In recent years, the correlation between regular physical activity and overall health has been the subject of numerous studies. However, a recent cohort study has shed light on a new and intriguing aspect of this link – the potential of pre-pandemic physical activity to impact individuals’ vulnerability to COVID-19 infection and hospitalization.
Study Overview
A recent cohort study comprising 61,557 adults has suggested that adhering to recommended exercise guidelines before the onset of the pandemic could significantly lower the odds of contracting COVID-19 and requiring hospitalization. Interestingly, the study found that participants who were sufficiently active experienced a 10% reduction in COVID-19 infection and a 27% reduction in hospitalization compared to those who were inactive. Further, this protective influence of physical activity on COVID-19 appears to be stronger in females.
It’s important to note that this study is observational, relying on self-reported data, which can introduce bias. Therefore, further investigation is required to extrapolate these results to various demographic groups.
High Physical Activity and Lower COVID-19 Risk
The study combined data from three ongoing prospective randomized clinical trial cohorts, with participants averaging 76 years of age. While the research highlights the potential protective role of physical activity against COVID-19, it is vital to acknowledge its limitations, chiefly its observational nature and the use of self-reported data. The research team’s future plans include a more comprehensive exploration of physical activity’s association with other aspects of health and well-being, such as depression and social connectedness.
Physical Activity and COVID-19: A Global Perspective
Studies conducted globally mirror these findings, highlighting the importance of physical activity during the pandemic. A study conducted in Spain, for instance, showed that physical activity levels among those with multiple sclerosis decreased during the pandemic, a shift that could potentially increase health risks. Similarly, a study in Germany found that COVID-19 restrictions led to a significant proportion of respondents altering their physical activity and sedentary behavior patterns. A notable observation was that over a third of the participants who initially met the World Health Organization’s physical activity recommendation no longer did so during the restrictions.
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Online Rehabilitation Programs and Physical Activity
In response to the pandemic’s effects on physical activity levels, online supervised group physical and mental health rehabilitation programs have shown promise. A study evaluating such a program found significant improvements in health-related quality of life, depression, fatigue, and pain interference compared to usual care. This suggests that leveraging technology could be a viable solution to encourage physical activity amidst pandemic restrictions.
In conclusion, the findings from these studies underscore the importance of maintaining regular physical activity, even in the face of a global pandemic. While further research is needed to confirm these findings across different demographics, it is clear that physical activity plays a crucial role in maintaining health and potentially mitigating the impacts of COVID-19.
How many times have you said, “I can’t believe it’s December already,” this year? If your answer veers somewhere between “a fair few” and “honestly, I’ve lost count”, you’re in good company. It’s become the seasonal equivalent of asking about the weather – a reliable go-to as the year starts winding down. And while I’ll spare you the usual cosy festive clichés, December is the month when gym plans loosen, and most of us swap weighted plates for quality time and mince pies.
Still, if moving your body is something that helps you feel grounded, there’s no reason you can’t carve out little pockets for it over the festive period (just as there’s absolutely no shame in pressing pause altogether). Research consistently shows that even short bursts of exercise can support both mental and physical health, which is why keeping one or two genuinely effective, at-home moves in your back pocket can be a lifesaver when festive stress starts simmering.
“Fitness is built over weeks and months, so a short break over Christmas won’t erase your progress,” says Ania Gabb, personal trainer and Frontrunner Community Manager at ASICS. “But maintaining some kind of gentle movement will be good for your body and mind – and is even more fun when you get friends and family involved.”
So, consider this your cue to rally the group for some shoulder taps (the workout move, not a new routine your eccentric uncle unveils after lunch). Below, two top PTs break down why plank shoulder taps deserve a spot in your festive toolkit: a simple, equipment-free, full-body exercise you can squeeze in from the comfort of your living room.
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For more festive movement inspiration, head to our guides to Christmas Yoga, the best Christmas workouts, and five holiday workouts you can do from anywhere. Read how writers got on trying the Copenhagen plank, hover plank, and a regular old plank, here.
Plank Shoulder Taps Are The Perfect Festive Full-Body Move To Try This Christmas. Your Guide
What are plank shoulder taps?
