Choosing a Health and Fitness Ecosystem - Part 6 - The Garmin Ecosystem

When you think fitness and sports tracking, one of the top names people respond with is Garmin. Garmin is one of the leaders in fitness and GPS technology. They were slow to the ecosystem game originally, but Garmin has really done an amazing job at building connections with third parties and making a diverse line-up of devices.

Garmin Fitness and Lifestyle Devices

The first thing to note is that Garmin makes many devices. But what matters here are its lineup of fitness and lifestyle devices. Whether you are looking for an all-day activity tracker (Vivosmart HR), a stylish activity tracker for work (Vivomove), a GPS fitness tracker (Vivoactive and Forerunner series) or a multi-sport and rugged GPS tracker (Forerunner and Fenix), they have you covered. One thing I want to note here is they also have a tracker for kids, vivofit Jr. I note this because nobody has really done this very well, and Garmin definitely has done a great job with this device. There are other devices as well for cycling, swimming, and more. They all integrate onto the same platform, making a great ecosystem for the devices.

Garmin Connect App

The Garmin Connect App has really come a long way since its inception. I will be covering the iOS app. With a simple dashboard, found in Snapshots, you get an immediate visual of your steps progress and sleep. Right below you can see your active calories, number of activities for the day, remaining calories you can consume, and how many calories you can consume. The calories remaining and consumed come from connecting to MyFitnesPal. I really like the lack of clutter on this first screen. Even though FitBit is one of my favorite connected apps, it can still be a little daunting to some to see so much information as you see right away with their dashboard. So, Garmin has additional screens, or Snapshots, you can swipe to. You can customize these as well. Basically, they go into more details from the dashboard and will cover specific activities, such as running or swimming.

In addition to Snapshots, you can see leader boards for challenges you have joined and with your connections (friends list). Your calendar gives you a glimpse of your scheduled training and events, as well as your completed activities. It takes a little bit to get used to what each color stands for, but once you learn that, the calendar is a really awesome tool. The News Feed will show activities or steps for your connections. Finally you get access to a massive amount of other features under More.

Overall, this is a wonderful app, especially for people who are very fitness and activity focused. However, unlike many of the other apps from competitors, there is a learning curve to this app, which may not be for the timid tech user.

Garmin Connect Website

The Garmin Connect Website is one of the most powerful sites I have ever used. It's also one of the most complicated to use and has a rather steep learning curve. The site is mostly easy to navigate. The real power to this site is that you can heavily customize tabs to show whatever information you want. For example, my loading tab is called "Training" and shows an overview of things I find important, as you can see below. I also have tabs for swimming, biking, running, and activity tracking. Each tab is customized how I want to see my information.

Some of my favorite features include being able to create training plans, running or cycling routes, and creating workouts. Garmin provides some free training plans which are pretty decent. You can sync them to your Garmin device, assuming that device supports it. The calendar is where I spend most of my time. I plan out my weeks by adding workouts I have created. I can then sync my calendar to my watch, and load the specific training activity on my watch for that day and begin that workout. Polar does this as well, and it's an awesome feature.

Similar to MapMyRun, Garmin has the ability to create routes. It is not as advanced as MapMyRun, but it's good enough that you don't need to rely on MapMyRun to map out your routes. There are tons of other features on the site, which would take a long time to cover.

Final Thoughts

The Garmin ecosystem is what most athletes and active individuals dream of using. It's important to note that Garmin is also, slowly but surely, getting with the times and allowing for multiple Garmin devices to sync with their app like FitBit and others have, working more with allowing third party integrations, finally starting to move to Bluetooth smart, and making the overall experience more streamlined. I am not convinced Garmin is for everyone, even if their devices, since there are some learning curves to the devices, app, and website. However, Garmin is one of my favorite ecosystems...then again, I am biased since I am a triathlete. Up next, Apple!

Building Plan: Week 4 Complete

What a week! Had to be at the hospital a bunch for my cat, so I missed some workouts. However, I got most of my other planned workouts in. I even got myself back in the pool! My eating suffered a lot though.

