What is it About the Vibration on my Wrist?
What is it about the vibration of your watch when you hit 10,000 steps or the beep of your Garmin when you complete a mile? You feel like you did something good, don’t you?
I remember the first time I wore a Fitbit. I felt it vibrate on my wrist, and I thought I was being electrocuted! What was happening?? I didn’t realize that it vibrated when I hit that magical ten-thousandth step. I didn’t use it long because I preferred my Garmin watch (and it didn’t try to electrocute me!), but I never forgot about that zap.
Fast forward several years. My latest Garmin watch has a step tracker. It zaps me when I reach 10,000 steps. You’ve likely been around long enough to know that I spent years obsessing over numbers – the number on the scale, the calories on the label, mileage, pace, etc. But God set me free from that. I no longer count calories or weigh myself daily. But I do own a Garmin, and I like to know how far and how fast I run. I’ve gotten to the point where I regularly log 10,000+ steps a day. (Translation: I get zapped every day.) However, I recently rolled my foot during a run and was forced to take some time off.
During those weeks when I didn’t run, I biked a lot. Some days I biked for a longer amount of time than I would’ve run. I had some hard workouts on the bike. I still went on short walks, and we didn’t miss many after dinner strolls. But, my watch didn’t zap me nearly as often as it does when I’m running daily. I didn’t get those magical 10,000 steps every day. And that started to bother me. That zap that I thought was a bad thing all those years ago had turned into something I tried to earn every day.
What is it about that vibration on my wrist? Why do we gravitate towards things that reward us? Even when the “reward” isn’t necessarily a positive thing? The very first time I felt that vibration I thought I was being electrocuted. I thought something was wrong. Instead, I learned it was supposedly a good thing and then I wanted to feel that every day. And when I didn’t, I felt like I failed.
But I hadn’t failed. And when your wrist doesn’t vibrate, you don’t fail either. There’s nothing that says you and I must get 10,000 steps every day. (Side note: That is a random number used for marketing purposes, but we can talk about that another day.) I did something while I was sidelined, but it was different. My rides don’t record on my device like steps do. I didn’t do nothing. But because I became conditioned to that one “reward,” so to speak, I started to think I wasn’t doing enough. And worse, that I was failing.
That vibration on my wrist that I thought was a bad thing all those years ago had turned into something I tried to earn every day. Share on XThankfully, the Lord got my attention and reminded me most importantly that I was sliding back into a bondage of numbers. It might not have been the scale and counting calories, but it was still a focus on an arbitrary number. You see, steps are just one thing that we can work towards. We can’t quantify everything. In this case, I was still getting stronger. I was giving my lungs and my legs a workout. It was just a different kind of workout. I was doing what I could while still letting my foot heal.
It’s important to honor your body. Rest is productive. While we might not feel like we’re doing something, our bodies are working. They are recovering and healing when we rest.
The strength training program I’m doing right now is called Rest-Based Training. The coach often says, “Push until you can’t. Rest until you can.” During the timed segments, I lift heavy as many times as I can, then I put down the weights. I take a few seconds to however long I need to rest so that I can pick up the heavy weight and go again. Our bodies weren’t created to function at an intense level 24/7. And there’s nothing that says you must log 10,000 steps every single day.
To be sure, movement is good. Regular movement is good. It’s one of the pillars of my Faith and Fitness Framework. In fact, I encourage you to get a daily dose of Jesus, fresh air, and movement. But 10,000 steps isn’t a requirement for everyone.
“Running naked” is a common phrase among runners. (But it’s not what you think!) It’s running without a watch. We runners feel naked without that watch on our wrist. But gosh, back in the day before the Garmin, we’d run for time. Or, we’d go out in a car and drive a course to get mileage we needed for training and then trust that we were getting our distance in. We didn’t run circles in a parking lot just to hear the watch beep at a mile. (IYKYK!)
Technology is great, but we can’t let it drive everything. Walk, run, bike, swim because you want to. Go as fast and as far as feels good to you. Go ahead and set those step goals, challenge yourself, but a day (or 10!) without a zap on the wrist isn’t the end of the world. Just move…
For the health of it!
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