Tag: quantified self

Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

Nick MomrikLeave a comment

Heart rate variability (HRV) is the physiological phenomenon of variation in the time interval between heartbeats.
Wikipedia

What does that mean? Our hearts don’t beat at regular intervals. There may be a heart beat 1 second after the previous beat, the next beat might be 1.2 seconds later, and another may be 0.75 seconds after. It varies and that variance changes all day long depending on what we’re doing, what we’re thinking, how we’re feeling, how much we eat, how hydrated we are, etc.

I learned about HRV five or six years ago and used the iOS app ithelete paired with a chest strap to track my HRV each morning. It was a pain in the ass and it was really tough to get any meaningful results. Fast forward to 2019 and I wear a WHOOP band, which automatically handles all of the HRV readings and data. It has become a very valuable tool for my exercise and recovery.

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If you’d like to learn more about HRV, I highly recommend the latest episode of the WHOOP podcast, Podcast No. 29: Heart Rate Variability (HRV), with Kristen Holmes and Emily Capodilupo. They did an amazing job explaining what HRV is, why it’s important, how it can be used, how WHOOP uses it, and strategies for improving your own HRV. I learned a ton from listening to this episode.

Keeping Track

Nick MomrikLeave a comment

Maybe you’ve heard of the quantified self.  I like data and use a lot of services to keep track of various aspects of my life, so I hope you’re able to get some ideas from this list. If you have any questions, let me know.

Golf

  • Golfshot – scores, stats, and GPS.
  • golfscores.nickmomrik.com – custom site I built for 9 hole stats.
  • I also built and maintain a private site for our golf group. It has handicaps, scoring stats, and a money list.

Health

  • BTWB – CrossFit workouts. Can’t be beat for all of the data it provides.
  • Unleaded Gains – blog (name of my garage gym) where I log every workout for easy searching, categorization, and being able to keep notes about each workout.
  • RunKeeper – running stats.
  • Garmin Connect – also has running stats. My main use is for lap timing and heart rate data.
  • MyFitnessPal – when I want to track macros.
  • Withings – WiFi scale for weight and body fat.
  • Sense – sleep tracker.
  • Apple Health – brings some of these things together.

Travel

  • TripIt (Pro) – flight, lodging, and car rental details.
  • Automatic (Pro) – driving and trip information.
  • Gas Tracker – vehicle gas consumption and mileage. Automatic Pro provides this now, so I need to figure out if I can transfer the data.
  • Swarm – check-ins.

GTD

  • Apple Reminders – to-do lists, alerts, and shopping lists.
  • Bear (Pro) – where I keep ideas, notes, project or workout plans, personal documentation, etc. I also do some to-dos here, especially for lists where I don’t need/want a reminder.
  • Google Calendar – what’s going on? Where do I need to be?
  • Gmail – I actually try not to use email much.
  • Deliveries – tracks shipments.
  • 1Password – I know exactly two passwords, the one to get into my computer and the one to unlock 1Password. Everything else is a long random string of characters I access through 1P apps/extensions. I also use it to manage two-factor authentications.
  • Dropbox – file backup and sync across devices.
  • Feedly – where I read the sites/blogs I don’t want to miss.
  • WordPress.com Reader – posts from sites/blogs I don’t mind missing.

Finance

  • Wealthfront – the best managed investment services I’ve seen anywhere. They’ve been adding support for tracking outside accounts.

Other

  • Untappd – beers!
  • Timehop – neat for looking back at today’s personal history.

Home Automation

A different category worthy of a separate post. I’m still setting up my house and will post details when I have it all working.