Whether you are a professional athlete or a casual health-conscious user, a fitness tracker and watch for weight lifting or Crossfit are always the most searched products. Depending on your budget and what features you are looking for to choose the best one for you.
However, there are many fitness trackers for weight lifting as well as fitness watches for crossfit that offer modern technology at a variety of attractive prices on the market. So which one is the best fitness tracker and watch for weight lifting or crossfit you should choose? This article will help you to come up with a satisfactory answer.
Reviews of The Best Fitness Trackers for Weight Lifting and Crossfit
The purpose of using health monitoring devices, sports watches is to update, analyze and monitor the health situation in the most proactive way. As a result, you can come up with interventions to improve, enhance or change for better goals. You may eventually gain strength, lift heavier weights, or increase muscle mass in bodybuilding.
If you have no idea about these devices and want to find out which are the most popular in 2021, you should surely not ignore this article.
1. Garmin Vivoactive 4
The first fitness watch is Garmin Vivoactive 4. This is one of the most sought-after GPS smartwatches in 2020. What makes the Garmin Vivoactive 4 stand out compared to other competitors is its high applicability.
Garmin Vivoactive 4 comes with dimensions of 1.78 x 1.78 x 0.5 inches and a weight of only 1.27 ounces. It is very easy to use and suitable for a wide range of users. From May 2019 to now, Garmin has launched 5 up to color versions for you to choose from.
Vivoactive 4 provides you with 20 apps, which can be easily downloaded and installed. Thanks to its multitasking, you can fully experience many uses such as pace tracking, fitness tracking, tracking your energy levels, and tracking exercises displayed right on the watch’s screen like strength training, cardio, yoga, or pilates. So this model is undoubtedly one of the best fitness watches for crossfit and weight lifting.
Besides, this watch also advises you with free workout plans, guidance, and follow-up to help you achieve your goals as well as adjust and upgrade your achievements.
The safety and tracking feature is appreciated as it has the ability to detect incidents (depending on some settings you choose). Besides, when paired with a compatible device, it stays connected with smart notifications so you do not have to miss incoming calls, text messages, calendar reminders, and so on.
Battery life is quite good if you leave the watch in “smartwatch” mode. However, it only lasts 6 hours in GPS mode and is worse than other fitness watches in this article.
Pros
- High applicability
- Very suitable for people who want to have many options on their device
- Suitable for people who exercise a lot with many types of sports
- Thousands of watch faces, widgets, or applications that let you personalize your device
Cons
- Can’t stream music on the fitness tracker.
2. Fitbit Charge 4
Fitbit Charge 4 is born for both training and day use. This fitness tracker is equipped with OLED screen technology and an accurate GrayScale color system for the most perfect user experience. With a 1.57 inch screen, it is convenient for everyone to monitor the indicators.
This fitness tracker is suitable for all sports activities. Whether you go to the gym or run, Fitbit Charge 4 will track and update you with detailed data after each exercise. The Fitbit Charge 4 is also a device that can be taken with you anywhere thanks to its scratch-resistant, impact-resistant design with premium Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
With over 20 different fitness disciplines programmed with Active Zone Minutes, this Charge 4 will help you measure your workouts accurately. As a result, you will always be motivated to strive by knowing your physical limits.
Besides, this activity tracker integrates a lot of multitasking features. PurePulse technology continuously monitors heart rate, provides details on cardiovascular activity, helps maximize strength training, and monitors calorie burn. GPS function tracks your speed, distance, time when you are running, cycling, or hiking outdoors. The Intensity Map function helps you track your heart rate changes during your workout so that you know exactly when you’re working out effectively.
The Active Zone Minutes function alerts you when you need to work out, monitors your heart rate, and tells you when it’s time for fat burning, cardio, etc. While the NFC function allows you to pay by tapping the device when shopping, going to the market, coffee, etc. The music adjustment function lets you connect this fitness tracker to Spotify and can tune the music to your preference
Pros
- The ability to monitor activities of the day: steps, distance traveled, calories burned, floors climbed, exercise time, sleep tracking, women’s menstrual cycle tracking
- Display calls and texts, display reminder, schedule notification, weather forecast with alarm
- Super water resistance. It can be submerged in water with a maximum depth of 50 meters (164 feet) so you can take it for swimming or snorkeling
- Battery lasts 7 days when fully charged
Cons
- The screen is less colorful. But thanks to that, the new battery can withstand 7 days.
