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February 16, 2025 18 mins

If you’ve been thinking about getting a WHOOP 4.0, or if you already have one, you might be wondering—is it really worth it? In this episode, I’m sharing exactly why I stopped using WHOOP after wearing it for months. I’ll break down the pros and cons, talk about how accurate the data really is, and compare WHOOP to other popular fitness trackers like Oura Ring, Apple Watch, and Garmin.

From recovery tracking and sleep accuracy to the subscription cost, I’ll share everything you need to know before deciding if WHOOP is right for you. Plus, I’ll give my take on who should (and shouldn’t) use WHOOP.

Try WHOOP for one month free https://hckait.com/whoop

Health Coach Kait's 7-Day Insulin Resistance Masterclass⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://healthcoachkait.com/IRmasterclass⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Timestamps

00:00 Intro 

02:02 What is WHOOP?

03:54 What is HRV?

05:31 The pros of WHOOP

9:54 The cons of WHOOP

11:12 Why I Stopped Using WHOOP

15:23 Why I am still using Oura Ring

16:25 Final thoughts

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello guys, welcome back to the Healthy Not Complicated podcast.
Today I am going to be talking about WOOP and why I no longer
use it. Now this is going to be a little
bit of a review video for WOOP 4.0, which if you don't know it
is a fitness tracker. It's a fitness tracker that

(00:20):
doesn't have a screen on it and it also tracks your sleep and
your recovery. And in my opinion it is the best
fitness tracker. It's the best for tracking sleep
and for actually measuring your recovery.
It's the best option on the market.
Way better than Apple Watch. It's better than Garmin.
But despite it being the best inmy opinion, I no longer use it.

(00:42):
And I have been a WOOP user since 2020.
So I've been using WOOP almost five years.
I started with the 3.0 and then when they upgraded I got the
4.0. So in this episode, I'm going to
be talking about what WOOP is, what it tracks exactly, how it
works, how it uses HRV, and how accurate it is.

(01:06):
Let me tell you, I was a huge Whoop fan.
I would wear this thing all the time because one of the cool
things about it is the device itself.
You wear it on your wrist, but then the device itself, it's
just this. So they have sports bras that it
slides into. They have like wrist straps that
go a bit higher. They have underwear.

(01:28):
So I had the underwear so I could wear it basically at all
times and not have to have it onmy wrist.
Basically what I'm saying is I spent a lot of money on WOOP
accessories and this thing, it'smeant to be worn 24/7.
I wore 24/7 and like I said, I am still a huge fan of it,
although I am not currently using it and I don't know if

(01:50):
I'll go back to it. I'll get into why that is
obviously in this video. But I do think for athletes it
can give you a lot of insights that are very, very valuable.
But anyways, let's start from the beginning.
So whoop, it's a wearable fitness activity tracker and it
is really targeted at athletes. Like I said, it doesn't have a

(02:13):
screen, so all of the data comesup on your phone.
You can see your workouts in real time, you can track just
about and you work out. There's even some pretty strange
ones that you can track things like watching sports.
It counts that as an activity. Now what I really like about
WOOP in terms of activity tracking is that you don't have

(02:37):
to start the workout. You can start the workout if you
want, but you don't have to. If it senses your heart rate has
gone up, if it senses you've been doing an activity, it will
pop up after the fact, even if you didn't start it.
Now you can also go in and add aworkout so between a certain
time period and all your data will pop up because it is
tracking everything 24/7. So I know that's a problem that

(03:00):
a lot of people have when they use like Garmin or Apple Watch
is forgetting to start their workout.
And that's not an issue with Woo.
So the activity tracking is great for every activity you do,
it'll give you a strain score. And depending on the type of
activity you've done, I think the strain score is out of 21.
And it's not just based on your heart rate.

(03:21):
If you're doing a cardio workout, then yeah, it mostly
is. But if you're doing something
like a strength workout or a Pilates class or something
that's lower intensity, it will adjust your strain score
accordingly. And then basically all your
strain inside of activity and outside of activity builds up
throughout the day, and then youget a total strain score.
Now, every morning when you wakeup, you're gonna have a recovery

(03:43):
percentage. You'll either be in the green,
which means good recovery, yellow or red.
And this is based on how much sleep you got, what your resting
heart rate was, but also and mainly based on your heart rate
variability. Now heart rate variability is a
metric that is used to track recovery.

