Do you own a fitness tracker? Do you actually use your fitness tracker? Do you find it useful?

I’ve had mine for almost two years now and I absolutely love it. So much so, I get a bit irritable when it needs charging.

So why have a fitness tracker? What are the benefits to wearing one of these around your wrist? For me, it doubles as a watch, so I find that useful – but mostly I use it to keep an eye on how many steps I’m getting through. Fitness trackers can come in a number of different forms. Most of them are watches that are attached to your wrist, though you can also get wearable tech that can attach to your clothing. To know more be sure to visit pcguide.com.

Benefits of fitness trackers

Mine is set with a daily target of 10,000 steps, but I’m thinking about upping that as I reach 10,000 everyday with very little effort. If I’ve done 4,000 before the school run I know it’s going to be a good step day!

Perhaps a fitness tracker is your daily motivation to smash your targets? Perhaps you want to track your sleep or what you are eating, or even see which exercise class burns the most calories? Whatever it is, your fitness tracker can help you with this.

Fitness trackers for kids

There is lots of uncertainty about whether fitness trackers for kids are a good thing or not? Where do you sit with this?

I personally think that when used in a positive way these can be really useful for kids. They (and you) can keep an eye on how active they are – something we know is so important for children. These devices can also help with motivation to be active and help children to better understand the relationship between food and activity and the impact on their bodies.

Of course, as with anything, there is a fine line isn’t there? We don’t want to breed a culture of obsessive over focusing on these things. However, in a society where obesity is such a huge problem, we should equally be encouraging our children to be active and teaching them about healthy lifestyles which they can take with them into adulthood.

I think kids fitness trackers certainly have their place and I wouldn’t be concerned about my own children having them – I’m sure they’d be competing with me on steps everyday too!

Shop around

If you are thinking of purchasing yourself or another family member a fitness tracker, shop around, it’s not just fitbit who produce these. Like anything, don’t just buy the first one you see. Read the reviews online and compare brands and features.

Think about what your motivation is for buying a fitness tracker and therefore what the most useful features would be. Once you’ve narrowed down the tracker you want, compare the prices online to get the best deal. It’s worth purchasing an extra strap at the time of purchase too – one of the problems I’ve had is getting a replacement strap for my fitness tracker, so It’s currently held onto my wrist with a hair bobble – not ideal!