Fitness
I’ve tested most of the popular fitness trackers on the market, and here are my top recommendations that match your fitness level
Whether you are training for a marathon or working out for the first time in months, a fitness tracker can show you health and exercise data that can help you better understand your efforts. Most have heart rate, GPS and activity tracking built-in, and many can provide insights into your sleep and recovery. I test fitness trackers and smartwatches regularly, and have tested dozens over the years. Below I’m sharing some of the best ones on the market, and advice on how to find one that fits your needs.
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The best fitness trackers of 2026
My top picks come from well-known brands like Fitbit, Apple and Garmin. Every option on this list was sent to me by the brand for testing purposes.
Best overall: Garmin Vivoactive 6
The Garmin Vivoactive 6 hits a great balance of fitness features, smartwatch capabilities, battery life and price, all packed in an approachable design. During my testing, I was constantly surprised by how many features it has and how rich its features were, especially considering this is one of Garmin’s more affordable watches.
The Vivoactive 6 tracks your health, sleep and fitness activity — with in-depth metrics and analysis for all three. Fitness is particularly impressive, with features like body Battery, workout recovery times, Garmin pace pro and Garmin coach (with running and strength training plans).
One standout feature I love is workout animation — the watch will play short videos of a silhouette performing certain exercises. This is mostly when you are doing Garmin Connect workouts (think HIIT, cardio, strength and yoga), but where I find it the most fun is for Move Alerts — the watch will remind me to move, give me a few movement options to choose from, then play an animation of that movement to follow. It made taking breaks at my desk a lot more fun.
The Garmin Connect app is less intuitive than apps from competitors like Fitbit and Apple, so — give yourself time to get used to it before dismissing it outright.
Best for beginners: Fitbit Charge 6
Lowest price ever
Many NBC Select staffers use and love Fitbit fitness trackers because of their lightweight designs and easy-to-use features. The Charge 6 is a small, beginner-friendly fitness tracker that’s light on weight and light on price. It feels comfortable to use after only a few minutes of swiping through the watch and app, with bright, colorful and easy to understand metrics and graphs.
The Charge 6 tracks and showcases your heart rate, daily steps, distance traveled, fitness activities, calories burned and nightly sleep. It does not track more advanced running stats like cadence, stride length, ground contact time and vertical oscillation like some of my other picks.
New to the Charge 6 is Google Wallet, Google Maps navigation and YouTube Music controls. It also now has a button on the left side that returns you to the home screen or pause workout screen. One important thing to note though, is that you can’t turn off the device. Instead, it goes into “power-saver mode” after 10 minutes of inactivity.
Best budget: Amazfit Active 2 (Sport)
The Amazfit Active 2 is a ridiculously good value — so much so that I was suspicious of it at first, but after weeks of testing, I absolutely recommend it. The software could use refinement, but everything else is excellent for a fitness tracker at this price point.
The standout is build quality — this does not look or feel like a $100 fitness tracker. It has a medium-sized, bright screen surrounded by a stainless steel case that looks sleek and classy (much more so than the Fitbit Charge 6 or Garmin Vivoactive 6). The watch also has a built-in speaker, so it can announce things like mileage during runs or turn-by-turn directions during navigation.
The downside is software — the Zepp app could use some refinement. Like Garmin, it shows a lot of data and options, but can get confusing the further you dive into everything. You can learn more in my Amazfit brand guide.
Best screenless tracker: Google Fitbit Air
If you want to track your health and fitness stats as simply as possible, get the Google Fitbit Air. It’s a screenless fitness tracker that looks like a simple band, with plenty of colors and styles to choose from and swap between.
Because it doesn’t have a screen, you control everything through your phone and the Google Health app, which showcases stats and scores for things like steps, weekly cardio goals, sleep, readiness and more. It’s simple, intuitive and easy to use, making it ideal for beginners, just like the Fitbit Charge 6.
The band automatically tracks walks and workouts, but it’s not totally accurate or confidence-inspiring: I recommend manually starting and stopping workouts like outdoor runs and bike rides.
