WEBVTT - Human vs Machine: Fitness Gadgets 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:03.120 Decrypted is brought to you by red Hat, whose broad 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:06.520 portfolio of open source technologies for the enterprise helps you 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:08.760 get from where you are to where you want to be. 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:12.879 Red Hat the open technology to help you realize your vision. 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.079 Learn more at red hat dot com slash open tech. 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:20.480 Back in two thousand five, Jen Patty was a senior 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:24.360 designer at Apple. Her career was taking off, but like 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:27.160 a lot of us and sedentary office jobs, she was 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:30.360 struggling with her weight. It was a lot of anxiety 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:33.560 and depression and eating meals in my car and drinking 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:37.360 a lot, and uh driving a hunt, sitting a lot, 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:40.400 and working a lot. And I got to a point 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:42.720 where I knew I needed to make a change, but 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:45.560 I didn't know what to do because it was so overwhelming. 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:49.239 For years, Jenna tried a bunch of things. Eventually, she 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:53.159 committed to seeing a personal trainer every single week, and 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:56.440 it worked. She lost thirty pounds over the course of 0:00:56.480 --> 0:00:59.120 a year. She was so thrilled that she ended up 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:03.240 quitting her high paying job and became a personal trainer herself. Today, 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:06.080 Jen is forty five years old and she is the 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:15.160 fittest person I've ever met. Now, this is the tape 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:18.240 of you on a recent afternoon, basically getting your butt 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.720 kicked by Jim. It's great. I've been training with Jen 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:24.839 over the last two months, and she is really good 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:27.560 at her job and gets paid a lot for her expertise. 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.480 She charges her clients a hundred seventy dollars procession. But 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:34.160 in the decades since Jen has been honing her skills 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:36.920 the tech industry she left has also been hard at 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:40.720 work trying to automate away small slices of her specialty, 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:44.480 which is getting people fit. Most of these products so 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:47.480 far have been a flop, but there's a new generation 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:51.160 of devices just coming to the market now that don't 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:54.640 just track your steps or your calories. They actually tell 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:57.160 you what to do in real time, the way Jen 0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:00.480 has been doing with me. Jen thinks a compute could 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:03.760 never do her job, but after taking these gadgets out 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:06.560 for spin, I'm not so sure that Jen's career is 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:19.280 as robot proof as she thinks. Hi am Akito and 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:23.880 I'm brad Stone and this weeknd Decrypted. We have seventeen gadgets, 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:27.040 one Elite personal trainer, and two months for me to 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.600 see which is better, the human or the machine. It's 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:34.280 a competition that has big implications for the wearables industry 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:37.880 that's estimated to become a thirty four billion dollar market 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:41.079 by as well as the more than twenty thousand people 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:44.240 employed as trainers in the U S alone. This will 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:47.160 be the second episode in our series exploring the risk 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:51.360 that automation replaces our jobs. Tell us your stories, record 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:54.280 a voice message and send it to decrypted at Bloomberg 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:57.400 dot net and stay with us. I'll be discussing some 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:00.959 of the more interesting devices I tested, including a set 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:04.200 of heart rate sense and earbuds, emotion Sense and clip, 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:07.880 a chess trap, and a risk based activity tracker. At 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:09.840 the end of the show, I'll be sharing the gadget 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:17.000 I recommend the most. So to start today's show, I 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:18.880 want to go back a little bit too. When I 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:21.640 first met my wife Emily two years ago. Here we 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:28.040 go again, when we got married in January, and over 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:30.480 the course of our relationship, like a lot of people 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.560 who settle into long term relationships, I gradually stopped exercising 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.360 as much as I used to. In March, I realized 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:40.040 that I was about nine pounds heavier than when I 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:42.800 was single, and at my lean nest and you blame 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:45.640 your wife for this. Well, here's how I explained it 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:48.160 to Jen when I first met her. And why do 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:50.839 you think about is? I mean, I think a lot 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:53.680 of it is because I don't have this like existential 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:57.600 threat of never reading anyone, you know. And I think 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:00.800 back when I was single, I I just like there 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:04.040 was much a much bigger priority for me to stay 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:06.840 under a certain way and look a certain way. And 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:10.920 now I'm married, so I guess I don't care anymore. 