Definition – What is a Fitness Bracelet?
In its simplest form, a fitness wristband is merely a pedometer, i.e. a pedometer. Nowadays, acceleration and GPS sensors are also part of the standard range of fitness wristbands. They are used to store and display “activity-related” data of the wearer, such as the number of steps, the distance covered and the resulting energy consumption.
For whom is a fitness bracelet suitable?
There is no blanket category of people who could not benefit from a fitness bracelet. In general, the bracelet is designed to make health-promoting behavior visible and thus continues to encourage athletic behavior. In most cases, however, the fitness wristband is interesting for amateur athletes, as it can already be coupled with a variety of sports equipment such as a pulse belt or a proper pedometer.
In general, however, it is mainly people who are looking to “improve” their everyday life. By monitoring sleep behavior and a pulse pattern, changes in sports or sleeping behavior can be made and personal fitness can be compared with previous values. In summary, it can be said that fitness wristbands are interesting for people who use the data recorded by the fitness wristband to analyze their lifestyle and sports style. If heart rate measurement is just a nice “gimmick”, it is not absolutely necessary to purchase a fitness wristband.
How exactly do fitness wristbands work?
As already mentioned above, the functionality of the fitness wristbands is based on their built-in sensors. There are sensors for linear and rotational movements in all three spatial directions, as well as GPS sensors and sensors for heart rate measurement. Since a separate section is dedicated to heart rate measurement and the GPS methodology is familiar to most people, only the motion sensors will be discussed here.
With the help of these motion sensors, every movement of the bracelet and thus of the arm can be recorded. Each movement has a different combination of acceleration and extent of movement. Slow lifting of the arm – for example, for drinking – has a low acceleration, but a large range of motion. The arm swing when jogging is faster, but the arm has a different range of motion. The aim of the manufacturers is now to store for each arm movement, if possible, which activity it is and how much physical effort is involved in order to indicate the calories burned.
