The American College of Sports Medicine just released the list of top fitness trends for 2019. Top of the list is fitness trackers; second and third are group exercise and high intensity interval training. Fitness trackers taking the top spot surprised me because they’re not an exercise, they’re a tool to track exercise. But if they can help people keep exercising, I’m all for it.

What I think is really beneficial is the tracking itself. Some trackers are very sophisticated; they will include heart rate and even blood pressure. You can sync some with a scale or enter your body weight. Some track distance with GPS if you have an outdoor activity. Many will also track calories if you enter the food data. You can get readouts that are printable if you sync the device with your computer. That’s a great way to track patterns—if you take a look at the data. If you have one and use it, it’s a great tool to keep you on track.

When it comes to having energy when you need it, a fitness tracker can provide valuable information. I’ll cover how you can use any type of tracker to help you have energy exactly when you need it in this Sunday’s 9th Annual Super Bowl Webinar.

        Dr. Chet

Reference: ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal: doi: 10.1249/FIT.0000000000000438