‘Whoop’, Taking fitness tracking to the next level.
Whoop? What’s that?
"The Whoop: A Comprehensive Guide for Athletes and Weekend Warriors"
As a fitness professional, I am always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to help my clients reach their goals. Back in 2020, when I came across Whoop, a wearable fitness tracker, I was excited to try it. I’ve never been one to track my steps or care for such simply because I always saw it as a superficial correlation to general health and wellness. Gaining more steps seems to be equivalent to meeting the bare minimum. If you aren’t meeting some standard step goals, then maybe step tracking is for you, but if you’re beyond the minimum, then maybe some deeper data can be of use.
Enter Whoop.
Whoop is a wearable fitness tracker designed to provide athletes & weekend warriors with insights into their health and fitness. It tracks sleep patterns to provide a comprehensive understanding of sleep quality, calculates a "Strain Score" based on activity level to help set achievable fitness goals, and provides a daily "Recovery Score" to indicate readiness for the day’s workout. With these features, Whoop serves as a personal coach, helping users make informed decisions about their lifestyle, set goals, and track progress over time.
“I Don’t Need a Score To Tell Me How I Feel”
I get this a lot, and these statement are usually from the coaches or long time fitness enthusiasts who live and die by their methods. Ironically, these are the same individuals who will make the call of “You should hit the gym even if you feel like dog shit. Sometimes I’ve hit PR’s on those days”. And to that, I say that’s a perfect example as to why feelings are overrated. Objective data is king, and even though I may feel like dog shit, my whoop could say I’m primed and I can walk in hitting a PR, OR I could wake in the Red but feel great, but suddenly all my efforts in the gym feel sluggish and slow.
What I feel happens is most of the critics may believe that Whoop is meant to dictate when you should & shouldn’t workout. It’s not that, you should generally continue to follow through with your training. I reality, it’s meant to educate the user how your lifestyle habits affect your recovery.
Main Features
Sleep
The Whoop is designed to track your sleep patterns, providing you with a comprehensive understanding of your sleep quality. You'll know exactly how much deep sleep, REM sleep, and light sleep you're getting each night, allowing you to make informed decisions about your sleep habits. For athletes and weekend warriors, getting enough quality sleep is crucial for optimal performance and recovery. The Whoop allows you to track your progress and make adjustments to your sleep habits as needed to ensure you're getting the rest you need. Every day, the Whoop makes you realize front and center how much of an impact your sleep has on your performance.
Activity
The Whoop provides a "Strain Score" based on your activity level, helping you understand the effort you put in throughout the day. This information is invaluable in terms of setting achievable fitness goals and making informed decisions about your training. Whether you're an athlete training for a competition or a weekend warrior looking to get in shape, the Whoop's Strain Score will provide you with the information you need to optimize your performance and reach your goals.
A ‘Recovery Coach’
The Whoop is like having a personal coach in your pocket, providing you with valuable insights into your health and fitness. With this information, you can make informed decisions about your lifestyle, set achievable fitness goals, and track your progress over time. The Whoop provides you with a daily "Recovery Score" to let you know how ready you are for tomorrow's workout, allowing you to make informed decisions about your training schedule. Whether you're looking to improve your running speed, increase your strength, or simply stay active, the Whoop is a powerful tool for achieving your goals.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
Comprehensive Tracking: The Whoop provides a comprehensive understanding of your health and fitness, tracking sleep patterns, activity level, and recovery to give you a complete picture of your wellbeing. With this information, you can make informed decisions about your lifestyle, set achievable fitness goals, and track progress over time.
Personalized Coaching: The Whoop acts as a personal coach, helping you understand your body and providing insights and recommendations based on your individual data. With its sleep tracking capabilities, the Whoop can help you identify patterns and make changes to improve the quality of your sleep, which is a crucial factor in overall health and wellness.
Convenient Wearability: The Whoop is designed to be worn 24/7, so you never have to worry about taking it off or forgetting to put it back on. It's small, light, and comfortable, making it easy to wear throughout the day and night. You don’t even need to take it for a charge. It comes with a battery bank, and that battery bank slides right on the Whoop to charge while wearing it.
High-Quality Data: The Whoop uses advanced technology to track and analyze data, providing accurate and reliable information about your health and fitness. Whether you're an athlete or a weekend warrior, the Whoop provides insights that can help you reach your goals and improve your overall wellbeing.
Journal Tracking: The Whoop also includes a journal where you can track your activities and see how they impact your score. This allows you to keep a record of your daily routines, workouts, and lifestyle habits, and see how they contribute to your overall health and wellness. For example, if you notice that your score is lower after a night of poor sleep, you can make adjustments to your bedtime routine to improve the quality of your sleep. Similarly, if you see that your score is impacted by a certain type of workout, you can adjust your routine or seek guidance from a coach to optimize your performance. The journal feature is a useful tool that helps you track your progress and make informed decisions about your health and fitness.
These are just a few of the pros of the Whoop wearable fitness tracker. With its comprehensive tracking capabilities, personalized coaching, convenient wearability, and high-quality data, the Whoop is an excellent choice for athletes and fitness enthusiasts who are serious about their health and wellness.
Cons:
Cost (Subscription Based): The Whoop is a premium fitness tracker that you’d think would have a price point that may be too high for some users. Bright side, the device is technically free. Downside, you’re monetarily subscribing to its coaching interface. So if price is an issue, perhaps gather as much data as you can for (x) amount of months, then unsubscribe when satisfied. But I will say that the long term benefits of gathering data is tremendous.
Compatibility: The Whoop is not necessarily compatible with all devices, which could limit its usefulness for some people. If you have an Android or iPhone then you’d be fine, but all of the data and features are displayed within it’s app and not on the actual device. For example, if you’re hoping to visually see your heart rate during a workout, or even see the time, you’re out of luck. The Whoop has no LCD screen at all, and it aims to do so to avoid any further distraction from your everyday life. All of this may be an inconvenience to some resulting in a deal breaker.
Data Overload: The Whoop provides a wealth of data and insights, which can be overwhelming for some users who may not know how to interpret and utilize all the information. This can be an advantage for users who are comfortable using data and metrics to drive their health and fitness goals, & in my opinion it organizes the data pretty well, but it may not be ideal for those who prefer a more straightforward, or those who find it hard to understand fitness metrics that they are not originally familiar with, which could limit the usefulness of the Whoop for some users.
Live or Die by your Score: Sometimes individuals get so driven by their score that they’ll completely drop everything if they’re in a ‘Red Score’, or simply won’t workout unless they’re in the Green. People who think this miss the point of the tool and will perpetually chase the Green. So if you tend to lean towards this phycological habit, then it could cause more unwarranted irregularities in your routine. I’d advice researching more on how this device can be used for in your life, rather than just buying it and ‘Chasing the Green’.
These are some significant cons to consider when deciding whether the Whoop wearable fitness tracker is the right choice for you. It's important to weigh the pros and cons and think about your personal needs and preferences before making a purchase.
All in all, the Whoop wearable fitness tracker is an indispensable tool for athletes and weekend warriors looking to take their health and fitness to the next level. With its comprehensive sleep tracking, activity monitoring, and personal coaching features, the Whoop provides you with the information you need to make informed decisions about your lifestyle, set achievable goals, and track your progress over time. So go ahead and give it a try, and see just what you can find out about yourself!
