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Smarter, safer workouts with a wearable fitness tracker – Harvard Health

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Smarter, safer workouts with a wearable fitness tracker – Harvard Health


Do you need a little extra inspiration to be more active throughout the day? Or perhaps you’re wondering if your workouts are challenging enough to optimize your cardiovascular health. And if you have any type of heart disease, you’ll want to be sure you’re not pushing yourself too hard during vigorous physical activity. For each of these situations, a wearable fitness tracker may be a worthwhile investment, especially when you consider that exercise is widely considered the best medicine — not just for your heart but for your overall health.

You may already own such a device, as most smart watches include a range of fitness tracking features alongside their other functions. Other options include wrist-worn bands and smart rings that focus primarily on health and fitness tracking.

“The information these wearables provide is measurable, meaningful, and motivating,” says Dr. Sawalla Guseh, director of the Cardiovascular Performance Program at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. “It’s like having a goal-setting coach with you around the clock,” he says.

Long-term monitoring may also alert you to heart problems, says Dr. Guseh. “I had one patient who didn’t feel chest pain or related symptoms, but he noticed his exercise performance declining over time. It turned out he had coronary artery disease,” he says.

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Features to watch

Here are some of the features on wearable fitness devices that are worth checking out.

Stand or move reminders. Many wearables feature customizable notifications — a message on the watch face or a sound or vibration — to remind you to stand up and move around for a short period of time to break up long stretches of sitting. Even dedicated runners need to avoid being sedentary throughout the day to keep their hearts healthy, says Dr. Guseh (see “Stand up for your heart” in the June 2025 Heart Letter).

Daily step counts. Although you’ve likely heard that 10,000 steps per day is a good goal, that number was based on a Japanese marketing scheme and not actual data. Recent evidence finds that a lower number — anywhere from 4,000 to 7,000 daily steps — is linked to improved heart health. A smartphone (provided you carry it with you most of the day) can give a close estimate of your daily step count, but a wearable will be more accurate. Data from your smart watch automatically syncs with your smartphone, and most have apps that display trends in your step counts and other exercise data over weeks, months, and years.

Heart rate zones. Wearables make it easier to assess your exercise effort with heart rate zones, which classify how intensely you’re exercising by measuring your heart rate. The zones are based on your maximum (or peak) heart rate (MHR) — an estimate of the upper limit of what your cardiovascular system can handle during physical activity. A commonly used formula for MHR is 220 beats per minute minus your age, but you should consider this a ballpark figure, since factors other than age are at play.

Different wearables have varied numbers of heart rate zones, although five is typical. Zones 2 and 3 are generally thought to correspond to moderate-intensity exercise, while zones 4 and 5 correspond to vigorous-intensity exercise. But because they’re not individualized, they may not be accurate for everyone, Dr. Guseh notes. Ideally, you should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, or 75 minutes or more of vigorous-intensity exercise, or an equivalent combination every week.

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Heart rate recovery (HRR). This value reflects your heart’s ability to return to its normal, resting pace after you stop exercising. It’s the difference between your peak heart rate during exercise and your heart rate at a set time after you stop (typically one to two minutes). A value of 20 beats per minute is considered good, and higher is even better.

Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max). This value is the maximum amount of oxygen a person can use during intense exercise. It can be measured directly when a person runs on a treadmill with an oxygen mask in a lab. Some wearables estimate it based on an algorithm that uses data such as your MHR, HRR, pace, weight, and sex. VO2 max is a powerful predictor of cardiovascular health. “The absolute number may not always be accurate, but the trends can be useful. If your VO2 max rises over time, that’s a strong sign your training is improving your fitness,” says Dr. Guseh.

Heart rate variability (HRV). This value is a measure of the variation in time between heartbeats — differences that are just fractions of a second. More variability (a higher value) suggests better heart health, because it reflects the heart’s ability to respond quickly to rapid changes occurring throughout the body. Most wearables report this value, but there isn’t a recommended target because it varies widely depending on your age, sex, fitness level, and medical history. However, it can be useful to track trends in your HRV over time. HRV often falls after a period or stress or illness but then bounces back — a sign that you’re good to go back to exercising, says Dr. Guseh.

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Exercising after a heart disease diagnosis

Anyone who’s had a heart attack, heart surgery, or other heart disease diagnosis should attend cardiac rehabilitation, a personalized program of supervised exercise and heart-healthy lifestyle coaching. It starts with an exercise stress test, which involves closely monitoring your heart during exercise to tailor an effective yet safe exercise program for you.

