LA gals, we spent some time going over the apps that we love. It was at that time that our AT&T pals told us there was another toy coming that also came with a snazzy iPhone app. For weeks, I counted down the days until that beautiful toy came and when it did, I was up on cloud nine. (Last cornball joke, promise.)
The Jawbone Up was an app-powered wrist band that tracked everything from your sleep patterns to your workout schedules. Instead of tracking calories and having to enter every little thing you eat or drink, you would simply take pictures of what you consumed and rate how it made you feel. (The logic behind this was to deter you from eating stuff that previously made you feel yucky and bloated.) I always love when intuitive eating is considered. At the end of the day, you would simply link your bracelet up to your phone and watch as it calculated the calories you’ve burned, the miles you’d gone, the steps you took and the amount of time you were active.
It was heaven—and pretty reasonably priced at $99. And then it crashed; there was a no-questions-asked refund program and I was left sans virtual coach—the opposite of up.
The wristband came out around last Christmas, and we’ve been waiting for the bugs to get worked out ever since. Not sure that’s gonna happen any time soon, as the Jawbone Up is still unavailable. Which leaves my wondering eyes to mosey on over to Nike. Everyone’s talking about the Fuelband. I see tons and tons of Instagram pictures of folks showing off their numbers. I have no idea what it means, but I love that it has people out there moving around like banshees trying to get those numbers as high as possible.
Do you love tracking your fitness world via bands? Tried the Fuelband yet?! Wristband-obsessed minds want to know! —Tish
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Oh…I attended the Tech & Gadget session at Healthminder (BlogHer) a few weeks back & we touched on this. The fuelband sounds like a good “novelty” type of item that might encourage a bit more accountability and be a motivator. It’s certainly not for the serious exercise types (most of us still preferred our GPS watches or Garmins). I did just get a Fit Bit though & I’m liking it so far- it’s fun, keeps me accountable, provides some encouragement to do just a bit more & not skip when I feel like it 🙂
It’s not a Fitness Wristband but it is helping me to enjoy running. I so long for the time when I can call myself a “runner.” But at best I am a walk/jogger because after a mile I am bored.
I downloaded an ap called Zombies, Run! I am now jogging three miles with some sprint intervals. I strap my iphone to my arm and start the ap. It is an ongoing tale of a town after the Zombie Apocolypse. You become part of the story. You go on missions, collect supplies and run from Zombies. If you run outside it uses GPS to track your pace and distance. If you are indoors it works like a pedometer to gage your pace. No matter if you are walking or jogging, it lets you know Zombies are approaching and you have to accelerate to evade the Zombies. It integrates with your playlist as well. Check it out https://www.zombiesrungame.com/
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