New fitness STRENGTH training plan

via @JW ty

Garmin is about to add the ‘Get Fit’ strength program. It’s the latest addition to the company’s recent STRENGTH TRAINING programs from August, targeted at beginners.

The new program covers three weekly workouts for 12 weeks, starting with a benchmarking session and ending with a comparison session to see how you progress.

More: Garmin’s (relatively) new strength coach

When?

Soon. Probably this year.

Take Out

Many of us neglect strength training at our peril.

If you don’t currently take strength training seriously, it’s an easy route for quick fitness and performance gains. For older athletes and the population in general, strength training is the key way to manage the inevitable decline, feel better, and avoid life-changing injuries for the elderly. With all that in mind, it’s great that Garmin and others take strength training and coaching more seriously in their ecosystem.

The fundamental difficulty in creating a good app is that the watch can’t automatically measure your work without smart weights or smart gym stations. Repeated manual interactions are required…a PITA. It’s also difficult, but not impossible, for a smart device to automatically recognise specific strength exercises. Finally, even though there are further difficulties in accurately measuring heart rate during strength exercise, it doesn’t matter as heart rate does not measure the load from strength exercise – despite what many people think.

For people outside the Garmin ecosystem, you might look at Whoop, which has incorporated learning from its acquisition of PUSH, a velocity-based strength company.  Apple users could also benefit from the excellent BEVEL app. The STRONG app is another, but I’ve not used it.