If you’ve ever tried a YouTube HIIT session, you’ve almost certainly met the plank shoulder tap. They’re wonderfully faff-free but sneakily challenging – essentially a progression of the classic high plank, which has long reigned as one of the most reliable core-strengtheners out there.
“The plank shoulder tap challenges you to lift one hand and reach it across to tap the opposite shoulder, all whilst resisting the urge to let the hips sway, or the torso rotate,” says Les Mills personal trainer and presenter, Dan Raynor.
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In other words, it’s less about big, dramatic movements and more about control. A strong core isn’t built solely from endless crunches – in fact, studies continually show that these kinds of ‘anti-movement’ exercises (where you’re working to resist rotation) can do more for your posture and balance than dynamic moves alone.
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“The aim is to keep your body as still as possible whilst moving the arm,” says Hannah Wilkie, Trainer at Barry’s UK. She explains that it’s easy to pike your hips up or let them dip to the side, but that’s not where the strength is built. The slow, controlled hold is the magic.
What are the benefits of plank shoulder taps?
First up, they tick the big festive fitness box: they’re equipment-free and can be done in the smallest of living rooms (pyjamas optional).
But when you’ve got a Christmas film to get back to, and someone’s shouting that you’re up next in charades, efficiency matters too. Luckily, plank shoulder taps deliver a lot in a little time.
“Shoulder taps are a deceptively powerful full-body movement,” says Raynor. “They engage the shoulders and upper back for stability, while the deep core muscles (particularly the transverse abdominis) work hard to prevent rotation. The glutes also play a key role in maintaining hip alignment.”
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They’re also a brilliantly functional exercise – meaning the strength you build translates straight into real life. Think: carrying shopping bags, picking up little ones, or simply standing taller. Core strength underpins almost every daily movement, and shoulder taps train the particularly important kind: anti-rotational strength.
“Plank shoulder taps build anti-rotational strength, which is your body resisting the urge to twist,” explains Wilkie. “That move is essential for everyday movement, stability and balance.”
How to perform plank shoulder taps with good form, according to a PT
As with most strength exercises, but especially those targeting the core, the smallest tweaks can turn a move from ‘meh’ to ‘oh wow, that’s working’. That’s why both trainers agree: your setup matters.
“Set yourself up well,” says Wilkie. “Place your hands under your shoulders, with a long line from your head to your heels.”
From there, she adds, “tuck your pelvis to switch the core on.”
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Once you’re tapping, focus on staying steady. “Try to avoid the hips rocking, arching the lower back or shrugging your shoulders towards the ears,” she says.
And remember: modifying isn’t cheating. In fact, it can help you build strength far more effectively in the long run. “A half plank on your knees is a great place to start building strength safely,” Wilkie explains. If your wrists aren’t thrilled with the position, “elevating your hands on dumbbells can reduce pressure.”
Still not clear? Watch the handy tutorial below.
How To Properly Do a Plank with Shoulder Taps – Strength Exercises – Wellen – YouTube
Watch On
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I have genuinely lived in this hoodie over the past few weeks. It’s the perfect thing for a low-intensity cosy core workout or yoga flow. And the best part? You can snuggle on the sofa in it, too.
These buttery soft, stretchy flares are made for home workouts – whether you’re doing a gentle flow, getting out for a walk or turning up the heat with a HIIT workout, thanks to their moisture wicking material. We’ll take one in both colours.
Bala’s ankle weights are viral for good reason. Simple to use, comfy to wear and chic to look at, they’re the perfect way to add a little resistance to your workout.
How can I make plank shoulder taps harder?
If you’ve already mastered a steady set of taps without wobbling, there are plenty of ways to level up, and none of them require any fancy kit.
The simplest progression? Add more reps or sets. But if you want something a little more creative, try narrowing your base.
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“Bringing your feet closer together makes shoulder taps harder because you have less stability to rely on,” says Hannah Wilkie, Trainer at Barry’s UK.
Feeling confident? She also suggests swapping taps for drags: “Pull a dumbbell or kettlebell across your body instead of tapping your shoulder. It’s a simple way to make the core work even harder.”
Les Mills personal trainer and presenter Dan Raynor also recommends playing with tempo. “Slowing down the movement forces the core to work harder to resist rotation,” he explains, “whilst adding speed to your taps can elevate the heart rate and add in an element of conditioning.”
