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.

Polar FT40 Review

I have had my Polar FT40 for about 3 years now. I purchased it for 2 reasons; 1) It was one of the few watches out at the time that had great reviews on overall accuracy of calorie expenditure during a workout and 2) It was Polar, so I knew the heart rate tracking was going to be very accurate and I could train in zones. Now, the FT40 does not have specific zone training settings, so this was a manual effort; I really only cared if my heart rate went too high. I also wanted a watch that was designed to be able to track fat vs. cardio; basically meaning that I wanted to figure out approximate calorie burn when I was doing weight lifting or HIIT workouts, in addition to my cardio workouts.

Watch Functions and Setup

When I bought the watch, it came with the manual, software installation CD, heart rate strap, heart rate monitor, USB sync dock, and the watch. I had to setup the watch first, since part of the software installation process was to sync the watch to the software. Watch setup was very easy; you put in your gender, height, weight, date of birth, and activity level, and set the time and date.

For more options from the main screen, press the bottom right button. The first option is settings. Now press the right middle button. Here are the Training Settings:

1. Training Sounds
• Off, Soft, Loud, Very Loud
• Pick whichever you want. When I used to listen to music, I turned the sound off, but since I don't usually listen to music now, I usually set the noise to Loud, which is usually a good volume to hear over gym noise or a treadmill motor.
2. Heart Rate View
• Beats Per Minutes or Percent of Maximum
• I do BPM because I don't train based on % of max, but if you do, you can
3. HeartTouch
• The Polar explanation says it better than I can: "When HeartTouch is on, different training information during training can be accessed without pressing buttons, for instance, when gloves make pressing buttons difficult, by bringing your training computer close to your transmitter."
• I personally use it so I can keep session duration displayed on the watch, and then when I want to see what time it is, instead of scrolling through the displays, which is a pain, I just move the watch near the heart rate monitor, and the time will be displayed.
• Per the manual and my usage, HeartTouch only displays the time, and no other display values...HeartTouch is either On or Off.
4. Heart Rate Upper Limit
• This value is set based on your personal info when you first setup the watch. However, if you are in amazing cardio shape, your max HR may be a lot higher. Therefore, you can change this if you know your max HR is different.

Other options on the main selection menu after Settings are Fitness Test and Data. You can read below about Fitness Test. For Data, you get some nice options:

1. Training Files
• Starts with most recent workout
• Displayed date, time of workout, duration of workout
• Press the right middle button to see details
• Calories
• This is your calories burned during the workout
• Cal. Fat
• This is the fat percentage of calories burned
• Average
• Average Heart Rate during session
• Maximum
• Maximum Heart Rate during session
• Fat Burn
• Amount of time you were in the fat burning zone
• This time is usually higher during low intensity workouts, such as strength training
• Fitness
• Amount of time you were in the fitness zone (or cardiovascular zone)
• Typically for runs, biking, or other purely cardio workouts, most of your session time will appear here.
2. Week Summaries
• Shows current week first
• Graph shows activity level of selected week vs. other weeks
• Pressing the middle right button, you can see the details for that week
• Duration (overall for all sessions)
• Calories (total from all sessions)
• Sessions (total sessions for week)
3. Totals since (when you first started using the watch)
• This is a really awesome feature, as you can see how awesome you are
• The one problem is that the max Duration time is 99 hour, 59 minutes, so although it will keep adding sessions and calories, your Duration will stop at 99h:59m
• Displays Duration, Sessions, and Calories
4. Delete Files
• Deletes your currently stored files...if your storage is full and you need to do a workout, you may need to do this
5. Reset Week Summaries
• Same as Delete files
6. Reset Totals
• Same as Delete files
• This is good to use if you are trying to achieve certain goals. This way you can see how many sessions, total duration, and total calories burned to achieve your goal. Then you can reset for you next goal.

Recommendations for Initial Use

After you have setup your watch, signed up on Polar Fitness website and are ready for a workout, I recommend doing 2 things. It's important to know 2 things; what is your resting heart rate and what heart rate range should you be working out in. Heart rate ranges for age and gender are good guides, but people who fall on either extreme end of the spectrum may either hurt themselves or not get enough out of a workout. For example, someone who is extremely out of shape, overweight, and has no real fitness stamina, then their heart rate range is going to be significantly less than another person who is in the middle of the spectrum in the same age group and gender. So, make sure to do the fitness test.

To do the fitness test, press the bottom right button 2 times, then press the right middle button. Make sure you heart rate monitor is on. You also want to do the following:

• Find a relaxed environment to do the test
• Avoid any physical activity prior to test, or any food, drink, or medicine that could alter your heart rate...do this for up to 1 day before test
• Avoid any large meals at least 2 hours before test (I tried test this way and right after a large meal and got the same results)
• Make sure if you are doing the test multiple times over time, always do it in the same conditions

Then, you can start the test, wait 5 minutes for it to finish, and see your results. You will then be asked to update your VO2Max, at which point you should, since it will make calorie burn more accurate.

My result for example, the first time I took the test mine was 42. Per the chart in the manual, that means my VO2Max was on the low end of being moderately good. The last time I took it I was at 53, which is very good. So, you can see I have improved. In essence, the fitness test is Polar's version of trying to determine your VO2Max. Compared to getting your actual VO2Max tested, it's not the greatest, but compared to most other calculators and competitor watches, it's one of the most accurate.

Training

When you want to start your workout, press the middle right button and wait for the watch to pickup the heart rate monitor signal. If you want to start, just press the middle right button again and go! If you need to pause, press the bottom left button, and the press the middle right button to resume. if you are done, press the bottom left button twice.

If you want to customize your workout, before pressing the middle right button a second time, press the bottom right button to see Training Settings, and then press the middle right button to see options.

• Training Sounds
• If you want beeps or not, and how loud
• Heart Rate View
• BPM or % of Max...whatever you want to display based on your training session
• Heart Touch
• I usually keep it on all of the time so I can see the current time if I need to
• Heart Rate Upper Limit
• If you are trying to keep from going above a certain heart rate, set the upper limit and make sure you have Training Sounds enabled so you know if you go over

Sadly, there are no other special training settings. However, there are plenty of other models you can get for this. But for a watch to get you accurate calorie burn from workouts, this is definitely the watch for you.