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Fitbit’s wearables do almost everything. From tracking step counts and running mileage to monitoring sleep patterns and stress levels, the best Fitbit can help improve your well-being. And there are a variety of Fitbit models designed for different types of users.
Our top pick is the Fitbit Sense 2. Although it’s an average smartwatch, it’s a quality health and fitness tracker offering multi-day battery life, a suite of health-monitoring tools, and comprehensive activity tracking. For a budget pick, we recommend the Fitbit Inspire 3. It’s an entry-level wearable with basic health and fitness tools for less than $100.
We chose our list based on tracking accuracy, fit and comfort, battery life, and ease of use. Although every Fitbit offers similar activity-tracking capabilities, some are better for certain users. Picking the best Fitbit depends on how you intend to use it and the advanced features you need.
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Top picks for the best Fitbits
Best overall: Fitbit Sense 2 – See at Amazon The Fitbit Sense 2 is not only the brand’s flagship, but it’s also the best wearable in its lineup, featuring accurate activity tracking, decent smartwatch capability, and a variety of useful health insights.
Best fitness-tracking: Fitbit Charge 5 – See at Amazon The Charge 5 hits a nice price point while offering stellar activity tracking in a smaller footprint than a standard smartwatch.
Best budget: Fitbit Inspire 3 – See at Amazon Fitbit’s Inspire 3 is an excellent entry-level wearable that offers basic health and fitness tracking in a small, comfortable, and budget-friendly package.
Best budget smartwatch: Fitbit Versa 3 – See at Amazon With automatic activity tracking and a huge screen, the Versa 3 has nearly all the perks of the Fitbit line at a wallet-friendly price point plus a stylish design.
Best stylish: Fitbit Luxe – See at Amazon With a stainless steel casing, the Fitbit Luxe is a sleek and unassuming activity tracker with broad appeal for users of any kind.
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Best for kids: Fitbit Ace 3 – See at Amazon Fitbit designed the Ace 3 from the ground up specifically for kids as it includes unique parental controls, programmable activity tools, and a variety of fun cartoon themes.
Best overall
Fitbit Sense 2
Fitbit’s Sense 2 combines the brand’s advanced health and fitness features with decent smartwatch capability, unique sleep tracking, and a clean design reminiscent of the Apple Watch.
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Fitbit’s flagship, the Sense 2, nails everything a quality fitness tracker should be. It offers a variety of activity tracking and useful fitness insights, tracks sleep, stress, and menstrual cycles, and has built-in GPS and a battery that lasts around five to six days on a single charge.
It does lack in one major area, however: smarts. Though it’s touted as a “smartwatch,” it doesn’t quite stack up in that department the way an effective smartwatch should. For starters, it doesn’t offer third-party app support, which is disappointing, and it doesn’t allow access to things like Google Assistant. It also can’t store or play music.
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The Fitbit Sense 2 is a great all-around activity tracker, and although it does lack some standard smartwatch features, it’s still an impressive wearable.
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But those drawbacks don’t equate to being a dealbreaker. The Sense 2 offers a suite of useful health and wellness insights that put it on par with some of the best in the industry. There’s a skin temperature sensor, ECG readings, and a real-time stress tracker.
The stress tracker is especially interesting as it not only charts your body’s stress levels but also provides feedback on how to lower it and can paint a picture of how your body handles stress overall.
It’s also an accurate fitness tracker. Its built-in GPS synced well during our tests and it’s compatible with a variety of activities and exercises. Plus, its interface is easy and intuitive to use, making it a great watch for beginners.
Read our full review of the Sense 2.
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Best fitness-tracking
Fitbit Charge 5
Maybe an Apple Watch is too much — but if you still want to track fitness, then the Fitbit Charge 5 is an excellent option. For Prime Day, you can get is for under $100.
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If you want a tracker to record your workouts and daily movement, but don’t care about fancy features like answering calls via your watch or connecting with Alexa or Google Assistant, the Charge 5 is your watch.
This tracker records and displays all the stats you want from your workout: current and average exercise pace, distance, heart rate zones, total time, steps taken, and calories burned. Within the Fitbit app, you can also see a map of your run, complete with intensity zones showing where your heart rate climbed highest and dipped lowest.
