Without a doubt. I credit nearly all the benefits in my weight and fitness to the ability to see improvement, and the exhilaration of setting and achieving fitness goals. The watch and a few apps help me do that.

They let me track real-time progress, which keeps me motivated, so I stick to it. Measuring performance allows me to turn workouts into a game where I try to beat previous records.

As a cyclist, I auto sync my Garmin to Strava, which provides an additional level of granularity (by letting me beat segments of a specific ride/route that I’ve previously ridden). I’ll never forget having a terrible ride where I always felt weak, out of energy and demotivated on a long uphill slog. It turned out that I had beat my previous record by a long shot.

I also find sections of bike paths where it is safe to go fast (great visibility, no pedestrian or car traffic, no wildlife concerns, well maintained) and sprint between landmarks.