The following post is sponsored by FitFluential, LLC on behalf of Polar. As always, all opinions are my own. Stay tuned for a giveaway at the bottom of this post where you have a chance to win a Polar Loop of your own!
Polar Loop Review
Having a goal motivates me. It doesn’t have to be a big, lofty goal. Small goals add up to some pretty amazing accomplishments, right?
When I received the opportunity to try out the Polar Loop, an activity tracker that notices every jump, step and run, I was very intrigued and immediately agreed! I had a feeling it would motivate me to move more throughout the day and I was absolutely right. That is my favorite thing about the Polar Loop: It’s motivating!
I see so many people at my gym wearing fitness trackers and I’ve heard more than a few of my clients rave about them, so I couldn’t wait to set up my Loop and get moving when it arrived in the mail.
Set Up + Battery Life
A little tip: When fitting the Polar Loop to your wrist, check out the instructional How To video online.
Though directions are included, I found it much easier to watch someone go through the steps of fitting the Polar Loop to their wrist than figuring it out with the illustrations.
Once I had the Polar Loop fit to my wrist, I charged it using the USB cord that came with the Loop and set up an account on Polar.com. An important side note: The Polar Loop has great battery life and charges quickly! I figured I would need to charge it at the end of each day, but it lasts several day without needing a charge.
When I created an account on the Polar Loop site, I loved checking out the map of the world to see what people around me were doing! I zoomed in on Florida and enjoyed looking at the activities my fellow Floridians were completing.
You can also set your profile to private (which is what I did) if you’d like so no one can see what you’re doing and you can be oh-so-sneaky. Or, you can allow only certain people to see your profile by adding them as “followers” which I think is a great way to sync up with friends and family members to motivate each other to move more throughout the day.
Once the Polar Loop is set up, you can press the button on the front of the tracker to view the LED display that flips between showing you the time of day, calories burned, total steps and your daily activity goal.
Polar Flow App + Inactivity Alerts
The Polar Loop can also connect to the Polar Flow (free) app and give you real-time updates about your movement and activity levels for the day.
Here’s an example of the breakdown:
One thing I really liked about the Loop was the inactivity alerts! If you’ve been sitting for too long, an alert will let you know and that was a big motivator for me to get off my butt and walk around or move even if it was for only five minutes or so.
Adding Your Heart Rate Into The Equation
The Polar Loop does not come with a heart rate monitor so this is an added cost if you want it, but it’s a great way to get accurate data about your overall calories burned and how hard you are working at certain times during the day. The Polar Loop retails for $109.95 and the heart rate monitor is an additional fee, but even without the heart rate monitor the Loop can tell the difference between activities like sleeping, walking, running and more. It’s also safe to use in the pool!
What Trends Did I Notice?
Some days it was really easy for me to hit my activity goals. On Saturdays, Ryan and I often work out and then take Sadie for a long hike after breakfast, so meeting my activity goals on Saturdays is rather easy. (And if I incorporate running into my workouts, it’s much easier to hit my goals!) On other days when I am working from home or even days when I am personal training, it’s a little harder because I am often sitting or standing around and only walking from one place in the gym to the next.
Since my hometown is not very walkable, the best way I found for me to hit my activity goals was to increase the distance of Sadie’s walks!
So, I think it’s safe to say Sadie is the Polar Loop’s number one fan.
On days when I might be more inclined to play fetch with Sadie in the backyard, if I was under my goals on the Loop, I’d leash her up for a walk instead so she wasn’t the only one getting exercise.
Polar Loop Giveaway
Now here is your chance to win a Polar Loop of your own!
To enter this giveaway, please comment on this post and tell me what feature of the Polar Loop intrigues you most. Are you most excited to see your overall activity for the day tracked? Are you interested in your sleep data? Do the inactivity alerts intrigue you? Let me know!
I will randomly select a winner on Friday.
Good luck!
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I love the idea of inactivity alerts because I work at a desk job and need reminders to take walks!
I have looked into different activity trackers and this one seems awesome. I am a college student, so most days I sit for hours during the afternoon without even thinking about my inactivity. The inactivity alerts the Polar Loop offers would be very helpful for me!
This actually looks really cool! I love that if you’re sitting too long, it alerts. I’m also interested in the sleep data!
This would be AWESOME to use!!! Im sure it will help motivate me during the middle of the day when my activity level is pretty low.
I love that it alerts you when you’ve been inactive for too long! What a great resource. Thanks for the giveaway !
I’ve been active my whole life, but within the last year I’ve worked a desk job. The job is great, but I really struggle with sitting in one spot all day, like, really struggle. I would be keenly interested in how that has been affecting my overall activity level.
Hi there –
I adore this blog – first of all – second of all – I am completely 100% addicted to my Polar HRM – I literally hate working out with out it –
Recently I have been looking into all the new products like the fit bit and the nike fuel – but this one looks amazing – I have heard a ton of complaints about the other ones – I would LOVE to have this!!!
x
I would love to see my overall activity and set new goals!
