from the May, 2015 issue of Kiai!

Tracking Your Training with Fitness Wearables

By Senpai Ryan Libel
2nd Degree Black Belt and TW Director of Operations


Senpai Ryan models his Fitbit
Charge HR.

“Wearables” might finally have arrived – Apple, Google and Microsoft have all brought robust, wrist-based devices to market recently.  While Google Glass and Microsoft’s Hololens are not quite ready for prime time, wearable electronics that do more than tell the time are definitely proliferating. 

Fitness enthusiasts know that wearable digital devices have been around for quite a while, actually – these have been mostly watch-type bands with built-in pedometers and/or GPS integration that enable metrics-happy runners like me to track our workouts.  I had one of those earlier devices and, while it did its job, there’s no doubt this next generation of devices has come a long way.  Recently, I’ve been able to experiment with three: the Fitbit Flex, the Fitbit Charge HR and, in a separate category due to its richer feature-set, the Microsoft Band.

Fitbit offers a line of fitness wristbands and pendant type accessories geared exclusively toward health and fitness applications.  They sync their movement tracking data with a web-based application that also allows users to enter and track calories, weight and water consumption, while instilling a sense of healthy competition by connecting you to friends and displaying a 7-day step-ranking amongst your group.  Users can also enter activities that don’t get tracked by the devices, like swimming and training karate.  In addition, the Fitbit Flex and Fitbit Charge HR both track sleep, and both also cheer for you in their own ways as you achieve fitness goals.

The differences between the Flex and the Charge HR are mainly two.  Unlike the Flex, the Charge HR tracks floors climbed (stairs) by using an altimeter – it only counts going up!  The Charge HR also tracks heart rate, allowing for greater precision in estimating caloric consumption due to the device’s incorporation of that data along with the movement data it tracks.  Heart rate data is also useful for fitness buffs interested in heart rate training zones.  Finally, the Charge HR, with its digital readout display, provides the time and also a caller ID function for the cell phone to which it is connected via Bluetooth.

The Microsoft Band is a more fully-functional wearable.  It receives text messages, provides caller ID, reports on the weather, has an interactive, full color touch-screen interface, and also provides most of the functions of the Fitbit Charge HR, including an altimeter for tracking floors and a heart rate monitor and sleep tracking.  Importantly, the Microsoft Band also includes GPS technology, which allows for greater accuracy in mileage counts and mapping of physical activity like walking, running, and biking.

Since this is a review of sorts, I’ll state some opinions, but it’s extremely important to identify your own goals prior to choosing any of the devices currently available.  Features vary widely, and research is essential to avoiding disappointment and wasted money.  As for my needs, I’m most interested in the fitness functions of any wearable device.  I actually enjoy my time “off-the-grid” while running on the lakefront or stair climbing in my building, so I really have no interest at all in receiving incoming text messages and phone calls on my wrist!  I’m also interested in the ability of devices to track as many disparate types of activity as possible – my own regular activities include a mix of karate training, running, biking, fitness classes, running stairs, and home circuit types of workouts.  I also need to be able to fasten the thing to my karate belt or gi in some unobtrusive way (no wristbands allowed on the dojo floor!)  I also have an interest in heart rate tracking, both for overall health and for examining cardio workout zones.  Finally, I’ve found that I really appreciate the sleep tracking data.  Going into working with these devices I hadn’t considered sleep tracking at all, but having the data has renewed my focus on the extreme importance of sleep to overall health.  Whatever they are, you should let your own criteria govern your approach to evaluating any device.

For my purposes, I have settled on the Fitbit Charge HR as the best fit.  The interface on the Charge HR display is substantially more robust than the Flex.  At the same time, its single button or double-tap interface is much simpler to use while in the middle of physical activity than is the touch screen of the Microsoft Band, which is still a little buggy.  I also like the automatic sleep tracking of the Charge HR versus the Flex, which tracks sleep more manually, and of course the Charge HR does track heart rate and floors climbed, while the Flex does not.  The Flex and the Flex HR are priced according to richness of their respective feature sets, so expect to pay about 50% more for the HR.  The Microsoft Band, with its feature set approaching those of other full wearables, will have you paying more still.  For fitness only, you certainly won’t miss the undeniable bulkiness of the Microsoft Band if you choose one of the Fitbit products.

Finally, none of them really "tracks" karate training well, since it’s not possible to wear the wristbands as intended without interfering with the practice.  All will track some movement during karate training, but they are clearly not designed with karate in mind.  Perhaps an enterprising Kiai! reader will come up with something just for martial artists.  Until then I’ll do my best to keep the flashing lights of the Charge HR’s heart rate sensor deeply buried in my belt!