Making healthy, sustainable choices for our health and fitness can often feel like a secondary goal, always on the back burner. The philosophy of Stoicism, originating in Greece and refined in Rome, offers a timeless framework for living well. Its four cardinal virtues, taught by philosophers such as Plato, are wisdom, courage, justice and temperance. These virtues can help you navigate health, wellness and fitness decisions with clarity and purpose by helping you:
Make healthier choices (moderation in food/drink; exercise)
Reduce stress through focusing on what’s controllable
Push outside your comfort zone to grow
Act responsibly for our community
Find peace by accepting mortality
Together, these lead to a more virtuous, less anxious, and purposeful life, which inherently supports well-being and longer, better living.
Wisdom (Understanding/Learning)
Wisdom starts with learning, but it also requires understanding what is truly within your control: your judgments, actions and responses. Working out for an hour a day is the easy part of the fitness goal. The other waking hours of making healthy choices are the more challenging parts of the goal. In health and fitness, this means focusing on your habits and mindset rather than worrying about uncontrollable outcomes such as genetics or trendy social media posts from fitness influencers selling supplements. In a nutshell, use wisdom in these three ways to improve health, fitness and wellness:
Control what you can control. Do thisespecially when faced with setbacks, such as a missed workout or a slip in diet. Redirect your energy toward what you can do next, not what you cannot change.
Seek facts, not opinions.Approach nutrition, exercise plans and wellness advice with an objective mind that is based on science. Avoid emotional reactions and look for evidence-based information.
Make sound choices. Use reason to evaluate what’s beneficial or harmful for your training and nutrition, avoiding extreme diets or fad workout routines.
Courage (to Push Outside Your Comfort Zone)
Courage is not just about bravery. Courage is more about enduring discomfort and doing the right thing, especially when it’s hard. In your fitness journey, this means pushing through challenges and facing fears, such as trying a new activity or simply walking into a gym for the first time. The courage to challenge yourself with activities you are new to or not good at doing will help you become a well-rounded exerciser with performance and longevity goals. Try these three ways to add courage that enables you to make better decisions:
Accept the discomfort that comes with growth, whether it’s physical strain in exercise or emotional struggle in changing habits.
Remain focused on your goals and health commitments. Prioritize sleep, rest or recovery, and along with not skipping training days, even when external pressures tempt you otherwise.
Act objectively and see your circumstances as they are, not how you wish them to be, and respond realistically to challenges. Assess your progress regularly.
Justice (Fairness and Kindness)
Justice is about treating others and yourself with fairness, kindness and respect. In fitness, much is passed down from the older generation to the younger. Be that person who shares what you know with the next generation. This means supporting a positive training environment, whether at the gym, in group classes or among friends and family.
Treat others well by showing encouragement to people at every stage of their health journey, regardless of ability or background. This is powerful in people’s lives and makes you feel good, too.
Serve others by sharing knowledge, motivating workout partners, family members, and contributing to a supportive culture of activity to help others build the habit of fitness. Justice is also holding each other accountable.
Teach and communicate about your experiences, failures, and successes with humility. Having others learn from your mistakes and experiences is a smart way to communicate with the younger generation and beginners to fitness.
Temperance (Moderation and Discipline)
Temperance is discipline. None of these works can be done without discipline. We must learn to manage desires, impulses and habits to avoid excess in anything. In fitness and wellness, this virtue is vital for long-term success and well being. Training needs to be balanced with recovery, and this takes discipline to make some days easier than others. Too much of any good thing becomes a bad thing.
Avoid too much food, social media, supplements or even exercise. Balance is key to optimal performance, longevity and long-term goal achievement.
Manage impulsive responses to stress, frustration or temptation, choosing actions that keep you on track with your values and goals.
Practice discipline by doing things that are good for you, even when you do not want to. Working out daily is often the easy part. The rest of the day, when food choices are tempting us to cheat on our diet, is the hardest for most people.
