This may be just the ticket to get you off of the couch and out on the road and giving you the incentive, you need to make being active your NEW norm!

The Garmin Forerunner 45 hits the mark as one of Garmin’s most capable running watches.
The 45 does a great job of being the smartwatch to go with if you’re into tracking your sports activities. If you’re looking for a running or sport specific watch, then this is the one for you.

The Forerunner 45 also has another selling point, it's price structure of being around $200. While letting you have the ability to download structured workouts, including those from the company’s free ‘Garmin Coach’ adaptive/dynamic training programs, as well as incident detection and assistance (which notifies friends/family if you get into trouble). Just the ticket if you're heading off the regular running tracks and off into the hilly mountain paths.

It has an optical HR sensor on it for tracking 24×7 HR and stress. It supports more than just running, with other sports including cycling, treadmills, and yoga, but doesn’t have quite the number of sports their other units have. And finally, it adds Connect IQ custom watch faces but stops short of allowing full Connect IQ apps or data fields.

Below are the specs on what's improved with the 45 over the Garmin 35.
– Added two sizes: 39mm (Forerunner 45S) and 42mm (Forerunner 45)
– Added color display
– Added structured workout support
– Added training plans support (including calendar/scheduled workouts)
– Added Garmin Coach compatibility
– Added Connect IQ Watch Face support
– Added incident (crash/fall) detection
– Added safety tracking/assistance
– Added Pace/Speed alerts
– Added stress widget/tracking
– Added VO2Max calculation
– Added 24×7 HR tracking widget/tracking
– Added body battery widget/tracking
– Added new Garmin Gen3 ELEVATE optical HR sensor
– Added more sport modes
– Changed from square watch to round watch
– Changed from 4 to 5 buttons (which actually makes a world of difference)
– Changed all-day battery from 9 days down to 7 days
– Of note: GPS-on battery life remains the same at 13 hours (GPS-mode)

The above are the new features which enhance the Garmin 45. But just in case your not as familiar with Garmin’s previously included functionality, we’ve listed the noteworthy ones here below.
– Built-in GPS (no reliance on phone for GPS)
– Workout support for a few sports, with customizable pages/fields
– 24×7 activity tracking, including sleep
– Optical heart rate sensor in the watch
– Smartphone notifications
– Live tracking when paired with a smartphone
– Weather/calendar widgets
– Vibration/Audio alerts
– Uploading to Garmin Connect Training Log website via phone or USB
– Broadcasting of your HR over ANT+ (from wrist to other devices)
– Automatic sync to 3rd party sites like Strava, MyFitnessPal, TrainingPeaks and many more

Probably the biggest difference between the new Forerunner 45/45S and the Forerunner 35 is the basics of the device. While the interface of the Forerunner 35 was roughly based on past budget Garmin watches, the new FR45 instead lends itself to Garmin’s higher end watches. Which, we think makes it easier to use. Note that anytime we refer to the FR45, we’re referring to both FR45 and FR45S. They’re technologically identical in every way except the bezel is simply larger on the FR45 (not the screen size, just the bezel).

Now with that screen, you can toggle between a couple of different stock watch faces. Though unlike Garmin’s higher end units, you can’t customize the stock watch faces (changing data and such). You can only tweak the accent color. But you can download thousands of custom watch faces from Garmin Connect IQ store, which is Garmin’s free app store. You can even make your own watch faces, including adding in photos as the background. Not bad for an activity watch at this price point.

The Garmin Forerunner45 captures all the normal activity tracking metrics you’d expect, including steps (as well as distance), sleep, and heart rate. It doesn’t capture stairs, however, as it lacks a barometric altimeter to measure height.
These metrics are consolidated into widgets, which you can display on the watch by pressing the up/down buttons. Note that the FR45 doesn’t support downloading Connect IQ Widgets like some of Garmin’s higher end watches, but there’s plenty of stock ones to choose from on the watch itself. Here’s a gallery of some of those.

