Is there too much fitness data?

In the ever-evolving landscape of fitness wearables, endurance athletes are presented with a plethora of options that promise to enhance their training, performance, and overall well-being.

‍

As these devices continue to evolve, they offer an unprecedented amount of data, often leaving athletes with the challenge of choosing the right features to support their specific needs.

Let’s take a look at the most important question – do we really need all this tech? Should we strip it all down and go back to basics or does it offer us immense potential on the ends of our arms?

‍

Mid-range sports watch fitness data

Let’s take a mid-range Garmin sports watch as an example. You can get daily Health and wellness metrics on:

‍

• Wrist-based heart rate (constant, every second)
• Daily resting heart rate
• Abnormal heart rate alerts (yes - high and low)
• Respiration rate (24x7)
• Fitness age
• Body battery energy monitor
• All-day stress
• Relaxation reminders
• Relaxation breathing timer
• Breathwork
• Sleep
• Nap detection
• Hydration
• Women's health
• Overall health snapshot

‍

While the abundance of data can be empowering, endurance athletes must strike a balance. Too much information can lead to analysis paralysis, detracting from the joy of training.

‍

If you rock up to a track session and you are consumed with metrics you are going to lose some of the real joy that is simply shared suffering, community and feeling the run. I ran with Marcus this morning and we were able to hold 8x1km reps within 2s of each other without looking at any metrics from our watches.

‍

Final thoughts

Yes, it's essential to identify key metrics aligning with personal goals and focus on interpreting data that directly influences performance and recovery – but it should not consume you!

‍

Fitness wearables have revolutionised the way we athletes approach training and performance monitoring. As the market continues to expand it seems the only way for these companies to get one up on each other is to offer MORE.

‍

By navigating the data deluge and honing in on essential metrics, you can leverage these devices to propel your training to new heights and achieve your performance goals without spending hours a day reviewing every number and realistically taking no actionable change to improve them.

‍

Fun  - Honesty - SIMPLICITY - Smash Life - Mental Toughness - Hard Work