It’s been over a year since I got a WHOOP fitness bracelet and I haven’t taken it off my arm since. I sleep with it, I shower with it, I swim with it, I just have it everywhere. Come with me to see how WHOOP helps me and what I appreciate about it.
WHOOP – what is it
WHOOP is a wristband for measuring important body functions such as heart rate, respiratory rate, breathing depth or number of calories burned. It helps to understand the body’s functioning, fatigue and recovery, while suggesting what to do based on the data to help the body increase fitness and recover better.
It’s just a wristband (no display) from which data is transferred via bluetooth to a mobile app from which I can easily view it. It’s designed to be worn day or night, the band is a quick drying material, comfortable. After such a long time of continuous wear, I haven’t noticed any visible wear and tear.
Why get WHOOP
Since I have WHOOP I have also been able to move more consistently, give or take, but I don’t want to completely overestimate the effect of WHOOP, it may be just a correlation and it just hit a period when I started to feel a strong need to do something.
WHOOP helps in many ways to better health, higher performance and overall better performance. At least if you’re tracking the data it measures and adjusting your activities based on it and Whoop’s suggestions.
- plan your workouts more efficiently,
- improve the quality of sleep,
- to understand how the body recovers.
Why I got WHOOP
To be honest, I resisted all these measuring devices for a long time, because I don’t need an app that measures how I sleep when I can tell in the morning if I’ve slept or not. I’m not an athlete, so I didn’t have a need to track performance data either.
But somehow it happened that my friends from Dubai got it, I was just in the zone of“I should start doing something with myself, I’m getting old and it shows” and so it took about 2 minutes before I was determined to buy it. I wasn’t expecting it, but I enjoy it, I post dates every day.
WHOOP motivates me to improve my stats.
What WHOOP monitors
WHOOP monitors 3 basic groups of information:
- sleep,
- recovery,
- strain (load).
Sleep
With sleep, it is mainly the quantity that matters (the quality is then shown by the regeneration). Sleep is on a scale of 0 to 100%, with 100% being that you slept as much as you should have (or more). Sleep need takes into account 4 things
- baseline – how much is your default daily sleep allowance (I have 7:22),
- strain – how much extra sleep you should get because of the load of that day (if I “do nothing”, it’s a few minutes, if I work a lot, it’s up to an hour),
- sleep debt – sleep deficit from the previous days (it can even go up to two hours),
- recent naps – subtract naps you may take during the day.
In the app, you set what time you want to get up (you can also set an alarm – the bracelet vibrates on your wrist, or just for information). From that time, it then calculates the time you should go to bed. So in total, it calculates how much time you should spend in bed. In addition to the previous 4 items, it adds one more, crucial one:
- average awake time – average time awake, the app continuously counts the time when I don’t actually sleep at night, all the short awakenings that I don’t even know about (the least I’ve ever had was 19 minutes, which is quite a lot, but if I have periods when I sleep badly, it goes up to 45 minutes).
Regarding the quality of sleep, every night is measured and on the chart you can see exactly the individual sections for:
- awake – when you do not sleep at all,
- light – light sleep,
- deep – deep sleep,
- REM – dreaming stage.
The last two components (deep sleep and REM) add up to restorative sleep. The longer the better.
In addition, sleep efficiency is calculated and the number of breaths per minute, temperature (skin) and how many times you woke up (normal is 1.4 to 2 times) are measured.
Recovery – regeneration
Regeneration is also measured on a scale of 0 to 100%, but compared to sleep, the percentage typically comes out (much) lower. In addition to sufficient sleep time, good quality, restorative sleep is needed to achieve good recovery.
This is where you go straight for the key metrics RHR (resting heart rate) and HRV (heart rate variability). The more significant bad ones automatically show up (orange, or worse red).
Heart rate variability is an indicator of how your body can adapt to stress, while RHR can indicate how healthy and fit your body is. Together with sleep quality and duration, these factors make up your recovery score.
Strain – ballast
The last key element is the load, strain. WHOOP measures how much you’ve exerted yourself during the day – whether it’s physical activity or stress. It tracks your heart rate during the day and during workouts to determine how much you’ve exerted yourself.
