Technology and Fitness
We live in a time where technology is everywhere, and is becoming more of a part of everything we do!
While our dependence and addiction to technology is certainly a conversation to be had, it would be silly not to take advantage of many of the advances that can help us achieve the goals we have.
Gone are the days of a one sized fits all programs that rely on generally accepted times and weights. Didn’t get a good night’s sleep? Nutrition has been off? Stress of a new job? All of that will undoubtedly affect your performance numbers and is part of the reason why some days it feels like gravity has doubled.
Technology now allows us to meet our athletes and members exactly where they are at as they come into our facility. We can make real time adjustments to programs based on the feedback we receive before and during workouts.
Here at Crucible, there are 3 main areas we encourage our members and athletes to implement technology to help give them the best feedback possible.
Performance
Recovery
Nutrition
If we don’t have to guess where our body is, that means we can adjust our programming to meet our athletes and members exactly where they are at and give them exactly what they need.
Performance - MyZone
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I personally don’t go a workout without my MyZone. It gives me instant feedback on what heart rate zone I am in and helps gives me the extra accountability as I try and earn my MEPS for the month.
MyZone makes it simple, easy and enjoyable to push harder in your workouts. Each Zone of training corresponds to a different color as well as amount of MEPS (Effort Points) that you earn for being in that zone.
If you are competitive like myself, you will want to hit the higher zones and earn more points, ultimately helping you achieve the fitness goals you have. My personal number 1 reason for loving MyZone is the feedback it gives me when I “FEEL” like I’m dying.
Sometimes I look at the screen and see that I am in the Red Zone, which means I am working at 90%+ of my maximum capacity. Feeling confirmed… I am PUSHING! Other times I feel like I am working hard, and I am only in the 70% range, meaning I have plenty of room to push harder if that is the goal.
Additionally for our athletes, we like to watch the recovery heart rate numbers and how quickly we can recover. Sports are often times about how quickly we can get going to max speed, but also how quickly we can catch our breath and recover. If we can recover quicker, we have an advantage.
This is something that we train when it comes to our conditioning. We don’t just go based on a time, but rather when the body says it is ready to once again give it’s best effort.
MyZone has become a great way to meet our athletes and adult members exactly where they are at and allows us to receive instant feedback during sessions.
Recovery - WHOOP
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I have personally been wearing one for the past year and it has fundamentally changed the way I look at my recovery. WHOOP has been the number one way we have been able to meet athletes and our members where they are at when they walk into the gym.
In a world where it’s so easy to jam more activity into our lives, WHOOP has been a game changer when it comes to encouraging me to slow down and focus just as hard on my recovery. We know that we don’t get stronger IN the gym (that’s the breaking down), but rather when we are sleeping and resting.
If you are going to track your workouts, we would be wise to track our recovery beyond just how we “feel”
You wear WHOOP on your wrist 24/7, and it tracks your Sleep, Recovery and Strain.
When it comes to sleep, it dives deep into your quality, efficiency and consistency. It tracks things such as Light Sleep, REM, Slow Wave (Deep) and how many disturbances you have during the night. Additionally it helps you coach you to match up with your circadian rhythm, ensuring you can be the most well rested and ready to perform or train.
WHOOP calculates Recovery based on 4 markers: Heart Rate Variability (HRV), Resting Heart Rate (RHR), sleep and respiratory rate. Based on your numbers, it will give you a recovery zone of Green (Primed for Peak Performance), Yellow (Neutral), Red (In need of recovery) so that you can properly adjust your program and training.
Your WHOOP band is worn 24/7 and tracks each and every heartbeat throughout the day. It gives you feedback whether you are exercising, resting, stressing or just going about daily life. It will additionally respond to things like stress, travel and work so you can make a great decision with your training.
If you are interested in joining the Crucible WHOOP community, we have an exclusive offer that gets you started with a free strap and $30 off. Visit Join.whoop.com/crucible to take advantage of this awesome offer.
Nutrition - MyFitness Pal
One of the biggest struggles that people endure while on their fitness journey is knowing what is going into your body. They say it best “Fitness starts with what you eat”, and we couldn’t agree more.
That’s why we highly recommend MyFitness Pal. It is a free website and app for you phone that allows you to track your calories, macros, and other nutritional information so you can know exactly what is going into your body.
Many of our athletes complain that they can’t gain weight, and are shocked at how FEW calories they are eating when they begin to track their nutrition. On the other hand we have had quite a few weight loss clients be shocked at how many calories they are taking in, especially through snacks and alcohol.
With over 11 million foods in their database, it is simple and easy to put meals and food plans together.
Download now and join for free!
www.myfitnesspal.com
Conclusion
Technology is awesome. Plain and simple. And we are in love with what it is allowing us to do for our athletes and members.
Our goal is always to meet our people, exactly where they are at, and the products we covered today allow us to do just that. We can track your performance, modify based on your recovery and can monitor what is going into your body.
We additionally use InBody for tracking body composition and progress as well as Perch for quantifying weightroom performance. Both, some very awesome and world class technologies!
If you have any further questions, be sure to reach out to us for a better understanding of how we implement these with our members and how to get started!