• In today’s world, exercise devices can aid motivation, provide real time data to make you run faster, work harder, and now the iwatch can track sleep habits, your RHR and alert you to notifications. There are many devices out there, the Garmin, Iwatch, your Iphone with health data, sleep apps, exercise apps etc etc etc. They are all wonderful gadgets. You can even click on the heart beat icon to create an EKG. As someone who suffers from autoimmune disease and has a blood clotting disorder, this information is invaluable. There are times where the buzzing on my watch wakes me up because my HR drops to 37. It literally wants to make sure I’m alive and well. (Yes, I have regular cardio checkups). It used to be the case pregnant women weren’t supposed to let HR rise above 140bpm, but now it has changed to RPE because it’s so individualistic as to what 140 means to each person. That could be a walk in the park or a marathon. There are days when getting out of bed hurts, so I cut my miles. On those days my HR rises without doing strenuous activity and 3 miles feels like 26.2, and my RPE and watch reveal that and align. However, there can be times when they don’t align, the data doesn’t match the effort, when you feel like you are pushing your hardest and the HR doesn’t rise, or you feel you are running fast but you are in place like Fred Flintstone. Then what? Stop because the data isn’t what you want? Don’t try the next day because of the data or the numbers from the yesterday, the day before the last week? NO!!! Every day is a chance to move. Every second is a fresh start.

What I’d like to tell you is don’t let the data dictate how you feel about your workout. Be thankful you can move, acknowledge your work, find the good in the exercise and THEN analyze the data. 

Depending on the person, devices can create analysis paralysis whereby you are constantly comparing daily data with yourself and others and feel unsatisfied or like a failure if those goals aren’t met thus you give up, or are paralyzed in reacting. The true definition is: 

“Analysis paralysis is a colloquial phrase used to describe the feeling of being unable to make a decision due to overthinking a problem. This often happens when you’re dealing with too many variables and continually researching solutions, instead of taking action and making a decision.“

If you feel paralyzed by the data coming your way, you aren’t alone. Watching steps and miles, day after day can make you hyperfocused on data and lead to analysis paralysis. You have one life, use it wisely. Use exercise to decrease stress, not add to it. Only you know if the analytics are bogging you down. Tips:

• live in the moment
• enjoy whatever exercise you are doing at the time
• assess your effort and satisfaction with your workout without looking at numbers first: like in golf when someone asks how you played most respond with data “good, I shot a 75”. ( in my dreams) When “good” can also be, “the score didn’t reflect it but my putting was on fire”.  Start with non data first
• when using Peleton ignore the leader board, workout for you, no one else. It’s your heart. Your organs, your workout. It’s personal.
• try working out without your iwatch or garmin. workout by feel only and then you can load the data afterward with miles etc.
• listen to music to relax and reset, music can oftetimes dictate pace and maybe you are tired to start, start with a few slow songs to warm up
• don’t be discouraged if data for the first few minutes of a workout stink, your body is catching up to the demand you are placing on it, just ignore data for a bit until you are in the groove
• change your mindset to: I get to workout. I have the opportunity to ride, it may not be as long as yesterday, but that’s what I have time for today, yesterday is the past, I can only change the now and the future.

Yes, trainers use data to assess the success of client programs, to determine if HR is decreased over time with a certain level of activity because that means cardiovascular endurance and/or strength is improving depending on type of program, or using RPE to assess if doing a certain program becomes easier with time, another measure of progress. There are fabulous measures of success and ways to use statistics to our advantage, and this can also motivate clients if they are numbers savvy and need that information to perform, but if you feel like you are stuck in mud, put the data down, don’t let it overwhelm you. More on the analytics of exercise in another post as it CAN serve a purpose. I will show you how to calculate your optimum HR and RPE Scale.

There are days when walking the dog IS the exercise of the day. Personally, my HR doesn’t rise to a statistical level (yes, bc I checked for this blog:), but sometimes it is liberating just putting one foot in front of the other. That’s what life is about. It’s about enjoying the moment and what you are able to do, not what you “should do”, because maybe you are doing exactly as you “should”. Forward Progress looks different every day and it’s different for every person.

*there is an exception: if you have a pre-existing condition where you NEED to monitor HR etc, please do not ignore your device. This is only for those who need a break from numbers, not those relying 24/7 on numbers.