“After a long run during cross country, sophomore Haley Ogasawara grabs her water bottle to take a sip, tapping open the Fitbit app on her phone at the same time. Ogasawara uses Fitbit products regularly. “It’s really helpful because it tracks your steps, and you can see where you are compared to other days,” she says.
Fitbits are popular fitness trackers that compile various daily statistics depending on the device type. For example, the “Zip” model comes with features such as tracking step counts, distance traveled, and calories burned, while the “Surge” watch includes a GPS, heart rate monitor, and text and call notifications. Fitbits are synced to a smartphone app or website, displaying all the the gathered data.
“[Fitbits] help people track their progress, and they can see how much they’ve improved, or how active they’ve been,” Ogasawara says.
English teacher Robynne Francis owns a Garmin bracelet, which has abilities similar to a Fitbit. “[I became] sedentary last year, and it was a way for me to make sure I moved more and get more active again,” she says. When Francis sits down for a long time, her bracelet will beep, alerting her to get up and start moving. “It’s a very auditory reminder for me to move,” Francis says. “If it beeps at me, I’ll get up and walk for a few minutes to get my mail, or I’ll walk down to get something from my car.”
Another feature of the Fitbit is that it gives users to set personal goals. Science teacher Katherine Ward says, “My goal is to get ten thousand steps a day, which is five miles.” Ward owns two different Fitbits: the Zip, which is a clip, and the Flex, a wristband. The Flex has five LED lights that monitor progress. Ward says, “When I complete 20 percent of my goal, a dot will light up, and when I reach ten thousand steps, it will vibrate with [all] five dots.” Some Fitbits also track the time it takes to complete steps. “Being the scientist I am, I like to get a rate going,” says Ward.
These fitness trackers do not come at a small price. The Flex, Fitbit’s best seller, goes for about $100, and Garmin bracelets and similar products sell for around the same amount. However, Ward believes the investment is worth it. “[It’s] just information and the more I have, the better decisions I can make [about my health],” she says.
On the other hand, health and PE teacher Barbara Beaumont thinks that Fitbits are too expensive. Instead, she uses an app called “Myfitnesspal” and requires her sophomore PE class to utilize the app as well. “What I like about [Myfitnesspal] is that [students] can friend me,” Beaumont says. Using this feature, Beaumont can give out grades based on student’s logs. Beaumont explains, “[The app is] the same thing you would do with a personal trainer: you set goals, write it [down] and work through the fitness and nutrition to achieve those goals.”
However, some of Beaumont’s students do not find the app very helpful. “I know what I eat and that I exercise, so I don’t need an app to track that for me,” says sophomore Kalena Li.
Myfitnesspal requires its users to manually log food in order to calculate the amount of calories consumed. Sophomore Isabela Cortwright says, “It’s difficult to use because [the app] will ask for how much of a certain food I ate, and I don’t keep track of that.”
As a busy student, sophomore Emily Peter agrees, “I understand why people who care about those things would use [Myfitnesspal]. However, I honestly don’t have the time to care about those things.”
Because only two years of PE are required at Aragon, most sophomores will not take the class next year, so Beaumont hopes students will take personal ownership of their own daily fitness, nutrition, and general health. However, Beaumont understands that health can come in phases. She says, “I think that’s how it goes. You get really into it, and then you don’t have time for it, but it’s a constant coming back to it.”
In the end, fitness trackers are not necessary for an active lifestyle. Ward explains, “They are just tools that allow people who have made the commitment to making [health] important easier.” “
