Fit to burst.

I like to run, it gets rid of the day's frustrations, keeps me fit (ish) and most important of all, let's me eat pizza whenever I want. Sometimes I need extra motivation, be that new shoes or apparel to get back out there and run some more. Sometimes I need more and recently it was in the form of wearable technology. The big deal in running and health for 2014 and beyond is wearable technology telling you how much you've achieved, how many steps you've taken, how many calories (all the technology is US based) you've burned, how many flights of stairs you've ascended and how well you've slept. Most of this is collated and sold by the main players, Fitbit, Nike, Jawbone and now a host of new entrants like Sony and LG, are looking to sell you technology for something you didn't know you needed, until that belt feels a little tight and that top button becomes constrictive.

The big markets for this technology, are Boomers and corporate types needing a dig to the love handles, to motivate movement away from the computer. Yet at anywhere from $130 to $150 a pop for a rubber wristband with Bluetooth connectivity, the outlay needs serious consideration as to whether this is another ab roller or rowing machine gathering dust in the garage or collapsed under the bed. As an early adopter on all things cool in technology I had to have one and invested in a Fitbit Force ( not yet available in Australia) and wore it proudly on my wrist while cruising the halls of corporate land. I had it set for the minimum 10,000 steps per day and showed off the digital display to anyone vaguely interested in why I was wearing this piece of black rubber. At times I felt like a Fitbit spruiker but whenever there was interest, purchase validation and motivation for continued use, rose in proportion with the lycra outfit worn by the questioner.

Once set up, tethered to my iPad and attached to my non dominant hand I couldn't stop watching my daily progress and gaining understanding of how difficult it is, to achieve 10,000 steps in a normal office environment. This spurred me to get up and walk around the room, making sure my arms were swinging by my side but the office was not big enough to accumulate the distances I had set for myself. This left only one option, the outside, to move around via a run, a walk to a sandwich shop at least 4 kilometres away or a vigorous session of rolling out pizza dough, which I found out one night, accumulated 500 steps.

The whole point of the wearable technology trend will be the recording of our daily lives, bringing into focus our shortcomings, thinking we are fitter than the guy sitting next to us at work, that the lunchtime stroll to the sandwich shop is enough and that 25 metre sprint for the train is a weekly speed workout. If nothing else, the drill Sargent attached to my wrist is pushing me hard, for the time being. Yet like all before them, the fitness bands, watches that follow and eventually that electronic T shirt, have a history, of dormant fitness rowers, TV treadmills and collapsible cycles to contend with, while adding the aggravating wrinkle of pointing out we haven't come close to any real exercise by rolling out the pizzas. Will there be drawers filled with wristbands in the future?