Strength
I only got in 1 full strength session. I got a partial session in as well, but it was more stretching than anything, as I was completely wrecked from my Thursday cadence run. It was my first real attempt at my Week 3/4 cadence plan. I definitely went too fast on the treadmill. But I'll get into this shortly. Anyway, my strength session was a monster! I had a faster-than-usual warm-up run, so I started my strength session at a fairly elevated heart rate. This session was also continuous sets-focused, so my heart rate stayed rather elevated, with points where I was hitting close to max HR. I had to lay down and foam roll for a good 10 minutes after. Sadly, this was my only real strength workout, which I am extremely disappointed about, as my main focus is improving my strength. This will not happen again!

Running
So, my first attempt at the Cadence Week 3/4 plan was the day after my above strength session. My legs were not fully recovered from that session, but I did the run anyway. I set a whole bunch of PR's, but almost passed out after my run from pushing myself to the absolute max. Happily though, I am pushing myself to my limits, but not going over. I need to keep being vigilant of my form, as I will easily get injured at this level of training. I did my second run over the weekend, on Sunday instead of Saturday. Although I was exhausted, it went much better than my prior run. I was able to maintain a higher belt speed for all 3 intervals while maintaining close to my goal cadence. However, my HR is still way too high and my average cadence is not at 180 yet. Therefore, I will be continuing my Week 3/4 cadence running into Week 5. I could technically move to Week 4/5, but I am not trying to build as quickly as possible...I am trying to make major gains that will stick.

Cycling
I had a nice leg-loosening session the day after my first run. It was pure awfulness, but I felt so much better later that day and especially the following day. I am making it my mission that I never miss some sort of shake-out workout after an intense workout day because this will promote faster healing and recovery. Sadly, I did not get in my long trainer ride.

Swimming
I finally got in the pool. I did this after my 2nd run session, which was Sunday. I swam 800 yards...which felt like 10 miles and I thought I was in the pool for a couple hours. I did 100 WU, 3 x 200, then 100 CD. I needed a full 60 seconds rest between each set. I honestly can't remember the last time I swam and it felt that tough for swimming so little. But guess what? I felt amazing when I got home and today I feel almost 100%. I cannot emphasize how much proper cross training is helping me.

Final Thoughts
I am going to keep trying to be more consistent with my workout volume. I altered my plan a little to be more realistic with my schedule. I am hoping I will be able to succeed more now. I don't think I need another 3 run sessions of the Week 3/4 Cadence plan, but I am going to get them done for good measure. As a note, I am down to a 6:08 mile now!!!!! With my walks between intervals, I am also at a 22:07 5k as well. However, I am not really counting this 5k pace until I can do a 5k with no stops.

My eating is still amazingly awful and I have not only regained all of my lost weight, but I am up a couple pounds again. I am not too worried about it though, as this is still not my major focus yet. Hope everyone is working hard with their goals!

Choosing a Health and Fitness Ecosystem - Part 4 - The Polar Ecosystem

Polar Ecosystem

Polar has always been one of the top fitness brands since I can first remember. Their HR accuracy was always second to none and their devices were reliable and for a long time were the gold standard. They had struggled with the smartwatch, integrated GPS and smart fitness watch concepts, causing them to fall dramatically behind the likes of Garmin, TomTom and FitBit.

However, they have really stepped up and have an amazing line of products in addition to amazing mobile apps and a website to compliment it all. So, first up is the Polar Ecosystem.

Polar Flow Website

Polar Flow is Polar's portal to all things Polar health and fitness. The site features the following sections:

• Feed
• Explore
• Diary
• Progress
• Community
• Programs

Feed is just the standard activity and social feed of friends' activities. Explore is a really neat feature that allows you to see what others are doing and where, assuming they allow it to be shared. This is a really neat social feature that makes it incredibly easy to find training partners or groups. Diary is a an awesome tool. It allows you to both plan out training, see training schedules from Programs, and see what activities you completed on what day. For details behind your training, races, and progress, the Progress tab has all of the information that whatever Polar device you use can capture. Community is another social feature that allows you find groups that you can join for training, competition, etc. For example, if you are a Strava person, there are Strava groups and challenges on there.

Finally, the Programs section. I wanted to break this out of the other description because this is an amazing tool which you won't find on most sites, especially for free. To put it simply, Programs is a tool that allows you to build a running program for common distance events; 5k, 10k, half marathon, full marathon. It's only for running, but it's amazing. And unlike most sites that provide running programs, Polar keeps in mind how important strength training is. Once you create the program, it will appear in your Diary, and depending on your Polar device, it will load the training plans onto your device. I am not going into specific details, but you can explore on your own and check out the screen captures I provided.