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:14.400 So after I came to this realization in March, being 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:18.320 the diligent technology journalists that I am, the first thing 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:24.359 I turned to was obviously technology. I went into this 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:27.320 with plenty of skepticism, since I've had a lot of 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:31.359 disappointing experiences with wearables before. Yeah, I myself have a 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:34.840 robust collection of smart watches and fitness trackers that now 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:38.239 do a great job monitoring the dust levels and various 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:41.719 dust Yeah, I've had one or two fit bits before 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:45.040 to um and a GPS watch and even the super 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.640 Bulky Watch a couple of years back that tracked how 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:51.159 much I was sweating, and all of them generated these 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:53.960 really cool charts. But it was the same story over 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:56.520 and over again of ending up with all this data 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:58.760 and not really knowing what to do with it. They 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:00.880 didn't tell me what I should do, you how I 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:03.680 should change the way I lived my life, So I 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.000 guess I stopped using them after a few weeks. And yet, 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:08.520 knowing all of this, knowing that you were probably going 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:11.840 to be disappointed again, you still gave these gadgets another 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:15.240 girl I did. I did, and as I did my research, 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:18.680 I was intrigued because there was something different in the 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:22.200 way that these new devices were being marketed. So these 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:25.279 devices are not just giving you data, they're actually coaching 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:28.159 you through an exercise, right, And that made me wonder 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:30.680 whether they were just as good as the real thing, 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:33.760 just as good as having a human personal trainer. And 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:40.440 that's how I came to meet Jen Patty. Hey, that's good, good, 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:43.279 how are you for our first session? Jen came to 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:46.280 meet me at our office in downtown San Francisco, and 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.680 I was pretty nervous, which you can probably tell from 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:53.719 how high pitched my voice got. She's five eleven hundred 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:56.480 sixty pounds and at the time I didn't know that 0:05:56.520 --> 0:06:00.120 she competes in these crazy one hundred mile races in 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:04.680 the mountains for fun. I immediately got intimidated and regretted 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:07.960 what I got myself into. Okay, so today we're gonna 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:11.440 do some basic assessments to see where you're starting from 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:13.480 and your fitness, and then we're also going to talk 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:15.480 about your goals where you want to end up from 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:17.839 when we're done with our sessions together, and then I'll 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:20.159 help um you put a training plan like a road 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:23.239 math together. So how did it go? I was sore 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:30.559 for days? So what did Jen think about this little 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:34.320 experiment you are running pitting her against these machines. I 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:37.200 was a little nervous because I thought she might find 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.760 insulting or something. But Jen loved it. She really seemed 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:44.000 to relish in this competition. Like this time. She started 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:46.440 chatting up these two photographers at the end of one 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:53.880 of our runs. What's the podcast? I read a tech 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:59.000 podcast called Decrypted from bloom Brake, and I'm pitting her 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:02.680 Gen's up her Seal trainer against a bunch of new 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:07.880 fitness gadgets. I'm winning that proclaimed to be AI personal 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:19.240 coaches experience not as good or as attractive as I am. 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:22.160 And Jen has been so confident in her value as 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:26.120 a personal trainer. So confident that technology would never replace 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:30.120 her job that she's even helped design these exercise videos 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:33.320 on an app from Fitbit called fit Star. And that's 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:37.000 an interesting choice for someone whose livelihood depends on people 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:39.840 needing to come see her to get fit. Do you 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:43.840 ever stop and think, why am I automating away my job? 