It's been 2 years
since I talked about a product with the passion I'm
about to throw down, but for me? This is actually life
changing. After over a day with it, I feel like it was
made specifically for me. It actually solves an issue
I've had for over a decade and does it in the coolest
way possible... Let me quickly explain the
issue...
I'm now about 10
pounds away from my goal of losing 40 pounds. I've
proven over the years that losing weight is something
I can do if I put my mind to it. I can even
maintain it for a bit, but inevitably I lose interest
in the exercise and eating right because I hate
it. As I've said a billion times on this site,
I am not a runner. I do it because it
works. I'm getting better at it, but I still just
hate it. So I know what's going to happen when
I hit my goal weight. I'll stick around it about
5 pounds, and only run maybe once or twice a week...
and it will start to fade away. I mean, I like
shooting hoops and running up Journey mountain from
time to time, but there's no way to really
track that activity. And for me? Tracking it is
why I keep going. Ya know, kinda like this ridiculous
website? Entry #1244? I think you get it.
I've had a
pedometer but they're never very accurate and they
don't really track, say... playing basketball. Or
playing the Xbox Kinect. It's just steps. Zzzzzzz. If
they could just invent something that tracked overall
activity and gave it some sort of metric, I could
figure out how active I need to be to maintain my
healthy weight.
Holy,
shit:
In case you can't
see the video, I'll explain it here:
Simply put the:
band has a 3-axis accelerometer that can sense
movement left/right, up/down and forward/back.
Combined with the speed of that movement it can sense
how active you are and Nike assigned the metric of
"fuel points" to the activity. For example a normal
sedentary day would be 2000 "fuel points" and a very
active day would be 5000 "fuel points". But of course
it's all relative to YOU. Basically you see
what you do in a normal day, and set yourself a goal
of a bit more than that and then throughout the day
you see where you're at. If you're just shy of your
goal, you may decide to clean up the house and get
moving. Maybe take a walk around the neighborhood...
again any movement does it. Brushing your teeth will
give you a couple. I'm sure you can imagine the
possibilities (uhhhh hehehehe).
Now? Throw in the
other thing that makes this made for Journey Adam. You
can make your "score" public for accountability
and so you can compare it to your friends who have the
band. Seriously, it's like the entire world has
realized the therapeutic benefits of what I discovered
about The Journey over a decade ago: being open (with
CERTAIN information) keeps you accountable. On top of
that it gives you a point of reference that you can
look back on and see the progression. It's
exactly how "The Journey" is therapy for me.
Being open and honest about what's happening (like the
band tracks your activity level) keeps me accountable
to my initial goals (whatever you set your band to)
and setting each entry in stone (your points are
tracked and set in stone at midnight when the band
resets) allows me to look back and see progression
(there's an entire site with all your stats and even
an app for your iphone). It's what everyone's
inadvertently doing with Facebook or any information
sharing site. You're recording little bits of yourself
over time. Of course if you don't want to share the
information if you don't want to.
Now I know
this band won't mean as much to everyone, but for me?
This is literally an answer to what has kept me
on a constant yo-yo of weight for my entire adult
life. Once I achieve my goal in 10 pounds,
naturally my interest level will wane. Now? I will
always have an idea of my activity level each day and
have very easy and attainable ways to keep
going. Fuck running. I hate running. LOL. I do
however, love shooting baskets. I love going for
walks. Big fan of sex.
Ha.
Joking aside, you
guys see the value in this thing? I want my
parents to get these YESTERDAY. Not because they need
to hit 5000 every day, but I would love for them to
just see what a normal day is, and creatively find
ways to be a bit more active. I mean, pedometers don't
mean shit for someone who has bad knees... but with
this? You can sit and just move your arms and dance.
You can sit and bounce a basketball. You can knit, you
can play piano... just make that band move. And no
matter what? You're doing more than you were
before.
Now, let me throw
out some "Cons" for those considering
this...
1) Lazy doesn't
give a fuck about
"points".
Unless you're a gamer, and oh, wait before I get
into this con - a note to gamers:
Nike just
turned life into a fucking videogame. You're the
main character collecting points by moving 24-7. At
the end of the day you get achievements and
trophies and shit and you can compare your score to
all your friends and try and get more points than
them. Oh fuck this is awesome. Get it. Get it. Get
it.