There is also the optional Google Health Premium subscription for $9.99 a month, which adds an AI (read: Gemini) powered fitness and health coach to the app. I had a mixed experience with Google Health Premium, I found it took a lot of time to personalize to my needs, and even then, I didn’t find it all that valuable, but you can always try it for a month and cancel if it’s not right for you.
Best smart ring: Oura Ring 5
If you hate wearing watches (or anything on your wrists), a smart ring is the best way to track your health and fitness. The Oura Ring 5 is the best one on the market — I’ve tested it for months, and it’s a big improvement on the already-excellent Oura Ring 4.
It tracks stats like heart rate, body temperature, blood oxygen, sleep stages, stress levels and exercise metrics and stores them in the Oura app. It automatically tracks walks and exercise, but I find it best to manually start and stop outdoor workouts like runs for the best data. The app itself is one of the best I’ve tested, with a detailed but approachable design that’s helpful at a glance and very informative as you dive deeper into things like trend reports.
I love that the Oura Ring 5 is significantly (40%) smaller than the Oura Ring 4, and feels more like a regular ring on my finger instead of a bulky smart ring. It comes in six colors and a range of sizes. If you want more than just the current day’s stats, the Oura Ring requires an Oura Ring membership, which costs $6 a month.
Best for iPhone: Apple Watch SE 3
The Apple Watch is one fitness tracker that almost always stays on my wrist, and this is the brand’s lowest-priced model. It costs much less than the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3, but has almost all the same fitness tracking features and metrics.
The Apple Watch SE 3 is easy to use, especially if you have used an iPhone before. The apps are similar or identical, and the square shape of the watch makes it easy to scroll through notifications and texts. It shows detailed workout, health and sleep metrics via Apple Health and Apple Fitness with no subscription required. You can also use the Siri voice assistant to make requests and send voice texts, which is much easier than typing a text mid-run, in my experience.
The watch gets up to 18 hours of battery life, according to the brand — that’s less than most competitors. It does charge quickly, though, getting nearly a full charge in just 45 minutes. It also comes in two sizes with many watch band options.
Best for Android: Google Pixel Watch 4
The Pixel Watch has improved each year to the point that it is now one of the best fitness trackers and smartwatches for anyone with an Android phone. It does everything you would expect of all the best smartwatches: notifications, texting, calls, tap-to-pay, media controls, offline maps and more.
For fitness, the watch has built-in tracking with more than 50 workout types to choose from, with more in-depth data compared to other Fitbits like the Fitbit Charge 6. You can build custom workouts, including custom runs with stages, intervals and more. The watch can also automatically detect walks, runs, bike rides, and more, and start a workout all on its own. I often forget to log walks, so this feature is one of my favorites.
New to the Pixel Watch 4 is satellite SOS emergency assistance (on the LTE version), multi-band GPS (which should lead to more accurate GPS data), improved battery life and so much more.
Best for runners: Garmin Forerunner 570
If you are already into your running journeys, the Garmin Forerunner series is for you, and the Forerunner 570 is my top pick. It has more than enough tools for runners and racers and comes in two sizes, so you can get the best fit for your wrist (unlike the Forerunner 70 and Forerunner 970).
My favorite training tools are training readiness, training status and HRV (heart rate variability) status, which work in tandem to help optimize training and recovery. Training Readiness combines multiple metrics to give you a top-level score about how beneficial your training will be. In practice, it helps me decide whether to take a rest day or push myself harder than usual.
It also has advanced running metrics like power, cadence, stride length and ground contact time, as well as multi-band GPS for the most accurate, consistent distance and time stats possible. It is pricey, though: if you are just starting out as a runner, my other top picks (or the Forerunner 70) provide more than enough stats and tools.
Best for athletes: Whoop 5.0 (Peak)
Lowest price ever
For athletes, Whoop’s minimal design and extra-detailed stress and recovery metrics is a great fit. Like the Google Fitbit Air, it’s a small screenless tracker that’s lightweight and inconspicuous on your wrist. That’s where the similarities end, though.