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:46.560 It was in the back of my head, But again, 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:49.880 like why am I doing my job? I care about health, 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:52.040 So I'm doing my job because I want to make 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:54.840 everybody healthier. Like I can't pick up all the starfishes 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:57.320 off the beach. I can only help one or two. 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:01.600 And making fitness more excess bowl for more people. That's 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:05.160 something she really cares about because she knows most people 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:08.280 can't afford to spend hundreds of dollars on a trainer 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:11.960 every month. She's still working with some clients on the side, 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:14.920 and she made time for me for the story, but 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:18.200 these days she's spending most of her energy building a 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:21.640 startup that designs these public spaces where people can work 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:24.840 out for free, kind of like these jungle gyms for adults. 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:28.160 So Jens sounds smart here. Even though technology is starting 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:31.400 to encroach into her former career, as a personal trainer. 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:34.160 She is moving on to a new career. Yeah, although 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:36.840 she just kept laughing it off when I pressed her 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:40.480 about this possibility of AI personal trainers living up to 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:44.120 their promise. So you see how these guyshets coming into 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:47.839 the market and you don't feel threatened. No, I mean, 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:51.640 I'm excited. Trainers want to see people out there exercising. 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:54.240 So whatever is getting people off the couch. And I'm 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:57.720 pretty sure any trainer you interview will say this, anything 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:00.200 that gets people off the couch, we're excited about out. 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:03.200 Do you talk about this with your friends who are 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:05.800 trainers to about some of the gadgets that are coming 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:08.480 we lack it. Yeah, why do you laugh? Tell me 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:11.480 why you laugh? Because we can tell you pretty accurately 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:13.120 when you're when you're not going to be wearing that 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:15.720 fit bit anymore. Okay, when you're gonna stop using it, 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:17.240 and we can tell you how it's going to fail, 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.280 and then we just we laugh. Yeah, tell me tell 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.920 me more. We just know when that thing is when 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:28.440 you're going to get bored of it. We know that 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:31.800 something that helps you track what you're eating, that's if 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:36.560 you're not motivated intrinsically well, look at what the trends 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:40.480 we see today, like what are millennials spending their money 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:44.440 and resources on experiences? Right? So that's something that we 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:48.640 share with another human being. The more tech that comes 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.840 into our life, the more we seem to value in 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:57.400 person human experiences. As I continue to meet up with Jen, 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:01.120 more companies sent me review copies of their areous devices. 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:04.960 I love gadgets, and this was like Christmas for me, 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:09.000 although my wife wasn't very happy with all the boxes 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.719 and the cords that were piling up in our bedroom, 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.680 and she said, I looked pretty ridiculous each time I 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:24.000 went running wearing one of these gadgets. Stop, he looks psychotic. 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:30.720 What do you think You've never looked cuter? What? What 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:36.440 is this? So? This is my what band, This is 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:39.640 my Polar running watch, this is my fifthit, this is 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:44.640 my Atlas strength training watch, and this is my move 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:50.160 activity tracker. And then this is this is that I 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:54.120 hate that thing. Now. I'm not going to go over 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:58.000 all seventeen devices that I tested for the story today, 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:00.400 but one of the first devices that him in the 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:04.640 mail was a Bluetooth connected headset called v that connects 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:08.040 to an app and it's specifically made for runners. This 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:12.160 headset has a special technology inside the earbud that detects 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:14.480 your heart rate. Oh my god, I've learned something today. 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:16.880 I really had no idea that you could detect a 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:20.080 heart rate from someone's ear. Yeah. And what makes it 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:23.520 really cool, though, is that it uses all that information 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:26.280 on your heart rate and also your speed to give 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:29.320 you real time feedback on how you're running. I took 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:31.719 it out on a three mile run in my neighborhood 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:35.040 the day it came in the mail. I'm v your 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:39.400 new personal trainer. I sense your heart rate, your steps, 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:42.559 and a whole lot of other things a human trainer can't. 