Keep in mind that the 45 is now tracking your activity constantly, it’s also sending that over to Garmin Connect Mobile (the smartphone app) via Bluetooth Smart. From there, you can view these activity stats, challenge friends/family, and also see the stats on the Garmin Connect website. In addition, some 3rd party sites and healthcare providers can also receive this data if you’ve authorized them to. Which helps if you get into an uncomfortable place and need help right away. This is one feature that can provide you with some peace of mind that you are never truly alone, especially if your out on a remote running trail!

Say Good Night!
It will automatically track your sleep if you wear it at night. Technically you can set your regular sleep timeframe to any portion of the day, though it will only track one ‘sleep’ per day. Meaning – it doesn’t track naps. In my experience, it does a pretty good job of nailing my sleep, even with having toddlers running around and waking us at all sorts of random hours. The unit will track the exact sleep cycle, and then log it into Garmin Connect. You can plot and trend this over various timeframes.

The Garmin 45 benefits from a new optical HR sensor ‘package’, the same exact package as the Forerunner 245/945/MARQ. This is used to track your heart rate 24×7, as well as during workouts. For heart rate, it includes modest updates over the sensors used about a year ago, though a bit more significant update over the much older Forerunner 35 sensors. Note that while the sensor hardware itself on the FR45 compared to that of the other new units noted, it doesn’t have PulseOx enabled.

From a continuous heart rate standpoint, it tracks this constantly and then uploads it into Garmin Connect mobile as well. Using your resting HR is a great indicator of when you’re over-trained, fatigued, or when sickness is on the way.

Just a Few More Basic Functions:
The Forerunner 45 supports smartphone notifications like all previous Garmin watches. You’ll see the notifications based on how you’ve configured them on your smartphone via the normal phone notification center, and then they show up on the unit itself. You can then open up a given notification to get more detail about it (such as a longer text message): You can also check missed/past notifications in the notification’s widget seen in the widget gallery a bit earlier in this section. Note that unlike the higher end Forerunner watches, the FR45 doesn’t support a privacy mode for smartphone notifications.

Now Let the Sports Begin!
The Forerunner 45 is all about being a sports watch, or at least, a running-specific watch. But it does monitor other workouts, including cycling and yoga. But face facts, you’re buying it for running (or perhaps walking).

To begin with sports, you do indeed have a few options when it comes to which sports are on the device. By default, that’s: Running (outdoors), Treadmill, Cycling (outdoors), Walk, and Cardio (catch-all bucket).

However, you can use the Garmin Connect Mobile app to add other sports, which include: Indoor Track, Bike Indoor, Walk Indoor, Elliptical, Stair Stepper, Yoga, and the mythical ‘Other’. You can have a max of 6 activities loaded onto the watch at any one point in time. In other words, they duplicated what Fitbit does here (for no particularly good reason).

No matter whether you’ve modified the sports or just kept with the defaults, to start recording a new workout you’ll simply tap the upper right button and then select the sport. Once you’ve done that, it’ll ask you if you want to execute any scheduled workouts for that day. So if you had something loaded up from Garmin Coach for example, or something else on your calendar, it’ll offer those to you first (which you can skip).
After that, you’re at the GPS and HR waiting screen. It’s here that it’ll go off and find GPS. This Sony GPS chipset supports GPS, GPS+GLONASS, and GPS+Galileo.

As part of this, the 45 will also ensure it has a lock on your heart rate via the optical HR sensor on the back of the unit. Generally, that’s instantaneous since it’s constantly tracking HR 24×7 anyway.

If you press down again before you start the workout you can tweak some of the settings for that sport, in this case – running. First is the ability to select a structured workout. While before, it asked us if we wanted to do the day’s scheduled workout if you had nothing scheduled/setup – then this is a chance to select one from your library of workouts. Or, you can just do a one-off interval session where you define the duration of the interval, the repeats, the rest, and the cool-down/warm-up.

Next, you can customize your data screens during the workout. The FR45 is pretty basic, mirroring that of the FR30/35 before it. Here’s what you get to start with (all are three-field pages by default). All of these are customizable:
Data Page 1: Distance, Timer, Pace
Data Page 2: HR Zone, Heart Rate, Calories
Data Page 3: Lap Time, Lap Distance, Lap Pace
Data Page 4: Time of day clock page
Data Page 5 (Optional): 1, 2, or 3 metrics each of your choosing

Available Data Metrics: Timer, Distance, Pace, Calories, Heart Rate, HR Zone, Lap Time, Lap Distance, Lap Pace, Average Pace, Cadence, Steps, Time of Day.

