Whoop, Body Battery (Firstbeat), Apple Watch app, or Plain old TSB

Hey all,

Just curious what everyone is using to monitor recovery and integrate it into their training plan.

By way of background I’m a 44 year old physician with very inconsistent hours. I frequently work into the evening with Urgent/Emergent cases and get called in the middle of the night. I’m having a hard time gauging my recovery based solely on “feel,” as I have had some fantastic workouts after a horrible call night and some really poor workouts a day later when I should be recovered.

There are now various apps, products, etc that state through various metrics such as RHR, HRV, Sleep “Quality” etc can help asses your recovery level before hard training. I’ve used the Whoop with mixed results and I’m curious about Garmin’s approach. I’m very curious about any Apple watch apps as I use the Apple watch as my daily driver for the call notifications. It untethers me from my phone.

Is there a RPS (Recovery Preditive Score, yes I just made that up) and an app or wearable device that would account for life stress outside of training stress? TSB is great for workout stress, but what about the other 22 hours of the day?

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Last year 6 weeks before Leadville I got a training program from Fastcat Coaching. It was a solid program but in part of it he recommended a Whoop band. I bought mine in July and have been using it ever since. Here are my thoughts:

  • I love my band and wear it 24 x 7
  • I download it every morning and then plug in the battery to have a full charge
  • I check my recovery - which is always a function of my work the day before + the sleep I got.

And here is the kicker: the first time in my life I have manipulated my habits to increase the recovery! Basically that means to get more sleep.

The band is an expensive toy for people who like data but if you are looking to unlock your athletic potential and willing to learn new habits the band is absolutely essential. Just as TR can transform your riding, a Whoop band can transform your recovery. Good luck.

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Hi there, I’ve recently started using the Heartwatch and Autosleep apps on my Apple Watch to monitor sleep and assess recovery (through a readiness assessment within the app). It’s easy to use and the readiness score is based on HRV and waking heartbeat. Early days to assess usefulness just yet - and I’m not clear on any scientific basis behind it.

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Hey there. Did you ever switch over to Garmin? How does it compare with the whoop? Why were you seeing “mixed” results with the whoop?

I’m currently on a Garmin and still trying to figure out how to make actionable decisions based on the reported body battery level. I’m still looking at whoop so would love to hear your opinions on both.

Had the Whoop for a year now, useful, learned quite a bit, but hard to justify a $30/mo going forward, in addition to the fact that I also wear an Apple Watch and it’s quite silly to have two devices to keep charged, etc, while the Apple Watch does have basically the same sensors as the Whoop.
Not gonna give a penny to Garmin in my lifetime ever again (and again I like the Apple Watch for the fact that I can leave my phone behind)

Really curious about the FirstBeat stuff, (which actually runs on the majority of trackers, like Garmin/Suunto/Fitbit) and don’t quite understand while it wouldn’t run on Apple Watch.
Found an App in the store called Fjuul which apparently runs FirstBeat, but it needs some activation code, so sounds like something they are selling to fitness companies to manage athletes.
Looking for more info, if anybody knows more.

It’s a old post but try training today it uses HRV and gives you a score from 1-10
I find it really useful

This may be disappointing, but it’s not intended to be so as I still think it’s a worthwhile pursuit.

I use the Oura ring, which provides the same metrics you are describing. However, I’ve seen questionable correlation between those data points and my performance from a day to day basis. Perhaps that type of data is better viewed over the long haul as an indicator that you are making good lifestyle decisions. It definitely works for me for that purpose as I have made decisions that have improved those scores, but I still don’t use the data to plan a single workout.

I listen to my body. If I feel tired, I rest. If I feel good, I train. Most of the time my watch says I need rest but I am fine. Tech is fine and all, but you need to pay attention to how you feel. Too many type A’s push through when they are tired because the data says “You’re fine”.