So where was I?
Yes, unless you're a gamer most lazy people aren't
gonna be motivated by an abstract number that doesn't
actually mean anything. I happen to have the
gamer bug but if you don't? This whole point system
thing just isn't gonna move you. Maybe the
accountability aspect of the points will work, but
shaming people to move seems a little twisted.
Bottom line, you know if this will work for you before
you get it - and I'm sure for many people, they will
have zero motivation to get that band to read a
certain number everyday.
2) The other
"metrics". The
band will also show the fuel point equivalent in
"steps" and "calories burned" and on the site it'll
show your distance traveled throughout the day, but
it's more of an equivalent. Meaning if you
brush your teeth for 60 seconds it'll show you the
equivalent of walking 9 steps... not that you actually
went 9 steps. To some people (if you read reviews)
this lack of accuracy is a deal breaker, though I'm
not sure why. They're kind of missing the point. And
some people take the "calories burned"accuracy to such
a level they want it to track calories burned in sleep
and the normal calories your body burns without any
movement. Jesus people, really? Would you like it to
be inserted in your ass? How would you monitor that?
Again, they're missing the point - but if you want
exact steps, or exact distance - there are
GPS watches for that.
3) A heart-rate
monitor does basically the same thing.
I don't know of
a gadget that monitors your heart rate throughout the
day for a total count, but even if there's one that
does? It would only motivate me to get my heart rate
up and ugggggggggh, that's what burns me out. That's
exactly what I'm doing for my hardcore workouts now,
I don't want to continue that shit. THINKING
about that makes me tired. But with this band? Even
though I'm not hitting my target heart rate? This
thing made me take an extra 30 minute walk today with
Talya. I got 500 points and enjoyed it. My heart rate
barely budged since my body is conditioned to running
right now, but the activity is what will keep
me fit in the long run.
4) What about
cycling and swimming?
People keep
bringing up cycling like it's a total fail with this,
uhm, snap the thing to your shoe guys. Easy to secure
to your foot if you want to go for a ride. Swimming
however? Yeah, it's only water resistent. You can
shower with it, it's fine in the rain, but it can't be
held underwater for any length of time. That is indeed
a bummer for swimmers. If that's you? You're
out.
5) It's
HOW MUCH?
I don't get it.
I really have no idea why this is $149. Now, the
technology is stunning. The LED lights just come
through the RUBBER band... it's ridiculously
futuristic. And how it connects to your iPhone (or
online on your computer) is remarkable. The
honest-to-goodness truth is, had Talya's mother not
decided to get one for all three of us for Talya's
birthday
(THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU)...
I never would've bought this. $99 maybe.
But at $149? All I think is about what it
can't do. No GPS? No heart rate monitor?
I instantly become all those people that slam it
without ever owning one. Now that I do? I
couldn't not have it. And here's the best
counter to the price:
You wear it
without thinking about it. It's as light as a
livestrong bracelet. Even watches are more bulky.
That means that you inadvertently use it everyday.
This isn't a piece of equipment you need to find
time to use and motivation to use, it just is. That
simplicity is what makes it work. Your brain
figures out the rest. Everything is exercise if you
have a way to track it. I joked that all the
work I'm doing to the house was more than my 5k
runs every other day, but I had no way to
actually know that. Now I do. And yes, it
actually was. Conversely, when we came home from
the grove after getting them, Talya noticed her
mother had 100 more points than her. She's
like: "How the shit?" and gets up and does
something to beat her mom. Without this? We don't
really have any idea how active or inactive we are.
What an amazing piece of
technology.
Then again, I'm
sure there are several people that really don't want a
daily reminder that they sit on their ass all day. But
even at the Nike Store, the guy was showing me his and
he joked: "Yeah, I'm pretty low today, after
work I'm gonna have to run around the block a few
times to get to my goal". It's so simple. When
technology makes goals this effortless? And you don't
have to create complicated excel spreadsheets (that
would be me) to calculate all these aspects? It's
actually fun. Throw in the cool factor and the
integration with the website and sharing? This will
change my life. I just may have beaten the weight
gaining curse that has plagued me the last 20
years.
