Diaries of a Nearly Dead Man

You probably heard that the Apple Watch is on pre-sale. you do know you need and iPhone to make it work?! Most of us who use MFP are aware of the sync-able apps that are available in additon to our beloved MFP. How the heck do we know what to do?

If you run, you know that Garmin is king of the race world. Mostly because it is a wrist wearable device.

Fitness bling and apps are big business. As an ex-fat guy I have a Fitbit One. As a runner, I have a Garmin 305. As 1st world human I have an iPhone and an Galaxy Android. Add to that a Bluetooth heart rate monitor, cadence sensor (for my bike), and now a Pebble watch, you can imagine what it takes to keep it all working.

To solve any problem, you need to decide what you need to know!

Do you walk. run indoors or out, want to count steps, GPS track your various workouts from mowing the lawn to dear I say, calories burned during sex?

Looking at the health and fitness offerings, here is where I stand. There is nothing better for tracking food than MFP. It has gotten better tha last 4 years. I also noticed that it was purchsed by Under Armor. Anyone who makes compressions shorts that will give you an orgasm just putting them on is okay in my book.

- Step counters: They count steps using an AVERAGE stride length. If you are busy and on your feet at work, you can rack up a lot of steps in an 8-hour shift. Fitbit is one of the most popular, and I have the One. Fitbit users who also use GPS apps and watches will notice that they are not always that close in tems of miles (or kilometers). You can adjust your stride length to make it more accurate. Endomondo (also Under Armor now) *sigh* will also sync your Fitbit as will MFP.

- GPS Apps and watches: These use two forms of calculations. One is to triangulate from cell phone towers, while the other connects to GPS satellites. This is the main reason they may have a some discrepancy from each other. Tree and building cover an throw off the GPS and poor cell phone coverage can ruin an indoor run. Some use both. A GPS will map a run, walk, cycle, or snow shoveling workout. They have trouble on treadmills for all the obvious reasons. Your step counter or additional Shoe Pod can help.

- Additional sensors: Bluetooth technology allows you to add specialized sensors to your phone app or SmartWatch. I use a Wahoo heart rate monitor strap, but I have used Polar as well. My Garmin has a HRM strap too. I also have a cadence sensor from Wahoo on one bike (indoor) and a Garmin one for outdoor road riding. There are shoe pods that act as step counters as well.

I know it's a lot to digest if you are not tech savvy.

I wrote this because I have finally got it all simplified. This is what I am doing.
- Endomondo (for iPhone and Android, I use both) It's a paid version, but they have a free one. It will import tracks from Garmin, Nike and MapMyRun and any GPS which exports tracks. It almost perfectly matches my Garmin 305 up to a full marathon. You can edit run times post race to put in your official time. Oh yeah, it syncs with Fitbit and MyFitnessPal too.
- Wahoo cadence sensor (bike) and HRM strap: They are Bluetooth and synch with Endomondo.
- Pebble watch: It will show the Endomondo app on the wrist screen plus it will show every other notification for every app on your phone which is configured including phone calls, texts, Facebook, MFP and PornStars. It is a lot cheaper than the Apple Watch and you can get one today.
- I also have a Mophie battery pack so I get 12-20 hours of phone time.

Just an attempt to share my quest to cut down on apps and gadgets. Looking forward to your feedback.