What do you wear to track all the miles behind the plate?

[Mark snaker]

Hey all — quick one for the gear and fitness folks here.

Worked a doubleheader last weekend and by the second game my legs were absolutely cooked. Got me wondering just how much we actually move out there: the squat on every single pitch, walking the bases, the odd sprint to beat a throw. So I started wearing a fitness tracker to games just to see the numbers, and honestly it's been eye-opening — a busy plate day put me over 3,000 "squats" in one game. Who knew.

Before buying I went back and forth between a Whoop band and an Apple Watch. The Whoop sits comfier under a sleeve and the recovery score actually helps me decide whether to take a game off, while the Watch is more useful day to day. This honest breakdown comparing the two is what finally helped me pick — worth a look if you're on the fence.

Anyway, curious what the rest of you run. Anyone here tracking heart rate or recovery between games? Does it actually help you last a full season, or is it just one more number to obsess over? Drop your setup below — always looking to compare notes.

[umpstu]

Samsung Galaxy Watch 7. Had a Fitbit before this and it was good as well.

[urout17]

5 hours ago, Mark snaker said:

a busy plate day put me over 3,000 "squats" in one game.

Call more strikes. 😆 Just kidding.

[BLWizzRanger]

I never considered keeping track though, one time at bandcamp, sorry, one time I had my phone tracking and it said 6 miles of movement in the field for a few games. That seemed high as does the 3k squats considering, maybe, 300+ pitches.

What does it consider a squat, I wonder?

[wolfe_man]

1 hour ago, BLWizzRanger said:

I never considered keeping track though, one time at bandcamp, sorry, one time I had my phone tracking and it said 6 miles of movement in the field for a few games. That seemed high as does the 3k squats considering, maybe, 300+ pitches.

What does it consider a squat, I wonder?

I agree.  I know my Apple watch counts about any movement as a step.  It said I walked over a mile and a half mowing my 1/3 acre yard.  Um, I don't think that's right. 

[Velho]

15 minutes ago, wolfe_man said:

I know my Apple watch counts about any movement as a step.  It said I walked over a mile and a half mowing my 1/3 acre yard.  Um, I don't think that's right. 

It is important to calibrate how it records distance to your steps and it isn't always perfect (though they fixed finishing your steps while driving in a car

1/3 of an acres is 14,518 sq feet. Walking that back and forth (depending on lawn mower deck size) could be around 7,000 feet which is 1.3 miles (7000 / 5280).

Unless you've got a riding mower in which case, um, yeah...

[wolfe_man]

1 hour ago, Velho said:

It is important to calibrate how it records distance to your steps and it isn't always perfect (though they fixed finishing your steps while driving in a car

1/3 of an acres is 14,518 sq feet. Walking that back and forth (depending on lawn mower deck size) could be around 7,000 feet which is 1.3 miles (7000 / 5280).

Unless you've got a riding mower in which case, um, yeah...

I trim the edges and ride the rest, it's actually closer to 1/2 acre.  But good points!

[The Man in Blue]

I'm a push mower (old man relaxation).  We have about 1/4 acre, and I am easily over the mile and a half mark when I mow (usually close to 1.66).

I typically take my watch off and put it in my pocket when I umpire school ball, and I have not done any summer ball yet (not sure if I will), so I can't give you a good answer there.

I wouldn't think the Apple Watch would count squats as steps . . . did you have it set some other way?  (I say this as somebody who has had one for over a year now and still can't figure out how to do much with it.)

[AtlUmp]

Having started a journey to lose wait and get healthier last year, one of the things my doctor suggested was being more cognizant of how much I am moving and working when I am active. So I actually now wear a Garmin heart rate monitor on my chest when I umpire or play in my men's league to track how much I'm moving, where my heart rate is, and everything else it does.

I haven't taken a direct shot to where it sits but it hasn't had any issues with any pitches yet but the HR zone numbers, amount moved, and speed have been nice to see those numbers improve as I lose weight.