Use Fitness Trackers to Fuel
Your Motivation, Not Your Anxiety
Make strides toward your workout goals by hitting “reset” on how you use activity monitors.
If you’re one of the many people setting exercise-focused New Year’s goals, surely you’ve heard fitness trackers are a great way to hold yourself accountable. But between obsessively checking your progress and getting those reminders to do more, it’s easy to get down on yourself and feel anxious when you have inevitable slow days.
The good news: There are many ways to use activity monitors while striking the perfect balance between self-monitoring and self-compassion. Here are just a few.
Reframe your personal goals
The scale and your step count can be powerful tools—but what are your goals beyond the numbers? Look internally rather than externally to identify the root of your fitness goals and why they’re meaningful to you. If you want to lose weight, for example, try to go beyond the societal standards of body image and focus on what matters most in your life. That can be anything from learning to love your body and relieving stress to being able to join your friends for a run or fitness class. By reflecting on your deeper motivation, you’ll start to see the numbers in a new light beyond the pass/fail mentality of reaching your goal.
Find an exercise activity you love
Don’t love doing pull-ups at the gym or forcing yourself to sprint the last mile of your run? Feel like you have to do 20 press-ups a day even when you’re not feeling your best? We often let expectations define our workouts and focus on what we think we should do rather than on what we want to do. With the variety of fitness programmes available in the Samsung Health app, you can keep experimenting until you find something you truly enjoy.¹ Whether that’s stretching, kickboxing or cycling, you can manually track up to 90 workouts on your Galaxy Watch4 to keep you on a roll toward reaching your goals.
Avoid overwhelm with SMART goals
One of the main reasons people struggle with their goals—fitness or otherwise—is because they aren’t specific enough.
Enter SMART goals. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. This tried-and-true method helps you set a clear objective and prioritise the steps you need to take. For example, let’s say you want to be healthier. Here’s how you might set a SMART goal around that.
Specific: Pick one way to approach your goal—exercise more regularly, for example.
Measurable: Quantify your goal by setting a target number that helps you stay focussed. Maybe that’s running five miles a week.
Attainable: Look beyond the big picture and think about realistic ways you can accomplish your goal. That might mean setting smaller goals (like running one mile two days a week) and working your way up to your larger overarching goal.
Relevant: Revisit your motivation behind your goal. Maybe you want to build up your endurance so you can run a 10k with your friends.
Timely: Give yourself a deadline so you feel motivated to take action. Just remember to be realistic and honest with yourself. It’s also important to keep in mind that your goals might change, and that’s OK too. You can adjust them any time.
Lean on friends for accountability
There are many advantages to working out with friends. For one, you keep each other motivated and accountable—not to mention, some friendly competition can be a fun shake-up to your regular routine. To start your own fitness squad, use the Together feature² in the Samsung Health app to create team challenges where you and your friends compete against one another in groups to reach a set number of steps. You can even participate in global monthly challenges hosted by Samsung Health to reach new steps and milestones.
Give yourself “off” days
(you're allowed)
Between work, school and balancing other responsibilities, it’s unrealistic to think you’ll never miss a day of working out. That’s why giving yourself permission to turn off your activity monitor and its notifications is critical. If you know you won’t be walking, exercising or even moving a lot (let’s say you’re cramming for a test or not feeling well), shut off any programmed notifications on your Galaxy Watch4 to avoid reminders to walk, stand or exercise. That way, you can focus on what you need to prioritise instead: your wellbeing.
Schedule rest days, too
In addition to “off” days, scheduling rest days on your calendar can be rewarding and motivating—almost like looking forward to a vacation or a big event. Think of rest days as a necessary part of your workout that allows your body to recuperate after all its hard work. Make your rest day official by blocking out your calendar on your Galaxy device and setting a reminder so you can plan accordingly.
- ¹Certain third-party content available on Samsung Health may require a subscription fee.
- ²Samsung Account log-in and data network connection (Wi-Fi or data network) required.
- ³Samsung Health and Galaxy Watch4 is not a medical or therapeutic device and is not intended for medical use. It is solely intended for fitness and wellness purposes only and is not intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions; or in the cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease; or for the prevention or control of conception or pregnancy. Samsung recommends that you consult with your doctor or physician before participating in any exercise program.
Reset your routine
Use the Galaxy Watch4 and Samsung Health app to break new ground on your workout goals—and make fitness fun and empowering.
Galaxy Watch5
Samsung Health
