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by kelnos
514 days ago
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I think a lot of people exercise a bit less "scientifically". I tracked my runs for many years, but ultimately never did anything with the data, and rarely even referred to it for anything useful. I generally "track" the effectiveness of my exercise based on the end results: my weight, how I feel, how my body looks, etc., and I can generally tell by how I feel while exercising if I'm doing enough or if I need to exercise more or use heavier weights. It's funny, because I am a bit of a data hoarder, and love the idea of tracking stuff. But I've started to realize that I never really use that data for anything. And it's not like people didn't have effective exercise regimens before the advent of all this tracking technology. |
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I walked the exact same path.
For runnings and aerobic exercise in general I tracked for a few years my times, calories, heartrate. But indeed never did anything with that data, nor really used it as a benchmark.
After a while I was also pretty easily able to find and sit in a particular heart rate zone, without periodic feedback from my watch.
Of course you'd want that precise info as a professional runner. But for me it was mostly useless. My apple watch broke during a swim one day and I never cared to replace it. Haven't missed it once to be honest.
I still track my big compound lifts in the gym on my phone using a simple app, to track progress. I don't particularly do much with that data. If it's improving I'm happy, if it's not I'm a bit disappointed. But in any case I tend to go pretty hard in the gym, lifting a number of sets with a few reps in reserve, and try to increase the weights slowly. In that regard tracking a set helps to set the baseline for the next workout, that's helpful. But I still adjust based on how I feel that day, aiming to simply complete a few sets with a few reps in reserve (i.e. making it as challenging as it can be without sacrificing safety or unnecessarily long recovery). It's a constant reminder of how far I've come also, which is nice.