In the case of cycling, you’ll get the speed variants of each of the above (i.e., MPH/KPH) instead of pace.

Next, you can configure alerts. Options include heart rate (zone, or custom BPM range), run/walk (time-based), time, distance, pace (specific pace), or calories. What’s nice is that you can configure alerts but toggle them on/off quickly to use on different runs. For example, you might setup run/walk for your long run, but then toggle it off for your other runs that week. It’s a single toggle, versus having to set it up again.

You can also configure laps. By default, auto-lap is enabled at 1-mile (or 1-kilometer depending on if you use statute or metric). But you can manually lap at any time with the lap key. Or you can turn auto-lap off.

Finally, there’s auto pause, which is off by default but can be enabled to automatically pause the timer when you stop. Unlike some of Garmin’s higher end watches though – there’s no configurable threshold on this though. Also, the GPS options are in here as well, where you can toggle between the aforementioned GPS modes (GPS/GLONASS/GALILEO).

With the setup process complete you’re ready to get moving and then you can see your results displayed on the various screens. If you’re running a custom, structured training session, you’ll also get a custom workout screen which shows the specific targets of your workout. Say you're doing a run, it will give you a 5-second beeping countdown to each segment of your workout followed by the specific targets for that portion. It’ll also give a guide chart while doing that section with the target, as well as the specific time/distance/etc remaining for that portion.

It works well and is easy to follow. And in many ways, this is the most important part of this watch. It’s what fundamentally separates it from the Apple Watch and others which lack the depth and customization of the structured workout program.

You have to do a test workout first (it’s only 9 minutes), and then based on the results of that test workout, it’ll fill in exactly what the structure and intensity is to reach your goal time. You can adjust which days of the week you can work out, and your preference for the long run too.

Once you’re done with your run, you’ll go ahead and press the start button to pause it. At this juncture you can eat some ice cream and then press resume to continue running, or, you can end it. Then you'll get a summary page, including your current VO2Max level.

Then the watch is automatically transmitting this information over to your phone via Bluetooth Smart. It’s there that you can see much more detailed information on Garmin Connect Mobile (the smartphone app). Additionally, you can also look at your workouts on the Garmin Connect website as well.

Further, if you’ve connected Strava, MyFitnessPal, TrainingPeaks or any other sites, all of those will receive a copy of your workout instantly as well. Just remember on Strava to add emoji, it increases your likes (so they say).

The one last thing we want to touch on in the sports section is Garmin’s Incident Detection and Assistance features, which are seeing widespread rollout to Garmin devices – especially with these three (FR45/245/945) product launches. Both features are safety focused and have two slightly different purposes.

Incident Detection: This will automatically detect an incident while running/cycling (in a workout specifically) and notifies your predefined contacts with a text message and a live track link to see exactly where you are.

Safety Assistance: This allows you to, with one button, send a predefined message to emergency contacts with your initial location, followed by a live tracking link. The main scenario here being, you feel unsafe and want someone to be aware of that.

Both of these features depend on you having your phone with you. Since the Forerunner 45 doesn’t have cellular in it, you need to be within range of your phone. Both features can be canceled in the event they’re triggered accidentally. And both features are set up on Garmin Connect Mobile first. It’s here you define emergency contacts.

Once that’s done, the crash detection will occur while cycling or running during a workout. This is different than Apple, which has fall detection 24×7. Essentially, Garmin is looking for forward speed, followed by a significant stopping accelerometer event – and then critically – no further forward progress. Meaning, if you were running along and jumped down a big ledge and kept running, that wouldn’t trigger it, since you continued going. Whereas if you were running, jumped off the ledge and then face-planted, that would likely trigger it since you ceased making forward progress.

Rounding things out – the thing that makes the Forerunner 45 a more capable running watch than the Apple Watch or Samsung Galaxy Active (or Fitbit Versa/Ionic) is the structured workout and complete tie-in with all of the aspects of Garmin Connect/Garmin Connect Mobile. 

