LET YOUR WRISTBAND PICK YOUR NEXT WORKOUT
HOW WILL AHMED, FOUNDER OF WEARABLES BRAND WHOOP, IS USING DEEP DATA TO HELP YOU PERFORM AT YOUR PEAK
You may have seen Whoop, the fitness monitor that looks part festival wristband, part prison-issued tracking device. Athletes from Olympians and UFC fighters to CrossFitters are wearing them in the hope that data can be turned into a competitive advantage.
“Whoop collects about 1,000 to 10,000 times as much data as your average smartwatch,” says Ahmed. It tracks biometrics such as resting heart rate and heart-rate variability (HRV) – and it’s working. According to Ahmed, those who have used Whoop for a year have seen those metrics improve. Here are the numbers you should monitor in the future.
HRV: 25-105
Scientists have been interested in HRV – a measure of the variation in the time between your heartbeats – since the 1960s. More variability means you’re equipped to handle a hard session, while less suggests you’re burned out. Watch out for trends, too: improvement over time means you’re getting fitter. The average for a 25-year-old Whoop user is 78. For a 55-year-old, it’s 44.
Respiratory Rate: 12-20 As COVID-19 surged, Whoop tweaked its recovery algorithm to stress the importance of your respiratory rate. Changes in this number may suggest an infection before you experience any symptoms, according to an Australian study.
Recovery: 0-100%
Ten thousand data points is a lot to keep track of. So, Whoop puts them all into a simple daily recovery percentage, highlighted in red (33% or below), yellow (34-66%) or green (67% and above). Whoop’s next phase is to go beyond the body and allow people to input all their lifestyle choices to shed light on how habits impact health.
Strain: 0-21
Everything you take on – your workout, a deadline, a long walk – puts strain on your body and heart. Whoop tracks all of this in Strain. You get a personalised target range each day (10-17, for instance). Going below optimal strain aids recovery; hitting it can build fitness. It’s also a good way to gauge whether that “hard workout” was truly hard.