For many who find comfort in making the easy options or cheating on diets, you can also experience the same comfort (dopamine hit) by not doing it and choosing the healthier choice. These four virtues work together to flip the switch on how your body responds to new disciplined actions. For example, justice requires wisdom to discern the right action. Then, it takes courage to act on those insights and push yourself outside the comfort zone. Finally, deciding to be disciplined and hold firm is the temperance that avoids selfishness or excess. In your health journey, applying all four virtues helps you stay resilient, make thoughtful choices, and build a sense of purpose and connection.
You can also use the Military.com Fitness Section to aid your health, wellness, and fitness journey. There are thousands of articles and videos full of practical tools for building resilience, mitigating stress and disciplined living for optimal performance and longevity. By focusing on what you can control, acting with courage and kindness to others, and practicing self-discipline, you create a foundation for lasting health and wellness, not just for yourself, but for the wider community as well.
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If you’re looking to get back into exercising, or are just starting out, the Xiaomi Smart Band 10 may be the best fitness tracker for you. This fitness tracker does a great job of tracking your workouts and summarizing the data in an easy-to-understand format, without overcomplicating anything. The interface is user-friendly, and even those who aren’t into tech should be able to navigate around this smartwatch in no time at all.
While this is a budget fitness tracker, that doesn’t mean it’s lacking in features. You can do more than just track your workouts with this smart band: you can also track your sleep, stress levels, heart rate and so much more. There’s also no shortage of sports modes — with 150+ to choose from, you’re bound to find the workout you want on this watch.
While the Xiaomi Smart Band 10 has a few features the Xiaomi Smart Band 9 doesn’t, such as underwater real-time heart rate monitoring, running courses and a larger screen, there are also plenty of similarities between the two. Both offer three weeks of battery life, and neither has its own built-in GPS, for a start. But how does the Xiaomi Smart Band 10 perform compared to its predecessor, which we placed in our best budget fitness trackers guide?
Xiaomi Smart Band 10 fitness tracker review
Xiaomi Smart Band 10 fitness tracker: Design
The Xiaomi Smart Band 10 has bezels that are only 2 mm. (Image credit: Kat Bayly)
Strap is difficult to put on alone
Charger is USB-A – we’d prefer USB-C
Comfortable to wear, day and night
The Xiaomi Smart Band 10 is a small yet surprisingly well designed fitness tracker. Unlike other smartwatches, with huge watch faces that protrude from your wrist, the Xiaomi Smart Band 10 is nice and sleek. With a face that measures only 1.72 inches (44 millimeters) diagonally, ultra-thin bezels of just 0.07 inches (2 mm) and a weight of 0.56 ounces (15.95 grams), this fitness tracker is barely noticeable when it’s being worn.
The screen is an AMOLED display and performs well in direct sunlight — not once did we struggle to see the details on the screen in any light. But while the slender screen is a welcome relief from bulkier fitness trackers, we did find the strap rather annoying to put on alone.
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Our sample was the Midnight Rose variation and came with a light pink TPU strap, where you need to press the button into the strap. However, due to the strap’s flexibility, it’s hard to tighten the strap and push the button in without losing tightness, and we found it easier to have someone help us. After a while, we managed it alone, but this was frustrating at first.
Saying that, you can change the strap if you find this irritating. There’s a quick-release button on the back, which you can press with a fingernail and release the strap with no fuss. There are many alternative options, including leather, metal and silk knitted straps, as well as the option to turn it into a pendant.
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We liked how many watch faces there are for you to download for free on the Mi Fitness App, and there are even more if you are happy to pay a little. This means you can personalize your watch and change things up if, like us, you get bored with the same image as your watch background.
The Xiaomi Smart Band 10 is highly customizable, with many watch faces to choose from. (Image credit: Kat Bayly)
Specifications
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Display: 1.72 in (4.4 cm), AMOLED
Always on: Yes
Dimensions (in): 1.83 x 0.89 x 0.43
Dimensions (mm): 46.57 x 22.54 x 10.95
Weight: 0.56 oz (15.95 g)
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Colors: Midnight Black, Glacier Silver, Mystic Rose
Finish: Aluminum
GPS: No (relies on smartphone GPS)
Compass: Yes
Altimeter: No
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Water resistance: 5ATM (up to a depth of 50 meters)
NFC Payments: No
Compatibility: Android 8.0 or iOS 14.0 and above
As we’ve already mentioned, the watch face is slender and unobtrusive. There are also no buttons that can be accidentally pressed during mid-workout, or that will interfere if you have your wrist bent in a Pilates, yoga or exercise class, for example. With other fitness trackers we have sometimes found the buttons an irritation during classes, or they have caught on long-sleeve tops. You don’t have this issue with the Xiaomi Smart Band 10, so you can trust your data will be not be ruined by accidental presses.
