Thinking about investing in a fitness watch? Maybe you’ve considered the price and worried that the benefits don’t outweigh the price tag. If that’s the case, this article is for you. Here are 10 reasons I fully believe a fitness watch is worth the investment.

Fitness Trackers: a Trend Worth Investing In?

The wearable fitness tracker global market is predicted to reach 192 billion by 2030. And no real surprise here: the Apple Watch, which doubles (triples? quadruples?) as a fitness tracker, is leading the charge.

The price of tracking gadgets varies from the free pedometers that your work hands out in April, to the high-end Garmin sport watches clocking in at $900+. Obviously, the right tracker for you lands somewhere in between what you want to spend, and the tech you’re most looking forward to taking advantage of.

I’m convinced, after years of coaching, that most health and fitness goals can be achieved if only we had more awareness of our own actions. Enter: fitness trackers. The right tracker for you is going to be found somewhere in between how much you’re willing to invest and the quality of tech you want to support your goals. For me, I’ve found the incredible benefits of my Apple watch far outweigh the investment. Here’s why.

10 Reasons a Fitness Watch is Worth the Investment

Activity and Movement Tracking

No surprise here: your fitness and health goals require movement. In fact, regular physical activity is one of the most valuable things you can do for overall health, quality of life and longevity. It supports weight management, improves brain health, strengthens muscle, bones and joints, reduces your risk of chronic diseases and improves daily functionality.

But here’s a frightening stat for you: less than a quarter of adults meet the current standard Physical Activity Guidelines for aerobic and muscle strengthening physical activity.

A fitness watch not only tracks your movement, it allows you to set movement goals and sends you reminders to help you achieve them (see below)! And that’s without any fancy apps added on. Simply putting the watch on your wrist creates a sense of mindfulness. Compound that with the very real data in regard to activity – step count, hours sitting, movement minutes, conscious exercise minutes – and you’re bound to push yourself just a bit more to take the stairs instead of the escalator.

Heart Rate Monitoring

Heart rate monitoring measures multiple systems and checkpoints simultaneously: pulmonary system (lungs) function, the cardiovascular system (heart, blood, arteries) and muscular function (specifically the ability of your muscles to consume oxygen) – all important factors when it comes to optimizing fitness.

Moreover, heart rate is a stellar measure of exercise intensity. You’ll be able to pace yourself, push yourself and maximize your effort like never before.

Cycle Tracking

Understanding your period can tell you more about yourself than you might imagine. Despite what we learned in health class in high school, not every period lasts 28 days. If your cycle runs slightly longer or shorter, wouldn’t it be nice to know that before you are caught off guard? Understanding where you are in your cycle allows you to adjust your mentality, your exercise program, your nutrition focuses and even your social calendar according to what your body actually needs.

Sleep Tracking

The amount of sleep and the quality of sleep you get have a lasting impact on your daily life. Sleep affects your mental fitness, physical well-being, and even your risk of developing lifestyle diseases such as obesity, depression, and type 2 diabetes. Simply just logging bedtime and wake up time gives you insight into your sleep cycle, and whether or not you’re getting enough shuteye.

Exercise Planning

Sync your exercise program right to your wrist? Yes, please. From Strava to MyFitnessPal, Nike Trainer to Kajabi, you can access your workout apps and schedule from anywhere you are. This is particularly useful for on the go lifestyles: traveling for work or fun, remote work, etc.

Calorie Tracking

What did you eat for dinner last night? Most people couldn’t answer that question accurately. Unless of course, they wrote it down. Or tracked it on their fitness watch.

Tracking calories is an important change-tool. It creates awareness in regard to what you eat, or don’t eat, and how your body responds. This is the kind of data that you can use to drastically and immediately change the trajectory of your fitness goals.

GPS

To all of my walkers, hikers, runners, cyclers and skaters out there! A (waterproof) GPS wrapped around your wrist in the form of a fitness tracker is a game changer. No more holding your phone or hoping it doesn’t slip out of your shorts pocket. You’ll never have to guess your distance, pace, climb or turn around point again!

Sharing, Community and Accountability

I love the community aspect of lots of fitness apps. I believe they play a vital role in accountability, motivation and stick-with-it-ness. When my clients check in for a workout in the training portal, I know it. I know when they’ve commented, or logged new progress stats. They know it too. That is a huge motivator to get it done!

Smart Notifications

Full disclosure: I’ve turned off the messaging and call syncing on my fitness watch. I just don’t need my wrist buzzing every time my phone goes off. There is, however, some data that I do want to be notified about:

• When it’s time to stand up. If my phone sense I’ve been sitting for too long, I’ll get a quick buzz reminder to get up and move.
• Bedtime. 1 hour before I want to be butt-in-bed, a get a bedtime reminder. This reminder is my cue to shut off blue lights, set my alarm, do some meditation, find my book, start my skincare routine and all of the other pieces of my nighttime routine that take time.
• Cycle notifications. I have a couple of apps that sync with my fitness watch to track where I am in my cycle and give me gentle reminders to take care of myself and/or take advantage of where my hormones are.
• Movement and exercise notifications. My watch buzzes when I hit both of these (completely customizable) goals for the day.

Comprehensive Data Collection

All of your health data in one place. From medications, to emergency contacts, to all of the metrics collected and mentioned above, a fitness watch is one central, very accessible place to get access to that.