What You Should Pay Attention To When Buying A Fitness Tracker

by Mother Huddle Staff
What You Should Pay Attention To When Buying A Fitness Tracker

There are so many different things that you can buy nowadays to help you with your exercise routines, but it can be hard to know which ones to get. Do you need an electronic weightless weight machine or a treadmill with a built-in TV screen that plays classes while you run? In reality, you don’t actually need to have the best gym equipment in the world to have an effective workout. Instead, you can simply buy a fitness tracker and see the difference it can make. You can easily find the best budget fitness trackers online too, helping you to have the latest gadget without breaking the bank. However, if you’re unsure what to look for, keep reading and discover what you need to pay attention to when buying a fitness tracker.

Heartrate Tracker

When you exercise, one of the key things you want to keep an eye on is your heart rate. It not only tells you if you’re maybe pushing yourself too hard but it can be used to calculate how many calories you’ve burned during your workout. It’s also good to know if you’re getting your heart rate high enough when completing your routine, because if it’s not increasing, then you’ll know you need to increase the intensity. Most fitness trackers do come equipped with a heart rate tracker, but that doesn’t mean you should assume it does. You also want to check that the heart rate monitor will fit snuggly around your wrist. If it’s too big, then the monitor won’t be able to pick up your heartbeat and you’ll be unable to keep track of it throughout your routine. Make sure that the strap is adjustable so that you can be certain that it will accurately track your heart rate.

Pedometer

Another thing you may want to track on a regular, daily basis is the number of steps you do. Being able to track your steps can help you hit your fitness goals a lot easier as you can see at a glance just how many you’ve done. Although smartphones can track your steps, they aren’t as accurate, and they can’t be on your person 24/7. Whereas a fitness tracker can easily keep count of your steps as it’s attached to your wrist all day every day. So, make sure that you check that your chosen tracker has a pedometer and you’ll be hitting ten thousand steps in no time!

Water Resistance

One thing that you definitely need to consider is if you need your fitness tracker to be waterproof. If you’re a swimmer who wants to track your routine, then you’ll need one that you can wear while in the water. Not all trackers are even water resistant, so you need to ensure that if it’s going in the water with you, it won’t break. Water resistance can also be useful if you plan of wearing it in the shower from time to time. For example, if you finish up your session at the gym and then want to quickly hop in the shower, you might not feel comfortable taking off your tracker and leaving it somewhere else. So, opting for a water resistant one can help you get through your routine a lot quicker and back to your day.

Long Battery Life

Each fitness tracker will have a different battery life, and ideally, you want to go for one that has a long life. The last thing you want is for it to drain within an hour of you exercising, leaving you unable to track your whole workout. You also want the charging time to be fairly quick as well. You don’t want to have to charge it for longer than it lasts! So, when you’re looking for the best fitness tracker on the market, make sure you check the battery life before you buy. You’ll definitely thank yourself later.

GPS

GPS is something that’s important to a lot of athletes, particularly runners. Being able to track your route and figure out where you are, can be extremely helpful when running outdoors, and you might not always have your phone with you. Having the option of a small tracker on your wrist that can easily show you where you are and track your route is a much better and lightweight option than a smartphone too. Phones can be annoying to try and fit into an armband or small bag, but a tracker can easily be worn and won’t fall off!

Track Multiple Exercises

If you like to change up the types of exercise you do, then you want to make sure that your fitness tracker of choice can actually track them. Not all fitness trackers are the same, so some might track running, weightlifting, and swimming, and others may only track running and cycling. This means you need to know what you’re going to track before purchasing, otherwise, you’ll end up being unable to monitor your routines. If you’re only planning on going running, and you know that you won’t be switching exercises, you can go for one that only tracks walking and running. But if you’re someone who likes to do lots of different types of exercise, then you should find one that can do it all.

Extras

As well as tracking things that are related to fitness, these types of trackers can also have lots of other functions too. For example, they might be able to connect to wireless headphones so you can listen to music while you work out. Or perhaps you want to be able to respond to text messages or answer calls while you’re at the gym so you can multitask. These little things can make a big difference to your training sessions and enable you to work out more effectively. Who doesn’t love listening to music while exercising?!

Finding the right fitness tracker for you isn’t all that difficult when you know what you need it for. Try making a list of all the features that you want your tracker to have, and you’ll find it much easier to choose the best one. With the right tracker, you’ll be able to effectively manage your workouts and enhance your performance!

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