Is that a Whoop?
A question I’m asked regularly… so what are my thoughts on the fitness tracker 7 months in?
The pricing model roped me in, ‘free trial’ return if you aren’t satisfied. Smart, zero friction to purchase unlike it’s close competitor, the Oura ring coming in at over £300 up-front purchase.
So, how do I find the Whoop? I feel I’ve been through somewhat of the typical Gartner Hype Cycle, a model that represents the maturity, adoption, and social application of specific technologies.
Month 1-2: all this data is great
Month 3-4: small adjustments made (eating earlier, sleeping a bit longer, drinking a bit less often, eating more vegetables as I can see that correlating with a good recovery, nothing ground-breaking
Month 5: Why am I wearing this again?
Month 6: I’ll get back in the gym and will wear my Whoop to nudge behaviours, I must get better at tracking my journal to understand what lifestyle choices impact my recovery
Around now i’m starting to wonder if I really need a device to tell me I had a bad nights sleep or if my recover after 6 pints of larger is only 5%.
I like:
The fact there isn’t a screen - this is why I stopped wearing an Apple Watch
The Recovery Impact Analysis
The Sync with My Fitness Pal to see the impact of certain food on recovery
The updates - new features added for better analysis
The charging - don’t have to take it off to charge
Dislikes:
The journal format for updating the next day
The tracking for weightlifting (Strength Trainer) is still nascent compared to cardio and under cooks effort put into weightlifting vs running
Every hangover - even after a few beers the recovery and sleep score doubles down the guilt.
What would make Whoop better:
Guidance and tips on experiments to run to see the uplift in recovery
Integration with other gym apps such as Gymshark
Integration with more nutrition apps e.g Zoe to give a holistic view of health
A new way to track journal, throughout the relevant day rather than a day later so it feels like a chore
Non-invasive blood sugar and blood glucose monitoring
Explaining how the correlation between behaviours and results works and if you can prove out the cause of behaviours e.g consuming 4 pints of beer increases your chance of anxiety by 5%
Who I think Whoop is perfect for:
People trying new lifestyle changes (new medicine, testing breath techniques, Compression Therapy, Intermittent Fasting)
Data Geeks - oh so much data
People who like tracking fitness, without the screen
Potentially in the future - perfect for those suffering with symptoms and wanting to track what could it could be linked to (Headaches, Anxiety)