One of its best features is its built-in GPS, which is often a rare inclusion on wearables this small. This allows it to natively provide accurate activity tracking, which is a huge plus for those who don’t like to tote their smartphone while working out.
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It’s not completely without smart features, either. You can sync your calendar and get app updates, as well as text, email, and phone call notifications. The Charge 5 also offers in-depth sleep tracking that charts sleep patterns and habits and allows you to see how much REM, deep, and light sleep you get each night.
The battery life on the Charge 5 is longer than both the Versa and the Sense, too. Plus, the design is smaller and takes up less space on your arm, which is nice for folks with smaller wrists. It’s also compatible with a variety of the best Charge 5 bands, which help upgrade its look or make it more useful for certain activities.
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Best budget
Fitbit Inspire 3
The Inspire 3 may be one of Fitbit’s most basic watches but it still packs a powerful fitness-tracking punch with tons of trackable activities, advanced health features like skin temperature sensing, and a comfortable, lightweight design.
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Fitbit’s Inspire line of entry-level activity trackers is the brand’s most basic offering. Its latest model, the Inspire 3, features a slim, vertical screen that sits comfortably on your wrist while offering a suite of advanced health and fitness tracking features right at your fingertips. It even has a skin temperature sensor and can track your sleep habits. The original Fitbit has come a long way.
But what makes the Inspire 3 especially attractive is its price, which makes it attractive for beginners or those new to wearing activity trackers. At under $100, it delivers a wearable experience similar to the Sense 2 without the large touchscreen, downloadable apps, or built-in GPS. It’s also compatible with a range of the best Inspire 3 bands to change up its look a bit.
Shannon Ullman/Insider
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That may seem like the Inspire 3 lacks key features, but those are typically hallmarks of a smartwatch, and the Inspire 3 is a bona fide fitness tracker. That is, it offers straightforward health and fitness features in an easy-to-use and intuitive package. It uses the same fitness tracking tech as all of Fitbit’s other wearables, tracks heart rate, skin temperature, and sleep patterns, and even offers the brand’s new Daily Readiness Score feature.
That’s a lot in such a small, budget-friendly package. Advanced athletes may view the lack of built-in GPS as a dealbreaker but for anyone looking for a basic, straightforward activity tracker, the Inspire 3 is the best Fitbit has.
Read our full review of the Inspire 3.
Best budget smartwatch
Fitbit Versa 3
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A quality smartwatch doesn’t have to cost a fortune and Fitbit’s Versa 3 is the best example of why. It offers a robust smartwatch experience with a variety of health and fitness tracking, third-party app support, and a long-lasting battery.
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The Versa is Fitbit’s line of true smartwatches. And while the Fitbit Versa 4 is the latest model, the older Fitbit Versa 3 is the better option.
What makes the Versa 3 especially attractive is its compatibility with third-party apps, which Fitbit scrapped when developing the Versa 4 (perhaps Google wants people to look to the Google Pixel Watch for a true smartwatch experience).
But it’s not just the third-party app support that gives the Versa 3 an edge over the Versa 4. It’s also a more reliable fitness tracker. Whereas the Versa 4 is plagued by connectivity and tracking issues, the Versa 3 tracks activities like a charm, leaning on its built-in GPS to deliver consistently accurate data.
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Plus, it has a similarly large display, useful for glances at real-time stats while you work out. You can easily check total workout time, average pace, and heart rate zones by tapping the watch face, even mid-activity.
Factor in its other health features like sleep monitoring, menstrual cycle tracking, and 24/7 heart rate monitor, and the Versa 3 is much more powerful than the latest model. It’s one of the best smartwatches Fitbit sells and the best version of the Versa.
Read our full review of the Versa 3.
Best stylish
Fitbit Luxe
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The Fitbit Luxe is the company’s latest fitness band that comes with a sleek design and advanced health features like stress management and the ability to measure heart rate variation.
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Although the Fitbit Luxe looks similar to the Inspire 3, it has a few subtle design features that give it some style. There’s a stainless steel casing that achieves a nice, clean look for either the office or a night out, a bright AMOLED screen, and the ability to swap out the band for something like a chic mesh or metal option.