To Sum Things Up:
There’s no question that Garmin packed an incredible number of features into the FR45, at least from an upgrade perspective over the FR35. If sports and fitness are what you’re after in a sports activity tracker – then the FR45’s super strong offering is all ready to strap on to your wrist.

Since today is the first day of Spring for 2019, time is ticking to see if you’re really going to get that body of yours into shape for swim season this year. Yes, it's only the middle to end of March, but with the warmer weather soon to make its appearance, it's not going to be too long until you’re going to be seen wearing those clothes of Summer. So, how do you think you’re going to look wearing that tank-top and shorts?

With the Spring sun ascending higher and higher each day, each week, you don’t have much time to shed a few pounds and tone up those saggy arms and leg muscles. Remember, the summer season is only a mere 12 weeks away. It's now crunch time, literally!

It’s all too easy during the winter to get into a routine of lounging around on the couch when you get home from work while you catch up on the latest episode of your favorite shows. But now is the time to kick those habits to the curb. And get yourself active, I mean, really active!

Take advantage of the warmer weather and longer days to get outside and hit the pavements or recently thawed mountain trails around your home. Get that blood pumping again. Try and do something every day even if it’s just a walk. But walk briskly and swing those arms as you put a couple of miles behind you.

How Much Exercise Do I need?
Any movement you get in during your day is better than nothing, but health professionals recommend the following:

150 Minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a week. This works out to around 30 minutes a day if you only want to exercise during a work week, or 20 minutes a day if you include weekends.

When you look at it this way, fitting in 20–30 minutes a day is a lot more manageable. For example, you could even break this up into chunks: do a quick 15-minute workout in the morning and an evening brisk walk when you get home.

Two strength training workouts a week. There is no time limit specified for toning exercises, so you could even include a few squats, lunges and push-ups with your quick cardio session on two of those days. Strength exercises help you build muscle mass, which boosts your metabolic rate and helps you burn more calories – even when you’re resting. It’s also a great way to improve your bone health.

Even quick workouts offer great health benefits. Find out what you enjoy doing and build a routine around it. Does an early evening walk around the neighborhood with the family make you want to lace up your shoes and hit the streets? Does going to the gym motivate you? Or, do you prefer to exercise at home with a Jillian Michaels DVD or a fun YouTube video? Would you rather get your heart rate up with a good cardio session, or are toning exercises more up your alley?

It’s important to find exercises that you enjoy doing; this way you’ll be more likely to stick to them and make them a daily habit.

Keep in mind that the key to getting that body of yours into the kind of shape that you won’t be embarrassed about this summer is to set a goal. Really quite a few goals so that after you’ve mastered the first, you move onto the second, then the third….. People are naturally competitive, but you need to set an expectant goal that can be achieved. This is what will motivate you to help you keep going till you reach and surpass that goal. In order to measure just how you're doing on reaching that goal, we recommend using an activity tracker. There are many out there, selecting the right one sometimes depends on the type of exercise you're going to be working on. For our purposes, we like the Garmin Forerunner 235 GPS Running Watch, With its built in GPS and Strapless Heart Rate, the Garmin Forerunner 235 is a must have for any runner, or exercise buff looking to get valuable feedback during their run, or exercise regimen. It's GPS functionality, created by Garmin, along with Wrist-based Heart Rate Tracks distance, pace, time, heart rate and more
The connected features automatic uploads to Garmin Connect, live tracking and the continuous "Activity tracking²" counts daily steps, distance, calories, and sleep.

Sometimes, even if you’re training like an Olympian, your nutrition and caloric intake can hold you back. If you’re struggling to see results, taking a look at what you’re putting into your body can be a good place to start. Everything needs balance, including your diet. The right combinations of carbs, protein and fat, yes, we said fat, but good fat is necessary as you begin to be more active and push your body so that those calories you ingested provide the breakdown into fuel that propels you to a healthier way of life.

As they say, you can’t out-train a bad diet. Usually, a few simple tweaks are all that is needed to start seeing results. It’s no good working out every day, but you’re eating badly – or skipping meals. When you exercise regularly, you automatically crave healthier food options.