Whoop differentiates itself by focusing heavily on recovery and strain. It gives all of your activities a strain score between zero and 21, and highlights things like heart rate zones and strength training more than other trackers. Using Whoop makes me think more about the quality and intensity of my workouts rather than distance or time. Again, this is more useful for athletes or people training towards a specific goal.
The required Whoop subscription is very expensive, though. There are three subscription tiers: Whoop One ($199 a year), Whoop Peak ($239 a year) and Whoop Life ($359 a year).
How I test fitness trackers
I’ve tested dozens of fitness trackers and smartwatches for NBC Select. I am a runner and bicyclist, and use fitness trackers to monitor my pace, heart rate and distance. I test each one for at least two weeks, using all available features, including sleep tracking. I often wear multiple fitness trackers at the same time to compare data like heart rate, average pace, mileage, elevation and sleep score, incorporating external heart rate monitors when appropriate.
To pick the best fitness trackers, I paid close attention to the following factors:
- Comfort: A fitness tracker is only useful if you enjoy wearing it. I wore each tracker day and night to see if they became uncomfortable, disrupted my sleep or irritated my skin.
- Data tracking: Fitness trackers collect various biometric data and present it in different ways. I tested and chose trackers that collect a range of insights and present them in helpful and easy-to-understand ways.
- Battery life: I tried each tracker for at least two weeks and noted how often I needed to charge the device.
- GPS tracking: Many fitness trackers have GPS tracking built-in. I took note of how long it took to connect to GPS, and how consistent the GPS data was, especially compared to other trackers.
- Compatibility: Not every fitness tracker works with every smartphone. I tested and included options compatible with both iPhone and Android devices.
How to shop for a fitness tracker
When shopping for any fitness tracker, price and compatibility should be top of mind. But beyond that, I recommend prioritizing the following:
Buy something you’ll actually wear
A fitness tracker is only useful if you actually want to wear it. Otherwise, it’s just a piece of tech sitting in a drawer collecting dust. Be sure to buy something that will feel comfortable on your wrist (or finger) for hours and fits your lifestyle and aesthetic. Try on different fitness trackers (in-person if you can). This can give you a better sense of size and weight than pictures online. If you buy one online, check the return policy before you check out just in case you find that it’s not the fit you desire.
Consider form factor
If you don’t ever wear rings, you probably won’t find the Oura Ring comfortable. Similarly, if you don’t like to wear a watch, you may find the Apple Watch and Google Pixel Watch uncomfortable. Know what you like, what you don’t, and how much convincing you would need to change that.
Identify your goals and needs
I believe that everyone can benefit from the data fitness trackers provide if you understand your wants and needs.
Think about what data you care about. If you love outdoor exercise stats like pace and power, a Garmin watch may be the best match for you. If you want broad exercise and health data, plus all the latest apps, a smartwatch from Apple or Google is a better fit.
Fitness isn’t one size fits all. Take stock of your goals and needs before checking out.
Why trust NBC Select?
I am a reporter at NBC Select who covers technology and fitness, including stories on workout headphones, walking shoes and point-and-shoot cameras. I’ve been testing fitness trackers for years — I try new models constantly, comparing them against previous versions and similar competitors. I leveraged my experience testing fitness trackers, smartwatches and smart rings to pick the best ones on the market today.
Catch up on NBC Select’s in-depth coverage of tech and tools, wellness and more, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok to stay up to date.
If you want it to help even more, consider taking your daytime workout outdoors. Exposure to sunlight—particularly in the morning—is linked to higher quality sleep.
Don’t let a late workout derail your sleep
If the only time you have to exercise is shortly before bed, don’t assume your sleep is doomed. “The sleep-disturbing effect is not like, ‘And then you get no sleep.’ It’s like, ‘Your sleep’s a bit less efficient,’” Capodilupo says. She suggests thinking of a hard evening workout as putting you on a trajectory toward disrupted sleep. But there’s a lot you can do to change course.
