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Back in February, I wrote about my initial impressions of Whoop, the recovery tracker I’d ordered in January. It’s in that post where you’ll find out how it works, and what exactly it does, but today I’m here to go a little deeper.
See, every so often, Whoop makes improvements. It’s actually one of the things I really like about it. They’ve got a website called The Locker with really educational and informative blog posts, and while I don’t have the time to read every post, it’s one of the go-to places I head for when I have a few extra minutes and want to learn something that’ll help me improve my understanding of my own body and recovery.
Each day, Whoop calculates the quality of my sleep, the number of sleep disturbances, and breaks down the stages of sleep into Awake, Light, REM and SWS (Deep sleep). Recent updates include Respiratory rate which measures the number of breaths per minute.
In addition, each day I get a recovery percentage, and as you can see, my recovery is garbage today, at only 21%. What’s interesting, although not surprising, is that there’s a pattern that’s formed. My recovery rate is always in the red the day after I exceed the recommended strain. I exceed that strain either on my own doing (sometimes I just want to workout even though it’s not recommended to take on a strain that challenging), or from a life situation (on the day our condo flooded, my stress and anxiety was through the roof, which elevated my heart rate, which was then calculated as excessive strain. I’ve never burned more calories in a day than the day my condo flooded). I find it so cool because while I do trust my gut instinct, sometimes I find it hard to evaluate how I’m feeling in terms of my energy level. I’ve noticed that with Whoop’s recovery tracker, I’ve been more likely to make an effort to relax (how telling is that phrase from this Type A go-go-goer?!). In terms of its accuracy, an independent study revealed it was excellent - within one breath of the gold standard.
Another recent update included a journal. You can customize the journal to track everything from sex, drinking, coffee, alcohol, stress, marijuana use, and beyond, and keep track of it. Then, at the end of the month, Whoop gives you a fully comprehensive report and you can see whether any of the behaviors you’ve tracked had an impact on your recovery. I drink one cup of coffee per day, mid-morning, and Whoop evaluated that it had no impact on my rate of recovery. Interestingly, I don’t drink much, but on the nights I did drink, my recovery was impacted. Also, stress definitely impacts my recovery. I mean, duh, we logically know that, but it’s really interesting when there are cold, hard numbers to support the findings.
I thought for sure the novelty would wear off, but it hasn’t - not at all. In fact, I recommend it to everyone who’s asked me about it. I find it such a vital tool in understanding my body that I haven’t taken it off yet. So far, the battery life that been fine - I charge it once a week, and it charges pretty quickly.
If you’d like to try it out, you can use this link and get $30 off. And if you do, keep me posted on what you think!!