Your metabolism also increases, which means that you’ll be peckish, more often than what you’re used to. Make sure you have some nutritious snacks with you to nibble on during the day. Fruit, low-fat yogurt, nuts, seeds, raw veggies, and hummus are all tasty and good for you. Start your day with a good breakfast, like a bowl of oats with low-fat milk and a banana. Don’t skip meals and stay hydrated with plenty of water throughout the day.

If you follow these tips and work at making a commitment to incorporating a set time schedule you can use these 12 weeks to lose those extra pounds, tone those flabby, well not too flabby arms, thighs and calves and give you the thing you're looking forward to getting. A healthier, leaner you in time for bathing suit season! So, what are YOU waiting for? Get up and MOVE!

We all know that exercise is necessary for everyone if they want to maintain a healthy body, and mind! Humans were made to be active. Not sedentary which has become a major problem with todays society. Years ago, and we mean years ago, most people worked at menial jobs, which took a toll on their bodies, along with working a minimum 10 hours each day and for some 12 hours were the norm. This was all done with eating a minimum calorie diet, which was watched over by the person in charge of the household, at least the running of the home, and yes, we mean the mother. Who worked longer hours than most of the family, getting up early to make sure everyone had a hearty breakfast, using as much as could be spared or dolled out from the family larder. The good thing about this was everything was made fresh that day. Not too many things were made ahead of time. That means, warm, freshly made bread out of the oven or on top of the stove. Fresh eggs and milk and large helpings of grain cereal like oatmeal. It may have not been a large variety of foods, but it was something that got everyone through the day and saw them through till their next meal.

Today, everyone is running around, trying to fit more things into their day. Answering or sending emails and texts, making calls or answering them all with the pretense of being more productive. But this change in lifestyle comes with a price. Most of us, are doing all of this sitting down. From their desks, workstations, on the way to or from a job or just heading out the door to a quick lunch, usually eating something that's high in carbs and loaded with salt and or sugar. If they're thinking about their waistline they may go and grab a protein shake. Then after work, they might defeat the purpose of that shake by having a few high-calorie drinks. 

One of the other downfalls of this new age society is that most of us have become sedentary and are not moving or expending large amounts of physical energy in performing their daily work-chores. Those of us that want to be healthier head out to the gym, either before work begins, during a lunch break or getting a little sweaty after work, before they head for home.

What most of us do not realize that if we are looking to burn more calories. Moving more doing cardio exercise burns more calories and pumping some iron creates lean muscle mass which when at rest allows your body to continue to burn calories, which is always a good thing. You just want to make sure that when you do hit the gym, you want to make sure you're getting the most out of your workout.

That's why your heart rate is so important; to get in an effective workout, especially with cardio, your heart rate needs to be elevated from its resting state to reap the heart-healthy and calorie-burning benefits. This is why heart-rate monitors are so popular. Using a good, accurate heart rate monitor like the Garmin Vivoactive 3 GPS Smart Activity Tracker  

Track steps, distance, Sleep and more. With help from Elevate™ wrist-based heart rate technology², Vivoactive 3 lets you monitor key aspects of your fitness and stress to show how your body responds under various circumstances. For example, it’s able to estimate your VO2 max and fitness age — 2 indicators of physical fitness that can often improve over time with regular exercise. It also tracks your heart rate variability (HRV), which is used to calculate and track your stress level. Vivoactive 3 can make you aware when physical or emotional sources cause your stress level to rise so you can find a way to relieve the pressure.

As we said before, you want to get the most out of your exercise time and the best way to do this is to exercise at your maximum heart rate! Turns out there's a simple formula you can use to find out your max heart rate and how to get into the fat-burning zone. Determining your max heart rate is as simple as taking 220 minus your age. So, if you're 30, your max heart rate is 190 beats per minute.

To get into the fat-burning zone, you need to be at 60 to 70 percent of your max heart rate during exercise. Since each person's heart health and activity level is different, one person could reach his or her 60 percent after just a minute of exercise, while others could take longer (or shorter) to get there.