Sleep physician Dr. Cheri D. Mah coaches professional athletes, who often have to play evening games. Her advice after games is to practice breathing exercises, which activate the parasympathetic “rest-and-digest” system that primes the body for sleep. She also recommends developing a wind-down routine with activities including light yoga, reading a book, or journaling, while dimming the lights and avoiding screens and other stimulating activities. Even if something like a 10-minute meditation means you hop into bed later, getting the body into a calm state can help you fall asleep faster once you’re actually between the sheets, Capodilupo adds.
Fitness
Caroline Idiens and Jenni Falconer’s time-efficient 9-exercise workout builds full-body strength in 30 minutes
Think you need to spend hours in the gym for a workout to be effective? Think again! There are an infinite number of bodyweight and minimal-equipment workouts that are just as efficient as working out in a gym, including this 30-minute, 9-move workout from former Women’s Health cover star and founder of virtual fitness platform Caroline’s Circuits, Caroline Idiens.
Idiens recently performed the workout – which only uses two dumbbells – with radio and TV presenter and keen runner Jenni Falconer, who recently told WH she has been upping her strength sessions.
Sarcopenia – age-related muscle loss – can start to take effect as early as 30. After that, research suggests muscle mass decreases by approximately 3-8% per decade, with the rate of decline speeding up after 60. But the good news is that there is a lot that we can do to significantly slow, manage and in some cases even reverse sarcopenia – starting with short, full-body workouts such as this one.
‘It’s such a great circuit using all muscle groups in 30 mins, some of my favourite functional full body exercises,’ writes Idiens.
The 30-minute full-body circuit
Warm up, then perform each exercise for 40 secs followed by 20 secs rest. Complete 3 rounds of the circuit.
For reference, Idiens and Jenni are using 4kg + 3kg dumbbells, but choose your weight based on what you feel comfortable with.
- Squat alternate press
- RDL with row
- Reverse lunge knee drive (repeat other side)
- Sumo squat front raise
- Curtsy lunge lateral raise (repeat other side)
- Shoulder press
- Glute bridge with skull crusher
- Crunch with extension
- Weighted dead bugs
How to do the exercises
1. Squat alternate press
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand, keeping your feet a bit wider than shoulder-width apart.
- As you stand up from the squat, press one dumbbell overhead.
- Lower it back to shoulder height as you return to the squat, then repeat on the opposite side.
2. RDL + row
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and knees slightly bent. Hold one dumbbell in each hand, and place them in front of hips with palms facing thighs.
- Keeping your spine neutral and your shoulder blades squeezed together, hinge at your hips and send them back.
- Keeping the dumbbells close to your body, lower them down so they are in front of your shins.
- With your back flat and torso at a 45-degree angle, keep your core engaged.
- Row the dumbbells towards your hips, squeezing your shoulder blades together at the top, then lower them back down with control.
- Drive through your heels to fully extend your hips and knees to drive back to the starting position, squeezing your glutes at the top, but not thrusting so far that your back overextends.
3. Reverse lunge knee drive
- Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, holding your dumbbells on your shoulders.
- With your right foot, step back about one and a half times your normal stride length, landing with the ball of that foot on the ground and your heel up
- Lower your back knee until it gently grazes the floor, creating a 90-degree angle in your front leg.
- Push through the heel and mid-foot of the front leg to return to standing and drive your knee up.
4. Sumo squat front raise
- Hold both dumbbells in front of you with your palms facing down. Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, your weight evenly distributed and your toes turned out.
- Keep your core tight and chest tall as you inhale, bend your knees, and sink your hips down until your thighs are parallel to the floor. At the same time, bring your arms down so they are parallel with your torso.
- As you stand up, raise the dumbbells back to eye level without using momentum.
5. Curtsy lunge lateral raise
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart, with a dumbbell in each hand, arms by your sides, palms facing inwards.
- Take a big step back with your right leg, crossing it behind your left. Bend your knees and lower your hips until your left thigh is nearly parallel to the floor.
- As you take that big step, lift the dumbbells out to the sides with straight arms, going no higher than shoulder height.
- Lower the dumbbells back to the starting position with control as you return to standing from the curtsy lunge.
6. Shoulder press
- Kneel with a dumbbell in each hand. Bend your elbows at 90 degrees with the dumbbells at ear level and your palms facing forward.
