Curated from Latest from TechRadar US in News,opinion — Here’s what matters right now:
We've all had those health moments when we're just feeling… meh. Nothing's exactly wrong, but you know you're not feeling your best and that you can do better – you just can't find the gumption to do so. That was me after a recent bout of the flu completely ruined my routine. I wasn't eating great, I'd stopped reading as much as I'd like to, and I found myself choosing to stay up late rather than doing the smart thing and heading to bed. This, of course, created a snowball effect where I'd then be too tired to get up early to walk the dog or make a proper lunch. I needed a little help and, in my experience, there are few better motivators than spending money. That was the reason I bought my first fitness tracker (the Fitbit Flex 2, back in 2017), which put me on a journey of smartwatches and trackers that eventually landed me with the Apple Watch SE in 2023. But, after not too long, my SE was starting to feel stale. I’m not too taken by the smartwatch features on offer, I don't love the 'ring' fitness system and I've found myself increasingly annoyed with daily charging. And, personally, I can't wear a regular timepiece on one wrist and my Apple Watch on the other. I was intrigued, then, when I discovered the Whoop band, which looked like it would address a lot of those gripes quite specifically. It's a screen-free, low-profile device that focuses on health and fitness, and has a multi-day battery. It also comes with a month-long free trial of its Peak membership which includes the Whoop 5.0 device itself (with a 14-day battery) and advanced tracking like Healthspan – which calculates the age your body is performing at (compared to your actual age) and gives you the data you need to improve. I was slightly intimidated, because this class of fitness device is also usually attached to multi-million-dollar athletes and Olympians. But if you don't love the device during this trial period, all you have to do is pay the shipping cost to return it; which I had little doubt I'd be doing. Whoop's states its mission is "to unlock human performance and healthspan", so it's for athletes like Virgil Van Dyke, James Tedesco, Michael Phelps, Rory McIlroy and Cristiano Ronaldo trying to maximize their potential – not me. But then I strapped one on my wrist. The real cost of a personal trainer The Whoop 5.0 has overtaken the Apple Watch SE as my daily wearable (Image credit: Max Delaney / TechRadar) Other than thinking it was too health and fitness focused for me, one of the biggest reasons I thought Whoop wasn't for me is its price. Whoop is a subscription service and without an active membership the band itself is useless. You can subscribe to any of three different subscription options – One, Peak and Life. If you’re on the fence about whether Whoop is for you (don't worry, I certainly was), you can get a 1-month free trial of the Peak plan when buying direct from Whoop – which is what I did. The Peak membership includes all the benefits of the more basic One
Next step: Stay ahead with trusted tech. See our store for scanners, detectors, and privacy-first accessories.
Original reporting: Latest from TechRadar US in News,opinion