You also need to keep in mind when starting out that you really need to first get checked out by your physician before you start exercising to the extreme. Also, when talking with your doctor, make sure you raise the question about any medication you may be taking that could raise your heart rate. Or could be a deterrent to getting an accurate read on just what your real heart rate is if you are taking medication that could make reaching that heart rate goal of your un-achievable.

Some trainers say that if you're doing steady-state cardio, such as running, walking, or cycling, you should aim for 70 to 80 percent of your max and stay there for a while. It will take around 18 minutes for your body to start using fat as fuel. If you want to do a shorter, more intense workout like high-intensity interval training (HIIT), you want to get your heart rate up to 80 to 90 percent for short bursts, then recover until your heart rate is back down to 60 percent. When you exercise at your target zone, you should feel like your heart rate is faster and your breathing has increased. A one out of 10 is resting, while 10 out of 10 feels like you need to be picked up off the floor. Using this scale, you should be at a six, seven, or eight out of 10 when you are in the target zone.

Again, taking the guesswork out of determining your max heart rate and at what intensity you have been performing at is best done with a fitness tracker like the Garmin Vivoactive 3 GPS Smart Activity Tracker  That monitors your exertions all day long and can provide you with trackable data via Garmin Connect where you can compare your progress and if you so desire, can compete against group members of a like mind to see who is out performing who.

So, what do you say, are you ready to Crank Up your Heartrate for 2019?

Knowing which one to get shouldn’t be “Rocket Science” it should be more along “Instinct” (Get It?). Well you should, it’s a new rugged fitness tracker, GPS enabled that has a more than tough design that can take the worst your that your day can throw at it. The Garmin Instinct Rugged GPS Watch with Glonass !

This rugged and reliable GPS watch is designed for those exploring and working in the great outdoors. It features key sensors and exceptional navigation technology, so you’ll never lose your bearings when you’re heading off known trails, whether it’s running them, biking them or just plain hiking them! It also offers key information about your sleep, the number of steps, heart rate, intensity minutes and stress in everyday life to keep you on track when you’re back on the beaten path.

Remember we said rugged? Well, this watch is made to take the abuse of outdoor recreation that some of your fancy designed display watches would be licking their wounds from. After all, do you really enjoy seeing scratches across your watches’ display area, or your watchband getting torn from being hung up on a branch that’s sticking out on a trail? Especially if you paid, $400.00, $500.00 or more for it?

Well, with the Garmin Instinct, you won’t have to worry, with its “Fiber-Reinforced-Polymer” case it adds strength and durability to the design, and the chemically-strengthened, scratch-resistant display is high-contrast enough to read in bright sunlight. Just what you need when you’re out in the sunshine, heading up that mountain trail. This watch gives you everything you need without the bells and whistles that drive up cost on many advanced lifestyle watches.

Despite its ruggedness and a long list of features, the Garmin Instinct weighs only 1.8 oz. So you won't mind it on your wrist during the day and as you sleep at night. Instinct’s display is about 45 by 45 by 15.3 mm.

The Garmin Instinct carries a water rating of 10 ATM, meaning it can withstand pressures equivalent to being 100 meters underwater. This smartwatch received the MIL-STD-810G standard, meaning Garmin Instinct met the military standard for thermal, shock and water performance. We did say it was rugged, right?

The Garmin Instinct comes in three colors: Graphite, Tundra, and Flame-Red, with an integrated band, sized at 132 mm to 224 So you won't have any problem with a too loose or too tight band to make you uncomfortable.

The monochrome screen, one of its "Best" features, is visible in all lighting conditions, including intense sunlight, with a mini-overlay for additional information.

As for battery life, Instinct can last up to 14 days in smartwatch mode, up to 16 hours with the GPS mode on and up to 40 hours on Ultra-Trac battery save mode.

Besides the “Outdoors” rugged life, the Garmin Instinct  also tracks everyday activities and adventures. No matter how you stay fit or spend your fun time, the Garmin Instinct has a sports mode just for you. Everything from a simple walk to a snowboarding. This watch is an even bet that it has a "sports mode" that fits your lifestyle, 28 sport-mode options for active lifestyles, at that. It even includes a mode for boaters by providing information including distance, time and average nautical speed.

