I have this weird relationship with fitness. There’s a clear cut “best route” to take but I refuse to embark on it. I know what I want to achieve and there are superior ways to achieve it but I just refuse to simply go out and jog, follow a P90x routine, hit the gym, lift weights or just go down the well worn path to success. It’s not that I don’t believe those methods are not effective — they just sound incredibly mundane, boring and too much work for me. I needed to buy into a system that worked for me.
I needed a system that worked for me and on my schedule. I started to do push-ups and crunches while watching Pardon The Interruption on TV. It was a 30 minute program and so I would do alternating sets until the program ended. Then I saw a Wii Fit U on sale for $25 or so and was reminded of the benefits of Yoga and I thought to myself: “Why not?” I really enjoyed using it because it provided instantaneous feedback. It was up to me to be honest in my efforts and it required some careful calibration but I genuinely enjoyed using the balance board to measure my improvements.
Now my daily workout shifted from being a 30 minute thing to 50 minutes. I’m watching daily video content from GiantBomb and other Youtube channels of interest. I was going to watch these anyways so why not watch/listen to a few videos while I’m working out.
I also purchased a pull up structure a couple years back in order to do some weightlifting. My goal was to be able to lift my own wait comfortably and I figured this was a great way to see the progress first hand.
As you can see, there are common themes and trends throughout my workout regiment. It had to be relatively easy to work into my daily life without dedicating a lot of time to it. There has to be some form of feedback or progress tracking. And finally, it had to be relatively affordable.
This brings us to my latest purchase: a fitness band. I noticed my brother toning and losing weight after following the activity tracker on his Apple Watch. I don’t like the look or price of the Apple Watch but I wanted the fitness benefits so I looked at fitness bands.
After looking around I landed on the Garmine Vivosmart HR which was a nice blend of features and price. I’ve always enjoyed the idea of smart watch so something like the Vivosmart HR’s screen and notification features fit the bill nicely. So far it’s done everything I wanted but if I were to do it all over again with what I know know, I would have picked up the Fitbit Alta instead. The only criticism I have with the Vivosmart HR is its bulk which can be attributed to the inclusion of the heart rate monitor. While nice to know, my heartrate isn’t something that I need to know to get healthier. If I continue follow the daily activity goals, I’m going to see an improvement regardless.
I’m used to it now but I would have liked to see the Vivosmart HR 5mm thinner. Thankfully it’s light because if it wasn’t, I would have sent it back. It’s supposed to do sleep tracking as well but because of the bulk, I remove it every night before going to bed.
But how has it been as a fitness tracker? I’m well aware of the fact that I didn’t move around nearly enough throughout the day. The regular reminders to get up and move was welcoming and gave me an excuse to just get up and do a lap around the floor to clear the “move bar”. I’m finding excuses to take less efficient routes in order to “get my steps in”. I’ve also forgone sitting around at my desk after eating lunch for a 30 minute walk outside.
Am I seeing the benefits? I’ve owned the fitness band for about a week and half now and I would say yes. I’ve lost about 2 lbs and have the nicest tan in years because of all this walking.
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The Pokemon Go app sucks. It’s a bad app that drains my phone’s battery and heats up the case like no other app I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t help that the servers are wonky. But the game itself is fine for what it is. I try to capture some Pokemon while I do my walks but that’s about it. I haven’t done any battling because I don’t care about the battling or claiming territory in this game. I’m trying to keep my phone from dying before the end of the day so it’s not wise to invest so much time in Pokemon Go.
Other than checking out that phenomenon, I’ve been playing daily rounds of Overwatch. What a great game.
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