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Body Battery - Kinda cool

Wolfie
over 5 years ago

I had a VA3 for 2 years and purchased a 6s a week ago.  Aside from the huge improvement in battery life, one nice improvement was body battery.  Yes, I know it's kind of a gimmick, but I got sick with a cold on Friday and my body battery was low until I recovered today.  Yeah, that's kinda cool.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to Otto-Destruct
    Otto-Destruct said:
    Body Battery is in no way a gimmick

    I don't think it's a gimmick either.  I have seen how alcohol affects my body battery numbers.  I've also seen the numbers drop low as an illness was coming on.  But I've also had a great night's sleep, felt well rested and had a very low body battery reading.  This suggested I take it easy even though my body was telling me everything's OK.  A couple weeks back I did one of those extreme workout videos with a friend.  I was using muscles I hadn't pushed in a long time.  I woke up sore and felt like 10lbs of sh*t stuffed in a 5lb bag.  My body battery was in the mid 90's.  My body told me to take it easy and to rest and stretch that day.  So, I do look at what the body battery numbers are advising, but I don't allow the numbers to make the calls when it comes to training.  

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to tess
    tess said:

    Here's a clip I saved from an online article when discussing the "negative aspects" of fitness devices.  

    Obsession with Numbers. A final problem with fitness trackers is that they can lead you to focus too much on numbers and not enough on how exercise makes you feel. You rely on the device to tell you whether you’re healthy or not, rather than listening to your body. You can even lose your motivation whenever the tracker isn’t with you. If you forget your tracker one day, you could decide it isn’t worth trying to be active, because those extra steps won’t get counted. You no longer feel motivated to walk because you enjoy it; it’s just something you do to meet your daily quota.

    yeah- but all of us here agree that the positives outweigh the negatives.  Sure- it's totally true that if I don't have my watch with me- there's no way I'd actually do a run. On the bright side- it's constantly motivating me to add more miles and exercise time.  :)  

    to the OP- yeah, I've also found that when you're sick, it tells you that your body battery is low.  kinda' spot on with that.  It doesn't mean you can't work out, but if you do feel lousy on your run (or bike, or swim, or etc), it kinda' lets you know why.  And it helps prevent over training.

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    "Rules are for the guidance of the wise and the obedience of fools."

    I see both sides of this debate.

    If I'd listened to what my Garmin was telling me in the lead up to a major illness, I might have gone to the hospital a day or two earlier and had a much reduced recovery time.

    Conversely, as Tess describes, there are times when Body Battery (or HRV stress, or "training load") would suggest laying off, but I know my body well enough (or suspect bad data) and know I can push a long distance trail run without risk of injury or illness.

    I "flew blind" for a long time, training without any kind of HR data - millions of people have. If Garmin gives me a clearer picture (training load focus is a huge one for me), I can use that selectively to reach my goals faster.