Polar Flow and Polar Beat Apps

Polar also has the Polar Flow and Polar Beat apps for iPhone and Android. One thing that makes these such great applications is that it can turn your phone into a fitness device and does not care if you have a Polar device or not. I am not sure why all companies do not follow Polar's lead on Polar Beat. Polar Flow serves as a dashboard and sync tool for supported Polar devices, from watches to accessories to cycling tools. I used to use a standard Polar HR watch and monitor, which cannot sync with a phone (it did had a USB sync though), as they do not have Bluetooth. However, with Polar's H7 combo Bluetooth and Polar Frequency heart rate monitor, I was able to use my watch and also use my phone with the Polar Beat app. Eventually I stopped using the watch because the Beat app had GPS and tracked way more data. As a quick note, Polar Flow used to be both apps, and I am not sure why they really had to turn it into 2 apps, other than for marketing and branding purposes.

Devices

Polar currently has a very nice lineup of devices, ranging from activity trackers to multi-sport devices. They pretty much have everything to cover your healthy lifestyle. I am not going into the list, but you can visit Polar's website to learn about all of the offerings.

Polar Beat and H7 Heart Rate Monitor

Polar Flow

Final Thoughts

Overall, Polar is still a top company when it comes to fitness and fitness tracking. They have come a long way in smarter devices and activity tracking. If you know people who are using Polar, it's an awesome ecosystem to work on. Plus, as an added bonus, most gym equipment supports the native Polar signal. Up next is FitBit.

NOTE: Both Polar Flow and Beat pictures are taken from Polar's website and are property of Polar.

Choosing a Health and Fitness Ecosystem - Part 3 - How Calories Burned is Determined

How Calories Burned is Determined

If you have ever done a side-by-side comparison of 2 devices that can calculate your calories burned, either throughout your day or for an activity, then you noticed that they gave anywhere from slightly to dramatically different results. My favorite example is when I was comparing FitBit Charge HR, Garmin 920xt with HRM strap, and non-HR FitBit Flex. The activity was a 30 minute run on the treadmill at a 10 min pace. My burn with Garmin was about 260 calories. The FitBit Charge was just under 280. The Flex was just over 310. So if I was trying to lose weight, and I was relying just on the Flex, I would have thought I could eat over 50 more calories...which is a super yummy snack. That's not good. However, it's not totally bad either and I will explain why.

The Flaw of Caloric Burn

Despite what all of the fitness sites will tell you, heart tracking for determining calorie burn is flawed in so many ways. For example, heart rate monitors are designed to work in an optimal condition of elevated heart rate for a period of time. So, for people who do strength training, caloric burn result will typically be wrong. I am not going into the full details of this, because it's not relevant for this article, but know that your body is a complex machine and it burns calories different based on how your muscles and cardiovascular system are engaged.

I am not saying to throw out your calorie burn results; but I am saying you need to understand that results are based on usually complex equations that are still flawed, because every person's body burns calories a little bit different from the next.

HRM vs. Non-HRM

I am not trying to pick on FitBit, but they are the easiest to use for this example. We are going to use the FitBit Flex and FitBit Charge HR for this segment. Devices and formulas have advanced very far these days, so non-HRM devices that show calories have dramatically improved over time.

Quick disclaimer: I won't be posting any exact formulas because I am not well-versed in the legal jargon that the various companies have around their proprietary formulas, and since I figured out a bunch of them, I fear posting them would put me in trouble. That said, however, I will post what typically goes into the calculations.

At the very basic fitness tracker level, meaning Non-HRM, it will take into account, your age, height, weight, and steps. Most will use your gender as well. Moving up the list for Non-HRM, some have average caloric burns in addition to the various data I already mentioned. Some will even go as far as to then see your averages and adjust accordingly. However, this gets very inaccurate since it needs heart rate.

So, Heart Rate Monitors. The most basic will take into account your age, weight, and heart rate from the activity. It doesn't care about steps, gender, etc. As you can guess, the more advanced keep adding more variables to get a more accurate picture of caloric expenditure. In addition, devices that have the ability to track heart rate (HR) all day, have different formulas than that of a physical activity. So if you don't workout or overexert yourself, it will use one formula to determine your full day calorie burn. If you also exercise or do some activity that raises your heart rate to a certain level or higher, then it will use a different formula, and then add those 2 values together. The devices know to not count workout time into the overall daily burn, since you would get over-inflated results.

