How technology can help you track your fitness

Technology is always advancing, always making things easier, more efficient, and more precise. In many ways, technology has made our lives more productive.

Unfortunately, more technology usually means less activity.

Sometimes though, technology comes along that can make us more active, or at least more aware of our activity.

Wearable technology in the fitness field has really advanced in the last decade and has made the job of personal fitness much more exciting. We can now track and record pretty much everything related to helping our clients reach their goals.

Wearable technology can help you in the following ways:

Track your overall daily activity: How active were you today — any idea how many steps you took?

Without perspective it's difficult to judge how active we really are. Total steps taken through the course of the day can give you perspective on overall activity. For example, it takes the average person about 2,000 steps to cover a mile. Most sedentary people are getting far less than that per day.

Tally your calories burned: Are your calories in anywhere close to your calories out?

Wellness entails much more than calories, but at the same time, having that reference can help make you more aware of your needs vs. your wants. This is beneficial for anyone, regardless of your goals.

Monitor your heart rate intensity: How hard should you push yourself during your workouts? Are you being efficient, safe, and productive?

These are important questions and monitoring your heart rate is a perfect way to measure your output. Knowing your personal goals and limitations will help you customize your workouts to better make use of your time.

Log your workouts: By uploading your workouts from your wearable technology to your computer or mobile device, you can see a chart readout of your past workouts.

This is great for tracking progress, but an incredible tool for overall accountability. Someone such as a spouse, friend, or personal trainer can immediately see your workouts over the past week and either sing your praises or find a way to help motivate you to do more.

Record your sleep habits: Are you getting enough sleep? Most people don't get enough and many don't do enough to improve it.

With increased activity and exercise, getting enough sleep becomes even more important. Wearable technology can record your sleep and even break down the quality of your sleep in some cases. Once you're aware of your sleep patterns, you can focus on making changes if necessary.

So make the most of technology, especially when it comes to your health and well-being. Contact us to learn more about how we incorporate wearable technology into our weight loss and muscle toning programs.

• Joshua Steckler is the owner of Push Fitness, a personal training studio located in Schaumburg specializing in weight loss, muscle toning, and nutrition. Contact him at PushFitnessTraining.com.