(04:04):
A lot of wearables didn't used to track HRV like Garmin and
Whoop in terms of sleep and recovery.
I think some of them are starting to now, but Whoop has
been doing this for years and years and years.
And what heart rate variability is or HRV for short, it's the
amount of time in between your heartbeats and the variability.

(04:25):
So the more variable your heartbeats are, it basically
means that you're more covered because your body is adjusting
moment to moment. If your heart rate is less
variable than this means lower recovery.
So this is a key, key metric in determining your recovery score.
So when you wake up and you get your recovery score, then we

(04:45):
will give you a target strain toaim for within that day.
The thinking is depending on howrecovery you are, that's how
hard you can push that day. And compared to other sleep
trackers I've used, like I've used Garmin before, I've used
Aura Ring for even longer than Iused Whoop.
I think the recovery score from Whoop is the most accurate.
Now, there are certain things I've noticed that significantly

(05:10):
impact this recovery score that I don't know are totally
accurate. I'll get into that a little bit
later. So that's basically a general
overview of what WHOOP is. Now I'm going to get into the
pros and then I'll talk about the cons.
And when we get into the cons, then I'm going to start talking
about why I personally stopped using WOOP.

(05:31):
So the pros, you get very detailed recovery insights.
And one of the ways WOOP does this and does it way better than
any other device I've ever used is the journal entry feature.
So the way this works is you cango through and you can select
certain things that apply to you.
Things like did you drink caffeine that day?

(05:52):
Did you get sunlight exposure inthe morning?
Did you wear a blue light blocking glasses in the evening?
Did you eat enough protein? Did you take magnesium?
All these little sorts of thingsyou can add into your journal.
And then every morning you kind of go through and do like a
checklist. And you do like, yes, I took
magnesium yesterday. I took it at this time.
Yes, I did an ice bath yesterday, I did it at this

(06:14):
time, etcetera. And you can kind of go down
South, you can customise this. There's like so, so many options
and obviously not all of them are going to apply to you, but
when you do this, then Whoop uses this data and lets you know
how it either helps or hurts your recovery.
So things that I found over the years significantly helped my
recovery was stopping eating at 3 hours before bedtime, taking

(06:39):
magnesium in the evening, not drinking alcohol.
Those are some of the main ones.Reading before bed, that sort of
thing. Depending on where you are in
your cycle, if you're a woman, this impact tax your recovery
significantly. This is one thing that is just
so frustrating is that in the second half of your cycle, your
HRV, no matter like if you're doing everything right, it's

(07:03):
just going to be lower. And when you use these devices,
that can be so discouraging because if you're used to it
being higher and like getting a good recovery score and then
you're doing the exact same thing, but you're not just
recovered. Oh man, like that, that's hard
to see. But that's just, that's just
part of life, I guess. So the journal entry I think is

(07:24):
very, very insightful and can help a lot of people who are
trying to figure out where they're going wrong with their
sleep. And This is why certain things
like morning light exposure and limiting light exposure after
sunset and stopping eating a fewhours before bed, This is why I

(07:45):
recommend these things all the time because I have seen the
data, I know that this improves your sleep.
This improves your recovery. When you sleep better, when you
recover better, your insulin sensitivity can improve, your
metabolic health can improve. You're going to feel better the
next day obviously and these little things like you might not

(08:05):
feel different I guess the following day, but they do make
a big difference. Now the sleep tracking, like I
said before, this is another profor me.
Again, it's very accurate. You don't have to like start
anything in the evening. It knows when you fall asleep
and it knows when you wake up. If it is wrong, you can't adjust

(08:25):
it. I really like the strain score
as well. Obviously, it's hard if you
already have like a set trainingplan and then you wake, wake up
one day and your recovery is really, really low.
So you have to kind of weigh whether it's worth you missing
that workout because sometimes you'll wake up and you'll be
like, OK, I feel great. But you have a really low
recovery score. And does that mean you shouldn't

(08:46):
do your workout? No, not necessarily.
So it can be helpful, but I don't think you need to follow
it to a tee. I also like that there is no
screen. And I know for some people this
is a con, but for me, it's a pro.
I don't like having my notifications on my wrist at all
times. I like putting my phone on do
not disturb mode and being able to like turn that off.

