How Wearable Tech is Changing Corporate Fitness

Wearable tech is all the rage lately—from “smart” glasses and watches, to bracelets, brooches, and necklaces, there seems to be a gadget to suit any look you’re going for. One of the most rapidly expanding markets for wearable tech is in fitness, predominantly seen with fitness trackers. The frontrunners at the moment are the Fitbit Force, Flex, Jawbone Up, and Nike FuelBand.

Many of these wearable tech fitness trackers are most commonly used for tracking location and speed, as they can be paired with smartphones to monitor fitness progress in real-time. Some of the devices can perform an even wider variety of functions, from detecting movement, heart rate, and body temperature, to monitoring breathing and sleep patterns.

Just as employees began by replacing their work Blackberry with a personal iPhone, it seems that these devices are quickly making their way into the corporate world. According to James Park, CEO of Fitbit, the corporate sphere is where the wearable tech is selling the fastest.

Especially now, due to the new healthy living initiatives being put in place through the Affordable Care Act, many companies are putting increased efforts into building effective employee health and fitness programs. With so many consumers already using Fitbit trackers in their personal lives, the integration into workplace fitness programs has been practically seamless. Fitbit reports that they are already powering 30 of the Fortune 500 corporate wellness programs.

The adoption of wearable tech into workplace fitness programs opens up a world of opportunities for employees to interact with one another, allowing them to compare, compete, and motivate each other to succeed. The ease of tracking everyone’s effort and progress makes incentivizing employee fitness programs a breeze for employers, because the numbers are readily available for review and comparison.

It’s exciting to be at the forefront of this technological innovation, because these tools give us so many opportunities to create new and engaging ways to inspire ourselves and each other to get healthy. How would you implement a workplace fitness program using wearable tech? What do you hope to see come from this new wave of wellness training? Let us know on Twitter @Phys_Solution!