3. Polar Ignite
Polar has launched the latest sports watch name Polar Ignite, which is a comprehensive activity tracker that focuses primarily on overall health and recovery. The Polar Ignite fitness watch with GPS is marketed as a versatile workout aid for a variety of sports and activities. What’s most unique about this is that Polar has focused on sleep tracking, overnight recovery, and personalized training guidance to match.
Polar Ignite is the design of beauty. Dimensions 0.17 x 0.17 x 0.04 inches along with a widescreen of up to 4.3 cm make it easy to monitor and interact. It is suitable for people with large wrists, when wearing it will not be entangled or folded with any difficulty.
The screen is not always on (only on when the wrist is raised, like the Apple Watch or most Fitbit watches). It is equipped with a color touch screen. You can control this fitness watch all just by a single-button control. Besides, Polar Ignite has a Sony GPS chipset, like the Polar Vantage series, Bluetooth Smart HR sensor support, and Polar Precision Prime optical heart rate sensor on the back (same as Vantage series)
Moreover, this fitness watch offers you 5 fashionable colors to choose from. Straps are also available in 2 versions including a stiffer rubber strap version (basic model) and a silicone strap. So whether you are a man or a woman, you can easily choose the right one for you.
Polar has invested quite heavily in the features of Ignite so that it can stand up to its rivals in the mid-range smartwatch market. If you are looking for the best fitness watch for weight lifting or crossfit, this model is definitely a smart choice.
Pros
- Workout mode with the always-on option
- Equipped with water resistance to a depth of 30 meters
- Standard strap, easy to replace
- Typical battery life is 5 days, GPS battery life is 17 hours
Cons
- Not compatible with the Polar Bluetooth stride sensor. You need to upgrade to the Vantage M for that purpose
4. Fitbit Versa 3
Fitbit Versa 3 is regarded as the best for people who like Fitbit fitness trackers.
This fitness watch is well meticulously crafted and designed with a square face shape with curved edges. It feels softer and more comfortable on the wrist. In addition, it can work with Android and iPhones phones.
Great battery life is highly appreciated. It is now added with a new fast-charging feature that will give you all-day power with just 12 minutes of charging.
For those who love Fitbit and want a fitness watch, the Versa 3 is the right choice at this time. This product is a great combination of fitness and smart features including activity/health tracking, heart rate monitoring, sleep monitoring, Alexa smart voice assistant, built-in GPS, music memory, and well suited built-in mic/speaker. Of which, monitor sports and heart rate exactly like a heart rate monitor. Thanks to that, it provides complete health data.
While this is not a watch with as many advanced features as other wearables, it is a good choice for the casual activity tracker user. Straps are easily interchangeable thanks to the equipped smart buckle. Thus, it is suitable for weight training, crossfit, or cardio.
The Versa 3 marks a major development for Fitbit’s line of smartwatches. It has a better design, significantly increased screen area, and better display quality. Besides, it also provides full smart features and 2 useful virtual assistants. The addition of GPS doesn’t quite make it a perfect sports watch, but it’s well worth your consideration.
Pros
- Attractive interface, large screen
- 24/7 fitness tracking
- PurePulse 2.0. heart rate sensor
- Water-resistant to a depth of 50 meters
- The price is in the mid-range
Cons
- The button is a bit annoying
- Not all features are available
- The software supports too many parameters
5. Garmin Fenix 6 Pro
Inheriting achievements from previous smartwatches, Garmin has launched the Garmin Fenix 6 Pro version. This is a version of the outdoor fitness tracker watch. This smartwatch owns many of the same modern features as the Fenix 6S and Fenix 6X, giving you quite a few premium features. It’s a combination of all the best features from the entire Garmin watch range.
