Life has a way of blind-siding you from time to time, and if you’re like me, it can throw you off your game. I like a well-organized structure to what I’m going to be doing each day and if possible a time frame to accomplish everything in. That includes my fitness routine. I like to start of the day waking up and getting outside for a morning walk/jog before I head off to the gym to do a little lifting to keep things toned and in shape for what comes my way. That’s the normal routine for during the week. But on the weekend, I like to push things up a few notches and plan out in advance some mountain trail running and then once a month take part in a cycling event to keep my body well rounded, fitness wise.

Keeping myself committed to my fitness routines used to be an on again-off again relationship. Then someone told me that everyone needs to be accountable for something or someone to keep them on track to finish what we start. And she suggested that I get a smartwatch, one that fits in with the fitness programs I wanted to commit to, but not be so rigid that I couldn’t use it to track other activities that I may want to participate in. This way, whatever I do during the workweek or on the weekends, I would know that my fitness/activity monitor is tracking what I’m doing and provide me with a comprehensive data-track of how well I did that week.

After doing a lot of checking and cross-checking on various brands and models of activity watches, I decided on the Garmin Fenix 5 GPS smartwatch  It’s a smartwatch that I think was made just for me. Its rugged, which is what I want in any kind of watch, and being that I’m going to be wearing it ALL of the time, not just when exercising, it has to not only look good, but also take some pretty intense punishment while I’m putting myself and it, through my fitness routines.

This multi-sport fitness watch is built to take a beating. And it's versatile, so it great for indoor, or outdoor activities, from running those trails, aerobics, to swimming laps, which are a great overall conditioning exercise that works just about every muscle group that I use on a regular basis!

Its built-in GPS, three-axis gyroscopic compass, and barometric altimeter ensure that it’s also right at home in the mountains. It also has a reliable, heart rate monitor, along with a full suite of standard activity-tracking features (collecting metrics like distance, calories burned, etc.), and syncs with Garmin’s companion app for long-term health monitoring. This function alone is "Key" to me in seeing just how well I’m doing on a weekly and monthly basis. And the charts that are available, provide a great "visual" that I can immediately see how well I’m doing compared to my past routines and even allowing me to compare it to my friends who I share my data with.

I mentioned the multiple Apps that come with this great watch and I’ve been impressed with the functionality of them all. Not at least the “Round-trip Run and Round-trip Ride” - routing options gives runners and weekend cyclists, the ability to enter distances I would like to travel and have the watch suggest appropriate courses. So, I'm never at a loss of where I might want to head off to so that I’m never bored on my weekend cycling adventures.

Take it from me, this just might be the only fitness watch you’re ever going to need to keep you honest as you work to maintain your daily, weekly, monthly fitness routines. No matter which regimen you adopt, the Garmin Fenix 5  is a watch that does more than tells the time and date. It tells you just how well you’re doing compared to what you did yesterday….

Say, isn’t that part of their slogan???