As a quality health and fitness wearable, the Fitbit Luxe tracks basics like running and cycling. It offers insights into sleep patterns, stress management, and fitness trends. Some features require a paid subscription to Fitbit Premium (as is the case for several watches in this guide), but even the basic features are highly useful.
The Fitbit Luxe with a classic wristband being held
Lisa Eadicicco/Insider
One area where it lags is in the smartwatch department, but it was never designed to be one in the first place. However, it can still display text and phone call notifications, and you can use things like timers and alarms, but that’s about the extent of it. It also has a battery that lasts upward of six days.
Read our full review of the Fitbit Luxe.
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Best for kids
Fitbit Ace 3
The Fitbit Ace 3 is the perfect entry-level activity tracker for kids aged 6 or older. This version comes with a Minion-themed clock face and a bright yellow Minions-themed watchband.
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Most fitness trackers are inherently designed for adult use. Then, there’s the Fitbit Ace 3, an activity tracker designed entirely for kids ages six and up, outfitted with features such as parental controls, a custom kid-friendly stat viewer, and fun customization options.
What makes the Ace 3 great for kids is its whimsical approach. There are band options with Minion-themed designs, as well as colorful custom watch faces. It is also water-resistant up to 50 meters or 164 feet, so kids can wear it in the pool.
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One of the Ace 3’s best features is its focus on gamification. The wearable offers various challenges and badges that can motivate kids as they achieve a certain step goal or complete an activity.
It’s also a great communication tool for parents as it delivers text notifications. What’s particularly great about this is that parents can utilize the parental controls to manage exactly what connections are permitted on the watch. These controls are set up via the Fitbit app and require a family account, but they can be customized at any time, with or without the watch nearby.
These parental controls ultimately make it a better purchase for kids than, say, the Inspire 3. While the Inspire 3 offers a similar tracking experience, the ability to customize and tailor everything from the wearable’s settings to the specific activity goals makes the Ace 3 a more family-friendly option.
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What is Fitbit Premium?
Fitbit Premium is the brand’s monthly membership option that offers access to more in-depth health and fitness features like nutrition insights, advanced sleep tracking, and the Daily Readiness Score.
It also provides access to guided meditations, exclusive video workouts, in-depth goal setting, various unique challenges, and other health insights such as blood oxygen level readings, heart rate variability, and breathing rate.
All Fitbit Premium features are accessible via the Fitbit app and do a lot to elevate the base Fitbit experience, especially for wearables like the Sense 2 or Versa 4. The brand does offer a free trial to new Fitbit users, allowing you to test out the service before committing to its recurring membership fee (which costs $10 per month).
How we test Fitbits
In addition to testing past iterations of Fitbit trackers and smartwatches when they launched, I tested each on the list below for several days (some weeks, even) wearing them 24/7 in most cases. I wore each during different workouts, from runs and walks to strength sets and yoga. I also wore the trackers to bed and for mindfulness sessions.
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Here are the key features I looked for when testing:
Workout tracking
To successfully record stats during a workout and easily check these as you go, it’s important that a watch clearly displays numbers, and quickly and continuously connects to the GPS, particularly if it’s built into the watch. I judged the trackers and watches on whether I could easily see my current pace, distance, and time, and if I had quick access to metrics like average pace and heart rate.
Additionally, I ran another fitness tracking app on my phone to test the accuracy of the watch’s distance and pace. For every Fitbit featured, the numbers were always relatively close (and within the normal range you’d find if you compared almost any other fitness tracker).
Because Fitbit offers automatic tracking, I did a few workouts without manually pressing the start button to confirm that it picked up my movement, which it almost always did.
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Tracking and comfort while sleeping
I wore these watches and trackers to bed to test the automatic sleep tracking. I checked these stats in the morning to make sure they recorded my time in bed and wake-up times throughout the night. I also wore the devices when occasionally taking naps throughout the day, which they also picked up on.
The devices needed to be comfortable enough to wear all night to get those stats, too. While the bands occasionally stuck to my skin if I got sweaty at night, it never disturbed my sleep — I only noticed this after waking up.
