Make It Count with the Nike+ FuelBand

“If you have a body, you are an athlete.” – Bill Bowerman

When it comes to useful, helpful and extremely motivating technology, Nike has done it again…

On February 29th, also known as Leap Day, I had the awesome opportunity to join Nike Chicago and about 30 other athletes and everyday people, to try out the Nike+ FuelBand. And let me tell you, I am in love!

I arrived at an exclusive location dressed in Nike workout gear that was sent to my house earlier that day. I didn’t know what to expect at all. The evening started out with a very informative presentation on exactly how and why Nike came up with the concept of the FuelBand and how it works. Then…we went to go try it out…AT SOLDIER FIELD!

Now, wait, let me back up a bit…

How Does It Work?

The band tracks every single movement you make and gives you points or “fuel” for them. Things like dancing, basketball, walking, football, running around with your kids, walking through the grocery store, a high intensity workout… ANY movement, you get fuel. Everyday, you set a fuel goal to meet. An average day’s activity would be about 2000-2500 fuel. While a day with more movement like running or working out would be about 4000 fuel. 

It also tracks your steps, calories and time. You can check the progress toward your goal by hitting a button on your FuelBand. One of the coolest aspects of this Nike+ FuelBand is you can sync the band to your iPhone, iPod touch and the Nike+ FuelBand website. You can also challenge your friends to meet a certain fuel goal, see what time of day you did the most movement and adjust your fuel goal for the next day. Was making it to 2000 fuel too easy? Challenge yourself to make 3000 or 4000 the next day.

Soldier Field, Robbie Gould and a Whole ‘Lotta Awesome

So, we were broken up into groups and we headed on over to Soldier Field to try out the FuelBands. All of our bands were set to meet 1,000 fuel for the evening. Much to our surprise, we were brought into the visitor’s locker room to meet the ever-amazing, most accurate kicker in the history of the Chicago Bears, Robbie Gould!

Bears Kicker Robbie Gould telling us about his FuelBand experience as an athlete.

Then onward to the field. We were taken through three stations designed to keep us moving the entire time. We caught touchdown passes, kicked field goals (instructed by Robbie himself) and did football ladder drills. I was so motivated to move! I wanted to meet my goal so bad because I’m so competitive with myself. While I was waiting in line to go through all the drills, I was doing jumping jacks, dancing and running in place. Somehow, that fuelband had me SO motivated to move, which is exactly the point.

That's me on the left running to catch a touchdown pass. I caught it too!

Making It Count

After all the football excitement at Soldier Field, it was back to the secret location to keep moving and see how close we were to our 1,000 fuel goal. Most people had only reached between 700-800 fuel, including me. But lucky for us, Nike invited Chicago choreographer BraveMov of Brave Movement Dance Training  to keep the party going. He taught us some really cool dance steps and we danced and sweated and had so much fun. Just about every 5 minutes or so, I was checking my FuelBand to see how close I was to meeting my goal.

After the dancing, we finished up the night by syncing our FuelBands to an iPod touch. It was so exciting to see that we’d met our goals. I definitely felt like I’d earned all 1,000 of my fuel points. I put in work!

What I love most about the Nike+ FuelBand…

…is it’s goal is to make ANYONE an athlete. It makes it so that all of the hard work a person puts into their workout, or just their everyday lives, gets accounted for and rewarded. If you’re following me on Twitter (hint, hint) you may have noticed I’ve been tweeting with the #FitFluential hashtag, as well as #MakeItCount. When I post my plans, meals and workouts for the day, I want to know what my twitter family is doing to make it count, and so does Nike. If you’re walking, it counts. If you play with your kids, it counts. If you do some yoga, it counts. Walking from your car to the grocery store? Yup, that counts too. You really do earn your fuel and that’s the beauty of it.

I am very excited about what Nike+ is doing with this really cool technology. It definitely revolutionizes the fitness movement by getting more than just runners a chance to see how awesome they are as athletes. Very soon, existing Nike+ users will be able to visit just one website to sync both their Nike+ (the chip in their shoe) and their FuelBand. Want to see what else counts? Check out this hilarious video:

Right now, the Nike+ FuelBands are sold out online, but be on the lookout on Nike’s Twitter and Facebook pages for special announcements regarding their limited availability. They are priced at $149, but if you ask me, it’s WELL worth the investment. Now, get out there and earn your fuel.

Be Renewed!