That is an average of 7.45Km a day. 223Km a month. An inside joke at Techzim states that I am the resident road runner and obviously that comes with a shoe bill worth some hefty chest pains.
Nonetheless 2021 is the year when I got a smartwatch. A Huawei Watch GT2. Naturally. And to be honest it actually came with a bit of some peer pressure. As much as it in essense is a device I wear on my wrist which can tell time, the knowledge that 95% of the features and hardware on it are fitness related made the super user in me want to practically explore all these features in action.
It has built in GPS. It has a heart rate sensor and can measure my stress levels. It has an altitude meter. Finally. I say finally because, when I had the Huawei Mate 9, the chipset included a barometer. Something I found lacking in the Huawei P30 Pro because…well a ‘P’ series Huawei is not as flagship as a ‘Mate’ series Huawei. Imagine that.
See the watch opened my eyes to a wealth of data about my daily life, my daily routines and my fitness habits in a way I had never really seen before. I mean on average I walk around 4500 steps a day when I don’t go out galavanting and when I do go out I walk an average of 15000 steps.
Men have this inherent competitive nature about them and even with no men around to compete with, that nature is very comfortable being in competition with itself. I had a feeling this was the case but that was until I experienced it first hand and I think it’s the darn watch that blew the mist from my eyes.
Total distance. Two kilometers.
Pace for the last kilometer. Ten minutes, twelve seconds.
Heart rate. One hundred and three beats per minute.
Male voice from the watch during the outdoor walk workout routine
“What if I walk a bit faster this km and beat my pace for the last km?” Peer pressure from the data. By 4km I am speed walking and when that 5th km mark came in I knew it was a good km. I literally had been speed walking down the streets in my Power branded sneakers, sweat running down my face and back like I just ran out of the shower. Ding!!!
Total distance. Five kilometers.
Pace for the last kilometer. Eight minutes, fourty nine seconds.
Heart rate. One hundred and twenty five beats per minute
My personal walking record
Naturally walking is an activity I enjoy doing. The creative in me feeds from that but I an also of the conviction that scientifically exercise increases blood flow to the brain and nourishes the brain with an abundance of oxygen. It’s a good way to get new ideas flowing for the videos I then make. However 2489km! I can bet 1000km of that was just the abundance of data from the watch just influencing me to go further. Go longer.
Even when I actually have to be on the desk combing and scrubbing through videos clips and getting lost in scripts, I occassionally get some taps on my wrist. I peek at the watch and there is an animation of a human sitting, then standing up, then stretching. This is a reminder from the piece of tech on my wrist that I have been sitting for too long.
So putting it into context. In 2021 I walked a distance slightly further than Harare to Dar es Salaam and slighlty less than Harare to CapeTown. And I have absolutely no physical gains to show me. It’s crazy I know. But I know having this wrist watch looking fitness tracker on me has morphed my casual therapeutic walks into an internally competitive routine between me and myself. And it’s been fun. 2022 you ask? Maybe I might walk to Cairo. Maybe.
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I walk all night
Read all day
No end but this
Maybe the impatient problem might lose heart at my expert vacillation
Its possible~~exactly how our ancestors used to walk large tracts of land migrating.In a year they would cover from Zululand to Matebeleland or from Tanganyika to Great Zim.
The benefits were always there,eating healthy foods and exercising were drivers of their long living.
With good exercise we will be able to eliminate most health issues associated with things like cholesterol levels as well as blood pressure
I guess we can now call you Stepfather
Stepfather 🔥😃
Edwin I have to say this article resonated with me personally…I initially got a fit bit 2 as gift and I got hooked with the data andimproving my stats. It opened a while new world of fitness that I totally ignored… And the competition with yourself and others definitely motivates. A lot of ppl won’t understand this article but you are 110 percent right and I have had to force my friends to get the same watch so we work out together even if we don’t see each other…fit has great feature called zone minutes which is a great way to monitor your the intensity of exercise. I’m sure like me your wrist feels naked without the watch
I’m using fitbit versa 3 now. One tip for ppl wanting a new smarter etch watch…. Check the fitness sensors mainly GPS and heart sensor and the app tied to it….all other features like calls and apps are just gimmick and drain both watch and phone battery…
I thoroughly enjoyed the article. I love it when tech is used for building, healthy habits.
At this point, I feel a little bit guilty because I have continuously been ignoring my physical fitness habits even though I claim to enjoy physical fitness routines such as taking random strolls early in the morning.
The article reminded of the fact that to build great habits, I have to make it compelling to do so. I have to make the habit, rewarding and irresistible, as stated by James Clear in his book, Atomic Habits. Now I realise, how tech can come to my aid in making new habits to be interesting and compelling.
I guess all I need now is a smart watch to kick start my physical fitness ambitions 😂. Just kidding.
I feel inspired to explore endless potential that tech yields in assisting me to build myself up.
Depending what you want to use it for
Fitbit charge/versa and Samsung galaxy watch…
They have a pedigree
The tick watch and one plus definitely avoid
I have the venerable Galaxy watch. It definitely became like an everpresent accountability buddy during the second half of the pandemic. Between the occasional nagging, shaming and encouragement, I eventually managed to get a resting heart rate lower than the black market rate and a stress graph that wasn’t all red😄
These health trackers really are great tools.
You may not have the outward physical reads but best believe, they’re present. Your brain cells stimulus, your blood sugar, your cholesterol, your body fat ratio, your cns all that is better than a few bumps on your flesh 😉