08/26/2026
Your fitness tracker can tell you a lot. The problem starts when you assume it knows you better than you know yourself.
I wore an Oura Ring for years and found it genuinely useful. It helped me identify patterns in sleep, recovery, HRV and readiness. I saw interesting changes after vacations, lower-volume training weeks and even evening yoga. Used that way, wearable technology can be an excellent tool.
But I also learned that a score can be very wrong.
One morning my Oura readiness score was 94, yet when I started deadlifting, 305 pounds felt like a tank. I shut the workout down, came back the following morning and the weights moved exactly as they should. My new readiness score? 93.
Virtually the same number. Completely different performance.
That experience changed the way I look at wearables. Sleep stages are estimates, HRV needs context, and recovery scores are interpretations—not verdicts. Worse, becoming overly fixated on getting the “right” sleep or readiness score can eventually become counterproductive.
My approach now is much simpler: use the device for data, use a journal for context, and let your actual performance provide the reality check.
The tracker gets a vote. It doesn’t get veto power.
I explore all of this—including orthosomnia, sleep-score accuracy, HRV, recovery data and why I eventually retired my Oura Ring—in the new article Your Fitness Tracker Is Not Your Doctor.
Read the full article at the link in bio.