Looking to get fit in 2025? It’s time to WHOOP it up with this wearable tech, offering live data that tells you how your body is performing

The wearable tech company has become one of the biggest in the market – and its sleek device could help you smash your fitness goals next year and beyond.

It’s fair to say that 2024 has been the year of the WHOOP. Back in May, the online fitness brand started working with football legend Cristiano Ronaldo, and was recently valued at an incredible $3.6bn. And it’s not just football’s greatest that has started wearing the heart rate and sleep monitor – tennis star Aryna Sabalenka, winner of the US Open, and NFL star quarterback Patrick Mahommes of the Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs, are also users.

But a WHOOP isn’t just for those super-human athletes – it’s for us mere mortals as well. And if you’re looking to get fit in 2025, it could be the perfect partner to help you achieve your fitness goals.

The company first launched its small but powerful piece of kit back in 2015 - and what started out as a piece of kit you’d simply wear via a strap around your wrist, has changed dramatically in nine years – now you can wear it on your arm, and even in specially made underwear and cycling shorts. A key thing about a Whoop is it doesn’t have a screen on it – there’s no data to view like a watch. You view all your stats on your phone instead.

The premise of WHOOP is simple – wear it 24/7 and it will track your heart rate, your sleep patterns and plenty more. It gives you a recovery score every day (which is determined by how many hours’ sleep you get and the types of exercise you do) and can even give you a heads up of when you are falling ill. It uses five main metrics to check how you are doing – respiratory rate, blood oxygen levels, your resting heart rate, your heart rate variability and your skin temperature. WHOOP also recently introduced a ChatGPT-style AI that you can ask questions about your performance. And you can use it to set training plans and even track what food and drink you’ve had in a week.

So what is it like to use a WHOOP? Andy Sherwood is a ride captain with Raha Cycling, Abu Dhabi’s biggest amateur cycling club, and he’s been wearing a Whoop now for three years, and he believes it has many benefits that make it worth paying the 120AED a month fee (there are annual packages available if you want to save money).

“My WHOOP has become a very useful tool to keep my training on track,” he says. “At the most basic level, I find it very convenient compared to other heart rate monitors. I can wear it on my bicep when cycling, which is much more comfortable than wearing a HR strap around my chest. WHOOP also recently teamed up with a cycling brand called Assos to make cycling shorts that hold my WHOOP, so I don’t even notice it on a ride. The battery is decent as well – I have to charge it every 4-5 days, but it’s convenient, as you attach the battery to the strap and can wear it until it’s charged.”

There’s more to it than convenience though for Sherwood, who rides 3-4 times a week and also goes to the gym regularly. “My WHOOP gives me good guidance on how tired I am, and how hard I’ve pushed when exercising. I’ve become quite obsessed with my sleep stats. I never get enough sleep and it motivates me to try and go to bed earlier – this is important as it helps so much with recovery and healing tired muscles.”

WHOOP has many documented cases of how the device can tip off users who might be under the weather – for example, Pro Golfer Nick Watney noticed his respiratory rate was high a few years back, and discovered he actually had Covid.

Sherwood also has some tips for first-time Whoopers. “Buy a spare strap and battery,” he adds. “I managed to lose my battery at one point for a few days. Also, if you do a sport that involves using your arms a lot (like cycling or a racket sport), I recommend getting a Whoop bicep band, as I think the readings are more accurate.”

So if you’re looking to get a 360 view of your health and exercise activities next year, then start 2025 with a WHOOP.

For more information, head to https://www.whoop.com/ae/en/