Grab your gear and your new best companion, the Garmin Instinct to get feedback on performance that helps you reach your sporting goals.

Sports Modes: And in case your interested, listed below are the sports modes that your Garmin Instinct will provide you with all the necessary data in order for you to meet and exceed your physical training goals.
Pool swim
Open water swim
Trail Running
Regular Running
Cycling
Mountain biking
Standup paddleboard
Walking
Treadmill
Indoor track
Hike
Climb
Indoor cycling
Ski
Snowboard
Cross country ski
Kayak
Row
Rowing
Strength training
Cardio
Yoga
Elliptical
Stair stepper
Floor climber
Tactical running
Boating

Breadcrumbs: Remember the fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel? They intended to follow the trail of breadcrumbs back to their home, but those pesky birds ate them, and they became lost in the woods. The rest is a story that you can follow up with on your own time. Getting back to the breadcrumbs. The Garmin Instinct provides you with a “Breadcrumb” trail that will get you back to where you started your trek out in those wide open spaces, This feature is especially handy for hiking, mountain biking, anywhere you're more likely to go that probably won’t have cell phone reception.

Save Locations: is another feature that'll come in handy for Garmin users. This feature marks the location from the controls menu and adds it to the list so you can navigate to it from the Navigation menu. Saved Locations can be used for planning and navigating purposes.

The Garmin Instinct also has a “Find My Phone and Find My Device” features so if you, for whatever reason, have trouble finding your smartwatch, you can use your smartphone to request an audible tone from the Garmin Instinct to help find it. You can also use the watch to find your smartphone as the Garmin Instinct can force the phone to ring via the Garmin Connect app to help you find it – even if it is on silent!

The Garmin Instinct  helps you get from point A to point B with these other navigation features:

Saved location – Beneficial for everything from saving where you parked to finding your way back to the beginning of a trail.
Sight‘n Go – Allows the user to point the device at an object in the distance such as a water tower, lock in the direction and then navigate to the object.
Coordinates – Allows you to enter the latitude and longitude of a location and name it.

Now, remember, the Garmin Instinct, despite everything else, it is an Activity Tracker!
Features like advanced sleep monitoring, number of steps, 24-hour heart rate, intensity minutes and stress tracking are as important in the city as they are in the country.

Other Features Include:
Calendar
Calories (both resting and active)
Weather and temperature
Smart notifications for phone calls, alerts, etc.
Altimeter
Compass
Barometer

The Garmin Instinct uses the “Elevate” wrist heart rate technology, which monitors changes in blood flow by shining light through the skin. With Garmin's Elevate technology, you can ditch the chest strap or other types of equipment used to measure your heart rate during your workouts. You just DON’T need it!

Garmin's All-day stress tracking feature measures your heart rate and then uses that data to reveal when your body is experiencing stress and when you are at rest and recovering. This stress-tracking feature will allow you to see how your body copes with day-to-day stresses. This tool gives a user an opportunity to observe whether the lifestyle/training changes they make are helping to change stress levels.

The smartwatch also offers the Live-Track feature that allows users to share their workout results in real-time. Once you install the Garmin Connect app on your smartphone, you can share your timed activities with your friends and family via email or social media. You can also share your heart rate or cadence from your Live-Track page as well.

And since this watch is made to go and work with you for long periods of time, it needs to have the "Juice" in order to perform the way Garmin and you need it to.
Battery life: Up to 14 days in smartwatch mode, Up to 16 hours in GPS mode, up to 40 hours in UltraTrac™ battery saver mode. So, even without a portable charging device, the Instinct probably has the "Go-Go-Juice" to take you there and back again. Sounds like the title of a book, right?

Well, go ahead and start making your own stories about how far you've traveled and how well your body's doing, after all, you have all the data you need in order to keep on keeping on.

Remember, you can TRUST your Instinct  (Smart Watch) from Garmin… Just saying.

Ok, we get it. The cold winter winds of January are blowing outside, well, maybe not really, but it is colder than you would like it to be. But are you using the cold as an excuse to dial back on, or putting off your exercise routine now that it gets dark earlier, and a little frosty outside?