In addition, most of the new HRM's and their fitness device (can be separate or the same device) will watch for patterns and adjust the burns as your fitness improves. For example, if I start running for the first time, and I am a bit overweight, my heart rate is going to be higher, and I am going to see a pretty decent calorie burn from a run. Maybe a couple months later after I have lost some weight and my cardiovascular system has more endurance and is more efficient, I might only be burning a fraction of the calories for the same effort.

What Do I Choose?

Despite the above probably being confusing, the decision on whether or not to get an activity tracker or fitness device that can track heart rate is fairly simple. If you aren't someone who counts calories, doesn't care about calories, or you aren't doing any sort of activity or training that you need heart rate data, then there is no reason to get a device that tracks heart rate. Nice and simple, right?

Summary

\In conclusion, many people who just want a device to help keep them active, track activities, or to claim some work or insurance incentives, do not need a device with heart rate tracking capabilities. However, if you don't fall into those categories, you will probably want one; you might not use it right away, but you will. Up next I will be doing a long series of discussing the good, the bad, and the ugly of the various ecosystems out there.

Choosing a Health and Fitness Ecosystem - Part 2 - Activity Tracker vs Fitness Device

Activity Tracker vs Fitness Device

The health and fitness tech market is growing exponentially, with everyone either wanting to get healthy or being obsessed with numbers. However, before you jump on the bandwagon, you need to know the difference between an activity tracker and a fitness device. They are starting to become one-in-the-same for the most mainstream brands, but there is a clear difference and this will hopefully help you when you are deciding what to choose.

Activity Tracker

An activity tracker does just what the name implies; it tracks your daily activeness or lack-there-of. At the most basic, an activity tracker will tell you how many steps you have taken. Most however include sleep tracking as well. Once you start going up the line, you will get automatic workout tracking, integrated or external heart rate tracking and other metrics related to your steps, such as stairs climbed and inactivity periods.

It should be noted that if you are not a huge fitness person and you just want to track the basics because you either something to keep you on point with hitting your step goals or achieving some level of activity toward health or weight goals, then an activity tracker is key. And most companies are hitting up these devices with extremely stylish designs. For example, Withings has an activity tracker watch that is really slick, the Activite Steel and Saphire. Garmin just came out with one as well, the Vivomove; and it's probably the most attractive looking activity tracker I have seen yet.

Other devices can track activity as well, like smart phones and smart watches. So, your iPhone or Android phone will probably have a step tracker app or you can get an app that can utilize your phone to track that. But Apple Watch and Gear S2 can track your workouts like mainstream fitness devices, right? Yes and no. I leave the super technical details to DC Rainmaker, but basically these devices are not the best when it comes to true fitness tracking. The have severe accuracy flaws. Now, there are some 3rd party companies that have apps to correct some of this, but overall, if you are training for races or have a huge focus on working out, then an activity tracker is going become very limiting at some point.

Fitness Device

And now the fitness device. This is a device that is purely designed for tracking detailed metrics about your workouts. This can include heart rate min, max, average, and zones, calories burned, intensity levels, elevation changes, distance, speed, instant pace, and the list goes on and on. Now, thanks to FitBit being so competitive, they forced companies like Garmin, Polar and Tom Tom to incorporate activity tracking into their newer devices. So nowadays, a fitness device usually has all of the activity tracking components in addition to everything it already has and is designed for. This basically gives you an extremely detailed and advanced device that will give you a holistic look at your day-to-day lifestyle and the impacts of your workouts, activities, sleep, and more.

In addition, thanks to Apple, many fitness devices and activity trackers alike are incorporating smart features now as well; apps, music control, message alerts from your phone, and much more.

How Do I Choose?

This is fairly simple in most cases. If you are just trying to be active or you have goals set by your work, then a standard activity tracker will meet all of your needs and then some. However, if you consistently workout by doing running, cycling, strength training, swimming, other, or a combination of them, then you will want a fitness device so you can see metrics specific to the workout you did so you can keep improving for whatever goals you have. This is not to say that a fitness device wouldn't be good for someone who is just looking for standard activity tracking, but it will definitely give you way more than you want or need...although for some of the extra smart features or style, in some cases, it might be worth it.

Summary

This was a short article, but I wanted to make sure you understood the top level difference between devices before I start going into more details on which ones to buy, how to customize your ecosystem, and more. Up next I will be discussing calories burned across activity trackers and fitness devices.

