3 Wearable Fitness Trackers To Up Your Game

Charmaine Gooden | April 27th, 2017

Wearable fitness trackers are a stylish way to up your fitness game.

Wearable fitness trackers—in the form of bands, bracelets and watches—are considered cool, high-tech gadgets used to track your every waking moment and sleep patterns, nudge you to move when you’ve sat for too long and tell you to step it up during an activity or workout.

Celebrity personal trainer Harley Pasternak (harleypasternak.com) is a big believer that the right tools can help you stay active and maintain mobility, strength and endurance, all of which help slow down or reverse bone density loss and muscle atrophy. He uses the Fitbit to help guide and motivate his red-carpet clients.

Motivation to move

Stay Active Throughout the Day

Look at your daily life and find ways to work fitness in, says Pasternak. Can you take a longer route to work, use the stairs instead of the elevator, go outside to a local café for a break or healthy snack? Fitness trackers can easily track your steps, activity, heart rate, sleep, calories and other fun facts that can keep you motivated.

Build Aerobic and Muscular Strength

“Make sure you’re building strength with exercises like lunges, planks, taking the stairs, squats, hip thrusts and push-ups,” instructs Pasternak. “During these exercises, aim to elevate your heart rate, which boosts your metabolic rate and burns more calories. When I train many of my clients, I stress for them to hit specific heart rate goals, which can be measured by the trackers, instead of speeds, and to also watch how fast their heart rate recovers when they pause after doing intense cardio.”

Walk, Walk, Walk, Walk, Walk

“One of the best things you can do after age 45 is simply walk,” advises Pasternak. “Get yourself a fitness tracker to help track your steps, and try your best to get to at least 10,000 steps a day. Strive for more if you’re trying to lose weight.” During the summer months, ditch the gym and get outside more. Take advantage of what your city has to offer and use its landscape to get fit. Walking outside is a perfect way to get fresh air and vitamin D, which have many benefits. The outdoors also activates the senses and makes you feel great. Plus, it’s free!

Next: Wardrobe of wearable tech


1 TomTom Spark GPS Fitness Watch

For those intimidated by wearable fitness technology, this is fairly easy to use, read and figure out, and it has continuous heart-rate monitor that can track your resting heart rate (an important marker for heart health). It doesn’t have a touch screen, and the size is rather bulky, but the large number display and backlight are great. $299, tomtom.com

2 The Apple Watch has all the style, status, functionality and apps you expect, and the data encryption takes security seriously. It’s serious sports watch meets everyday active tracker meets your iPhone. $399, apple.com

3 Fitbit Alta looks more like a bracelet than a device, so you’re not constantly aware of wearing a fitness tracker. When it’s time to workout, switch to the Fit Blaze that has a colour touch screen and, what I like the most, on-screen guided workout animations from Fitstar Personal Trainer, a mobile digital coach. fitstar.com, available at Indigo.com, fitbit.com, Alta $170, Blaze $250

A version of the article appeared in the June 2016 issue with the headline, “Peak Performance,” p. 20.