IF SOMEONE ASKS YOU, "How are you doing?" and you feel the need to pull up your tracker app, we get you. Humanity has entered the golden age of health and fitness tracking. Everybody wears a tracker now, whether strapped around the wrist or cuffed around a finger. The global tracker industry was already worth R708 billion in 2021, and it is forecast to grow to more than R2.3 trillion by 2028. A legion of companies-Garmin, Fitbit, Samsung, Oura, Huawei and so many more advertise wearables that promise to quantify everything from heart rate and stress level to metabolic rate, fitness level, recovery status and sleep quality.
And that promise is alluring: if you can track it, you can improve it, these brands argue. Except that some experts are now seeing the symptoms of over tracking. "One risk of all this measuring is that you become so obsessed with metrics that you forget the reasons you're out there-things like recreation, fun, hanging out with your buddies," says Dr. Michael J. Joyner, a human-physiology researcher at the Mayo Clinic. Even sleep is no refuge, because you feel pressure to attain a high sleep score.
This story is from the March - April 2023 edition of Men's Health South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the March - April 2023 edition of Men's Health South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
CAN YOU REMIX YOUR MINDSET?
YOU KNOW MUSIC ALTERS MOOD. NOW A NEW APP PROMISES THE RIGHT TRACKS CAN SOOTHE STRESS, BOOST PRODUCTIVITY AND LEVEL UP YOUR GYM GAINS.
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET REALLY SO ?
AND DOES IT REALLY FIGHT OFF DISEASE? WE LOOK AT THE DATA.
THE SEMI-COMPLETE USER'S GUIDE TO...YOUR LUNGS
THEY POWER A WORKOUT, FILTER OUT INVADERS AND WORK FOR US 24/7-UNLESS GERMS, POLLUTANTS, BAD LUCK OR OUR OWN NEGLECT GETS IN THE WAY. TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND DISCOVER HOW TO HELP THEM OUT.
ACTION MAN
THERE WAS NO MIRACLE FIX FOR TIMOTHY FAIRWEATHER'S HEAVIER PROBLEMS. THE SECRET: TAKING SMALL ACTIONS EVERY DAY TO BUILD UP TO MASSIVE RESULTS.
THE MUSCLE SPRINT
CRUSH ALL MAJOR MUSCLE GROUPS, BLAST CALORIES AND SUPERCHARGE YOUR CARDIO WITH THIS DUMBBELL WORKOUT, WHICH HAS AN INTENSE 55-REP LADDER SCHEME THAT MINIMISES REST AND MAXIMISES FUN.
THE ULTIMATE SUMMER BODYWEIGHT BURNER
BUILD MUSCLE AND STRENGTH AND CHALLENGE YOUR COORDINATION AND ATHLETICISM WITH THIS NO-EQUIPMENT WORKOUT.
RISE OF THE BEASTS
THIS YEAR'S MILESTONE TENTH EDITION OF OUR COVER GUY SEARCH DREW 413 GUYS WHO EMBODY SELFLESSNESS, GRIT AND PERSEVERANCE. THEIR ANIMALISTIC DEVOTION TO FITNESS AND TALES OF TRIUMPH WILL INSPIRE YOU TO GREATNESS.
...I LOSE MY COOL?
DON'T WHITE-KNUCKLE IT. LEARN TO UNDERSTAND, OWN AND ULTIMATELY TAME YOUR OUTRAGE WITH OUR EXPERT POINTERS. DEEP BREATH, NOW...
MOVING MOUNTAINS
LONG HAULS, STEEP CLIMBS, EXTREME COLD AND OTHERWORLDLY LANDSCAPES IN THE CEDERBERG-OUR WRITER TAKES ON THE ELEMENTS AND UNEARTHS A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON A FIVEDAY TREK ALONG PHANTOM PATHS CUT THROUGH BEWITCHING SCENERY.
THE NEW PLYO POWER-UP
HOW MODERN TAKES ON AN OLD FITNESS FAVOURITE CAN CALIBRATE YOUR TRAINING FOR AN INSTA-BOOST OF ATHLETICISM AND STRENGTH.