Battery life
I tested the battery life of each Fitbit by charging it to 100% battery and wearing it through workouts, nights of sleep, and throughout the day to see how long each would last. They all surprised me, too — the life lasted even after several workouts, including those using the built-in GPS (which typically drains batteries quickly).
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App usability
One huge perk of Fitbit is the built-in stress-reducing apps, so how easy these were to use was a key part of testing. I tried Fitbit’s mindfulness program, the Relax app, on all devices, and the EDA scan app on the Sense 2, which contributes to stress management numbers. I looked for ease of use, visuals, and the stats provided after recording a mindfulness session, like changes in heart rate.
FAQs
Are Fitbits worth it?
Yes, especially if you want a reliable fitness wearable. A Fitbit can be beneficial for anyone who keeps active each day, even if that activity is walking a few blocks around the neighborhood or lifting weights at home.
They do an excellent job of counting steps, tracking a wide range of activities, and providing other useful health information like sleep insights and calories burned. You don’t need to be an avid fitness pro or athlete to get a lot out of a Fitbit and with so many options in the brand’s lineup, finding one that’s “worth it” means just picking out the option that best fits your lifestyle.
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Plus, Fitbits are device agnostic, so they’re compatible with devices running iOS or Android. This makes them one of the best Android smartwatches you can buy, as well as one of the best fitness trackers.
Is a Fitbit better than an Apple Watch?
This ultimately comes down to personal preference. The Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 are undoubtedly more powerful and full-featured but if you don’t need access to a suite of apps, then a Fitbit will suffice. Both watches offer deep tracking capability for activities like running, cycling, and lifting weights, and each comes standard with a user-friendly interface.
One area where Apple outdoes Fitbit is in terms of its ecosystem. Anyone using an iPhone can get more out of an Apple Watch compared to a Fitbit (but as touched on below, it’s not always enough to be considered a dealbreaker).
And although the Apple Watch now offers a deep well of fitness and activity tracking capability, it still leans more heavily toward being a smartwatch (similar to Fitbit’s Versa line), so if it’s basic fitness tracking you’re after without the frills, something like Fitbit’s Charge would be more your speed.
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What are the advantages of owning a Fitbit?
Perhaps the biggest advantage of a Fitbit is that no matter the price point or type (tracker versus smartwatch), it comes with all the foundational features you want in a health and fitness tracker. This includes the ability to automatically track sleep and activity, which is the best thing about the brand, in my opinion.
Then, all the models track pace, distance, and calories burned during your workouts, and calculate your heart rate training zones, including fat burn, cardio, and peak. For sleep, you not only get the total hours you slept, but the time you spent in deep and REM sleep, plus the percentage of time you spent below your resting heart rate.
With some models, these stats are easier to access than others — namely, the Sense 2 and Versa 3 because their larger screens are easier to read at a glance. But even with the smaller, more narrow faces of the Charge 5, the numbers are very large which is nice to have. The Inspire 3 is the hardest to glance stats quickly off of.
The Fitbit app, accessed via your phone, is easy to navigate and displays steps, miles, active zone minutes, daily calorie burns, mindfulness days, exercise, and activity per hour. It also reminds you to take 250 steps per hour. Additionally, you can track your menstrual cycle, food and water intake, and weight (though these require more manual entries).
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What are the disadvantages of owning a Fitbit?
The main disadvantage of owning a Fitbit would be its lack of ecosystem outside of the wearable itself and the Fitbit app. The Apple Watch or, for instance, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, each offers advanced compatibility with iOS- and Android-compatible smartphones, respectively. That allows each to offer features specific to those devices and operating systems.
However, this shouldn’t be seen as a total dealbreaker. Not being able to customize text responses or notifications doesn’t have to preclude you from buying a Fitbit.
What’s the battery life like on a Fitbit?
Each Fitbit in the line has top-notch battery life, lasting days even with auto-activity and auto-sleep tracking turned on, so you don’t have to worry about charging it every night.
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Officially, the battery for all Fitbits featured lasts six to 10 days, depending on the device and your usage. In my experience, the Versa 2, Versa 3, and Sense last an average of six days on one charge, the Charge 5 for seven days, and the Inspire 3 for up to 10 days.
Are Fitbits customizable?
