A recovering smartwatch owner...
Since I dropped the Apple Watch back onto its shelf I have been wearing a Garmin fenix and overall I have been enjoying the experience.
The sense of freedom compared to the Apple Watch was acute and alongside the decent battery life it felt like the right solution. And then I realised that I was not really even checking the fitness stats. I would press the button before and after workouts and aim for a minimum of 10,000 steps a day which includes at least 1 hour of exercise.
After doing this for a few years I realised that I know when I have done enough exercise in any given day. I just know and I started to wonder if I really needed a myriad of stats to tell me how I am progressing.
Like most of the population I do not need to see incremental progression in my fitness, I do not need to get a fastest running or walking time and I do not need to be aiming for a lower heart rate or more reasonable respiration. I simply need to keep my weight at a reasonable level, I need to be fit enough to run and walk when I want, and I need to feel healthy. Anything above that would be a hobby and ideally would require intrusive tracking.
So, I dropped the Garmin and started wearing a real watch again. My iPhone can do the work of notifying me when things happen and I can remember when I should exercise.
As an example, a simple note can suffice if you are building up your exercise over time-
Fast running
29/10 40 secs (40)
30/10 50 secs (90)
31/10 60 secs (150)
01/11 70 secs (220)
02/11 0 secs
03/11 80 secs (300)
04/11 90 secs (390)
05/11 60 secs x3 (570)
For everything else I can simply remember to exercise and see what happens over time. This may sound ridiculous to you because that is how normal people live their lives, but when you get stuck in the smartwatch / fitness watch rabbit hole it can be a tricky place to climb out of.
It will be interesting to see what happens and to try to prove to myself that I can stay fit without a digital piece of equipment telling me what to do.