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“Cardiac rehab is a tried-and-true method of helping people get back into shape, with a standardized protocol that works well for most people,” says cardiologist Dr. Sawalla Guseh, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. However, people who were previously exercising at higher intensities and therefore quite fit may get bored at cardiac rehab because it’s too easy for them, he says. If that’s the case for you, consider requesting a referral to a sports cardiologist, who can provide more rigorous and detailed testing and advice, including a specific heart rate threshold you should be careful not to exceed.



Image: © Oscar Wong/Getty Images

Fitness

Alexandra Daddario, 40, relies on this underrated crunch upgrade for strong abs – here’s how to do it properly

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Alexandra Daddario, 40, relies on this underrated crunch upgrade for strong abs – here’s how to do it properly

From enduring some serious physical prep for Baywatch to working consistently with elite trainer Patrick Murphy, Alexanda Daddario’s dedication to fitness is well-documented. She often shares insights on social media, and in a recent Instagram post, the White Lotus star gave an insight into how she trains her core with one powerhouse movement: the reverse crunch into shoulder stand.

Why is it so good? Most traditional ab exercises require repetitive spinal flexion – the process of pulling your chest down toward your knees, like in a standard crunch. This isolates only the upper section of your abs, and for women who spend hours sitting at a desk, it can reinforce a slouched, rounded posture.

Instagram @alexandradaddario

Daddario’s movement flips the mechanics entirely since you actively curl your pelvis up toward your chest. In doing so, you target not only your upper abs, but the lower portion and your obliques (the sides) simultaneously, all while keeping your chest open and your neck unstrained. This translates into a much stronger core, better posture and crucial lower back protection. Research also shows that a controlled posterior tilt – the lower-body curl that initiates Daddario’s move – recruits a significantly higher percentage of deep core muscle fibres than traditional crunches.

alexandra daddario

@alexandradaddario//Instagram
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Daddario then drives her hips directly up into a vertical shoulder stand. This completely removes momentum from the equation (meaning you can’t “cheat”) and forces your abs – particularly your obliques – to balance your body and prevent you from tipping sideways.

She then takes it one step further into a Pilates plow position with her legs overhead, before reversing the movement and, again, using her abs to control the lowering of her entire lower body as she slowly unrolls her spine down onto the mat. The plow portion is optional (and super advanced); the slow, controlled, lowering phase, which happens whether you move into plow or not, is where the magic happens, challenging your core through both lifting and resisting gravity. Inspired? Here’s exactly how to do the move with good form, and how many reps and sets to aim for.

How to do a reverse crunch into shoulder stand

  1. Lie on your back (either on a mat, or on a reformer Pilates machine, like Daddario, with your arms anchored tightly to the floor.
  2. Engage your core to curl your knees toward your chest, then fluidly press your feet straight up toward the ceiling, lifting your hips and lower back off the floor.
  3. Slowly lower down, one vertebra at a time. Aim for 3 sets of 6-8 controlled reps.

Optional progression:

  1. As you reach shoulder stand with your legs extended to the ceiling, slowly start to lower your toes toward the floor over your head. Your weight should rest entirely on your shoulders and upper back – not your neck.
  2. Keeping your legs straight, use your core to extend them straight back up to the ceiling, then control the descent by rolling your spine down one vertebra at a time, with your legs remaining straight.

magazine cover featuring health and fitness theme

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

Headshot of Bridie Wilkins

As Women’s Health UK’s fitness director and a qualified Pilates and yoga instructor, Bridie Wilkins has been passionately reporting on exercise, health and nutrition since the start of her decade-long career in journalism.

After earning a first-class degree in journalism and NCTJ accreditation, she secured her first role at Look Magazine, where she launched the magazine’s health and fitness column, Look Fit, before going on to become Health and Fitness writer at HELLO!

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Since, she has written for Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner’s World and Red. Today, she oversees all fitness content across Women’s Health online and in print, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as ‘Fit At Any Age’, which showcases the women proving that age is no barrier to exercise.

She has also represented the brand on BBC Radio London, plus various podcasts and Substacks – all with the aim to encourage more women to exercise and show them how. Outside of work, find her trying the latest Pilates studio, testing her VO2 max for fun (TY, Oura), or posting workouts on Instagram.   

