These days, there isn’t a lot that you can’t track with technology. We’ve got pedometers built into our smartphones and GPS in our watches, and that’s before you jump into wearable health tech. Smartwatches and fitness trackers such as Fitbit or Garmin give you eyes on your heart rate, stress levels, and sleep patterns, but that’s all been taken to the next level with WHOOP.
What Is WHOOP?
WHOOP is the company behind what is arguably the most advanced health and fitness tracker on the market right now–the WHOOP 4.0 device.
With five LEDs and four photodiodes, WHOOP 4.0 is able to capture your data continuously, including heart rate, resting heart rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen levels, and skin temperature. These data points are then sent directly to the WHOOP app, where they’re analyzed to provide a clear view of your overall health and personalized coaching tips to help you train more efficiently.
WHOOP 4.0 isn’t a smartwatch. It doesn’t give notifications, have a fancy screen, or take calls. Instead, WHOOP 4.0 is a smart gadget for fitness enthusiasts. The wearable device is clean and minimal, with a sleek design for continuous wear.
How WHOOP 4.0 Can Help You Keep Track of Your Health
Despite containing some of the most advanced wearable health tech on the market, WHOOP 4.0 would be nothing without the WHOOP app. The WHOOP app takes arbitrary data points and transforms them into easy-to-understand graphs and reports. These are then split across three core areas: Sleep, Strain, and Recovery.
WHOOP Sleep Tracking
Sleep is essential for health, yet you're probably unaware of the quality of your sleep and whether you get enough. Thankfully, technology is starting to deliver a glimpse into what goes on when the lights go out so it can help you get a good night's sleep.
WHOOP makes it easy to track everything you need to know about your sleep, including your sleep stages, disturbances, the efficiency of your sleep, and how often you breathe while asleep. WHOOP even tells you how much sleep you should be aiming for by determining your baseline, adding in any recent strain, and assessing whether you have any sleep debt to make up for.
WHOOP Strain Tracking
Every day, you put your body under strain. Exercise, work, travel, and anxiety all put stress on the body and change how you perform and how much sleep you need to recover.
WHOOP calculates your daily strain on a scale of 0 to 21. The WHOOP 4.0 device automatically detects activities throughout the day and then uses your heart rate data to calculate your daily strain score. This figure is then used to suggest the optimal amount of sleep you need to recover and to assess whether you’re overreaching.
The strain dashboard is also the place to monitor the calories you’ve burned throughout the day and see how your heart rate has fluctuated.
WHOOP Recovery Tracking
Perhaps the most underrated feature of the WHOOP app is its ability to help you track your recovery. It’s all well and good to train hard, but failing to prioritize recovery can lead to injury and burnout.
The WHOOP 4.0 device tracks key biometrics, such as your resting heart rate, sleep performance, and heart rate variability, allowing the WHOOP app to quantify how ready your body is to perform as a percentage.
Over time, by tracking your recovery, you’ll be able to see more clearly how lifestyle factors such as drinking alcohol or staying up late can affect your performance. You’ll also learn what you need to do to feel more rested after a heavy training session and how to maintain a steady regime before you start to see the signs of burnout.
Learn How to Perform at Your Best Every Day
If peak performance is your goal, then WHOOP 4.0 and the accompanying WHOOP app put the power back in your hands. By tracking your strain, recovery, and sleep, you’ll have a clear picture of your overall health and will be in the best position to maximize your potential. Whether you’re training for a specific event or want to be the best you can be every day, then WHOOP 4.0 can give you the data you need to succeed.