- Now straighten your arms and press the dumbbells towards the ceiling, then slowly return to the start and stop once your elbows and arms are at 90 degrees.
7. Glute bridge with skull crusher
- Lie flat on your back, with your knees bent, and feet flat on the floor. Your feet should be hip-width apart. Hold your dumbbells directly above you with palms facing inwards.
- On an exhale, squeeze your glutes and push your heels into the floor to lift your hips up towards the ceiling. As you pause for a moment at the top, bring your arms down so that your dumbbells come down just behind your shoulders.
- Bend your elbows to lower the dumbbells towards either side of your head.
- Slowly lower back down (first shoulders, then lower back, then bum) to the mat.
8. Crunch with extension
- Lie flat on your back holding one dumbbell with both hands above your chest. Brace your core and raise your legs off the floor.
- As you lower your legs towards the floor, simultaneously take the dumbbell back behind your head.
- Bring the dumbbell back over your chest towards your shins as you lift your legs and crunch upwards.
9. Weighted dead bugs
- Lie flat on your back on the floor or a mat and try to get as much of your spine in contact with the ground surface as you can. Think about making a double chin, and lifting up your belt buckle.
- Holding both your dumbbells, raise your arms straight up towards the ceiling, and bend your hips and knees to 90 degrees to create a ‘table top’ with your shins.
- Without any part of your spine losing contact with the floor, reach your left arm up above your head and extend your right leg.
- Push through your heel and pull your toes back towards you as you extend, imagining you’re standing on that leg.
- Exhale fully as you reach the end of the movement.
- Without allowing your heel to touch the floor, slowly return to the setup position.
One of our most frequently asked questions here at Women’s Health? How to build muscle and burn fat at the same time. So, we asked superstar trainer Oyinda Okunowo exactly how to do it. In this 4-week plan – created exclusively for Women’s Health COLLECTIVE members – you’ll get the workouts and nutrition guidance needed to help you on your way to better body composition. Tap the link below to unlock 14 days of free access to Oyinda’s plan and start training today.
Get the plan
Hannah Bradfield is a Senior Health and Fitness Writer for Women’s Health UK. An NCTJ-accredited journalist, Hannah graduated from Loughborough University with a BA in English and Sport Science and an MA in Media and Cultural Analysis. She has been covering sports, health and fitness for the last five years and has created content for outlets including BBC Sport, BBC Sounds, Runner’s World and Stylist. She especially enjoys interviewing those working within the community to improve access to sport, exercise and wellness. Hannah is a 2024 John Schofield Trust Fellow and was also named a 2022 Rising Star in Journalism by The Printing Charity. A keen runner, Hannah was firmly a sprinter growing up (also dabbling in long jump) but has since transitioned to longer-distance running. While 10K is her favoured race distance, she loves running or volunteering at parkrun every Saturday, followed, of course, by pastries. She’s always looking for fun new runs and races to do and brunch spots to try.
How many times have you snoozed the alarm lately or skipped out completely on exercise because of the cold?
It’s not fun dragging yourself out of a warm bed or finishing the day working out in the dark, but experts say the benefits of staying active in winter outweigh the discomforts.
Here are their tips to help you stay on track and which exercise is right for you if you are just starting out.
Reframing our thinking around exercise
Reframing why we exercise can be a helpful first step, according to Associate Professor Shelley Keating, from the University of Queensland’s School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences.
“People often say, ‘I just don’t really do much exercise during winter, but I pick it up again’,” says the clinical exercise physiologist based in Brisbane/Meanjin.
“[But] if you’re taking a medicine for something, you wouldn’t take a break, it’s important for your health and wellbeing.
“The benefits of exercise are so profound, [so] try and really think of it in that way.“
Experts recommend being organised the night before to remove opportunities for excuses. (Supplied: Pexels)
She says exercise should be about “health gain”, not weight loss.
“Even just the impact on mood during winter, it can make you feel so invigorated and great.”
Why it’s important to ‘double down’ in winter
Brisbane-based exercise physiologist and dietician Cam McDonald says there are several changes that can happen in our body during winter, which makes it important to keep moving.