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Built Strong: Fitness forges unbreakable father-son bond

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Fa­thers of­ten share spe­cial bonds with their chil­dren. For 80-year-old Chanka Ram­rat­tan, that bond is a shared love for fit­ness and ex­er­cise with his 46-year-old son Nari.

The Rousil­lac res­i­dent re­called that he be­gan ex­er­cis­ing at the age of 14, lift­ing weights and tak­ing long walks, a pas­sion that re­mains with him to­day. Dur­ing his time work­ing as a clerk at Tex­a­co, he said he would walk from For­est Re­serve to his Rousil­lac home, a dis­tance of ap­prox­i­mate­ly 12 kilo­me­tres.

“I have done every marathon in Trinidad; you name a marathon, I could tell you. Mi­a­mi Marathon, To­ba­go Sea-to-Sea, which is the most dif­fi­cult marathon that I’ve ever done. I even have a tro­phy where I got the fastest speed walk­ing man, and I have all my medals,” he re­count­ed.

Chanka’s last marathon was a vir­tu­al one in 2021. Since then, his doc­tor has ad­vised him to slow down be­cause of his age. Now, he spends his time at the Health and Fit­ness Gym in Debe and South Oropouche about three times a week, walk­ing marathons of his own on the tread­mill.

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“I do car­dio walk­ing for one hour, and I do weight train­ing for one hour. Then, I go in the sea and I swim and dive for one hour,” he not­ed.

Chanka firm­ly be­lieves reg­u­lar ex­er­cise has con­tributed to his longevi­ty and said he plans to keep go­ing.

“Ex­er­cise is very im­por­tant, and I like ex­er­cise. You go to Mi­a­mi, and you’ll see 90-year-olds and 100-year-olds in the gym, walk­ing, and even go­ing to marathons. That’s be­cause if you don’t ex­er­cise, you feel lethar­gic, you feel down. And you al­so have to read a lot. So, you ex­er­cise the brain, and you ex­er­cise the body,” Chanka ad­vised.

His son Nari be­lieves that per­se­ver­ance was one of the most im­por­tant lessons his fa­ther passed on to his chil­dren, along with a love of fit­ness and ex­er­cise.

“When you are look­ing at your dad, and your mom, and you are see­ing them ex­er­cis­ing and you are see­ing them fit, why would you not want to do the same thing? So, it was in­stilled in all of us, my­self and my two sib­lings. That ex­er­cis­ing be­came a rou­tine. My big­ger sis­ter, she would run, and my small­er sis­ter would do car­dio,” Nari ex­plained.

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The en­gi­neer and busi­ness­man re­called start­ing to ex­er­cise and lift weights with his fa­ther and un­cle from a young age, cred­it­ing the ex­pe­ri­ence with shap­ing the dis­ci­pline and fit­ness mind­set he still fol­lows to­day.

How­ev­er, in 2016, he faced a big ob­sta­cle af­ter he hit his head dur­ing a div­ing ac­ci­dent, dam­ag­ing his C6 and C7 ver­te­brae and spinal cord.

“I was 37 at the time when I got in­to the ac­ci­dent. I lost all feel­ing in my body. The per­son that you see in front of you now is not the per­son I was three years ago. I ac­tu­al­ly couldn’t move at all; I could on­ly move my toe. It took a lot of hard work and will, to come out of that sit­u­a­tion. Even­tu­al­ly, I start­ed to trans­fer from my wheel­chair to a bed, to a car. I even built a ma­chine for me to stand up with a har­ness, and it pulls me up in the air so I can stand up straight. So, I used that for two years to get my body back to where it is,” Nari ex­plained.

Nari, who is cur­rent­ly a quad­ri­pleg­ic, said he was on­ly able to make progress through per­sis­tence and sup­port from his loved ones. Chanka ad­mit­ted that pe­ri­od was one of the most dif­fi­cult ex­pe­ri­ences of his life as a par­ent.

“I wouldn’t like to ex­plain that, that is a dif­fer­ent thing al­to­geth­er. He was in Mount Hope for six months, we had to go every day. It was a re­al try­ing thing, but you know, he is on the way to re­cov­ery. His moth­er wants to see every­thing good for him. For me, she will treat me sec­ond class and she will treat them first class, and she is right. Be­cause the ones that are able to walk, you give them less at­ten­tion be­cause they are tend­ing to them­selves. You have to give more at­ten­tion to the one that needs at­ten­tion,” he ac­knowl­edged.

