HRV, Sleep, Calorie tracking; devices from Whoop to Oura - any others? Join in!

Training
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So I’m a Type 1 diabetic, with asthma who suffers from Agoraphobia (does anybody want to swap bodies)

I got a Whoop about 3 months ago, so can’t speak about the 4.0 (2 - 3 weeks time apparently), because I was suffering from large bouts of exhaustion, the go to bed fine and wake up unable to get out of bed, now I don’t think it is perfect, but for me it has been life changing

Now I don’t think the HR is super accurate, but it is consistent, and when comparing day to day, that is probably the most important thing (do you care if you power meter is 50 watts out, if it is always 50 watts out, and it recognizes stress from other activities other than the sporting activities, stress from cutting the hedge is still stress from cutting the hedge, if I got for a walk when my anxiety is high, it records a different training stress to if I go with a calm walk in the afternoon, it doesn’t even have to show up as an activity. I don’t think pairing with a strap would that good a idea, as that would mean the reading wouldn’t be consistent over the 24 hrs

So my first finding when I got it was that I didn’t sleep as badly as I thought I did, I sleep better with my window shut (what a fool, I’ve always slept with the window open), I trained to hard on many days where I was tired, and not at all when I was rested (the will teach me to blindly follow a plan), I can do more on rest days, I’ve gone down to 4 training days a week (most weeks) and a 2 day rest block in my usual training week, has meant that I can put a lot more stress into the training days that I do, do … and have increased my training load over the week, from about 400, to near 600, and as I’m 52, I’m fairly happy about that

People are going to respond to this, with you should listern to your body more, and I do my best, but when you always feel shit, having a helping hand has been a real bonus (for me)

Is it perfect, absolutely not, is it a good tool … yes, and like all good tools

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124

So true!

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125

My 4.0 arrived. It arrived DOA so working with their device support team.

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I have noticed a huge difference between my HRV values in iOS vs Whoop. Usually 10+ms. While the iOS HRV is consistent with someone who is active at my age, the Whoop data would suggests I’m not. Has anyone experienced this difference

126

I think with Whoop it depends where you have it, either just above the wrist or on the bicep, if you had been using the 3.0 I know DC Rainmaker was very critical of most of its data that should improve with the 4.0 but only if worn on the bicep of course not sure how many people could sleep properly with a big strap on that part of the body. But it’s really the only way to get the most accurate data, I also use HRV4Training and although it might not tell me anything I didn’t know already, I don’t get enough quality sleep and I overtrain too much the values are very consistent, not sure Whoop gives you that if it’s based on data from the wrist.

127

I can’t disagree! Maybe the 4.0 underwear gives a better reading? Haha Wrist seems to be most comfortable.

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I think the best option was if they first made the Whoop compatible with a HR Strap but then move the HR Strap to your bicep so that’s much smaller but also much easier to sleep with but I just don’t see Whoop using other parties. They could create their own but to get people to buy into that they’d need to keep the price roughly the same.

129

Received my replacement 4.0. This one paired! The battery with this one will only charge the strap to 40%!

Anyone else encounter this?

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Did a Bing and Google search. Several Reddit threads on this issue.

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I had a Whoop 3.0 and found the bicep strap more comfortable than the wrist. I always wore a watch and stopped when I wore the strap on my wrist as I always had my phone on me. I usually sleep on my side with my hand under the pillow, so having the wrist strap was annoying (TMI). Same issue with my old Garmin Vivofit HR.

I bailed on The Whoop when the subscription ended after a year+ as I really did not use the data to manage my training. I trained according to the plan that GvA wanted me to, recovery score be damned!

Also, feeling like I always had to have my phone nearby was anxiety inducing. I have been working to limit my device/ screen time and it was not helping. Gladly returned to a nice analog Tissot 2019 TDF tribute watch.

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