The controversy of using a WHOOP: is it worth the hype?

TW: fitness tracking and measurements

The fitness tracker WHOOP has become increasingly popular and has started to make its appearance in the rowing world. 

I was first intrigued by WHOOP after seeing CrossFit Games athletes and other sports and health influencers use it, people like Dr Hazel Wallace (@thefoodmedic), and Team GB rowers Kyra Edwards and Tom George.

The point of fitness trackers is to measure variables and get data on your lifestyle behaviours so they can be improved. Of course, you do not need a fitness tracker to make positive changes to your wellbeing and performance; but, it’s useful and keeps you accountable. 

A popular saying is “what gets measured gets monitored” and this got me thinking about how much this popular, maybe hyped fitness tracker, fitness tracker can make a difference.

In the last month, I have been wearing a WHOOP (1-month free trial – whoop whoop!). My interest in the WHOOP 30-day free trial was to: 1) understand how my behaviours were impacting my overall health, recovery, and performance; 2) identify behaviours to improve small gains; and 3) understand if WHOOP has the power to make positive behavioural changes. 

My personal opinion is that a WHOOP can be useful if you are willing to spend the money, time, and effort to get more data about your habits and want to make data-backed lifestyle changes. The whole experience is made easier if you have flexibility in your life and training routines that are dictated by your data. For some, that might sound ideal – “A personal coach who uses my data! Amazing” – but for others, myself included, I found the data useful but it didn’t change how I exercised.

In the past month, here are some of the positives I have noticed:

1. The data is more accurate for recording sleep than my Garmin watch (vivoactive). I haven’t noticed much of a difference in other metrics, like heart rate.
2. WHOOP has more data! The most popular ones are the recovery score, sleep overview, and strain which all use lots of data to create an overall score which is useful to understand how physically demanding our day-to-day life is on our body.
3. I should sleep more! Building on the second point, WHOOP helps to plan your ideal bedtime based on the amount of recovery you choose and the time you wake up in the morning. Sleep is easily the biggest factor that can improve your recovery and general well-being.

I asked a few friends who were using WHOOP and they said that they felt it made them more accountable with going to sleep and doing enough to recover – eating, hydrating, sleeping. Whereas other friends of mine had said that, while it is useful, it may not be escaping the real problem: staying in touch and listening to our bodies. 

Here is what people thought about WHOOP from a question box on my Instagram (@sophiehudsonphysio):

“It’s a great idea and has the potential to have a positive change, but it’s not always suitable for my lifestyle with a 9-5 and training around it.”

“Good but don’t get too obsessed with data and listen to your body.”

“I didn’t find it useful for someone in a team sport where the training is set for a crew regardless of whether WHOOP told me I was recovered or not.”

In a chat with Isy Hawes (an ex-Brookes and now Leander rower and also a physio at University of London), she said: “I thought it was good and pretty helpful, I just didn’t think it was fitted for a rower with having a set training program which didn’t change even if my WHOOP told me I needed a lighter day.”

Isy makes a valid point that I don’t think is considered enough. Every athlete is always looking to go the extra 1% to improve and maybe from one perspective a WHOOP enables extra gains, but this perspective cannot be used universally for every situation.

My strength and conditioning coach, Ross Edmonds, from University, King’s College London – King’s Sport, said: “I feel like we are falling more and more into the technology trap and letting electronics guide our rehab/strength and conditioning. We use numbers to guide our training but it should not determine the training.”

He recommends using a scale based on an effort called Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) instead, because it keeps us in touch with our bodies. Ross also highlighted that whilst fitness trackers have their place in the sports world, there are also many flaws and gaps: accuracy, methods of measuring, unable to input medical conditions and generalised standards. 

To answer my initial three questions, I would say yes, although it isn’t as simple as that. 

To understand how my behaviours were impacting my overall health, recovery and performance:

Fitness trackers as a whole are good at tracking our habits and we can analyse that data to see their impact. I think WHOOP can give you the most types of data and a high level of accuracy for people who are into fitness. But this is also something that most fitness trackers can provide you with.

To identify behaviours to improve small gains:

Without a doubt, WHOOP can help you with this; so can most fitness trackers. 

To understand if WHOOP has the power to make positive behavioural changes:

I believe it does. I have found it does and so have many of my friends. I find it is better than my Garmin watch (Vivoactive 3). I think that the immediate data is useful for establishing new habits and would be harder to do if I didn’t have the feedback.

My conclusion is that you don’t need a WHOOP, but you may like one. 

• Recovery doesn’t need to be over-complicated; it can be rather simple really.
• Focus on the controllables, set routines, and build habits. 
• Being in tune with your body will be part of your lifestyle.
• Sleep will be your best friend. 
• Consistency and routine will be your new superpower. 

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Part 2 about ‘The controversy of WHOOP in rowing’ coming soon!

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