Apart from our slight irritation with the strap at the start, the only other annoying thing about the design of this watch is that the charger is a standard USB-A connector rather than USB-C. For some, this might not be an issue, but we had to hunt around the house to find a charging plug with a USB port — most other items in our home require USB-C, so receiving a new fitness tracker with what we’d call an outdated port was surprising. This meant we couldn’t easily charge it while at our laptop, for example, which would have been nice.
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This is only a minor issue, but it’s something to be aware of if you’re thinking of buying one.
Sadly, we found the strap difficult to secure. (Image credit: Kat Bayly)
Xiaomi Smart Band 10 fitness tracker: Performance
The loop of the strap started to show signs of discoloration quite early on during testing. (Image credit: Kat Bayly)
Accurately recorded most health stats
Incredible battery life for a budget tracker
Location tracking performed poorly
Let’s start with some of the basic requirements of a comfortable and reliable fitness tracker. The screen was durable and didn’t mark during a testing period in which we wore it every day for two weeks (plus many other days after this, on and off, mainly because we liked it). There is not a single scratch or mark to be found — impressive for a fitness tracker that only costs a little over $45.
However, the light colored pink TPU strap did start to look a bit dirty, mainly around the loop where the strap slides together. This isn’t very noticeable but there’s a slight color change towards a gray. But, seeing as you can personalize this watch with other straps, this isn’t a huge problem.
Our main negative was the comfort of this watch — we loved the slender screen, but you need to have this watch done up really tight to get it to stay in place. Tightness also aids the accuracy of the stats, but it felt too tight to be comfortable sometimes. When we chose to wear it on the looser notch, this inevitably meant the tracker would slide down our wrist during exercise, sacrificing the accuracy of the data. Of course, it could just be that our wrists were of a size in-between the available notches, and perhaps a different strap would have worked better.
But let’s look at the positives of this amazing budget fitness tracker. The battery life is utterly astounding. We only needed to charge it once in three weeks. That’s two weeks of testing the watch every day and night — we did one form of exercise every day, sometimes two, plus we wore it to bed every night — and then a last week when it was on and off our wrist on an “as and when” basis. That’s incredible battery life and something that astounded us, given this watch’s low price.
(Image credit: Kat Bayly)
Another positive aspect of this watch’s performance is related to the sleep tracking. We found it satisfyingly accurate in capturing when we fell asleep and when we woke up, plus any times we were disturbed during the night. The Mi Fitness app provides detailed information, capturing your sleep and wake times, quality of sleep, length of sleep, stages of sleep you experienced and for how long, and your average heart rate. Plus, there is the sleep improvement plan you can do to help improve the quality of your sleep.
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However, where the Xiaomi Smart Band 10 fell a bit short was on its location tracking. While we didn’t need to know the location of the walks we took with our dog, for example, we noticed the location tracking struggled as soon as we were in the countryside. And when we say countryside, we mean not the middle of nowhere but on the edge of a large town.
Seeing as the Smart Band 10 doesn’t have its own GPS and relies on your smartphone’s GPS, you will not be able to track your runs or walks if you lose phone signal. However, when walking around our local high street or neighbourhood, the smartwatch could locate us accurately.
Aside from this, we thought the Smart Band 10 did a good job of capturing our health stats, including BPM (when stationary and when exercising), max BPM when exercising and the start and end times of our workouts. We had no way of knowing if the calories burned were accurate, but when using the watch during walks, the step counts appeared to be accurate for the length of the walks we did, as did the average pace.
