January 25, 2017, Sydney
A Pureprofile survey of 1,000+ Australians over the New Year holiday period for Running Heroes shows running is the main fitness activity of 9 per cent of respondents, following walking (53 per cent) and gym/workout sessions (17 per cent).
Runners are the most likely users of phone apps and other devices to measure their steps and distances, with 74 per cent of respondents using them, compared with 37 per cent of walkers.
“The survey results show runners are the most avid users of wearable devices and trackers; with men preferring to track performance-based figures such as pace and distance, and women mostly using trackers for general wellbeing metrics like calories burnt, sleep and heart rate,” said Running Heroes Oceania Director, Sam Canavan.
“According to the survey, Fitbit is the most popular brand of wrist device, followed by Garmin and the Apple Watch, with 71 per cent of wrist device users claiming they use it on a regular basis,” Canavan added.
Almost 60 per cent of all the respondents who exercised on a daily basis use a monitoring device, with the most popular function being the number of steps undertaken and the distance travelled.
Monitoring the calories burnt, heart rate and sleep patterns are more commonly used on wrist devices rather than smart phones.
“The large majority of exercisers now see monitoring devices are indispensable or very helpful in their fitness regimes, with 20 per cent of those surveyed claiming they undertake daily activities and up to three-quarters active at least once a week”, said Kym Penhall, Research Consultant to Pureprofile.
More than 90 percent of all respondents were aware of devices enabling them to monitor their fitness activity, with close to half using their smart phones, a wrist device or both to monitor their movements.
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About Running Heroes
Running Heroes is a website that converts running activity into free gear and exclusive discounts from the biggest brands in the world – rewarding and motivating runners of all levels. Launched in Australia in late 2015, Running Heroes is now the country’s largest running community, with 45,000 members.
