No matter what your fitness goals are, the Samsung Gear Sport Smartwatch will motivate you to hit them – and go even further.
No matter what your fitness goals are, the Samsung Gear Sport Smartwatch will motivate you to hit them – and go even further.
It’s that time of the year for setting new goals – fitness ones included. Having achievable targets will push you to go further, and keep you moving. The last thing you want is to hit an exercise plateau where you no longer see the results of your effort, or worse, start dreading it.
One way to stay on track is to, well, start tracking your sessions. Logging your workouts habitually forces you to stay accountable. Plus, when you use a fitness tracking device like the Samsung Gear Sport Smartwatch, you can share your progress on social media. Research has shown that publicising your goals and achievements, no matter how small, will significantly increase your odds of success.
If you’re the competitive sort, owning the Samsung Gear Sport Smartwatch will spur you on even more. The Samsung Health app lets you view the fitness stats of people around the world, so you can see where you stand, and aim to beat them.
To take your fitness forward, all you need to do is set attainable goals like these, and log them with a Samsung Gear Sport Smartwatch.
GOAL #1 DO MORE OUTDOOR WORKOUTS
It’s proven: being in the outdoors is good for you. Many studies have shown an improvement in mental health when people exercise outdoors. Plus, soaking up nature has this huge calming effect that a gym workout won’t give you.
With the growing number of parks and park connectors in Singapore, walking, cycling, kick scooting and rollerblading have become a lot more convenient. For an effective workout, hit the trail for a hike or run. Going uphill works your hamstrings, glutes and calves more than running on flat ground, while navigating the uneven terrain trains ankle stability – all crucial to becoming a stronger runner. Our favourite hiking and trail running spots include MacRitchie Reservoir Park and Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Both parks offer trails of various difficulty levels – from beginner to advanced – that cater to different needs.
As you explore the great outdoors, the Samsung Gear Sport Smartwatch detects and tracks your route, distance and pace automatically with its built-in GPS. It even has an altimeter that measures elevation, so you know how much you’ve scaled.
GOAL #2 RUN FASTER
When it comes to running, there’s always room for improvement. This year, aim to score your personal best with the Samsung Gear Sport Smartwatch. It does a great job tracking your running stats, such as timing, distance and pace – even when you’re on a treadmill. The watch even has continuous heart rate monitoring so you know just how hard or easy you’re going. Here’s how to use the data to your advantage.
To build speed, you’ll need to keep tabs on your pace while running. For instance, if you’re looking to clock 5km in 25 minutes, you’ll have to sustain a 5min/km pace at the very least. Check your pace every minute or two to make sure you are on track. You can also follow one of the guided running programmes in the watch. Over time, you should see your pace rise, but not your heart rate.
Next, do interval runs, where you sprint for a short distance of 200m or 400m, followed by a recovery jog of the same distance. With the Gear Sport Smartwatch tracking and showing your real- time distance, you don’t need a running track to do those intervals.
Another important way to train speed is to improve your cadence – that is, the number of steps you take a minute. The shorter and quicker your strides, the faster and more efficiently you run. After every session, check the watch’s log to find out your cadence. Optimal cadence is considered to be around 180 strides per minute.
Need music for motivation? Fast-tempo songs will help you maintain a good cadence. The Gear Sport Smartwatch has Spotify music player, so you can play your favourite tunes on your Spotify Premium account even while offiine. You can also upload songs into the smartwatch – it comes with 4GB of internal memory.
GOAL #3 BETTER YOUR SWIMMING
After years of swimming, can you be sure that you’re doing the breaststroke and freestyle correctly? Swimming efficiently helps you engage the right muscles and avoid injury. You’ll also be able to clock more laps in less time, and finally overtake the faster swimmers.
Having the Gear Sport Smartwatch will put you one stroke ahead of the rest. Water-resistant to 50m, it tracks your swimming length, distance, time and strokes automatically. Then it uses those stats to analyse your swimming performance via the Speedo On app. Knowing your swimming efficiency comes in handy to fine-tune your swimming style.
Heading out to sea? It has military-grade protection, so you can keep it on even in the roughest conditions.
GOAL #4 IMPROVE YOUR CARDIOVASCULAR FITNESS
Your heart rate is a good indicator of cardiovascular fitness. The stronger your heart, the faster your heart rate recovers from exercise, and the lower your resting heart rate will be.
If you feel breathless doing an aerobic or high-intensity workout, it’s time to build your endurance (read: strengthen your heart). To do that, you’ll need to train at a higher-than- usual intensity.
For runners, start incorporating tempo runs into your plan, where you run at a hard intensity of 80 to 90 per cent of your maximum heart rate. To get an idea of your maximum heart rate, subtract your age from 220. If you’re 35, your maximum heart rate is about 185, which means you should aim for a heart rate of 148 to 166 for tempo runs.
As you run, the Gear Sport Smartwatch shows your real- time heart rate, so you can be certain of training in the right zone.
Chart your progress by measuring your resting heart rate every morning. It should get lower as your cardiovascular fitness improves. Knowing your resting heart rate is also useful to prevent overtraining: On days when it’s higher than average, you need more rest.
GOAL #5 INCREASE CALORIE BURN
Whether you want to lose or maintain your weight, it’s important to balance your calorie intake and calorie burn. Avoid a calorie surplus by going harder during your workout. The more intense it is, the more calories you burn during and after. High-intensity workouts are great for producing an afterburn effect, where your metabolism shoots up temporarily. That helps you torch more calories than if you did an easy workout.
However, high-intensity workouts are easier said than done. Very often, we underestimate our effort – it always feels tougher than it is! – and fail to push ourselves into the ideal calorie-burning zone, which is 80 to 90 per cent of your maximum heart rate. (If you’re 35, your maximum heart rate is about 185, which means you should aim to get your heart rate between 148 and 166.)
The surest way to hit that range is to monitor your heart rate using the Samsung Gear Sport Smartwatch.
Of course, it has a calorie- tracking function that measures calories burned throughout the day, based on your steps and heart rate. More incentive to keep moving.
MORE ABOUT THE SAMSUNG GEAR SPORT SMARTWATCH
The Samsung Gear Sport Smartwatch also tracks your sleep patterns and fluid intake. Personalise your style with the interchangeable straps (each sold separately), available in Hybrid Sport, Classic Leather and Premium Nato. Different watch faces are downloadable from the Samsung Gear app.
Retailing at $448, the Gear Sport Smartwatch is available at all major consumer electronic stores, authorised mobile retailers, Samsung Experience stores, and Lazada Singapore. Other Samsung Gear devices are also available. Visit http://www.samsung.com/sg/wearables for more info.
Samsung is one of the official tracker partners for the National Steps Challenge™ Season 3. Join the Challenge for more games, bigger prizes, and a healthier you. Visit http://www.stepschallenge.sg for more information.