(09:09):
So personally, I like that thereisn't a screen.
Now, if you're someone who's like a cardio athlete, if you do
like a lot of running or yeah, Iguess running would be the main
one or maybe even swimming, and you want to see sort of your
split times and your pace. This is where Whoop might not be
ideal because you'll have to have your phone in your hand.

(09:31):
You'll have to be looking at it or I know some people will use
like 2 devices if they're going for a run.
I do also like, and this is a newer feature, maybe in the last
couple of years, maybe even the last year is the community
feature and how you can make like teams or groups.
So if you have friends who are using whoop, then you can kind
of like see everyone's activity for the day and make it into
like a little bit of a competition.

(09:52):
So that can be kind of fun as well.
But now let's get into the cons.So the biggest con, and I know
this is becoming more and more common, is that WOOP operates on
a subscription model. I believe it's something like
$30.00 per month depending on your currency and that's not a
small fee. I do think that you are getting

(10:13):
a lot of data. So personally, I don't think
it's that outrageous. I know it adds up, and I know it
feels like you're getting suckedin when you sign up for a
subscription that seemingly you're signing up to for life.
But I do think you do get a lot of data.
So if you are able to use all the data and actually take

(10:35):
advantage of all the features, then yeah, it's worth it.
If you're not really a serious athlete, if your goals are just
like improving your sleep and overall health in general, and
you're not really using like theactivity tracker that much, then
I think something like or ring might be better for you.
Oh, another thing that I didn't mention before is, yeah, you're
supposed to be wearing this 24/7.

(10:56):
That's the idea. So the way you charge it is
there's actually a little piece that slides on so you don't even
have to take it off when it's charging.
And that is another pro as well.And I think I could probably go
like 3-4 days before having to charge it again.
So that's that's not too bad considering.
But now let's get into why I stopped using loop.

(11:17):
And one of my main reasons was data fatigue.
I found that I was just checkingit throughout the day.
I was kind of like, OK, how muchmovement have I got in?
How many calories have I burned and whatnot.
And not really for any specific purpose.
Basically, I was finding, I don't want to say obsessive

(11:39):
about it, but just it was something that I was constantly
checking and like I said, I'd been using Woop for close to
five years. I have a pretty good handle on
what helps and hurts my recovery, like I said, and that
wasn't changing. There wasn't anything new that I
was getting from sort of the journal feature or from tracking

(12:01):
my recovery. Like I know what I have to do to
get a good night's sleep. I know what I have to do to be
fully recovered. Not drink alcohol.
That is probably number one thatabsolutely tanks your HRV.
And once you start wearing a wearable like this, Oh my God,
even just like one glass of wine, one beer, huge decrease in

(12:23):
your recovery. And that's because alcohol is a
toxin and your body's working toget it out of your system as
fast as possible. And when it does that, it puts
everything else on hold. So that's probably the main 1.
And I mean, that doesn't mean like never drink ever again, but
honestly, when you see your recovery score after you've had
a few drinks the night before, it makes you want to never drink

(12:45):
ever again. But just something to know that
you're not fueling your body. You're not going to be able to
recover properly if you're drinking.
So that's the biggest one. Of course, having just like a
consistent bedtime and wake time, that's big for me as well,
getting morning sunlight exposure, that helps to sync
your circadian rhythm. And I've seen this data proven

(13:05):
for myself, not eating too closeto bedtime.
Another huge one that makes sucha difference.
Yeah. So I basically know all the
things that help and hurt me. So I wasn't really getting
anything extra from it. And I was finding that I was
trying, I don't want to say obsessive, but like, I was

(13:25):
trying to do all these things just for the sake of doing them
so that I could take them off, if that makes sense.
And I mean, that can be good if you're trying to build habits,
But for the most part, I have these habits formed.
And if there was like one day where it wasn't gonna happen, I
don't know. It was just getting a bit
overwhelming. I wasn't feeling like I was

(13:47):
getting anything from it. Like I said, sometimes I would
wake up and I would actually feel good and like be ready to
go. And then I'd have a low recovery
score and I'd kind of be like, oh, and that kind of has a
placebo effect. So basically at the start of
this year, I went cold Turkey and I just stopped wearing my
whoop all together. I didn't cancel my membership
completely. I paused it for three months.