Strain is measured on a scale of 0 to 21. It counts against your own data. Depending on how well I’ve managed to sleep and recover it then suggests how much I should exert myself today if I want to increase my fitness. It uses metrics for strain:
- average HR – average heart rate,
- calories – the number of calories burned.
Activity measurement
As soon as the heart rate increases significantly and for an extended period of time, Whoop automatically detects activity. After prolonged use of Whoop and repetition of a type of activity, it automatically detects that it was swimming.
For activity, it then measures zones 1 to 5 according to intervals of the percentage of maximum heart rate (max HR) reached. It will also show the number of calories burned during activity, average and maximum heart rate.
Performance growth
Across all metrics, Whoop shows long-term stats so I can see if my physical activity is increasing, my sleep is improving, my sleep consistency is better, or my average sleep deficit is continually decreasing.
WHOOP 4.0 band price
WHOOP is paid by monthly subscription model. This means that you don’t pay for the bracelet, it’s free, but you pay a monthly amount for the service. This varies depending on whether you buy it outright for a year (199 euros) or for 2 years (379 euros).
There’s also a free one-month trial, which works so that if during the month you find that WHOOP doesn’t suit you for some reason, you can return it (for only 12 euros shipping costs).
Delivery and initial setup
Delivery was a snap, even though it came from abroad. I ordered on Sunday afternoon and the package was delivered by DPD on Thursday morning.
Included in the package is a quick start guide, a short USB to USB-C charging cable, a battery pack that charges with that cable and then attaches to the bracelet and charges the bracelet without having to remove the bracelet itself.
I struggled a bit with adjusting the strap to hit the right tightness while still being comfortable.
WHOOP journal
In addition to the data WHOOP measures itself, it also works with data you give it (you don’t have to, but you can). Every day you can fill in a “diary” of what you did. In the settings, you choose what applies to you and what you want to measure data for from a menu of over 100 preset options. Then you just tick a checkbox next to each item (it’s better not to have too many, because then you do it every day).
I track my alcohol, caffeine, hydration and added sugar this way.
WHOOP insights
WHOOP adds the measurement data to the information you enter in the log and then shows insights about what has a positive and negative impact on your recovery (and how big). For example, the consistency of when I go to bed, when I get up, how much effort I had, or how well I slept, these are data I don’t enter into the journal anymore, WHOOP has measured them itself, so it makes insights over them right away.
You need to measure at least 5 times “yes” and 5 times “no” for WHOOP to show some statistics.
What I learned through WHOOP
About sleep
I didn’t have any major problems with sleep before Whoop, but Whoop led me astray. It showed me how I underestimate the length of time I’m actually awake. I’ve always roughly oriented myself by thinking that if I have 7 to 8 hours between when I go to get up and when I need to get up, that’s good and enough. But Whoop shows me exactly when I fall asleep (and I don’t fall asleep right after I lay down) as well as the total time I’m awake. Since it sometimes takes me over half an hour, that’s a pretty crucial variable that should adjust my calculation. My default recommended sleep duration is 7 hours 22 minutes (that is, when I have no strain and no sleep deficit), I’ve learned to see 8 hours as the absolute minimum sleep time, not the ideal.
About regeneration
Regeneration was the biggest unknown for me before Whoop, I never had any idea if and how well I regenerate and I never really thought about it, I was mainly concerned with sleep. I was concerned with whether I was getting deep sleep. But with Whoop I can see that even if I have over 4 hours in the recovery stages of sleep it may not be enough. This has shifted my perception even more about the length and quality of sleep needed, because many times even with 100% sleep I don’t get above 80% recovery.
About the load
Here, on the contrary, it turned out that I overestimate my expenditure on days when I don’t have any special load, when I just walk around the city. Often, even with 7+ miles, when I was already feeling good about myself for moving and getting a good night’s sleep, I wasn’t doing much in the way of calories. Days where I’m just at home sitting at the computer, for example, have pronounced themselves as days where I barely burn what I eat, even if I watch my intake.
The second thing Whoop showed me (and what I kind of suspected, but without data) is how terribly badly I tolerate the heat and it adds a lot of strain to me even just for a simple walk.
