Nowadays there is a huge variety of Smartwatches. Some good and cheap, some expensive and bad. In Hobby-Athlete we love sport and therefore, we will discuss about the health and sports functions of a smartwatch. Based on those, we could classify the characteristics in the following categories:
- Health (Fitness tracker)
- Heart rate monitor.
- Sleep control.
- Activity monitor (or inactivity).
- Pedometer (step counter).
- Smart functions (related to the information it provides and the connectivity with your phone)
- Messaging (email, whatsapp, gmail, call being received, etc.).
- Music control (to control your phone’s programs via Bluetooth).
- Camera control (to shoot pictures with commands from the watch via Bluetooth).
- Music player. Some watches have an internal memory where you can store songs in MP3 and other formats and listen via Bluetooth Headphones.
- Independent Wi-Fi connection. In order to download weather information or to automatically update the watch operating system.
- Timer, stopwatch and different alarm settings.
- Function “Find my phone”.
- Sports
- GPS
- Sports monitor. Some watches have several motion sensors in 3 or more axis that recognize the movement and identify the sport being practiced.
- With the above two functions you can also have:
- Training time.
- Heart rate (alarms for ranges or maximum according to age and physical condition).
- Speed (in km/hr or mph)
- Distance traveled.
- Time per lap or defined distance (for instance, pace can be the time in minutes required to run 1 km or 1 mile)
- Activity log.
- Statistics (in the phone app or computer app).
- Virtual coach.
- Assistant for training plans for example to run 5 or 10 km, half marathon and marathon.
- Calendar of training sessions.
- Proposals for training routines.
- Suggested recovery time after every finished workout.
- Depending on the type of watch and brand, you may have some or all of these extras.
- They can be used for swimming and also monitor distance and heart rate when swimming.
- With microphone and speaker. For example for guided trainings or provide voice commands.
- With e-assistants like Google assistant or Amazon’s Alexa
- Reminders to drink water, record caffeine cups drunk, etc.
- Link to an app to monitor calories intake vs. calories burned like MyfitnessPal
- Link to apps from other systems like Strava, Adidas Running, Google Fit, Nike Running Club, Komoot, Endomondo, etc.
- Monitoring your sports equipment. For example, you register your running shoes and define how long they are good for (it is usually recommend changing shoes after after 600 – 800 km). The distance traveled in each session is subtracted from the defined product life span.
Types of Smartwatch
When it comes to the sport and health functions, in general, there are only two main types of smartwatches:
- Sports bands or fitness trackers. These watches have some smart functions (messages) and basic health functions (HR, pedometer,activity/inactivity reminders and sleep monitor). They are usually very thin and light. The price is generally lower than those of sport watches (but there are cases where they are more expensive
). - Sports watch. They cover the functions of the bands and have one or more or all of the sports functions that we described earlier. The shape and size are similar to those of a normal watch and can be round, square, etc.
What do you need? A Fitness tracker? Or a sports watch?
Your choice will depend on your needs, your taste and your budget. We cannot talk about all possible individual needs but we can use your fitness level and the physical activity you perform as reference. We can then, define three main groups:
- Low fitness level/ low physical activity. If you train with low intensity 1-2 times per week, your overall physical activity is low or if you have just started exercising to improve or maintain your health, you might be in this group.
- Normal to good fitness level. If you have normal to high physical activity, or if you train 3- 4 times a week with low-medium intensity, you might be in this group. People in this group do sport regularly and are interested in improving their fitness level. If you have a defined goal like running your first 5 or 10 K race, or any other like losing weight or getting muscle definition, you might belong to this group.
- Hobby Athlete level. If you like sports, have a good fitness level and train regularly with medium- high intensity, you might be in this group.
What features of a smartwatch are important to Group 1?
Certainly, those related to health like the heart rate monitor, activity/ inactivity reminders and pedometer. With the last two, the watch will remind you that you’ve been inactive, suggest moving or give you reports of steps made during the day. The one i find more useful is:
Heart rate monitor. This function can help you with your workout as follows.
- Provide heart rate values at different conditions. The watch can continuously measure your heart rate and report the values at rest and at training. This feature is also used for the sleep tracking.
- Training zones. Based on age, health and recordings, the watch can suggest the heart rate values to be reached depending on the training goals. How does it work? At the start of a training program, you set a HR (Heart rate) maximum value as reference (you can take a look at the article “How to assess your fitness level“). The easiest way for the initial calculation is to use the formula shown below. HR Max will be 220 minus your age. Even if there are differences between women and men, this value can always be used a good reference.
- Once you have the HR Max, you can calculate the training zones:
- Moderate training area. Between 50% and 70% of HR Max.
- Calorie-burning area. 70% of your HR Max.
- Intense training area or “target HR”. Between 70% and 85% of HR Max.
As you progress in your training, the HR values at rest and during training will tend to be lower. As your fitness level improves, your heart and other systems in your body will work more efficiently.