Almost all Fitbits offer plenty of customization options. Each wearable comes with a basic band but all have different colors and material bands you can purchase, from stainless steel mesh for a professional look to expressive prints to more breathable sports bands. The only watch on our list that doesn’t offer a sport-specific band is the Inspire 3.
You can also customize the watch faces for aesthetics and readability, and to personalize shortcuts on the devices and what’s displayed on the main app page. The Sense 2 and Versa 3 have the most options for watch faces. You can even download third-party designs or use your photos, which you can’t do with the other models.
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What’s the lifespan of a Fitbit?
This depends on the model. While Fitbit releases new models annually, that doesn’t always mean the prior generation version becomes unusable. For example, when the Fitbit Versa 4 was released in 2022, the prior generation Versa 3 was still available for purchase and, in some ways, was the better wearable overall (which is why it’s in our guide and the Versa 4 isn’t).
So, even if you own a Fitbit that’s a generation or two older than the current model, rest assured that it’s only outdated by its model number and not regarding its actual performance or capability.
We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
QLVR ENDVR: Two minute review
Most running shoes feel familiar for a reason: the formula has barely changed in millennia. We have archaeological evidence of shoes being fastened with “shoelaces” as far back as around 3,500 BC, yet the basic lace-up running trainer remains the default.
QLVR (pronounced “clever”) set out to challenge that. Its debut shoe, the ENDVR, is a laceless “running slipper” built around a women-specific mechanical structure, with a slip-on Wing Fit system inspired by the way a bird’s wing opens and closes around movement.
The brand’s core argument is blunt: most athletic shoes are designed on men’s lasts (the mechanical devise used by manufacturers to create the foot shape) and scaled down for women, even though women’s feet tend to have different shapes and pressure points. So, they decided to literally break the mould and design something specifically for women’s feet.
It sounds like a noble ambition, although it didn’t necessarily start out as one. Originally the company was focused on doing away with laces. But co-founder and footwear designer Martin Dean soon realised this would be impossible with a unisex shoe.
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“We were tweaking the design but we couldn’t get it to work. The unisex fit system means it would just be too loose on the back of a woman’s foot,” said Dean.
“That’s when we realised that the majority of footwear is made to fit a man’s foot. So we thought ‘let’s launch this for women’.”
As a runner who often struggles with shoe fit, I could immediately relate to Dean’s explanation. I spend an inordinate amount of time fiddling with laces trying to get the fit around my ankle just right. I don’t want the laces to dig in, but I also don’t want my ankles rocking around. I also struggle with the width of running shoes finding that the toe box shape is never quite right. Typically, a lot of running technology, not just shoes but also some of the best running watches, are male by default.
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When I heard about the QLVR ENDVR I was keen to try them out. Maybe, finally, this shoe would fit! Over the past couple of months, I’ve been testing the shoe on a range of activities. Treadmill intervals, 10k easy road runs, gym sessions and as an everyday trainer for trips around the shops.
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As soon as I slipped the pair on they immediately felt different. But were they the shoe I was ultimately looking for?
(Image credit: Lily Canter)
What makes it different?
The ‘women-first’ part is not just a marketing line. QLVR is designed around a more ‘triangular’ female foot shape, with a narrower heel, wider toe area, and higher arches, rather than shrinking a men’s shoe and relying on laces to make up the slack.
The laceless part is the standout: the Wing Fit system is designed to sit in a closed, ‘laced-up’ position, flexing as you step in and then holding the rearfoot securely once your heel drops. In practice, it’s the first slip-on I’ve tried that feels like it’s meant to be run in. There is an immediate locked-in feel, and the foot is held snugly inside with minimal slippage. Being able to slip on a shoe and have the perfect heel fit straight away is a revelation.
Then there’s sustainability. QLVR leans hard into bio-based materials: a dandelion-derived foam it calls Dandelite, a Pebax Rnew polymer (from castor beans) for the Wing Fit system and propulsion plate, and a Tencel yarn upper made from eucalyptus fibres.
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What it’s like to run in
The fit is the first shock. I used QLVR’s sizing guidance and went down to a UK 6.5 (I usually size up to a 7 in running shoes). Straight out of the box, they felt very snug: secure around the ankle and heel, with noticeably more arch presence than I’m used to.
