There are currently countless fitness tracker options available. Most are reasonably priced and can track your heart rate and steps effectively. However, if you are looking for more tracking options and better analytics, you may want to try the Whoop strap. This is a popular fitness tracker option in the cross fit community and in the MLB and NFL.
The Whoop membership starts at $30 per month, or $288 USD annually, and includes everything you need. However, you must subscribe for a minimum of 6 months. Below are some insights into the most popular features to help you decide if the Whoop strap is worth it for you.
The Whoop strap will automatically track your resting heart rate (RHR) and your heart rate variability (HRV) while you are wearing it. Your RHR is a general indicator of your overall health. It refers to how many beats per minute your heart makes while you are relaxed and calm. A lower RHR is associated with a higher level of fitness and cardiovascular health. Your HRV can be a good indicator of your fitness and overall health. This is a measure of the time variance between heartbeats. When it increases from your baseline you are ready for a tough workout. However, if your HRV goes down this is an indicator that you may need a rest day.
Ideally, as you work on your fitness, your RHR should lower and your HRV should get higher. This is easy to see and track in the Whoop app. The app will also recommend when you should train harder or when to have a rest based on your heart rate data.
As part of your daily analytics, Whoop takes your heart rate data and creates a ‘Strain’ score in the app per day. This will show how hard you worked throughout the day on a scale from 1 to 21. The app also gives an estimate of how many calories you have burned based on height, weight, and heart rate. This estimate is not 100% accurate, however, it is a great starting point for those looking to lose weight while fueling themselves correctly for workouts. Your strain score can also help you determine what lifestyle choices impact your health the most. For example, you can see how high your strain score is for climbing the stairs at work, versus walking at lunch. By tracking what activities boost your heart rate and how long it takes for you to recover you can also plan your workouts better.
The Whoop app, analyses the data collected, to let you know how much sleep you need each night. This is based on how active you were, your strain score, and the quality of sleep the night before. Within the app, you can see how much time you spend in bed and how much time you spend in bed sleeping. The Whoop strap will also track how many sleep disturbances you have, how long you were in each sleep stage, and how long it took to fall asleep. Sleep and exercise are connected, thus, the app will also use the sleep data when recommending how hard you should work out, or when to take a rest day. Often, sleep quality is more important than sleep quantity and Whoop helps you track that effectively.
Each fitness tracker has downfalls, and Whoop is no exception. Below are a few things to keep in mind when considering the Whoop strap.
For someone looking to analyze data around diet, sleep, recovery, and workouts, the Whoop strap is worth it. The depth of analytics that Whoop provides is extensive and easy to read. Users can access daily information, weekly information, and average trends. This is extremely useful for someone looking to focus on their health data. One of the best features of Whoop is that you don’t have to click anything when starting a workout, the strap works it out automatically. The strap can also record up to 3 days worth of data, meaning you can use it even while taking a break from your phone.