We found the Xiaomi Smart Band 10 to be pretty accurate in capturing our health data. (Image credit: Kat Bayly)
Xiaomi Smart Band 10 fitness tracker: Functionality
The interface is user-friendly and you will have found your way around the watch in minutes. (Image credit: Kat Bayly)
Easy-to-use interface
5ATM water resistance
150+ sports modes for every form of exercise
There are so many functions to this fitness tracker that we’re sure it will take you a while to get your head around everything it has to offer. Some functions you will find useful and come back to often, and some you may use once or twice and then forget about.
There is a wealth of data you can capture on this fitness tracker, but the interface itself is easy-to-use, and you’ll be navigating around the watch within minutes. The only thing we found tricky at first was locating where the 150+ sports modes were — some are placed in obvious categories whereas others were hidden.
One clever thing this watch does, though, is that once you’ve located your training or sports mode a few times, it pops it into the menu you first see when clicking on the ‘workout’ tile on the main menu. So, realistically, you only have to go rooting around once or twice — after that, your most-used workouts are just a press away.
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The Smart Band 10 has 5ATM water resistance, making it suitable for swimming. Plus, there is now real-time underwater heart rate monitoring, something the Smart Band 9 does not have.
Locating your chosen workout can be tricky to start, with but these items then move to your main workout menu. (Image credit: Kat Bayly)
While there are many things this watch can do, you can also monitor your stress levels, your oxygen levels and heart rate whenever you feel like it. Not only this, but with every workout you do, the watch can calculate your vitality score and training state, offering personalized recovery times in between your workouts. This will be useful if you are trying to return to fitness and an exercise routine, as well as for those training for a specific purpose, so you don’t end up overdoing it.
For those looking for some guidance on runs, this watch has various running courses you can follow, from basic to advanced. These are easy to locate from the main menu, and once you’ve selected the one you would like to do, the watch gives you guidance on how long to run/walk for, helping you to slowly build your stamina. This is great for those looking to start running, allowing them to pace themselves to avoid overexertion.
One thing this watch lacks is the ability to detect when a workout has ended. This meant that a few times, our data was skewed as we forgot to stop our workout at the end of a class. Sometimes we ended up with data covering the walk back to the car, for example. While this isn’t a huge problem — and understandable for a budget fitness tracker— it’s important to remember to stop the watch whenever you finish working out.
The problem was that we often forgot we had it on in the first place, due to how lightweight it is!
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The Xiaomi Smart Band 10 has various running courses you can do, from basic to advanced. (Image credit: Kat Bayly)
Should you buy the Xiaomi Smart Band 10 fitness tracker?
Buy it if:
✅ You want long battery life: Still running at 17% battery after three weeks of use, the Xiaomi has outstanding battery life.
✅ You want an uncomplicated interface: You will be able to navigate around this fitness tracker in minutes.
Don’t buy it if:
❌ Location tracking is a priority: The location tracking on the Xiaomi Smart Band 10 is very basic, and relies on your smartphone.
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❌ You prefer a standard watch design: We loved the sleek design of this fitness tracker but others may prefer a round or larger watch face design.
We loved this budget fitness tracker, which would suit those starting out on their fitness journey, or those who aren’t into tech and want to keep things simple. The interface is easy to navigate, the data and stats are digestible and we could not fault the battery life, which reduced any faff around having to remember to charge it regularly. The watch did a good job of capturing our health data after workouts, and we particularly liked the sleep data and sleep improvement plan. For beginners, the running courses and guidance are a fantastic way of building stamina.
There were a few things we may have changed if we were designing it, such as the strap and charging cable, but these are things others may not have an issue with. Overall this fitness tracker performed well, especially for the price.
If this product isn’t for you
If you want a budget fitness tracker with a larger, squarer screen, the Amazfit Active may suit. Offering a 1.75 inch (4.4 cm) screen, the same water resistance of 5ATM, built-in GPS and 27 days of battery, this is a strong rival to the Xiaomi Smart Band 10.
If a larger screen is a priority for you, the Redmi Watch 5 offers a 2.07 inch (5.3 cm) colorful display.
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If you’re a runner, the Garmin Forerunner 165 will provide everything you need to sufficiently track your runs. Plus, being part of the Garmin family means you’ll be getting quality without breaking the bank.
Alternatively, if you have the money to spend, the Garmin Vivoactive 6 may be a good option: we rated it the best for beginners in our best fitness trackers guide, as it offers guided walking workouts.
