WHOOP recently announced their new 4.0 fitness tracker with some pretty big updates. The tracker known for working with some of the top athletes in sports, like pro golfers Rory McIlroy and Nelly Korda, NFL’s Patrick Mahomes, mountain bike world champion Kate Courtney, Swimmer Michael Phelps, and CrossFit champion Rich Froning, adds some new sensors, new data, new hardware, and even a new way to wear the device.
What is WHOOP?
If you are new to fitness tracking, the WHOOP platform is unlike any other fitness tracker out there. Geared towards athletes to track their fitness levels and recovery, people of all fitness levels have found the data it provides to be extremely useful. Whether it is strain levels, sleep tracking, or recovery score, the WHOOP platform helps you understand where you are at, and how ready you are to take on training that day.
Now in its fourth release, the WHOOP band is made up of the pod, the strap (or now pieces of clothing), and the mobile app. The pod contains all of the sensors, battery, and antennae. A battery pack allows you to charge the WHOOP 4.0, even while on the go, which itself is charged with a USB-C cable. Unlike the Apple Watch, the Whoop 4.0 should last your 4-5 days between charges. The pod locks into the strap, and is held in place just above your wrist bones, where it uses various light sensors to collect data. Because there is no display, the mobile app provides access to all of the data that WHOOP collects and crunches.
We’ll save the deep dive into the data for a full review of the WHOOP 4.0 and app, but there are a few key metrics that as an athlete you’ll be interested in.
Strain – This gives you a daily value based on how hard you worked out compared to your max heart rate. It’s more than just your workouts though. It could be things like carrying the groceries in or what feels like a half-mile walk to get to my car at the office if I get there late.
Recovery – The Recovery Score is a composite of data from heart rate variability, resting heart rate, and sleep performance, to give you a score between 0 and 100%. It lets you know how ready you are to take on your next workout, and how well you are coping with things like stress, nutrition, training, and can even help let you know if you are getting sick.
WHOOP works on a subscription basis. Membership is $30 monthly (less if you pay for 12 or 18 months upfront) and the basic WHOOP 4.0 is free. It comes with the basic black strap and you can add premium straps or even create your own custom strap for an additional charge. There is even an option to add custom engraving.
What’s New
Here is the reason you are probably reading this article.
The new WHOOP 4.0 has a host of new features. First off, it’s about 33% smaller than the previous generation. Not bad for most people, but smaller users will appreciate the smaller size. Inside though, they have increased the number of photodiodes to four, and the LED’s to five, which are now green, red, and IR for better accuracy. There is also a small motor inside to provide haptic alerts, and for the first time, an LED that indicates battery life on the side of the pod.
The 4.0 also has a smaller battery that attaches to the top of the pod to recharge it. It is now waterproof, so it truly can be worn while charging, even in the shower.
The new Superknit bands allow you to easily swap the WHOOP 4.0 from one band to another, simply by opening the closure to loosen the band on your wrist, and then sliding the ends of the band of the pod.
The Health Monitor brings together some existing metrics with some new ones to give you all of the data in a single view. This quick view helps to identify anything that might be out of the ordinary for you and could be a flag that there might be an issue. Respiratory rate, resting heart rate, and heart rate variability are all current metrics, with Blood Oxygen and Skin Temperature being added. Again, we’ll go into how these metrics help in a future review. You can also download your data in PDF format to share with your coach, trainer, or doctor.
The new sleep coach is there to help you find your optimal sleep routine. You have the option to wake at a specific time, sleep until you hit your sleep goal, or until you hit your optimal recovery. It tracks your sleep debt, and provides suggestions on what you need to hit your recovery goals. The haptic alerts help to gently wake you up, discreetly to not bother your others.
Along with the new Superknit bands, the WHOOP 4.0 can be worn in other places besides the wrist. Bicep bands provide additional placement on the arm, but there are new Body apparel pieces that allow the WHOOP 4.0 to be hidden in your clothing. Sports bras, boxers, shorts, and tights are now available with small pockets for the pod to fit in that allow it to still track all of your data all day long.
WHOOP Pro
WHOOP has added a new option for users with the 4.0 that not only gives them a discount, but also a free item every quarter. WHOOP Pro is an additional $12 a month, but gives you 20% off on the WHOOP Store along with free shipping and returns. Every quarter, you’ll have a chance to grab a free item, like a spare battery, a new band, and even some Body apparel. You’ll also have exclusive first access to new releases. You can peruse their site to see what the WHOOP Pro discount will be, and also what items are eligible as quarterly gifts. What you’d pay for the free quarterly items covers the cost and them some of the $12 a month fee, not to mention the free shipping and returns.
We are working with WHOOP to get a WHOOP 4.0 in for review. As we have a chance to test it out and get more familiar with the platform, we’ll follow up with another article talking about some of the metrics, and a full review after at least a few months of use.
Heckling Editor, Image Taker, Crash Test Dummy, and Beard Master at Bikeworldnews.com
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