The fitness watch is made of steel material and a titanium frame. It comes with a 1.3-inch screen, 260×260 pixel resolution, clear and realistic images, and beautiful temples with time. The 22 mm strap is quite popular and easily replaceable, which brings you many advantages.
Moreover, it comes with the PacePro running feature. If you do a lot of races or you want to see if you can run at a faster level, this feature will make your day.
Great battery life makes the Garmin Fenix 6 Pro a formidable competitor. The battery life of Fenix 6 Pro is introduced up to 14 days in smartwatch mode and up to 36 hours when using GPS. In GPS battery saver mode, you can expect 72 hours. If you use the music player feature, the usage time will be reduced to 10 hours.
The buttons on the device have also been upgraded to make pressing more comfortable and pleasant for users. This watch is neither too big nor too small so it will fit many different wrist sizes and shapes.
It’s a nicer sports watch with plenty of premium extras. Garmin has sought to make the Fenix a better-looking, more comfortable watch to wear all day. The Fenix 6 Pro really does this very well. So, if you are looking to buy the best fitness watch for crossfit or weight lifting, you should not miss this high-end watch.
Pros
- Support music player, wifi, map
- Up to 36 hours battery life
- Includes Pulse Ox sensor
- Water-resistant up to 100m
- Monitor activity 24/7
- Many features are ready
Cons
- Heart rate is not accurate during intense exercise
- Good map setting, but difficult to use the map
- IQ store connection is still a bit messy
6. Apple Watch Series 6
The Apple Watch has been the world’s top choice for so long. Thanks to its great performance, unrivaled selection of apps, and rich fitness and health tracking features, Apple gives its flagship smartwatch dozens of amazing features and high-end specs. This makes Apple Watch Series 6 the best smartwatch on the market.
Apple’s big advantage over other fitness trackers on the market is thanks to its built-in exercise library. The watchOS 7 update even adds new features like Dance, Core Training, Cool Down and Functional Strength Training to the Apple Watch’s already massive “arsenal”.
A big and bright screen is a highlight of this watch. The new Apple Watch Series 6 has the same screen size as the Series 5. However, the Always-On Display mode has been improved and it is now 2.5 times brighter than the Series 5 when used outdoors.
Those who enjoy hiking, trekking, camping, or outdoor sports will love the new 24/7 altimeter feature of the Apple Watch Series 6 (which Apple calls the Always-On Altimeter). It also allows for a more precise measurement of elevation displacement – specifically within 0.3 meters. Besides, this smartwatch also offers accurate GPS, reliable heart rate monitoring. The new SpO2 sensor is used to measure users’ blood oxygen saturation levels, helping users understand their fitness levels and overall health.
Thanks to clean software, slim design, and seamless ecosystem integration, Apple continues to upgrade Apple Watch gradually. Users don’t seem to care that Apple isn’t the first to own every feature, as long as convenient and the best that Apple Watch brings. With all the unique features and design, Apple Watch Series 6 deserves to be the best smartwatch for Crossfit that everyone is dreaming of.
Pros
- Nice design with 6 color
- Premium accessories
- Equipped with an always-on screen feature
- Supports many 3rd party applications
- Support faster-charging technology, 100% battery charge in just 1.5 hours
Cons
- The ability to track sleep is still poor
- Poor battery life
- Fewer interfaces for user customization
7. Powr Labs Heart Rate Monitor Armband
Because the heart rate monitors on the market are quite expensive, POWR LABS has launched an affordable superb product specifically for customers who want to monitor their health status while exercising. This fitness tracker is suitable for those who often lift, ride bicycles, train requiring endurance or exercise.
POWR LABS created the armband after a process of research, manufacturing, and rigorous testing. So they can confidently claim their product is one of the best heart rate monitors for weight lifting and crossfit on the market.
Putting themselves in the shoes of professional endurance athletes, POWR LABS understands how important it is to monitor your heart rate during weightlifting, exercise, CrossFit, or fitness. Thanks to that, POWR LABS understands and creates what you need. Easily recharge the heart rate monitor battery with the included wireless dock.
Pros
- 12 months warranty.
- Good connectivity
- Basic size fits almost any wrist size
- Durability is appreciated
- Excellent IPX67 sweat and water resistance
- Easily recharge with the included wireless dock.