Well, whether you know it or not. Since Christmas, the daylight is taking a rebound, and each day will see a minute or two more of sunlight. Yes, the natural order of things is still working. And that means you can count on the high summer sunshine to bring that heat come July and August in the northern hemisphere, and sooner if you pass through Florida and places south.

If you want to make sure you look good in that suit this coming summer, and not embarrass yourself so that you need to have one of those 3 sizes too big t-shirts on, as you’re walking down the sands of the beach. You need to get yourself in gear and commit to working on getting that body toned and defined so you feel confident as you walk down that beach, who knows, you may even turn a head or two as you walk by. That is of course if they’re looking for all the right reasons and not looking at you because there is soooo much of you!

It may be the middle of January but before you know it, it’s going to be time to book that vacation to sunny places. And with January here, you have 6 months before most of us are thinking about getting “This Year’s” swimsuit! For the procrastinators, who put off dialing up the exercise routines, the time to think about a spray-on-tan will be here before you know it!

So, what do you do? Well, if you’ve been working out now and then during the warmer months of the year. Nothing has really changed. If that is, you used to go to the gym on a regular basis. But maybe with the holiday season that just ended, so did your gym membership. Well, you need to do what you did last year and shop around. But you need to hurry, because most of the gym membership sales will soon be going off. After all, they are geared to taking advantage of all those New Year resolutions that have just been made and offering their memberships at a low discount rate, at least for the first 1-3 months.

So go and shop around if your workout routine means taking advantage of all that in-house weight reduction equipment. But if you are a workout at home type of person. Who has a few weights at home but use them mainly to help give your muscles some tone, and are usually hitting the streets, or mountain paths on a running or jogging routine. Then you don’t need to worry about looking for any membership incentives. Your whole incentive is just plain getting yourself back in shape so you won’t be embarrassed when that guy kicks that sand in your face out on the beach.

Planning: Nothing just happens, if you’re working towards the goal of getting yourself back in great shape in time for the summer sunshine, you need to “Plan for it!” If you’re going to a gym, plan ahead on what your routine is going to be and then get in there and do it! You need to make yourself accountable for the time and money your spending at that “Meat” processing plant. Cause that’s just what it really is. A good gym processes the raw material (your body) into a finished product. In your case, a well-defined, toned muscle based package that will be ready for the beach come July, early June if you really work at it.

Most gyms will give you the option to meet with a physical trainer, take advantage of this and ask questions and inform, him/her what your goals are, and what they recommend for the best machine circuit to help you achieve your goal. Pay attention to them, after all, this is what they get paid to do. And it might be a good idea to get on their good side, this way, they are more likely to offer some free advice if they see you are really trying to make good on their recommendations!

Accountability: This is the "keyword" in your whole arsenal of getting fit. You need to plan for that goal of getting your body in better shape and you need to have a tool that will track your daily routines so you can see your progress or lack thereof. The best way to go about this is with a good Activity Watch or one that provides a Heart Rate Monitor so you can see just how well your body is performing based on the amount of stress and physical activity you are subjecting it to.

One that I like and recommend to anyone who is serious about getting themselves in good overall shape is the Garmin Forerunner 920XT Multisport GPS Watch The Forerunner 920 offers the most advanced training features into one unit, like VO2 Max, running dynamics, and live tracking. The 920xt even has smart notifications to keep you connected on the run!

Another great, accurate Activity Monitor that also has a wrist-based heart rate monitor is the Garmin Vivoactive HR Strapless Heart Rate SmartWatch Your every active moment like running, swimming, (indoor pool naturally), and skiing is carefully monitored with built-in sports apps. With smart notifications, the status of these activities will be displayed on the colored touchscreen of this smartwatch. Apart from vigorous workouts, it also silently collects information like daily steps, floors climbed, sleep cycles and intensity minutes.

Taking your body-makeover routines seriously means a commitment on your part to follow through with making this fitness regimen a part of your normal, daily activity. Only in this way will you stay the course of getting your body in the shape you are looking for when that sunlight shines down on you, while you're enjoying those sandy beaches!

So, are YOU committed to getting that body of yours ready for summer? 

I know I am!