Gizmos and Gadgets

So, let’s talk about my arms and how I am struggling with moving them this morning. Ouuuuch.

Between the pull-ups on Tuesday and Body Pump yesterday, my upper back and arms are feeling the weight (ha!). I’m glad for this because I had been a little too comfortable in my routine and the soreness is a sign that my body is reacting to the change-up.

In other news, you don’t get to see pictures of my food today because I forgot my camera cord. Whomp whomp.

My roommate totally made fun of me for taking pictures of my dinner the other night. Sigh.

Today, I am looking forward to going to the gym and trying spin class for the first time! My knees are not so good with bicycles and I’m going to be a total n00b, but I need to give it a go at least one time. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get addicted to it and it will cycled into my exercise rotation.

Then again, it’s an image like this that makes me worried. Somebody please tell me that it’s not as bad as I’ve made it out to be in my head!

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen the New York Times article I tweeted last night, which reviewed the new line of fitness tracking bracelets from  Nike and Jawbone.

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I’ve never had any kind of fitness gadget, but I know some people use pedometers, heart rate monitors, FitBits, and other gizmos to keep track of their daily activities. Reading the review of the new bracelets, I am definitely intrigued by both but also a little bit skeptical, given the drawbacks of each.

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I am really curious about the sleep monitoring feature touted by the Up band, made by Jawbone. One of the perks that comes with that are these “Insights” that the band comes up with after monitoring your activity, eating, and sleeping levels. As the Times said,

“But if you do, the new Up band is supposed to do something useful with the information. It comes up with what Jawbone calls Insights — observations that it determines by correlating your sleep, activity, food and location information. ‘You tend to eat more when you’re on the West Coast,’ it might say, or, ‘You don’t sleep as well when you eat after 9 p.m.,’ or, “‘You fall asleep faster on the days when you’ve worked out.'”

The Nike Fuel band has the added perk of being able to sync your data to your iPhone wirelessly, while the Up band demands a somewhat complicated process.

They’re both pretty pricey, with the the Nike Fuel at $150 and the Jawbone Up at $130, but Christmas is also right around the corner 😉

Food For Thought: Have you ever used a fitness gadget to monitor your activity levels? If you have one that you really like, what do you recommend?

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