Cons
- Battery life is not appreciated.
- No multitasking
8. HUAWEI Band 3
Huawei is a giant in the technology field that always launches Smartphones, bracelets, and so on. Following the success momentum, the company has launched the Huawei Band 3 Pro smart fitness tracker. This product is highly rated by lots of customers.
Huawei Band 3 Pro fitness tracker is the latest product from the famous brand of Huawei technology. It makes users be impressed with outstanding features, everything you need is now just a touch. Besides, it is also rated as one of the Huawei smart sports watch models worth buying.
HUAWEI Band 3’s design towards minimalism and youthfulness. It comes with an easy-to-navigate square 0.95 inch AMOLED screen, a metal frame, and a silicone rubber strap. Weight only 25 grams will certainly bring comfort to the user.
The surface protected by a luxurious 2.5D curved glass makes it attractive and eye-catching. It can display all information that you need such as date, time, remaining battery, number of steps taken, name or number of callers, missed call information, the content of messages.
About features, built-in low-power GPS can be tuned for long-distance running, ensuring you know exactly where you are and how far you’ve come. TruSeen 3.0 heart rate sensor system and AI is considered to bring the most accurate heart rate measurements to users
HUAWEI Band 3 takes control of your life with one touch. Thanks to it, finding your phone, viewing incoming calls, text previewing for messages, photo timer, and remote controlling becomes easier than ever.
Pros
- Good battery life
- The sleep tracking feature is very good
- Reasonable price
- It is a professional swimming coach
- Provides data such as calories, turns, and average SWOLF to improve your swimming.
Cons
- Incorrect data transfer to phone
- The screen is too sensitive
Buying Guide
1. Why are Regular Fitness Trackers Not Suitable for Weight Lifting or Crossfit?
There are two main reasons to mention here. First, they are not capable of accurate heart rate monitoring. Second, they cannot track individual exercises like weight lifting or crossfit.
Inability to Accurately Monitor Heart Rate
Exercises such as weight lifting or crossfit require non-stationary movements such as wrist flexion, rapid and intermittent lifting or lowering. It is completely different from normal walking or riding. Conventional fitness trackers are often not capable of accurately recording these heart rate changes, leading to you misjudging your training progress.
DO NOT Track Individual Workouts
Most regular fitness trackers will only track metrics like total workout time, heart rate, distance, or steps. However, those who practice weightlifting or crossfit need more than that because these workouts are specific.
2. What to Look for When Buying Fitness Watches for Weightlifting and CrossFit?
Database of Exercises and Movements
This is often the weakness of conventional fitness trackers as they only present rudimentary data without analyzing and reporting your performance when performing those exercises or movements.
Ignoring those disadvantages, the best crossfit fitness tracker allows you to track your progress in past exercises. What you really need if you are pursuing weightlifting or CrossFit is access to a large data source about exercises as well as the ability to track body metrics instead of an “almighty” watch but do not specialize in any feature.
Create Your Own Workout
It’s great if you can create your own schedule and fit each stage before going to the gymnasium. It helps to control your weight lifting time as well as support you in reaching your maximum goal in the gym. If so, Garmin Fenix 6 and Polar Ignite are said to be the optimal choices at this point.
Counting Reps (Repetition)
Very few fitness trackers automatically count Reps in exercise. The Reps counting feature is extremely important when you’re lifting weights or doing Crossfit. You can find this feature in Apple 6 or Garmin Fenix 6.
Accurate Real-time Heart Rate Monitoring
As mentioned in the previous section, regular fitness trackers can not do a good job of measuring heart rate in specific subjects like CrossFit and weightlifting.
3. How to Use The Fitness Tracker Effectively
When you perform activities such as running, CrossFit, weight training, strength training, or other sports, the fitness tracker will evaluate accurately. To do so, you need to know how to wear it and set up it in its best working model.
Not only in moving exercises but in-situ men and women cardio, fitness watches also have good evaluation parameters.
How to Wear
Health watch manufacturers recommend everyone wear it on the wrist – the place where there are a lot of blood vessels going under the skin and closest. It allows controlling heart rate, blood pressure almost like measuring at the chest.
