WATCHING YOUR ACTIVITY
Fitness technology has come a long way from simply counting our steps every day
“You rocked yesterday’s exercise rings. Keep it going today.”
This message popped up on my Apple Watch before breakfast. As the day goes on, if I lag behind my usual activity patterns, I’m reminded that “my exercise rings are usually a little further along by now.” If you use any of the popular fitness tracking apps or wear an activity tracker, you’ve probably received similar alerts.
Part motivation and part nuisance, there’s a love-hate relationship with the never-ending series of notifications that congratulate, cajole and guilt wouldbe exercisers into action. But the question is: Do they work?
It wasn’t too long ago that fitness trackers did little more than quantify activity. First-generation models tracked exercise habits by way of counting steps, and put on a blinking light show when you reached your step-count goal, but otherwise they were pretty easy to ignore.
These days, fitness trackers have morphed into something akin to a personal trainer, helping you set exercise goals, track activity and providing feedback on your level of commitment.
The idea being that the more engaged you become in your daily activity, the more likely you are to make exercise a habit. Since fitness trackers and fitness apps all sync to a smartphone, it couldn’t be easier to get updates and notifications on your efforts.
It turns out there’s some merit behind those pop-up messages on your phone or wrist. Numerous diet and exercise studies have demonstrated that setting goals and monitoring your progress increases the chance for success. Before activity trackers, exercisers who wanted a history of their activity had to log their workouts on paper. Now most fitness apps and trackers capture a variety of workout stats and store them on the web using graphs and visuals. With just a couple of taps on your phone, you can check out your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly progress. By keeping your exercise goals at the forefront, they have less chance of getting lost among other tasks. And with easy access to exactly how much exercise you’ve accumulated, you’re more inclined to chart progress, adjust effort and modify strategies.
Alongside the benefits of tracking activity is the importance of feedback — which is where those pesky notifications come in. Again, there’s a significant amount of data showing that ongoing feedback during diet and exercise trials have increased success among study subjects. It started with phone calls checking in on the progress of study subjects, switched to emails as cellphones became more popular and then text messaging. Almost all studies that compared the success of individuals who received regular followup (phone calls, emails or text messages) versus those who received none showed better compliance among the group that was kept engaged.
Hence the reason so many fitness apps and activity trackers have incorporated goal setting, activity tracking and feedback. With most fitness trackers and apps abandoned just months into their use, their creators have a vested interest in boosting compliance. So do you, if you consider the numerous benefits associated with regular exercise, but lack the motivation to stick with a routine.
Keep in mind that there’s an art to an effective message. The good ones remind you of your goals, offer tips on how to achieve them and provide positive feedback. The not-so-good ones are repetitive, generic and border on nagging versus encouraging. And the really good ones not only understand your activity patterns and base their notifications on your personal exercise habits, but they give you plenty of notice when your activity level is low, so you’re not running up and down the stairs before bed to meet your activity goals.
My Nike+Run app sends me notifications on new guided runs (led by a virtual trainer who guides you through speed, recovery or distance workouts). Runtastic Pro gives me weekly updates on my efforts and sends me a reminder every couple of days if I haven’t logged a new run. My Apple Watch follows my daily calorie burn, exercise activity and sitting habits, sending me notes throughout the day.
It’s up to you whether you think a gentle reminder to get moving or a virtual pat on the back when you hit your daily targets will help you get more exercise daily. And if you don’t like the tone or pattern of reminders that arrive on your phone, shop around for a new app that keeps you on track without getting on your nerves. Cheaper than a personal trainer and proven to get the job done, exercise notifications on your wrist or phone can help you get your butt in gear.