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:46.480 That you just heard is the AI personal trainer that 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:49.240 talks to you and she chimes in when she wants 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:52.640 you to push harder. Come on, diet deep, you're about 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:56.120 to break your and remembers how you did in previous runs. 0:11:56.480 --> 0:12:00.080 Last workout, you got a bit fatigued. I'm only bring 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:02.920 it up because your body might still be recovering. My 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:05.680 favorite thing about this is that my name Aki was 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:08.440 in a preset name in the app, so I had 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.480 to choose a nickname, which led to funny encouragements like 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:16.840 this nice work. Warrior. Henceforth ye shall be known as Warrior. 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:19.760 I think I'm retiring the name of Okay, so Warrior, 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:23.520 what was your verdict? Ultimately, I didn't feel like the 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:27.360 really pushed me and motivated me to train harder the 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:29.880 way I really hoped it might. Um, it's a very 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:32.560 new product and there's still not a whole lot it 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:36.720 can do, especially for something that costs two hundred fifty dollars. 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:39.000 So at this point I would call it more of 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:42.360 a chatty companion to keep you amused through a boring run, 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:44.199 So you wouldn't call it a coach or a trainer. 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:46.720 Now I don't think so, Okay. So one point for Jen, 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:51.640 zero for the machines. Okay, So next up, you tried 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:55.079 something called the Lumo Run. Yeah. It's a little clip 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:58.320 installed with motion sensors to clip onto the back of 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:02.400 your shorts. It costs hundred dollars and appears with an 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:05.480 app after your runs. It shows you how well you 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:09.320 fared on five very specific measures of your running form, 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:12.440 and how did you do well? It told me that 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:15.840 I scored too high on this measure called your bounce, 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:18.440 which is how much your body moves up and down 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:21.599 while you run. And to help me correct that, the 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:24.480 apple so show me a video of this exercise called 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:28.040 squat shuffles that's supposed to help me bounce less over time. 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:31.080 So this was really like having a running coach. Yeah, 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:34.120 this is actually far more feedback than when I got 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:37.920 with Jen. Her feedback was just a little bit more generic, like, 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:40.000 you know, pump up your knees on these hills or 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:43.400 take smaller steps. So Jen was never this quantitative. No, 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:48.080 but I should say getting these stats wasn't very motivating, 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:50.720 and it really look at the app after my runs 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.080 and think like, oh man, I can't wait to go 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:55.880 my next run to fix my bounce. Okay, so the 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:58.360 Loomo run not really for you, No, I don't think 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:01.760 so okay, So one more point for Jen. Still zero 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:07.840 for the machines. So acky? I mean, Warrior, what is 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:11.120 the most expensive gadget that you tried? Well, Brad, you 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:15.720 are a big basketball thing and a lot of NBA stars, 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:19.800 including DeAndre Jordan's, have been seen wearing this black wristband. 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:23.280 It has a heart rate monitor on the back of 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:26.560 the device. It's called the Whoop and they started by 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:30.720 only selling to professional sports teams at first, but last 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:34.800 year they started selling to ordinary consumers. To This device 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:40.360 costs five dollars for this small wristband. Yeah, when you 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:43.880 look at the hardware, it doesn't really look a whole 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:46.680 lot different from some of the other activity tracerds that 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:49.840 I tried um For example, the Fitbit Charged two. I 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.480 tested that too, and it's a wristband with all day 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:55.520 heart rate monitoring. But what's really cool about the Whoop 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:59.440 is the software. Unlike the Fitbit, it crunches all the 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:01.880 data that it collects to give you advice that you 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.520 can actually use, like what give us an example. So, 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:09.400 one score it calculates is this thing called the recovery score, 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:11.840 and it shows up on an app that pairs with 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:14.480 the device first thing in the morning after you wake up. 