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But their bond through ex­er­cis­ing didn’t change. Dur­ing COVID-19, Nari said his fa­ther re­turned to weightlift­ing un­der his son’s guid­ance.

“When my dad was trapped in the house and he couldn’t go any­where, he was very mis­er­able. So, we had a sched­ule where he and I would use the weights that I have at home, and I would tell him what to do. He ac­tu­al­ly got a six-pack dur­ing COVID. So, we stayed home and ex­er­cised with my wife and all too. Af­ter, I re­alised now I could start back to go to gym,” Nari re­flect­ed.

Chanka said his son’s de­ter­mi­na­tion con­tin­ues to in­spire him.

“When you see some­body who is a bit in­ca­pac­i­tat­ed and they’re ex­er­cis­ing, they give you in­spi­ra­tion. Like if that man could do that, I could do that too. I wish Nari all the best. He is ad­her­ing to all his ex­er­cis­es, and he has a will that you won’t get in your next life. It’s prob­a­bly my genes passed on to him,” Chanka shared.

Nari said none of that would have been pos­si­ble with­out his fa­ther’s in­flu­ence.

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“Dad, I just want to tell you, thank you very much for be­ing in our lives. You give us the en­cour­age­ment to go day to day, and just keep be­ing who you are, be­cause you have a strong will, strong mind, and that is what keeps us go­ing every day,” he said.

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Angela Rippon, 81, reveals the one exercise she never skips for strong legs: ‘I do it every morning without fail’

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Angela Rippon, 81, reveals the one exercise she never skips for strong legs: ‘I do it every morning without fail’

At 81, Angela Rippon is one of the UK’s most energetic and active broadcasters. A long-time advocate for movement, the former ballet dancer has often credited simple, consistent habits with helping her stay strong, mobile and independent as she gets older. And among her daily rituals is one surprisingly simple exercise she swears by: pliés.

‘I’ll do 20 pliés in the morning, because that’s really good for your balance, your knees, your posture, your core strength, for everything,’ she told Good Housekeeping. ‘Ballet is a wonderful thing for keeping your legs in good shape. It builds the right muscles in your calves and thigh. I go to class whenever I can. I’m a great advocate for dance being the best form of exercise for your mind and your body.’

@theangelarippon//Instagram

Pliés are an easy move that require no equipment and Rippon’s 20 reps take less than a minute to do, yet experts agree that they can offer a host of benefits, from improving balance and posture to building lower-body strength and supporting healthy joints. As Women’s Health Fashion Editor and dance instructor Isabelle Knevett says, ‘Plies strengthen the legs, glutes and inner thighs simultaneously. They also require core activation in order to maintain an upright posture, which helps train your balance and stability.’

Research backs Rippon’s morning habit, too. A 2024 study found that a 10-week classical ballet programme improved lower-body strength and physical function in women over 50, suggesting ballet-inspired movements may help support mobility and independence as we age.

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And Angela has one more non-negotiable within her morning routine: stretching. ‘I do it every day without fail. Even if I’m on a really tight schedule and in a very small hotel room. Think about a cat. A cat might sleep for five hours, but when they get up, they stretch absolutely everything. I feel that after I’ve been sleeping, that’s what I need to do to get everything moving again.’

As for its benefits for longevity, a recent study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports found that greater flexibility was associated with a lower risk of early death, while other research found that a 10-minute at-home stretching routine can counteract significant decreases in strength, flexibility and jumping performance caused by low physical activity levels. Consider us influenced.


plan

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

Headshot of Bridie Wilkins

As Women’s Health UK’s fitness director and a qualified Pilates and yoga instructor, Bridie Wilkins has been passionately reporting on exercise, health and nutrition since the start of her decade-long career in journalism.

After earning a first-class degree in journalism and NCTJ accreditation, she secured her first role at Look Magazine, where she launched the magazine’s health and fitness column, Look Fit, before going on to become Health and Fitness writer at HELLO!

Advertisement

Since, she has written for Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner’s World and Red. Today, she oversees all fitness content across Women’s Health online and in print, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as ‘Fit At Any Age’, which showcases the women proving that age is no barrier to exercise.

She has also represented the brand on BBC Radio London, plus various podcasts and Substacks – all with the aim to encourage more women to exercise and show them how. Outside of work, find her trying the latest Pilates studio, testing her VO2 max for fun (TY, Oura), or posting workouts on Instagram.   

Continue Reading
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