Fitbit Surge could get me wearing a watch again

[Mark]

Nina (my wife) is still enjoying using her Surge she wore it at tennis last night and it mapped her workout nicely.

However, recharging the watch is now a daily ritual and when you also have to recharge your phone, laptop, etc it can become a real pain - in fact, I know it's starting to get really annoying because she's always talking about it

 

[DTK]

Well Kate, I wasn't into step counters either but my wife won a Vivofit2 Garmin last month and it's been sitting on the shelf unopened so last week I decided to put my skepticism aside and wear it to see how it worked and if it indeed does motivate.

I'm not a big fan of Garmin because I think their software is a bit clunky and that was confirmed after going through the drawn out process to create an account and set up the app on my mobile phone. However, once I got through all that I found the actual wrist band (mini watch) worked quite well!

I would say it does give a fair indication of how far a person has moved and how active they have been for the day and I was surprised to see the statistics of my sleep pattern also. What I found myself doing is monitoring my steps and then at the end of the day if I haven't made my quota automatically set (according to my goal which is to lose 10 kg) then I get out in the garden or go for a workout. So yes, I guess it's working to motivate me.

It's also interesting to see how far I do move some days even doing regular things like shopping used up almost half my steps in few hours and my tennis fixtures chewed through my steps and added several thousand onto the counter! So no need for the elliptical machine that night

I'll write a full review on the Vivofit2 and put the link here if people are interested.


I love running outdoors but I have a recurring calf injury that keeps coming back because I keep running... My last 10km run I only lasted 1km and my calf blew out so I angrily limped home.

We've had our elliptical machine a few weeks now and it as my wife convinced me to get one because she uses them in her work gym and thought the low impact may help with my injury plus you can set the angle so it targets your upper thighs and hammies instead of working the calves.

Bottom line... She was right!

I've been using it nearly every day and because it's low impact and I can set the machine to be kinder on my calves I've had no sign of discomfort whatsoever. Yes, it's a little boring but I've installed a TV in our home gym so at least this helps.

I'm still working my way back to running but I think I'll use elliptical training as part of my weekly workouts from now on regardless of how well my calf recovers. I can elliptical every day but I could never run every day (since my 20s) because running although great exercise is high impact.

This particular machine is mid-range RRP $1300 got ours on special for $999 from Amart Sports called HealthRider and yes the arms move so it's sort of like skiing with your arms whilst riding a bike standing up in an elliptical fashion - I must look quite untidy especially when I'm close to the end of my workout and doing it hard with arms and legs going everywhere

I'll write a review about this also.

Hi Mark,
I stopped wearing my wedding ring for the same reason - our work situation. When I married, I was still a VM in an RAINF Bn so jewelry was a big no-no.

When I worked at Enoggera and had a regular PT activity, I used wear a Garmin sports watch (Foreunner, I think) and for a time the HRM chest strap. I did not like to strap and was not really happy with the charging mechanism of the watch. On the upside, it used to sync to my computer and kept pretty good records. That functionality was very helpful as my annual trips to the cardiologist were made more simple. I would print the graphs from my Garmin program and give them to him. I ended up having two Forerunner watches and then a Suunto (hand-me-up benefits of having a son who wants the latest gadgets).

Since retirement (over two years now) I have not worn a watch other than maybe a formal occasion when phone was not appropriate. I have begun to think it is time to start to measure activity because I have been lazy.

What is your current mechanism for monitoring physical activity?