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:17.320 It's looking at things like how much sleep you got 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:21.320 and how much stress your body is currently under using 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:24.720 this relatively new heart rate metric that's becoming popular in 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:28.360 sports medicine. And if your score is high, it tells 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:30.720 you that your body is ready for hard workout for 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:33.680 the day. But you know, let's say you didn't sleep 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:36.440 all the night before and your score is low, then 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:39.360 it'll tell you to take it easy. I'm looking myself 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:41.720 forward to a low score. But tell me how it 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.640 all competes with the human and the picture. Chin. Well, 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:49.160 she didn't keep detailed stats on my sleep, but she 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:52.200 did calibrate or workouts together if she thought I looked 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:54.840 tired or if she knew that I was still sore 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:58.000 from previous workout. Okay, so can we score one point 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:01.040 for the gadget here? I think so, although I do 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:03.400 have to say this kind of advice on when to 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:06.440 take it easy isn't really what I needed the most, 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:09.160 help with what I really wanted, with something that pushed 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:11.640 me harder. You know, something that motivated me to work 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:16.280 harder than I ever could alone. Coming up? Ok, you 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:19.120 will share the device she liked the most and whether 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:21.840 she liked it enough to replace her personal trainer, Jen. 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:32.920 That'll be right after this word from our sponsor. You 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:35.480 know where you want to be. Red hat has the 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:38.840 broad portfolio of open source technologies to get you there. 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:43.160 Meet your evolving business challenges head on with secure solutions 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:48.640 for the enterprise, including Linux platforms and containers, hybrid cloud infrastructure, 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:54.560 application integration and development, operations management, and beyond. Visit red 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.800 hat dot com slash open Tech to learn more. Red 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:06.760 Hat the open technology to help you realize your vision. Hi. Everyone, 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:10.320 it's Pierre producer here on Decrypted. Thanks to all of 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:13.520 you sending us your stories. We absolutely love hearing from you. 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:16.800 This week, we got one message that was so relevant 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:19.000 to this episode we just had to share it with 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:22.159 all of you. Hi Decrypted. My name is Jenny and 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:24.560 I'm a personal trainer in New York City. I hear 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:27.879 all the time people saying that apps are going to 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:31.360 take the place of personal trainers. And while I think 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:36.000 fitness apps are a great addition to somebody's workout program, 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:38.679 they are certainly not there at five o'clock in the 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:41.560 morning holding you accountable if you don't get out of bed. 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:46.520 Personal trainers are personal. They listen to people's woes, prop 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:49.600 them up when they're feeling down, and keep them accountable 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:53.480 when they eat ice cream for breakfast. Not only that, 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:57.320 but personal trainers are standing over their client, making sure 0:17:57.359 --> 0:18:01.119 they are not hurting themselves, counting every rep and making 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.600 sure that they finished the entire workout, no matter how 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:07.000 tired or lazy they might feel. Show me an app 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:09.800 that does all these things, and I will stand down 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:18.080 welcome back to DECRYPTI. Before the break, we went through 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:20.960 the v the Loumo Run, and the Whoop, all new 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:23.399 fitness devices that aim to be more useful than a 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:27.280 fitbit or an Apple Wash. And when I eventually settled 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:30.919 on my number one pick, naturally, there was one person 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:34.639 I really wanted to check my work with. Okay, they 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.160 wanted to be pretty tight, like, so it's good, it's 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:43.760 actually it's good. Okay, anything for the podcast doctor, how's 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:49.119 that right there? That's all right, okay, full disclosure. What 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:51.760 you're listening to here is me putting on the move 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:54.720 hr burn, which is a black strap that you wear 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:58.119 in your chest. It measures your heart right, and it 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:01.320 appears with the company's app that talks to you, coaching 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:05.280 you through difficult outdoor runs where you alternate between sprinting 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:09.160 and jogging, and also through these indoor exercise classes. Right. 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:12.520 I tried the intermediate level indoor exercise, which had me 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:18.680 start out with some jumping jacks. Let's go keeps game time. 