But that sense of the arch’s prominence faded fast. Once I started moving, the shoe relaxed into something closer to a slipper-like comfort, without the wobbly, overly soft feeling some max-cushioned shoes can have. For easy treadmill miles, it’s been especially pleasant: quiet, stable, and easy to forget about.
The laceless convenience is not a gimmick, either. If you’re popping out for a short run, going from work to gym, or fitting training into the cracks of a day, sliding in and heading off is genuinely freeing. No lace bite across the midfoot, no fiddling to get heel lockdown just right. The rearfoot hold is simply “there” every time.
QLVR positions the ENDVR as a shoe that can handle everything from intervals to cross-training. Based on my testing, that checks out. It feels comfortable and controlled for steady running, and supportive enough for gym sessions where you’re moving laterally or lifting lightly.
But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. For me, the snugness may be a limiter. On longer distances, feet swell and I like a little more room up front. With my toes close to the end of the shoe and a hint of heel rub developing, I’d be cautious about taking these beyond half marathon territory. But then again, they are designed as an all-round training shoe rather than a long distance running pair.
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Grip has been mostly fine on roads, but on icy patches I felt less confident than in some of my regular winter-friendly trainers. And, subjectively, the look will be divisive: the Wing Fit silhouette is unapologetically bold, and personally I think they’re pretty ugly.
One extra practical win: QLVR says you can machine-wash the shoes cold after removing the insoles and using a laundry bag.
(Image credit: Lily Canter)
Price and availability
The QLVR ENDVR costs £165 ($233, AUS $311) and is sold direct from the QLVR website. QLVR says it ships worldwide, although its FAQ notes US shipping is temporarily on hold while it assesses the impact of new import tariffs. The pricing is pretty much on-par with mid-range running and gym shoes.
QLVR ENDVR: Specifications
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Type
Neutral multi-training
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Drop
9mm drop with 35mm rear / 26mm forefoot stack height
Weight
270g (women’s size 6)
Sizing note
QLVR’s current guidance is worth considering carefully, as it is a little contradictory. The product page and FAQ suggest the shoe can size up a bit small, recommending going up half or a full size if you’re between sizes. But the size chart says if you follow its guide you don’t need to go up in size, as toe wiggle-room is built in. This is why I opted for a 6.5 after measuring my feet according to their metrics. If I wanted to run longer distances in these shoes, I would definitely size up to 7.
Move more. Sit less. For many years, that’s been accepted guidance for people wanting to get healthier.
Now that message is getting refined, with a growing body of research suggesting that certain types of movements may be more beneficial than others when it comes to health benefits.
The intensity of your exercise may matter as well. A new study published in the European Heart Journal found that a small amount of vigorous activity may be linked to lower risk of eight different chronic diseases.
The findings raise questions about why intensity matters and how people can incorporate more intense exercise routines into everyday life. To better understand the study’s implications, I spoke with CNN wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and clinical associate professor at George Washington University. She previously served as Baltimore’s health commissioner.
Before beginning any new exercise program, consult your doctor. Stop immediately if you experience pain.
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CNN: What did this study examine about exercise and its relationship to chronic disease?
Dr. Leana Wen: This investigation looked at how the intensity of physical activity is related to the risk of developing a range of chronic diseases. Researchers analyzed data from two very large groups in the UK Biobank, which is a long-term health study in the United Kingdom that tracks medical and lifestyle information from hundreds of thousands of participants. One group included about 96,000 people who wore wrist activity trackers that objectively measured their movement, and the other included more than 375,000 people who self-reported their activity.
The researchers followed participants over an average of about nine years and examined the development of eight conditions: major cardiovascular events, atrial fibrillation, type 2 diabetes, immune-related inflammatory diseases, fatty liver disease, chronic respiratory disease, chronic kidney disease and dementia, as well as overall mortality.
The key finding was that the proportion of activity done at vigorous intensity mattered. People who had more than about 4% of their total activity classified as vigorous had substantially lower risks of developing these conditions compared with people who had no vigorous activity at all. The numbers were stunning, with the participants having the following results:
63% lower risk of dementia,
60% lower risk of type 2 diabetes,
48% lower risk of fatty liver disease,
44% lower risk of chronic respiratory disease,
41% lower risk of chronic kidney disease,
39% lower risk of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases,
31% lower risk of major cardiovascular events,
29% lower risk of atrial fibrillation, and
46% lower risk of death from any cause.
