You may have noticed numerous pro athletes sporting a Whoop band over the last few years, including golfers, swimmers and footballers. The subscription-based wearable promises users to capture data that will offer the most meaningful impact on their health.
But what is Whoop and how does it work? Is it a service that’s better suited for professional athletes or can it suit everyday use?
We’ve put together this guide to Whoop so you can decide whether the service is right for you.
What is Whoop?
Whoop is a wearable health and fitness tracker that measures a user’s physical and mental health metrics. The brand claims that it’s able to outperform other leading wearables and is “one of the most powerful, most accurate and most wearable human performance tools you can buy.”
How does Whoop work?
To use Whoop you need to subscribe to a membership. At the time of writing, a Whoop membership costs £27/$30/€30 a month or £229/$239/€264 for an annual membership. You can even opt for a 24-month subscription which costs £384/$399/€444.
Once you’ve subscribed you’ll receive the Whoop 4.0 wrist strap and battery pack, plus access to the Whoop app. From here Whoop uses its five LEDs and four photodiodes to automatically track thousands of your data points, including sleep quality, Strain Score (your body’s daily exertion rate) and Recovery Score.
You can customise exactly what’s tracked and even choose from over 140 additional behaviours and habits for a more personalised experience.
Also included is the ChatGPT-powered Whoop Coach which identifies patterns from your data and can generate personalised health and recovery advice based on said data.
How is Whoop different to other fitness trackers?
Visually the biggest difference is that the Whoop band doesn’t have a screen, which according to Whoop “means you can focus on your health”.
Whoops has designed a waterproof, wireless battery pack that can recharge the device without you needing to remove the strap, so you won’t miss any data capture. In our review we actually found recharging via the battery pack takes just under two hours, so you won’t have to wear this for too long.
Whoop not only promises to capture data “more often and with more precision than most wearables” but to “demystify” your data to take the guesswork out of determining whether certain lifestyle changes actually do make a difference.