These can include:
- Weight gain
- Insulin resistance
- Higher cholesterol
- Higher blood pressure
“Doing exercise that suits your body improves glucose regulation; it improves the type of cholesterol that’s being produced, or at least how it’s being used,” he says.
“It improves your blood pressure [and] your immune system.
“So even just going for a walk will improve your immune function.”
Dr McDonald says avoiding exercise during the colder months may actually “unwind” your fitness faster than other times.
“The physiological changes that you’re going through might accelerate a decline in health a little bit faster at this time, than you might see other times of year,” he says.
For these reasons, he says “winter is a really good time to double down rather than to take the foot off the gas”.
‘Exercise snacking’ and trying different times
With shorter daylight hours, time is one of the biggest challenges to continuing and sustaining exercise, says Dr Keating.
If you’re struggling during winter, she recommends assessing where you can fit the exercise in and prioritising it as a key part of your daily routine.
“Whether you can just switch the hours up, maybe do it in your lunch break if you’ve got the capacity,” she says.
Dr McDonald says while some people “thrive” with early morning training research shows many “perform at their strongest from around about 11am onwards”.
“If you’ve got this natural tendency to not want to get out of bed first thing in the morning and you actually feel better in the afternoon, you should definitely follow your body with that.”
Cam McDonald says even low-impact exercise such as walking can improve your immune function. (ABC News: Luke Bowden)
Another strategy Dr Keating recommends is “exercise snacking“, where you break up exercise into smaller pieces throughout the day.
“You don’t need to be running a marathon every day,” she says.
“You can think about it like ‘every hour I’m going to get up and do, maybe 10 to 15 minutes of squats, some calf raises, some push-ups.
“I work in a building where I’ve got five flights of stairs, so I might go up and down the stairs and that gets my heart rate up.”
Make exercise social and inviting
To make exercise feel more inviting, Dr Keating recommends changing some of your exercise to home workouts.
“Bring exercise equipment in from the cold garage, get it in front of the TV, somewhere where it’s welcoming to actually do that sort of exercise.”
Dr McDonald also recommends opting for indoor workouts, for example, at a gym.
“[A gym] gives you a whole lot of variety to, if you don’t feel really [motivated], you can go for a walk or a cross train.”
“If you are starting out exercise, you’re going to get some sort of help there that’s going to make it safer for you to engage.”
Erin Wait runs outdoor group fitness classes on the Sunshine Coast. (Supplied: Erin Wait)
Making exercise a social activity is another great way to help with consistency and accountability.
Personal trainer Erin Wait runs outdoor group training classes on the Sunshine Coast on Kabi Kabi lands.
Ms Wait says exercising with others can help keep you on track.
“The number one thing is community … you’re essentially showing up for others.”
Reducing barriers and removing pressure
Ms Wait recommends “reducing barriers’ to morning sessions by getting organised in advance.
“A lot of our clients, they’ll get all their clothes out the night before, some actually even sleep in their clothes,” she says.
“They pre-book their sessions in, so when you wake up in the morning and it is dark and cold, you’ve already removed all those little opportunities of excuses and all you have to do now is go.”
Dr Keating agrees. She recommends having your clothes and bag ready the night before, dressing in layers and warming up at home before you head out the door.
Ms Wait uses the concept of “high and low seasons” to help remove the pressure around exercise in winter.
“Your high seasons are spring and summer, those barriers are kind of gone, we’re training a bit more and it’s a lot easier,” she says.
“Then maybe in winter, rather than chasing [personal bests] or training four times a week, we kind of lower the expectations a little bit.
“Maybe you’re going to train twice a week over the next two months and you’re just there to move your body.”
Choosing exercise you enjoy makes it easier to do
The best type of exercise is one that you’ll do long term because you enjoy it, says Dr Keating.
“For some people that might be Bollywood dancing, for others that might be hiking, some people love going to the gym, others don’t,” she says.
“Don’t try something you know you’re not going to like because it’s not going to be sustainable.“
This article contains general information only. You should consider obtaining independent professional advice in relation to your particular circumstances.
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