Should you check your smartwatch after every set of push-ups, or is it better to ignore your statistics until the end of your workout? Should you pay more attention to the amount of fat your smartwatch says you have burned, or your calories?
Thanks to the huge range of affordable smartwatches available today, more Indians can find a quality tracker to enhance their workouts. However, there are just as many ways to use smartwatches in the gym as there are tech users, and not everyone is using their smartwatch the right way.
Pros and cons of smartwatch use in the gym
When used correctly, a smartwatch can be a goldmine of health information which captures the user’s progress over time, whether they exercise in a gym, their home, or the great outdoors. For users undergoing medical treatment or living with chronic conditions, smartwatches can help them stay active within safe limits and also send over their workout information to a healthcare provider or a personal trainer.
Whether you prefer a budget-friendly OnePlus device or Apple’s most premium offering, many smartwatches geared towards fitness enthusiasts now come with preset modes for jogging, running, Pilates, elliptical machines, dancing, karate, swimming, and more, to improve data accuracy and provide extra detailed workout breakdowns. For fitness enthusiasts who menstruate, smartwatches can help adjust their workouts throughout their cycle for optimal results. And even between intense routines or heart-pumping “super-sets,” your smartwatch can lead you through a guided breathing routine to help you recover before the next round.
But when used incorrectly, smartwatches can make workouts less effective or even put the wearer in danger. For example: becoming fixated on one statistic—such as the number of calories burned per session—may prevent the person from switching between high and low intensity exercises, and can strain muscles. Overly depending on a smartwatch to exercise may also cause the wearer to push beyond their limits and stop listening to their body’s cues, increasing their risk of injury or even death.
On a lighter note, some fitness enthusiasts find that having yet another screen to look at during the day doesn’t promote relaxation or spontaneity while exercising.
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Safety tips for smartwatch users
So how do fitness enthusiasts make their smartwatches work for them, instead of the other way around?
Namrata Purohit, an entrepreneur, fitness expert, and partner at The Pilates Studio, who has trained celebrities such as actor Kareena Kapoor Khan, told The Hindu by email that smartwatches can make it fun to keep track of workouts but that the devices should not become a distraction.
A trained Stott Pilates instructor, Purohit said she enjoyed exercising with her Apple Watch in order to keep track of her workout timings and check if her weekly exercise goals were being met. However, she did not agree with using a smartwatch in the gym to focus only on the calories being burned.
“Different workouts have different goals and targets, calories being just one of them. So while it’s nice to keep a tab on calories burned it shouldn’t be the only thing one looks at,” Purohit said.
How does a smartwatch track your vitals?
For those who exercise in groups, Purohit explained how smartwatches can help everyone reach the end of their session.
“Some of us have our watches synced, that way we can challenge and motivate each other to complete our workout of the day. During a workout we try not to get distracted by anything, we simply turn [on] the exercise on our Apple Watch and get going,” she said.
But what happens when your smartwatch and your machine in the gym throw out different numbers? Purohit said that the smartwatch’s data is usually more accurate as it is customised to the user. She also pointed out that most modern cardio machines have the option of syncing stats or attaching a heart rate monitor, so fitness enthusiasts who need extra precise measurements can use this strategy instead.
Privacy tips for smartwatch users
While there might be a smartwatch for everyone who exercises, perhaps not everyone should be using a smartwatch when they exercise.
“For people who have their calls and messages synced and are easily distracted by a watch, I prefer not having it on. It’s also not good to keep looking at the watch just to see how much time has passed or over-monitor everything. One has to find the right balance,” Purohit said.
Most smartwatches available today come with a ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode or ‘Focus’ mode to limit notifications as well as soften bright lights and sounds. Once enabled or customised, these modes should help fitness enthusiasts get immersed in their workouts—minus the work email reminders or WhatsApp forwards from the family group chat.
With an extensive range of smartwatch wallpapers and screen customisation options, fitness enthusiasts can also make their clocks less visible or keep them completely hidden until they reach the end of their workout.