(14:09):
I think that's the most you can pause it for and I'll see what
happens at the end of March. But honestly, I'm kind of loving
just living in the flow and not really having to check something
to see how I feel. It feels good to be able to just
kind of listen to my body and make choices based on how I'm

(14:32):
actually feeling and not on the data.
And like I said, I know it can be very beneficial, especially
if you're just starting out and especially if you are an
athlete. Like that aspect I really,
really liked, but I just hit a point where it wasn't benefiting
me anymore. So basically I am not tracking
any of my workouts at the moment.

(14:52):
And I cannot tell you how many years I've been tracking my
workouts. I think I've been on Strava for
something like at least 10 yearsbecause I used to do a lot of
cycling, tracking my workouts there.
I would track like my hockey andlike my gym and everything
through Strava. Well, through like my Garmin,
then through my Whoop and then uploaded on Strava.

(15:14):
So the fact that I haven't tracked any workouts in like a
couple of months is a little bitinsane, but honestly very, very
freeing. So right now I have just been
using my aura ring to track my sleep.
And honestly, I haven't even been looking too much at my
recovery score. I've mainly been using it just

(15:34):
to track my temperature because then I use that to track my
cycle, find out when I'm ovulating, find out exactly when
my period is coming. And that aspect of wearable
devices. And aura ring is honestly so so
great for this because I know that as soon as my temperature
starts to increase, 10 days later my period is going to

(15:56):
start and that is like clockwork.
So I've been using Aura but not really to track my sleep.
And the reason I can justify that because Aura Ring is now
also a subscription service. But I started using Aura when it
wasn't a subscription and anyonewho started back when I did like

(16:17):
6-7 years ago is a legacy memberso we never have to pay a
subscription. So I can kind of justify that
just for my temperature. I just want to finish up by
saying who I think could benefitfrom using Woop and who probably
doesn't need it. Now I will also say that you can
sign up for Whoop and get one month free.
You get the device free. You can try it.

(16:39):
So I'll put a link in the description box if you guys do
want to try it because through that referral you got a free
month. So even if you're just curious
about it, I it's worth trying atleast once.
But the people I think it can really benefit are elite
athletes, people who are really interested in data, who are
interested in improving, maybe their HRV, their VO2 Max, that

(17:02):
sort of thing. But for anyone who is looking
just to track their sleep, theirrecovery, their activity, in a
general sense, they're just likethe everyday person.
There's better options out there.
This isn't made for you. For anyone who kind of struggles
with tech, not for you. It's a pretty complicated app.
For anyone who wants real time data during their workouts,

(17:26):
especially for like cardio workouts for runs and that sort
of thing. Not for you either.
For anyone who has I guess like sleep issues like insomnia,
probably not the best either. I mean, I do find the sleep and
recovery tracking to be accurate, but I just don't think
it's necessary if you're not taking advantage of like the
activity and that sort of thing.So in summary, do I recommend

(17:50):
Whoop? I do think it is the best for
athletes and for anyone who is competing competitively and
really wants to like fine tune things and like the data.
But for the everyday person, no this isn't for you.
So anyways, like I said, if you are curious about it and you do
want to try it out, I will put alink in the description box down

(18:11):
below. I think my code or my link is
like HC kate.com/woop. So really easy.
If you can't find it, that'll give you one month free so you
can try it out. But I want to hear from you
guys. Have you used WOOP before?
Have you used any competitors? Apple Watch, Garmin or a Ring 8
Sleep? That's another one I have.

(18:31):
Have you tried any of these? What were your thoughts?
Which one do you like best? Have you suffered from data
fatigue before? I'd love to hear from you guys,
so let me know in the comments down below.
If you're watching on Spotify, I'd love if you could give me a
five star review if you enjoyed this.
And if you're watching on YouTube, give this a thumbs up
and I will see you guys next time.

(18:52):
Bye.
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Host

Kait Malthaner

Kait Malthaner

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