Can You Really Trust Your Fitness Tech Devices?

I for one love a tech device that can help provide me with valuable information relating to my health and fitness. Info like how many calories I am burning, how many steps am I taking, how many active minutes am I achieving daily, how many miles am I walking and of course then there is the food tech devices and apps that help us track our food and macros so we can figure out exactly what we need to consume to balance our health and fitness activity goals.

The question is, should we really be trusting these fitness tech devices to be accurate and are they perhaps giving us too much or too little confidence in dialing in exactly what we need to do to balance everything health and fitness related.

In this walk and talk video I explain some of the shortcomings certain fitness tech devices have that can skew a reading and make you believe you are on or off track when in fact the info may not be accurate due to limitations of the fitness tech devices.

Getting it Done in the Gym - Vancouver Open / Pro Am 2024

I often get requests to make more Workout Videos or at least some video of me in the gym doing my thing. Usually when I am at the gym I just want to focus on the workout and so setting up and recording video can be a distraction so I rarely record my workouts.

I do have a very convenient camera for the task. My Insta360 GO2 and with its magnet case and built in mini tripod, I can fairly easily set it up almost anywhere which is what I did for this workout video. It actually was not too much of a distraction, so I will make the effort moving forward with this contest prep to get some more workout videos recorded for everyone. Not too many as they do get kind of repetitive after a while...

In this workout I recorded one set of the main exercises I performed starting with chest using the bench machine (also hit my lagging calf with it), then I moved on to back with some cable rows, followed by a mix of shoulder accessory work, I then finished up with some barbell shrugs and cable ab work.

Iflight Protek35 HD Insta360 GO2 First Flight

Sometimes I just can not pass up a good deal on an FPV Drone if I come by it honestly, it's not like I am trolling in Facebook Marketplace all the time looking for such deals...

Anyway, I came across a slightly older (2 years or so) Iflight Protek35 HD which is a Cinewhoop (has prop protector guards) but was advertised as being not only cinematic but also decent at more advanced freestyle flying. The HD version of the Iflight Protek35 came with an original DJI Air Unit VTX (Video Transmitter). Which means the video is transmitted in digital to the DJI Goggles at 720p which looks really good compared to analog VTX systems that look more like your old tube TV when the antenna wasn't just right.

The Iflight Protek35 HD was freshly rebuilt with new prop guards, extras blades and came with other bits and pieces, and it even included three 4S 1550mAh batteries which on their own are worth about $100 for the lot. The DJI Air Unit VTX if I was to buy one now, I would probably be looking at spending $200-$300 on Amazon for a new one if you can even find one. Yes there is a newer and better DJI VTX called the DJI 03 Air Unit which is 1080p but the difference is not a huge deal, not like the jump from analog to 720p digital.

I was able to buy the Iflight Protek35 HD with the three bats and extra goodies all for only $250, and the best part is that after a bunch of updating and tweaking in BetaFlight, it works great!

Here is my maiden flight with video from my Insta360 GO2 which I mounted to the FPV Drone, I also recorded the video feed I actual see in my DJI Integra Goggles as I am flying. Enjoy the view as I cruise around the back acreage.

55 Years Old Post Open Heart Surgery 3.5 Weeks Out Posing Update

This video was made 3.5 weeks out from my first show since my Open Heart Surgery back in January of 2023. I plan to compete first at the Vancouver Open on July 6th, and then if everything is still going well, I will also compete at the Vancouver International Pro Qualifier July 13th. I am not sure if I will be competing in both Physique and Classic Physique or just Physique this time around, and what categories I will register for? Open? Masters? Grand Masters? We will see closer to the day and how I look...

Right now I feel on track with a body fat percentage in the single digits, I need to get it down at least 3-4 more points to be stage ready. This should not be a problem as I will be losing about 2 pounds of fat per week which will drop my body fat 6-8 pounds. For around every 2 pounds or so of fat, I will drop 1% body fat so this should get me where I want to be come show day.

Now I need to start my posing practice as I am a little rusty with not a lot of time to get the rust out. I feel really good and so far I am not having any food cravings or hunger issues and I still feel I have a good level of energy. As I get closer my diet will become more and more strict so that will change near the end but I should not have to suffer too much!

Is There a Show in Store For Me Coming Up?

So here we go again... I know I was saying that I was pretty sure there where not going to be anymore shows in my future. My goal for the last year and a bit has been first of all to survive, once that was accomplished I wanted to get back to a somewhat normal life and that too was achieved, then I proceeded to for the most part do everything I was doing before with my doctors AOK and I am doing almost all of it with the exception of competing in a Fitness Show. So why not check that one off the list?

My Cardiologist has given me the green light to get back to normal life and do whatever it is I want to do with no limitations (obviously don't do anything stupid that would be harmful to ones heart). I feel great and I am in pretty decent shape to proceed the prep portion of getting ready to do a show and since I am fairly lean and have an OK base of muscle I should not have to push myself too hard and stress my body out too much. If I feel at any point that I am overloading myself I will either shut it down or back off as needed.

My goal is to get to the stage and be as competitive as I can be but I have no aspirations of winning or even placing that well as I know I will be out gunned so to speak by most of the other competitors as I will not be supplementing what is required to be competitive in an open show like the ones I hope to enter. For me that would not be a good idea and my health is the most important objective going into this event.

Watch my full video where I do go into more details about the shows I plan to attend: (the Vancouver Open and the Vancouver International Pro Qualifier). I also talk about my TRT and my plans with my TRT for the contest prep as there will be some changes made during my contest prep and I want to be fully transparent with everyone about this.