I have not joined the FitBit craze. I do not own a wearable exercise tracker. I do have a pedometer application on my iPod, but that’s it as far as exercise tracking technology goes for me.
A few acquaintances have recently begun to complain that their FitBit is not tracking their exercise. This complaint is almost always followed by moaning that their exercise for the period in question “doesn’t count.”
Last night, as my hour-long ballet class was ending, one of the other students noticed that her FitBit had not registered as many steps as she knew she had taken. She bemoaned that her numbers for the day would be “off” and it was as though the class didn’t, and wouldn’t, count as exercise for the day according to the FitBit.
Other friends have similar complaints. Some explain that the device will not register the steps on walks when they are pushing their children in strollers. Another common complaint is that the device does not register exercise when riding a stationary bike or walking on a treadmill. Also, the time spent doing yoga or pilates type exercises is “wasted” because the wearable device does not register it. (I understand there is a way to manually enter exercise into the program, which would then “count” but when this was discussed with several friends, they said they see this as cheating, because the device did not actually record the actions.)
Here’s the truth: your body knows whether you exercised or not. You cannot cheat your body. Even if the wearable device does not register barre work in ballet class because the arm one which you are wearing the device is not moving, your body knows you have exercised. Your thighs, knees, calves, ankles, and feet know you’ve been doing pliés, relevés, and/or grand battements. Your upper back knows it when you have held your arm in first or second position for barre work or floor. Just because the device is not moving does not mean you are not moving. And just because the device is not registering it does not mean you are not exercising.
I know it’s fun to watch the numbers on the tracker go up. And I know there is a feeling of accomplishment when you see the tracker tracking. But exercise is exercise whether the tracker tracks it or not.
I take my walks based on time rather than distance. The 0-to-5K walking program I found online uses time rather than distance to measure the walks. And before I got my new iPod with the pedometer application, time was really the only basis I had for measuring my walks. I honestly didn’t know how long I walked in distance. But using podcasts of old-time radio shows, I knew that I walked for one whole episode, for example, or one complete episode and through the first commercial break of a second. Now that I have the pedometer, I can keep track of things like distance and steps and approximate calories expended. But my walks count as exercise even if I don’t have my iPod for tracking. I’ve still walked. I’ve still exercised and burned calories.
Similarly my ballet class counts as exercise even without wearable technology to track it. I've done an hour of exercise. My body knows that.
It seems that in just a few short months, a portion of the world has become dependent on wearable technology, and their exercise isn’t really exercise unless it’s tracked and logged by an app(lication). I know the wearable technology companies want people to feel that way, but it’s not the truth. Exercise is exercise and you don’t need a computer chip in a piece of plastic to confirm that.
