Words - Emma Ledger, Contributing Editor
Whatever your age and level of fitness, the brand-new smart wearable, WHOOP, is here to help you keep (on) track in an elegantly minimal way. It's not just a tool for advanced athletes – although the brand does have some well-known wearers; Rory McIlroy, LeBron James and Cristiano Ronaldo to name a few…
The screen-free WHOOP band is a 24/7 health and fitness wearable that provides continuous, expert insights into your daily exercise, sleep, and recovery, offering coaching tips and medical-grade insights to help you maintain optimum health. here's everything you need to know..
How does WHOOP work?
From the moment you put on your WHOOP wearable and sync it with the app, it begins measuring your key health metrics, such as sleep, exercise strain, recovery and heart health. It can then deliver easy-to-understand insights on your respiratory rate, steps, stress and sleeping patterns, as well as tracking hormonal changes.
Worn on your wrist, the sensor delivers 24/7 data collection for continuous monitoring so it can, within the WHOOP app, quantify the impact of more than 160 behaviours; this includes calculating the muscular load of your workouts by tracking weights, reps and sets. You can then receive customised coaching tips, based on your unique physiology, to help you build a routine that sees you perform at your best in order to reach personalised targets.
WHOOP devices are intentionally designed to be screen-free to keep you focused on your goals, without distraction. You can, however, access insights in the app at any time; these vary depending on your membership level (more on this later). Plus, as the portable battery pack charges your device seamlessly, you can be sure to never miss a moment of data.
What features does WHOOP have?
Between the WHOOP wearable and the app, WHOOP monitors all of your most important metrics with lab-level accuracy, including heart rate, heart rate variability, sleep, menstrual cycle and VO2 max. Doing this allows it to provide comprehensive, continuous insights to optimise fitness, recovery and overall health.
To fully understand the impact of your habits, the WHOOP also monitors your training, diet, consistent wake time and stress levels. The WHOOP Journal feature – which is built into the app – then enables you to understand how habits help or hinder your health and wellbeing, and there’s personalised guidance from your WHOOP Coach.
By analysing nine key metrics, the technology can also calculate your WHOOP Age and assess whether your body is ageing faster or slower than your chronological age. It then highlights daily actions that affect your long-term health most, and shows you exactly where to improve.
What makes WHOOP special?
Designed to be worn 24/7, it’s the most comprehensive wearable on the market. And handily, WHOOP is recharged using a separate battery pack, which attaches to the device while you wear it on your wrist. No interruptions
WHOOP provides expert insights and tailored guidance, making it the only wearable that turns comprehensive health insights into daily action. It also offers AI-powered responses to your health and fitness questions, and has a long battery life (it stays charged for up to 14 days).
Trusted by professional athletes and everyday users, WHOOP is a straightforward, user-friendly solution to enhancing your health and wellbeing. And with a variety of bands available, from standard silicon to knitted and leather options, there’s a style and colour to suit you. As the band is adjustable you don’t need a sizing kit either (unlike smart rings).
What is WHOOP membership?
WHOOP is a subscription model with three tiers: WHOOP One (£169 p/a), WHOOP Peak (£229 p/a) and WHOOP Life (£349 p/a). Each price includes the WHOOP device, a 12-month membership and 24/7 membership support.