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:26.840 Make sure your legs land outside of your hips. Now 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:31.199 that computer voice you just heard is computerized trainer. And 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:33.480 what I really liked about it is, you know, since 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:36.359 she's following your heart rate collected through the chest straps, 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:39.480 she knows how hard you're working. She tells you where 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:42.440 your heart rate should be during each exercise. For example, 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:45.520 zone four means you're working really hard and zone one 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:48.439 means you're basically resting. And that all means when you're 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:51.080 not meeting the goals, the app yells at you to 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:57.320 work harder. Zone three bush harder to reach the target, 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:01.320 So the targets none for zone too. Time to push, 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:11.480 Let's do, let's go. You're almost at the finish line. 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:14.040 And after thirty three minutes of this, I've never been 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:16.399 more thankful that this is a podcast and not a 0:20:16.480 --> 0:20:21.360 video show. I was drenched in sweat stadium. You're doing 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:30.680 great Zone four. I can keep it up in front 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:38.240 of us. Good Brad, This is the hardest time before 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:50.160 the end is insightful. Way to go nice, So, Brad, 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:52.320 would you think you know? I love the data collection, 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:55.960 I love the workout in designed for me. The AI itself, 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:59.400 the motivational tool, I found it funny. I don't think 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:03.520 it quite sells the those motivational aspects of it. Um 0:21:03.680 --> 0:21:05.560 you know it's AI has a long way to go 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:09.840 before I could mimic, the intonations, the humanity of actual 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:12.160 people who are trying to get you to work harder. Yeah, 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:19.439 definitely so aky. What's the final verdict. Well, over the 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:22.560 course of my sessions with Jen and also over the 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:26.200 course of my workouts with these various devices, I've lost 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:29.960 almost seven pounds, which has been enough for me to 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:31.919 get back to the body that I had when I 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:35.040 was single. At the beginning and the end of this project, 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:38.000 I ran a one point five mile sprint. This is 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:41.800 to test my cardiovascular strength, and I've gotten a whole 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:45.679 minute faster, which is pretty cool. And I don't know, 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:48.600 I just feel lighter on my feet, my clothes fit better. 0:21:49.000 --> 0:21:52.040 My wife says that I seem more energized and in 0:21:52.080 --> 0:21:55.080 a better mood every day. So I think this has 0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:58.600 been a pretty successful experiment for me. So, Aki, do 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:00.600 you think it was Jen the the trick or the 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:04.400 move gadget? So thinking about this, and I didn't really 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:07.600 set this up as a scientific experiment. I was trying 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:10.040 all the gadgets at the same time, and I was 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:13.560 also training with Jen, so it's hard to objectively tell. Okay, Well, 0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:16.280 granting that this is subjective, let me put it this way, 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:18.640 if you had to choose between three months with Jen 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:22.280 or using the Move gadget, which would you do? Well. 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:26.159 Jen is expensive. She charges a hundred seventy five dollars 0:22:26.280 --> 0:22:30.520 per session, whereas the Move costs just sixty dollars for 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:32.880 the chess trap and the app that comes with it 0:22:32.920 --> 0:22:36.640 is free. So at my current salary, I would probably 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:39.440 choose the gadget. Um, it made me work really hard 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:41.919 and the exercises I found were really fun. Okay, well, 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:44.199 let's take price out of the equation, because this is 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:46.520 about the future of a certain kind of work. If 0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:48.640 all things were equal and price was not a concern, 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:51.840 which would you do? I would hire Jen and a heartbeat, 0:22:51.960 --> 0:22:54.639 yeah for sure. I Mean working out with her was 0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:59.080 definitely more fun, more motivating than having this computer voice 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:02.080 talk at me like you talking about earlier. And the 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:05.440 workouts I did with her were just a lot more variable, 0:23:05.560 --> 0:23:08.399 you know. Um we did pull ups and stairs prints, 0:23:08.520 --> 0:23:11.239 and in our last session together we went on this 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:15.359 ten mile run along them marin Headlands, and she even 0:23:15.359 --> 0:23:18.040 gave me cool tips like, um, what and when to 0:23:18.160 --> 0:23:21.160 eat for the half marathon that I'm training for. Right. 0:23:21.160 --> 0:23:23.920 But the thing is, I mean we can reliably say 0:23:23.960 --> 0:23:26.680 that the AI in devices like the Move gadget will 0:23:26.680 --> 0:23:29.000 get better. Right, So, over time, do you think Jen's 0:23:29.080 --> 0:23:32.040 job is at risk? I think so, Yeah, maybe way 0:23:32.080 --> 0:23:34.800 down the road at least for now, though you would 0:23:34.840 --> 0:23:37.840 need a lot of disposable income to train with Jen 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:40.919 in the first place. And as long as Jen is 0:23:41.320 --> 0:23:44.120 much better than these devices for people who don't really 0:23:44.119 --> 0:23:46.440