HOME / Posts Tagged: fitness
Be positive to be healthy to be positive
Positive emotions, positive social connections, and physical health influence one another in a self-sustaining upward-spiral dynamic. From a 2013 paper: The mechanisms underlying the association between positive emotions and physical health remain a mystery. We hypothesize that an upward-spiral dynamic continually reinforces the tie between positive emotions and physical health and that this spiral is [Continue reading]
How to fail successfully
Nine weeks ago, a friend set out to get back into a more fit state and asked people to publicly bet against him. I ended up joining with a bet of my own. Specific goals were set on losing overall weight but also fat, along with the commitment to post regular updates. Here is the [Continue reading]
Against motivation: 3 elements for success
There is no need to always search for motivation. Any goal will do the same job along with planning and monitoring. However, all three elements are required. Just setting a goal is not enough because it only takes a second to take the decision but there is nothing to trigger you to specific action after [Continue reading]
Vivoactive vs Vivoactive HR: First 3 days
So as of last Friday I’m the happy owner of a Garmin Vivoactive HR (will refer to it as VAHR, shown on the left on the photo above). Already owning the original Vivoactive (VA, shown on the right of the photo) model, here are some impressions between the two. This isn’t meant to be a [Continue reading]
Your free 2015 fitness infographic
If you’re a Strava user, VeloViewer will create a visual overview of your running and/or cycling. VeloViewer seems like an interesting service: VeloViewer Tour Notes (Restricted to 25 activities for free users. Upgrade to PRO to see your entire Strava history.) Your Activities page provides a fully filterable and sortable list of everything you’ve uploaded to Strava. [Continue reading]
All the specifications of the Apple Watch in one spreadsheet
If you’re looking for exact specifications in Apple’s site for the Apple Watch, you’re in bad luck if you also want to compare the actual numbers of the various versions and bands. Apple is giving specs on each combination only, which means you have to go through page-by-page to make comparisons. Rob Griffiths did the [Continue reading]
How to connect Garmin with Pact and slowly become rich!
Update: Pact does not endorse the following setup and will probably refuse support in case of trouble (which I did have). My experience with Pact’s support has been mixed… Announced with much fanfare, Apple’s Health platform didn’t make much of an impression so far in this humble blogger’s opinion. The reason being that app developers [Continue reading]
14 Days of Garmin vs Fitbit: the numbers
I’ve been testing for the last couple of weeks a Garmin Vivofit as a replacement of my Fitbit Force (see previous posts here and here). As a final part, here are some numbers from two weeks of continuous use of both devices. All in all, the differences vary from day to day, and fluctuate between [Continue reading]
12 Days of Garmin vs Fitbit
As previously written, I’ve been testing a Garmin Vivofit as a replacement for my Fitbit Force (and before moving on to a Garmin Vivoactive that is yet to be released in Europe). Here are some more thoughts. Pro Fitbit: Vibrating alarm: waking up with a vibration in your wrist is extremely better for me than [Continue reading]
9 Days of Garmin (vs Fitbit)
I’ve been a big fan of Fitbit ever since a Fitbit Force back in January 2014, as it has helped me lot in my fitness goals. But times are changing and I’m planning to get a Garmin Vivoactive this spring. Still, the band on my Force has been in terrible shape for months, getting unstuck [Continue reading]
Quantified self, Level 2
Good friend Dimitris Dimitriadis (@insideabox) was writing about his use of self-tracking apps. I would like to explore this a bit further, in an effort to provide more insight on the purpose of the quantified self excerice. While any kind of tracking will almost instantly change the monitored behaviour (even subconsciously), it can be more [Continue reading]
The Apple Watch is not your next fitness tracker
This is an actual photo in the Apple page for the Sport edition of the Apple Watch. I’m not sure what kind of sport activity is displayed or in which manner the man on the right is aided by the watch. And this is the only photo of people using the Apple Watch on that [Continue reading]
How to sync RunKeeper data into HealthKit
Update (1/Dec/2014) : RunKeeper now syncs with HealthKit, on iOS you can find it in the app under Settings -> Apps, Services, and Devices -> Apple Health. RunKeeper can read/write calories, cycling, walking+running distance (not steps), weight, etc. RunKeeper hasn’t joined the HealthKit bandwagon just yet (although they promise they will on their official forums) but there [Continue reading]
HealthKit, what is it good for? Fitbit wonders
As I was previously writing (http://bit.ly/1toSgDp) Apple’s HealthKit platform might be a solution to a problem that has been solved. Now, a major player in the fitness trackers/apps world, Fitbit, is reluctant to follow on the hype, angering it’s customers. A thread in the official features request forum currently has 571 votes in favour (the [Continue reading]
Health App/Kit: failing to solve a problem that has already been solved
I’ve been excited by the announcement of the Health app and the accompanying Healthkit by Apple. I considered them to be both a way to bring more focus on interoperability between apps, as well as (for the app part) show software developers what can be done with access to fitness/health data. The result so far [Continue reading]
Tracking the trackers: Garmin, Fitbit, Runkeeper, Moves
(Update: Scroll to the bottom for more results) I have long been mad for tracking pretty much anything, so when I started jogging, it was quite obvious I would be tracking my runs as well. I started with Moves (http://www.moves-app.com/) an iOS/Android app that tracks your steps all day long, but also can recognise running [Continue reading]