When wearing, the strap should be tightened moderately. Thus, the lower sensor of the watch will measure the pulse rate naturally without spasms, and the measuring distance is also more accurate.
How to Install Apps and Use
Using a health monitoring wristwatch, you will often connect to a smartphone to synchronize data and monitor more accurately. It will clearly show all your biometric metrics and activity metrics according to the chart. Each brand will have apps installed on the accompanying smartphone for synchronization.
In addition to installing the app sync with the health monitoring device, you also need to set up the metrics you want to track. You should turn off the features you deem unnecessary and turn on those you deem necessary.
See The Parameters Displayed on The Tracker
If you only know how to use the health meter without paying attention to viewing the parameters of each feature, it is probably not enough. You need to also know how to fully read those parameters and understand them. Commonly, the manual is also introduced for you to understand, but you need to learn some more health information.
Sportspeople probably cannot ignore this problem. It allows you to find the best ways to run, lift weights in every workout. Those parameters will be clearly shown when you need them.
You also need to know how to switch the view on your device’s display. Thanks to that, you can read the parameters you want to see. When knowing how to use the health meter most effectively, you can adjust each exercise on your own anytime, anywhere.
4. How to Choose a Suitable Fitness Tracker
The advice is to choose the appropriate device platform. These include operating system, compatibility, price, and battery life. All smartwatches today have the ability to pair with smartphones, the problem is you need to find one that supports your phone’s operating system.
Compatibility
Apple’s smartwatches (Apple Watch) only support iPhone, while Google’s Wear OS devices mostly support both iOS and Android. In addition, smartwatches using the custom operating systems of Huawei, Samsung, Garmin, Polar and other manufacturers are also compatible with both Android and iOS (you must install an additional private support application)
Besides, the smartwatch operating system will also decide the type and number of apps for your smartwatch. However, you should remember that many of these applications are not really useful.
Price
Good smartwatches usually have prices ranging from $200 to 350, more expensive compared to cheap smartwatches that often cost between $100 to 200. More expensive devices often add fitness, music features and integrate advanced connectivity such as GPS, music storage, or NFC connectivity.
In addition, specialized sports smartwatches can cost over $500, which is suitable for serious exercise lovers.
Battery life
Battery life remains one of the major weaknesses of smartwatches. Recently, technology has made strides to increase the usage time to 2 days for new Apple Watch and Wear OS devices.
The Apple Watch is often “hated” because of its “modest” battery life. While Garmin has a much more expensive price, it has longer battery life. The Fitbit and Huawei watches have a battery that lasts about 2-3 days.
And of course, its features are also in the mid-range. That’s it, the choice is up to you. Please consider the amount of battery when choosing a smartwatch. The battery is also something that you need to keep in mind when buying a smartwatch because not everyone is willing to charge the battery every day.
Features
An undeniable trend is that watch brands are increasingly “cramming” more features into their products. Familiar features such as GPS, heart rate measurement, sleep monitoring, etc previously only appeared in the health monitoring watch, are now also integrated into smartwatches. Some other common features that are often found are the ability to listen to calls, listen to music, and notify messages.
You should clearly define your needs at this point. Is your need “work” or “health” one? If you often participate in outdoor activities, a Garmin brand watch is very suitable. On the contrary, it is not suitable if you are a genuine “officer”.
You should choose smartwatches that have the right features for you, rather than “whatever” watches. And don’t forget that integrating too many features also significantly reduces the battery life of the watch.
Possibility of personalization
Today, smartwatch brands often focus on the ability to personalize their product models. Smartwatch models that can replace the strap or allow to change the watch background are preferred.
Nowadays, most watch straps also allow users to wear them without being too cumbersome in the buckle. This is a huge plus compared to traditional watches. Kindly remember that comfort of use should be a priority.
Closing Points
To make your training more controlled and effective, investing in a good device is essential. The best fitness trackers for crossfit and weight lifting shared above can be a good start for you. However, if you still can’t find one you like, then you should re-read the buying guide to be able to choose the one that best suits your desires.