The inactivity alert is the feature that most interests me. I work in front of a computer at a desk, so it’s easy to get caught up in work (or blogs) and forget to get up and move.
I really like the inactivity alert – I could use the reminder with my desk job!
i think the sleeping and inactivity detection is so interesting. !
I like the app and how it tells you how you can reach your goal.
Definitely the inactivity alerts since I have a desk job!
I love that it’s all available on your phone!
I have been researching all of these devices and have been very interested in the Polar Loop. The activity/inactivity details are the top draws for me.
I’ve been interested in a tracker like that for months! I’m most interested in way it tracks your overall activity of the day and takes every little thing into account….which is definitely not something you can do without a gadget like this. Thanks for hosting this giveaway (:
i think inactivity alerts would be a great reminder to get up and move! while i don’t think wearing one would make me train for a marathon, it would encourage me to take extra steps, get moving more and get enough rest! it seems like a great tool for overall wellness!
I like the alert that tells you if you’ve been sitting for too long! Great giveaway! Thanks Julie!
I would love to give the polar loop a try! Motivation based tools are my favourite because I feel like I’m being held accountable for my health. Being able to see that I achieved my daily activity goals at the end of every day is a small but very positive and powerful win!
This would be awesome! I think the sleep data would be really interesting!
I am liking the idea of the inactivity alerts – I am a computer programmer and spend 8-10 hours each day hunched at a keyboard. I really need something or someone to remind me to take a break and walk around a bit.
I need that inactivity alert at work!
I have wanted to get a tracker like the Polar Loop for a long time! I am very interested in the sleep tracking, I do not sleep very well and would like to see if activity level affects how long I am able to sleep for. Thanks for posting the review and giveaway!!
I would really like to see steps taken and inactivity alerts; this would help keep me moving through my sedentary work day.
Wow! I am most interested in my sleep data – my sleep has been really off for the last few months. I also want to track my steps per day.
The inactivity alert is very interesting. It would be a good reminder to get up throughout the day when in the office!
I’d be very interested to see my total activity for the day .
I would love this for the inactivity alerts. With my job, I am on the go all day for 12-13 hours. But on my days off, I know I don’t move as much as I should. It would be great to get a little reminder to move more throughout the day.
The inactivity alert would be so useful for me. I have a desk job and a gentle reminder to take a break when I have been sitting too long would be awesome!
The inactivity alert is quite intriguing. I have an office desk job and I know for a fact that there’s days I don’t move until lunch time. So a little reminder to get moving would be very nice. Also, overall it would be a great motivator to just get moving in general.
I love the fact it has the inactivity alerts, although I work out a lot I sit at my desk most of the workday and would love to have the reminder to just get up and take a quick walk every so often!
I definitely need the inactivity alert feature! I sit at a desk ALLLLL day and I always tell myself I will be better about getting up and moving around but then i forget.
I like the inactiviy reminder function. That would be very helpful reminder for me.
I love love love that it alerts you of inactivity. Sometimes I get in the zone with work and two hours or more will go by before I get up. This would help with that for sure!
I like that the alarm will go off if you are still for too long. Also I love to watch a good calorie burn. Its a great tool to keep yourself on track!
I love how the Polar Loop gives you ideas for activities that will help you reach your goals! That’s very cool.
I would most like to see my total activity tracked!
I am definitely intrigued by the “inactivity alert”. I sit A LOT at school/work, so having it yell at me to at least walk to the bathroom would be great!
I just started wearing an activity tracker too. I love how it inspires me to get up and move around more during the day. I agree with you in terms of some days being easier to get my steps in than others. Weekends and days I run are good. Weekdays in the office are not so good.
The inactivity alert would be a great feature. I sit all day long and always tell myself I will move more but then I get wrapped up and forget….
I’d love to see the inactivity alerts! I never realize how long I sit.
Inactivity alert would be AWESOME to have! especially since I have a desk job.
I would love one of these!
My favourite feature is the inactivity alerts. I work at a desk all day and can sometimes forget to get up and walk around! I also love the little charts with “reach your goal with….” That will give me some motivation to move!
I know I sit on my butt wayyy to much at work – I would love something that alerts me to get up and walk around.
The inactivity alert would be an awesome reminder to get up and move!
The inactivity alerts sounds awesome.
I have been looking at buying a fitbit for some time now. I have a desk job, so I love the feature that the polar loop offers about inactivity. A reminder to say “hey, get up and get your booty moving” would be so useful for me in my day to day life.
I love the inactivity alerts that it will give you. I work at a desk job and the constant reminders to get up and move would be great motivation for me! I also love how you can connect with people in your area and how it tracks your sleep. This would be great to have!!
I really like the idea of tracking my overall activity through out the day and seeing what days I have an easy time hitting my goals and what days I need to step it up a notch. 🙂
The sleep data would be so cool to check out–esp since I have a little baby! haha 🙂
I think the inactivity alerts are a great idea. It’s so easy to just forget to get up and move around every now and then.