This post is sponsored by Garmin Venu but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.
For the last year or so, I’ve felt glued to my desk at the office, and my scale at home reflects that. Between creating content for The Next Gentleman and then starting up Beardly Media, work days are long, involved, and full of emails. The entrepreneur lifestyle certainly comes with sacrifices but exercise, in any form, shouldn’t be one of them.
I recently partnered with Garmin to test out the Venu — a GPS smartwatch designed to keep people on track to meet their fitness goals.
What is the Garmin Venu?
The Garmin Venu is a smartwatch that combines the power of Garmin GPS with the accessibility of a top-of-the-line activity tracker and pretty well-rounded smartphone compatibility.
What Does the Garmin Venu Do?
Very high-level features include a sharp, customizable watch face; health stats like daily steps, calories burned, heart rate, stress levels, and body battery; detailed charts that show change over time; as well as the Garmin Pay contactless payment option for purchases on-the-go.
The magic of the Venu lies between it and the connected apps.
With Garmin Connect, users can add their favorite exercise activities, like running, swimming, and cycling, among others. Users can also download dozens of training routines and workouts for any type of skill level, like “30-Minute Blast” or “The Hotel Workout.”
Another app, Garmin Connect IQ, is a hub for compatible third-party apps built for the smartwatches. There, users will find options for music, ride-sharing, navigation and more, as well as additional Garmin widgets like new watch faces, fitness routines, and navigation aids.
For paid subscribers of Spotify or Amazon Music, you can upload music onto your Venu and stream it through your bluetooth headphones!
Garmin Venu Review and Personal Use
My experience with wearables has been limited to one activity tracker watch and a very sleek looking denim jacket. Despite that, it’s kind of serendipitous that this smartwatch came into my life when it did.
The truth is, in the last 18 months, I’ve gained around 35 pounds (somehow I look the same). I get lost in my work and could sit at a table with my laptop anywhere from two-to-four hours without taking a break for food, chatting, or even the restroom. It’s often that I find myself looking away from the screen and finding that the sun went down without noticing.
That’s entrepreneurship for you, but this specific instance is a bad practice that needed correcting.
What I’m finding while wearing the Venu, as I did with the other activity tracker watch, is that among the sea of watches that I own, this is the one I choose on a regular basis.
Why?
I choose the Venu in the morning for a few different reasons.
With the Venu on, I feel encouraged to walk to and from work, about 12 blocks each way, to see my stats live, right in front of my eyes. The 30-40 minute walk in the morning makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something before the workday even begins, which is a great feeling. It’s also a great way to unwind from all the screen time
I love that the Venu supplies me with information about my body that I can’t physically see. I’m talking about measured stress levels, blood pressure, and, somehow, my energy levels. It allows me to make more informed decisions about when to eat, breathe, sleep, etc.
Fun fact: I’m a consistent Low-Medium stress level. Is that fun or worrisome?
The feature I’m most happy to see out of the Venu is that it yells at me when I sit for too long. The “Move Alert” feature, I think for somebody who sits at a desk a lot, is perfect. Sitting at work for too long, as we well know, can be detrimental to your eyes, back, brain, etc. When my Venu buzzes my wrist and says to move, I get up for water, take a short walk, get some fresh air, and chat with friends.
I have yet to tap into about 80% of the features of this GPS smartwatch. It is intuitive, but that’s how detailed it actually is. Right now, I’m happy to stay on top of myself to get back into the swing of being active.