The technology and quality of the HR monitor may be different depending on the brand and model chosen. Brands like Polar, Garmin, Amazfit, Samsung, Huawei, Suunto, Apple and some others, have very reliable products. If you need some more suggestions on fitness bands, I will give you some advice in the next article. Now let’s see what people in the next group could like.
What additional features could be interesting for group 2?
I would definitely recommend a GPS especially for those who run, ride a bike or go hiking.
How can the GPS on my watch help me train?
GPS is a satellite communication system that “talks” to your device and identifies your position and its changes in time. What we call GPS is the US satellite system in its civilian application, but there are other systems like Glonass (Russian), Galileo (European), Beidou (Chinese), etc. The gps in your watch works exactly like the one in your car or in your cell phone. The GPS will allow you to record your route, travel time, speed, altitude, etc.
In my personal case, this function has helped me monitor the statistics of my training and helped me break some personal records. My first GPS watch was an Amazfit Pace, which by the way, still works very well.
I started tracking my progress, with a samrtwatch in 2016 but, let’s take a look at the latest records of my training. In the table below you can see the improvements I’ve made in 2019-2020. Of course, they are personal achievements and have nothing to do with the Smartwatch itself (it didn’t give me any extra super powers 
) but, thanks to the Smartwatch I have been able to evaluate my development.
Date: | Distance traveled (km): | Average speed(km/hr):): | Total time: | Pace (minutes/km) |
30/4/2019 | 3,48 | 10,0 | 0:20:51 | 5’59” |
25/5/2019 | 3,02 | 11,72 | 0:15:28 | 5’07” |
26/10/2019 | 4,31 | 11,30 | 0:22:53 | 5’19” |
8/02/2020 | 5,02 | 11,39 | 0:26:27 | 5’16” |
5/5/2020 | 11,01 | 11,36 | 0:58:10 | 5’17” |
17/07/2020 | 5,01 | 12,66 | 0:23:45 | 4’44” |
In the same way, you can use the GPS for hiking, cycling, swimming (depending on the watch). For some sport watches you can even plot a route (with google maps or Kommot for example) and use the gps navigation feature (GPX files) or, if you get tired or lost, you can use the “Back Home” function and the gps navigation will bring you back to the start point.
Of course you could ask: “why do I need a gps watch if I have a cell phone? . True. You don’t. But, this function is handy if you don’t want a heavy phone falling off your pockets. I personally hate to take my phone with me because I need large pockets in my shorts and it shakes and feels bulky. Even if I put it on a case and attach it to my arm, feels uncomfortable. But again, it is up to you.
Besides, the watch can also work with your favoriite apps…if you have used the GPS of your phone for training, you probably know at least one of the following apps Strava, Adidas run, Nike Run Club, Endomondo or Komoot. The good news is that many sport watches can also work with one or more of the apps mentioned.
What other features might be interesting for you?
- Activity control and energy balance to track calories burned versus daily intake.
- Training records and statistics. On activity total time, speed, distance and progress.
- Training Plans. For example, to plan a 5 or 10 km race with schedule and description of the training phases.
- Training calendar.
- Workout assistant. For different sport types, intensity or variations of your sport like interval training, etc.
- Sleep control. Stress management.
What other functions can the hobby athletes use?
On top of the sport functions recommended for group 2, you can also take advantage of the following features:
- Define training goals and follow-up. Examples are weight, distances to achieve, minutes of activity per day, week, hour, etc. and divided by intensity.
- You can choose from a range of 80, or more sports, personalize your profiles and preferences and record data for each session and view statistics.
- Virtual trainers. Adjust your training plans according to your completed sessions and the results achieved and simulate you are compiting agains yourself in the following workouts.
- Additional apps or Computer Programs that communicate with the watch and make easier to plan training, define workouts, prepare a training calendar.
- Create routes for cycling, hiking or racing in territories you don’t already know using GPX or other formatted files. Track the altitude and the relative effort on up-hill or down-hill segments.
- Gadget monitor. Tracks equipment, its use, wear, etc. for example for shoes and bike tyres. The watch will also alert you when the equipment needs to be replaced.
- Connection possibilities with Bluetooth, NFC, WiFi, etc and use headphones, pod sensors or Foot pod , Chest strap (for accurate heart rate monitor), bicycle sensors, power sensors or even “smart shoes”
And then, do you need a smartwatch?
When I started running, I used to run on an athletic track (400m) and the only “gadget” I had was my old casio digital watch. The stopwatch was the most useful function to track my progress. I also controlled my pulse by feeling “the taps” on my inner wrist while a 1 minute timer on my casio was running. I definitely didn’t need a smarwatch to train. But of course, in 1989 there were no smartwatches, I didn’t even have a cell phone .
However, i could have used and liked many of the sport functions….
Do you need a Smartwatch? Or Do you want a Smartwatch to take advantage of all the neat sport features?
If your answer is yes…. let’s see some of the options you have. I will help you out with some proposals in the next article.
Happy training !
Miguel.