These results are amazing. Imagine if someone invented a medication that could reduce the risks of all these diseases at once — it would be very popular! Crucially, even people who exercised a lot still benefited if the proportion of time they spent doing vigorous physical activity was increased. Conversely, people who were relatively inactive also benefited from adding just a little bit of higher-intensity exercise to their daily routines.
CNN: What counts as “vigorous” physical activity?
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Wen: Vigorous activity is generally defined as exercise that substantially raises your heart rate and breathing. A simple way to gauge it is the “talk test.” If you can speak comfortably in full sentences while exercising, you are likely in the low to moderate range. If you are so out of breath that you can only say a few words at a time, that is vigorous.
Running, cycling, lap swimming or climbing stairs quickly could count. But this also depends on people’s baseline fitness. For some individuals, taking longer strides with walking can be vigorous exercise. Others who are already fairly fit would need to do more. It’s also important to remember that vigorous activity doesn’t have to be in the context of a structured exercise plan. Short bursts of effort in daily life, such as rushing to catch a bus or carrying heavy groceries upstairs, can also qualify if they raise your heart rate and make you breathless.
CNN: Why might higher intensity exercise provide additional health benefits?
Wen: Higher intensity activity places greater demands on the body in a shorter period. This type of movement can improve cardiovascular fitness, increase insulin sensitivity and support metabolic health more efficiently than lower-intensity activity alone. Some studies have also linked vigorous activity with cognitive benefits.
Greater intensity may have distinct benefits across different organ systems. The researchers found that some conditions, such as immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, appeared to be more strongly linked to the intensity of activity than to the total amount. On the other hand, type 2 diabetes and kidney disease were influenced by both how much activity people did and how intense it was. Why this is the case is not yet known, but intensity appears to have a significant impact across diseases affecting multiple organs.
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CNN: How much vigorous activity do people need?
Wen: The threshold for people seeing a benefit appears to be relatively low. The researchers found that once people reached more than about 4% of their total activity as vigorous, their risk of developing chronic diseases dropped substantially.
To put that into practical terms, we are not talking about professional athletes dedicating their lives to hours of high-intensity training. Everyday people may see benefits from just doing a few minutes of vigorous effort daily.
CNN: How can people realistically incorporate vigorous activity into their daily routines?
Wen: One helpful way to think practically is that vigorous activity does not have to happen all at once. It can be accumulated in short bursts throughout the day.
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People can take the stairs instead of the elevator and do so at a faster pace than usual. When they are heading to work, they can add some speed walking. They can park farther away when grocery shopping and walk briskly while carrying groceries.
Structured exercise also can incorporate intervals where people alternate between moderate and more intense effort. If you’re swimming laps, you can warm up at a more leisurely pace, then do a few laps at a faster pace, then again at a leisurely pace and repeat. This suggestion applies to any other aerobic exercise: Aim for multiple intervals of at least 30 seconds to a minute each where your body is working hard enough that you feel noticeably out of breath.
CNN: What about someone who is older or has mobility issues?
Wen: Not everyone can or should engage in high-intensity activity in the same way. Vigorous activity is relative to that person’s baseline. For someone who is not used to exercise, even a short period of slightly faster walking or standing up repeatedly from a chair could be considered high intensity. And not everyone may be able to walk. In that case, some exercises from the chair can have aerobic benefits.
Individuals who have specific medical conditions should consult with their primary care clinicians before embarking on a new exercise routine. People with mobility issues also may benefit from working with a physical therapist who can help to tailor exercises appropriate to their specific situation.
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CNN: What is the key takeaway for people trying to improve their health?
Wen: To me, the main takeaway from this study is that it’s not only how much total exercise you get but also how hard you push yourself that matters. And you don’t have to have a lot of high-intensity exercise: Adding just a little has substantial health benefits across a wide range of chronic health conditions.
