Whoop is the human performance
company that aim to unlock your potential through algorithm driven data.

I would like to
preface this review with a little background. I’ve never been great at the
recovery aspect of training. Training 5 times a week has never combined well
with being something of a night owl. Add to this that I now have a 2 year old
son at home and the variability of sleeping pattern that this all but
guarantees isn’t even totally within my control. Carrying a slightly hungover
feeling in to work each day, and the reasonable assumption that my training
isn’t likely to be as effective as it could be, had me drawn to Whoop and a
more in-depth approach to performance and recovery. Perhaps a better
understanding of my habits could give me something actionable. Was I truly
doing all I could do to increase my daily performance?

For this review I
wore the Whoop 4.0 tracker on my wrist for a full 3 months, mounted on the Onyx
SuperKnit band. Whoop do offer an extensive range of colours and printed
patterns, if you are looking to make a little more of a statement, but I have
always been a black on black on slate black type. The band is a low-profile,
micro-filament yarn with a soft backing. Perhaps the highest praise I can award
is that I am wearing it as a write this, having never once removed it (even in
pools and showers), and I have never once felt it a burden or irritation.

The Whoop 4.0
tracker sets itself apart from most wearables in the market in that it does not
track steps, measure elevated climbs, or bombard you with notifications. In
fact, the device notably omits any LCD display. Staying clear of any
smartphone-like characteristics, a haptic alarm is the only feature that could
be described as a notification, and one I’d have to describe as favourable to
the shrill and unforgiving chime of my smartphone alarm. I have mine set for a
steady 6am daily wake up, and I certainly wake in a better mood being stirred
by a gentle haptic tremor moving through my left wrist.

Physically, the
tracker is a small black rectangle with an easy-to-use clasp, and smooth,
rounded edges that make it both comfortable to wear and easy to clip on and
off. In addition to the SuperKnit band, there is a Whoop Body range available
that allows the tracker to be worn in all manner of clothing items, from
T-shirts to boxers and sports bras, should you wish to keep a clear wrist. The
device is packaged with a small external battery pack, that charges via usb-c
and affixes to the device, allowing an estimated battery life of 5 days, which seemed
to be about right in my case.

Software is where
the Whoop 4.0 really gets to shine. An intuitive application pairs effortlessly
to your device with a quick tap of the tracker to pair, and so begins the
process of learning about your physiology. A real-time health monitor displays
readings of your heartrate, resting heart rate, skin temperature, blood oxygen
levels, respiratory rate, and importantly, your heart rate variability. Every
aspect of the apps tracking is backed up by written information, why you would
want to know, and importantly, how to act on and improve the results.

As someone who
primarily resistance trains, with a couple of intense cardio sessions scattered
throughout my weekly routine, it was interesting to see a breakdown of my
sleep, recovery and strain represented each day. Colour coded graphics display
the effectiveness of your rest, with sleep performance data available to let
you know exactly how hard you should push each day in conjunction with your
recovery quality. Colour coded for clarity, I quickly found that my established
routine was a pattern or red and yellows, and if I wanted to aim for
“performance”, I needed to find a way to squeeze a couple of extra hours rest.
The “gamification” of my health choices, encouraged me to forgo a late-night
movie in favour of squeezing one more hour in. Rinsing and repeating until I
gradually found the strain and recovery measurements aligning day to day.

After two weeks of
setting my targets back and forth between “perform” and “peak’, I noticed a
huge increase in my overall energy levels. I was approaching gym with not just
a sense of duty and determination, but some actual appetite for the activity.
Something that has been lost to me as a casualty of being a working dad who
does the morning day-care drop offs after some very late nights. You can also
set your alarm just to “get by”, from time to time. We can’t all live optimally
all of the time, but in conjunction with more consistent recovery, I felt that
the difficult nights became less costly.

Inside the gym, you
do need to be a little hands-on with the app to guarantee accuracy. It allows
you to manually input and save workouts, making resistance training easier to
track. It can be a little fiddly if you are forced to chop and change your exercises
mid-workout, but I found it worthwhile to maintain accuracy. A huge range of
activities can be tracked, and despite the absence of the odd individual
strength exercise, I felt I was able to record accurately.  As is the case with most wearables, I felt
that it was most indisputably accurate during cardio sessions, but I saw a
notable difference in hugely fatiguing strength days incorporating heavy squats
and deadlifts, in comparison to something like an arms and back workout, which
rang true.

Around halfway into
my time with the device, the health monitor picked up elevated skin
temperatures, and effectively predicted illness on two occasions prior to my
feeling symptoms. As a result, I was able to respond by increasing rest time to
minimise the duration of being out of action.

Integrated into the
software are some excellent informative community features, such as breathing
exercises from renowned Neuroscientist Dr Andrew Huberman, health podcasts and
guidance on how to optimise sleep or increase dopamine production. As an overall
health package, the Whoop app really is for those serious about improvement.
More recently, the application has introduced Whoop Coach, using the power of
OpenAI GPT -4. Introduced around halfway through my usage period. Integration
of AI removes any doubt when it comes to reading data, as you can now just ask
away.  I found myself asking “why did I
feel weaker today?”, “how do I improve my heartrate variability?” and several
other questions that allowed it to consult a much larger personal data pool to
advise and guide me on what steps to take. Each enquiry was answered with
something that I could either work on, or perhaps just better understand as
part of my own physiology. It is the closest thing I have experienced to having
my own digital personal trainer.

After 3 months with
Whoop, I have seen some concrete changes. I have a better understanding of the
balance between training and performance, and have seen benefits in both my
work, my training, and crucially my overall mindset. I can quantify the consequences
of alcohol. I know the impact of too many late nights on my next day’s
training. Preparing myself for high intensity workouts is purposeful and has
allowed me to increase my cardio fitness to a level I haven’t reached since
becoming a parent.

Priced at £27 per
month with no individual charge for the device itself, Whoop is a premium
product. I once read that this is a device for the seasoned athlete, but the
inclusion of the AI powered coaching has made Whoop 4.0 a device that is
accessible to anyone who wants to make significant change to their health and
know exactly how to keep it that way.

Ian Westcott