Fitness trackers gain in popularity to improve health

There’s a saying that performance improves when performance is measured. Nowhere is that truer than when it comes to fitness.

One of the most popular devices for tracking fitness is the Fitbit that you wear on your wrist. It shows how many steps you take, how many calories you burn, how well you sleep and more.

“Any wearable that gets you moving — I don’t care if you got it out of a box of Cheerios for free — if it gets you moving, you’re headed the right direction,” Apple Athletic Club Personal Training Director Robby Denning said. “People don’t work out as much or as hard as they think they do, and so by measuring it, we’re able to make reality-based decisions and choices about their exercise program.”

Some tracking devices, like Myzone, do more than count steps.

“It’s like an EKG.” Denning said. “What it’s doing is reading the electrical signals off the heart next to the skin, and it’s going to convert that signal into an intensity level that will be displayed either on a watch, on your smartphone, or if you’re in the club, on the big screen.”

The Myzone wearer sees a percentage of his maximum heart rate. Sixty percent is a good start, 70 percent is a good workout, and short bursts of 80 percent means the wearer is really pushing himself.

It then sends a graph to the app showing a minute-by-minute report of exercise intensity.

Denning said if you can measure your workout intensity, you can save time.

“The biggest deterrent to exercise we hear from people is time, so using an exercise tracking we can get results for people in as little as 30 minutes, three times a week if their intensity’s right, and Myzone will tell us if their intensity’s right.”