At the same time, exercise needs be practical. People should look for opportunities to safely increase intensity in ways that fit their daily lives. The most effective approach to physical activity is a balanced one: Exercise regularly, incorporate more challenging activities when you can and build habits that are sustainable over time.
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‘Not what the fitness industry is trying to sell you’: this is the one simple move everyone really needs to be doing, according to an exercise scientist
Ask any exercise scientist what they would prescribe to someone serious about staying strong into their 50s and beyond, and the answer is rarely what you’d hope for — and certainly not what the fitness industry is currently trying to sell you.
It isn’t long sessions on one of the best under-desk treadmills or a stationary bike like the Peloton, nor the kind of machine-based exercises that isolate muscles without ever teaching them to work together.
The movement that matters most at this stage of life looks deceptively simple — no barbell, no specialist equipment and no gym membership required. It’s a fundamental, functional move, like the farmer’s walk. It trains balance, hip stability, and unilateral strength that determines whether your body holds up or breaks down in the decades ahead.
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Think about what you actually do every day — climbing stairs, stepping off a curb, recovering your footing on an uneven surface. Every one of those moments asks your body to produce and absorb force through a single leg while the rest of you stays controlled.
Most people are far weaker in this pattern than they realise and it’s exactly why we spoke to leading exercise scientist and functional medicine doctor Pete Williams to find out which single exercise he returns to again and again, why it becomes so critical at this stage of life and how to build it into your routine safely and progressively.
The forward lunge
(Image credit: Getty Images / skynesher)
“As we age, our exercise goals should evolve beyond simply lifting heavier weights,” says Williams. “For people over 50, the ability to generate force quickly — known as muscle power — becomes more crucial than maximal strength.” This methodology is exactly why Williams recommends the forward lunge as a key movement pattern for those looking to maintain strength for those in their sixth decade.
This particular focus on power over outright strength is rooted in Williams’ deep understanding of biomechanics. As we age, the ability to produce and maintain power “fundamentally shapes how we move, how we respond to sudden challenges, like trips or slips and how safely we navigate everyday life,” he says, noting that “power declines faster with age than strength alone.”
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All of which make the forward lunge the ideal exercise to work on these points, Williams says, as it “builds not just muscle, but neural responsiveness and coordinated control.” By building the functional power to protect against falls and maintain independence in later life, he says, “power and control are the qualities that make movement safe and effective in the real world.”
Why it works
For Williams, the appeal of the forward lunge isn’t just about building lower-body strength, but also about recruiting and supporting the recruitment of the central nervous system (CNS).
“A forward lunge requires controlled descent into the lunge position, then a powerful push back to standing,” he explains. “This rapid coordination falls under the domain of the CNS, the brain and spinal cord must swiftly sense perturbations and activate muscles to respond.” Simply, by working on muscle power, you can offset the decline that comes with ageing.
Williams points to several everyday scenarios in which the forward lunge can help offset accident risk, including descending stairs, stepping down from curbs and lowering into a chair. “These are not passive movements, as they require muscles to absorb force, decelerate the body, and stabilize joints,” he says. This is called ‘eccentric’ control. Movement patterns that incorporate slow and controlled lowering trains these braking systems, making “accidents on stairs and curbs become far more likely”.
Most of the best smartwatches now come with fall detection, allowing the wearer to send an alert if they fall or have some sort of accident. For older adults, training with forward lunges will reduce the risk of this happening.
Forward Lunges Exercise Demonstration – YouTube
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Building power with the lunge
“Strength is a measure of how much force a muscle can produce, whereas power reflects how fast that force can be applied,” says Williams. To illustrate the difference, he describes two people: one who can lift heavy weights slowly, while the other can lift a medium weight faster. “If both trip on an uneven surface, the person with greater power — and thus faster muscle and neural response — is far more likely to catch themselves and avoid a fall”.
This is why Williams argues that exercise programs for older adults must move beyond purely heavy lifting.
Instead, they should incorporate “power training exercises,” such as “faster concentric lifts” and “quick sit-to-stands from a chair,” alongside “functional real-world drills”. This specific focus on “speed and rapid force production” is increasingly recommended for older adults and, according to Williams, “should always be considered.”
Add the lunge into your routine using the instructional video above, and browse our article series The Fit List for more muscle-building and life-lengthening advice.
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