Marks the end of my perfect month with Apple Watch… and I can breathe easy. Thirty days of November have been very interesting to watch Apple experiment, how they encourage us to be more active and do more sport.
The most curious thing about this experiment is habits. Gradually one will realize how it changes daily routine to accommodate the achievement of objectives. That is precisely what is; change our sedentary lifestyle to make it more active and healthy. Did you get Apple Watch? Let’s go see it…
The enthusiasm of the first week
The first days of this experiment were not very different from when I completed my first perfect week of Apple Watch. You start with the excitement of seeing what will happen at the end of the thirty days of the challenge, what you expect medals (only one, of course) and you’re constantly checking your performance in the three rings of power: movement, exercise and walking.
BACK TO THE BIG CITY WHERE THE LIFESTYLE IS MORE SEDENTARY HAS BEEN A GREAT CHALLENGE
I must say that one of the reasons that more weight had was my ability to stay active on my return to Spain. Having been living eight months in a Canadian village in the mountains and sport have done more in my life, the return to Madrid I was concerned. It was going to happen to make about forty kilometers down the mountain bike and hiking every week, plus other occasional exercises type kayaking, to live in a big city where it is not so easy to make that kind of sports.
That was how I found enough motivation to commit to achieving the perfect thirty days of Apple Watch. It is very tempting and easy to sit still one day and spoil the streak. Having an incomplete day as an excuse to abandon the experiment and give up. But this watch knows the human weaknesses very well and knows how to motivate you.
Motivation and behavior change
The Apple Watch quantifies and measures our daily activities. After completing the initial configuration of the body (weight, height, sex, active way of life or not), regularly receive notices. “Stand” is a notification that happens at least ten hours in which we have not been standing and walking at least one minute.
That is, if one hour have been sitting all the time or have not accumulated the minute of standing and walking required (the latter not so obvious, you have to move or it does not count), you will notice a touch on your wrist and sound characteristic. For example, if from eleven o’clock we’ve been sitting, at 11:50 Apple Watch the prompts you have to stand up and move around for a minute before time runs out.
THE APPLE WATCH HANDLES REMIND YOU TO MOVE TO COMPLETE YOUR DAILY GOALS
Stand is one of the three “rings” of activity, although it seems simple, it is not at all. You should do this at least twelve times in twelve different times, need not be consecutive. So if you dawdle and begin to complete half later, it is probably no longer able to achieve the goal. Unlike the ring exercise and movement you can complete with the only half an hour of training. As long as you consume your daily calorie target active.
It is very easy to forget that you have a “job” to do throughout the day to complete the famous rings. Therefore, the Apple Watch has some reminders or summaries of exercise you’ve been made. These alerts can be configured to warn you every 4, 6 or 8 hours. Or turn them off altogether.
In all this time, I realized how it changed my lifestyle. It is not a radical change. I do not go to the gym or go running three times a week. But I am more aware of the activity that I do each day and try to reach the goals slightly altering my routine.
Walking a little further to a subway station or bus farther. Climb the stairs instead of the elevator. Get up every hour to stretch your legs. And even see the “shopping” with my girlfriend as a way to complete the objectives.
Anxiety about the perfect month
Although at first I did not care if I ever did not complete rings, as the weeks passed the “investment” that was making the perfect month to get it showed. It’s like a poker game when you’ve invested heavily in the beginning that you have no choice but to go to the end without being sure of your chances of winning.
REACH THE DAILY GOAL BECOMES A PRIORITY IN YOUR DAILY LIFE
After two weeks, one worries of daily advance. Thus they can get to be situations that seem absurd views from outside. During the Engadget awards I missed two minutes to complete the thirty minute daily exercise. As they approached the twelve o’clock, I started to get nervous. “And if not completely? I’ll stay without the perfect month and I have to start again in December.”
At other times I was more proactive. For example, it is a common complaint of users of Apple Watch alert you to stand up when you’re at the movies. But if it’s a weekday and you got up early, it is likely that at eight o’clock in the afternoon and have completed that ring.
Improved activity measurement
The Apple Watch acquired many new features to update watch OS 2. In the part of activity, only we saw how we could tell Siri began training. Although quantification is one of the pillars on which rests the Apple Watch, you are still areas for improvement.
These are some of the features I like that Apple included in future versions of watch OS:
- Swimming and fitness programs. We know well that Apple Watch is waterproof, at least for surface swimming.
- A social component that serves to compete with your friends and motivate.
- Training versions and activity in iCloud.com.
- Activities start and end automatically.
- Smarter management notifications when we are driving and / or using Apple Maps.
In hardware, the most demanded request is GPS to sports without the iPhone and the official water resistance. More thinness and battery are also in the list.
The Apple Watch is not like the new Apple TV, which is now in its fourth generation. This is a new category for Apple is still exploring. Surely we will see how it evolves with the next generation, but in this version is an attraction in itself product.
You are having done this experiment, seeing the consequences it has had on my daily life and its other qualities has become essential for me. Now, put on Apple Watch every morning is one of the first things I do nothing else up.