WHOOP and travel
At home or on the go, there is no difference in using WHOOP. But perhaps a few tidbits that might be of interest to travelers.
- Time shift – Whoop counts the day from falling asleep to staying asleep (not from midnight to midnight) so it doesn’t care what time zone you’re in. So with shorter time shifts, you’ll simply have a day that hour or two longer, and the app will count more calories burned than normal. With longer time shifts, of course, it will be more significant and crucial when you go to sleep at your destination, but then your “day” will simply be shortened or lengthened by, say, 6 to 8 hours.
- WHOOP and airport control – I don’t take my wristband off, it doesn’t beep in airport frames. But it looks like it might, and airport security sometimes notices it and warns me to take it off. I don’t explain and I take it off.
- No internet access – the bracelet does not connect to your phone and does not pass data to it. However, it has a memory of up to 2 weeks and saves it when connected. I tested it at sea when I was completely without internet for 2 days. But you can feel free to go on an offline retreat.
Accessories for WHOOP bracelet
You can also buy accessories, such as a spare charging case, a different design of the bracelet to match your outfit, or perhaps a lingerie pouch with a WHOOP pocket, where it can also be put alternatively.
Alternatives WHOOP
There are more devices on the market that address similar issues. Basically there are 3 possible types of devices: a bracelet, a watch, or a ring. Everyone probably has a different preference, mine is a bracelet, I’ll explain why:
- Bracelet vs. ring – a lot of people like the ring because it’s small, almost invisible. You always get some sort of kit before you buy a ring so you can choose the right size. It’s just that you’ll always have that size afterwards, the ring size is fixed. So if you lose weight, get fat or your fingers just swell up, it’s a problem. Once the ring gets bigger, it can easily slip, like in the sea, and you’re out of luck. That can’t happen with a bracelet, and even if it mechanically breaks open, you’ll probably notice it right away. If it’s loose, it will rotate (but the “sensors” need to be in the same place for proper measurement), I’d probably even play with it myself. Another thing is external charging. While you put the wireless charging directly on the bracelet and can keep working with it, you have to take the ring off and put it on charge, so once every 5 days or so you lose 2 hours of data that won’t measure (unless you leave it on charge longer).
- Bracelet vs watch – a smartwatch with lots of extra features (and notifications) is something I don’t primarily want on my wrist. A device that is glued to me non-stop and causes me to want to see what information it has. I also find them inconvenient for sleeping and would mind if they lit up occasionally.
WHOOP vs Oura Ring
The Oura Ring is more focused on tracking sleep and recovery than actual exercise, unlike Whoop, there’s not much to talk about as a fitness device. The business model is the same as Whoop. The key question then will be just whether to prefer a bracelet or a ring?
WHOOP vs Apple Watch
The Apple Watch has no primary function as a fitness band at all. For basic data, it can be fine, and most people probably don’t even need more (myself excluded). Sometimes people are surprised that Whoop doesn’t have a display. I see this as a major drawback of the Apple Watch. A device that is glued to me non-stop and causes me to want to see what information it has. I also find them inconvenient for sleeping anymore and would mind if they lit up occasionally.
WHOOP vs Elonga
Relatively new to the market, it boasts more accurate measurements and the fact that you only need to use the bracelet for 3 minutes a day. It is not aimed at athletes, but at the mass public to get basic information about their body at all. I don’t have the bracelet and I haven’t been able to find out anything about the specific measurement method, so I’m a bit wary.
The Elonga is cheap, but to get anything more out of it you practically have to combine it with data from some other activity meter (you don’t have the Elonga on your hand all day, so the fact that you’ve been swimming or sleeping must be recorded differently). This is just a huge disadvantage for me, I guess I would forget about the morning measurements early on, gradually measure every other day, then once a week for a while, and then forget where my wristband is. In addition, Elonga is supposed to have a monthly tariff from March 2024. For me, it’s only suitable for people who already have, say, an Apple watch or otherwise monitor their sleep and activity data and could use additional information about their body.
WHOOP versus Ultrahuman Ring
I don’t know much about this ring yet, but the downside for me is that it’s already a ring. Compared to WHOOP, it has the advantage of not paying subscription, but you buy it forever. On the other hand, the price is almost 2 years of WHOOP.