Choosing a Health and Fitness Ecosystem - Part 1 - The Basics

The Basics

If you don't have a naturally fit and healthy lifestyle, then it may be a struggle to figure out what you need to help motivate, track, analyze and progress. There fitness devices, smart devices with fitness features, apps for smart phones, websites, software, and much more. Not only that, each group has typically no less than a dozen or two companies / brands you can go with. This alone makes wanting to track what you do intimidating and can stop you before you get started.

So, let's cover a simple checklist to help you navigate this crazy world of health and fitness. As a note, I will be doing more in-depth posts on various options, ecosystems, and advice to blend your lifestyle into the ecosystem you choose.

What Do I Need to Get Started?

You need to first ask yourself, "Do I really care about tech and tracking as a way to motivate myself?" If the answer is no, stop reading and go get healthy! If the answer is yes, which is how it is for most people, then let's figure out what your initial motivation is.

Most people want to be healthier or improve something about how they look and/or feel. Some people also have major health issues that should be addressed. However, this isn't always enough to get going. Once you decide to get going, you then need a way to keep yourself motivated.

We'll start with the easiest and fastest growing motivator: Your job, school, or coach has laid down the hammer and said you either have to be more fit and healthy, or there is some awesome financial perk to being fit and healthy. This is the easiest to address. In most cases, especially with companies, there is already some tool that the company is going to use, such as Viverae or Shapeup. Almost all of these tools link to other fitness or tracking websites and electronics. The most common examples are MyFitnessPal and FitBit. So, if your company is your motivator, your ecosystem is simple: Use what they have, get a fitness tracking device that will connect to that ecosystem, and if you plan on tracking nutrition, either find a site that allows you to track what you eat or utilize the site of the fitness device you got, assuming they offer food tracking.

Let me give you a common scenario. Let's say your company uses Viverae. Their portal allows you to track sleep, steps, activities, and nutrition. Most companies who have this setup also offer company stores or discounts to activity trackers, the most common being FitBit. FitBit is a one-stop-shop for general activity, health and fitness tracking. For example, the FitBit Flex HR will track you steps, sleep and activities. This data will automatically (once you set it up) sync to the Viverae portal. In addition, FitBit's website and app allow you to track your nutrition as well. This also syncs with Viverae. You can also get a FitBit scale that will get your weight and other vitals. This can also sync with Viverae. You now have an all-inclusive ecosystem with minimal effort:

1. Viverae Portal to show all progress for whatever bonus you will get from your company
2. FitBit Device
3. FitBit Application and Website

That's it! It's not as intimidating when you see it that way.

But I Do More than Just Health and Fitness for Work, School, or a Team

That's fine. And maybe you already have fitness devices or activity trackers you currently use. This can be both an easier and more complicated scenario. If you are using one of the major brands, like Garmin, FitBit, Jawbone, Under Armour, Polar, or TomTom, then those companies already sync pretty well with other websites and portals. In regards to nutrition and health tracking, if you are using one of the major ones like MyFitnessPal, then that syncs with all of the major activity and fitness tracking brands. Therefore, for those who are doing multi-sport, activities other than walking/running, and so on, there is an easy way to sync everything up.

Now, the caveat here is that you may need to be using multiple sites and apps to see everything, but it's still rather minimal. Here is an example of a common scenario for someone who does multiple sports in addition to nutrition tracking.

1. Garmin VivoActive HR
2. MyFitnessPal
3. Withings Scale

This scenario is very common. And it's also the easiest to manage. Now, there are other sites you can sync your data to for a different or more in-depth look at your workout and health data, but that is completely optional. However, let's say you have a device that doesn't sync up well with other sites you want to use. There are websites out there that will sync with virtually anything that can give them data. In turn, they will then format that data and send it other sites you use. So, if your fitness device doesn't sync with MyFitnessPal, for example, you can use a site such as tapiriik.

In Summary

Ideally, you want to stick with an existing ecosystem, especially when it comes to devices. So, if your planned support group all use FitBit, and FitBit's devices meet your needs, don't look any further. If you have tons of friends who have all sorts of devices, find a site that can sync with all of them, and then get whatever device looks the nicest or is the easiest to use. Up next I'll cover the difference between an activity tracker and fitness device, and how to choose the right one for you.