Fitness trackers are so cool, right? At the very least, they offer information on your heart rate, oxygen levels and how active you have been all day. Important stuff considering our mostly static lifestyle. We ride the rickshaws, we ride the elevators and we plop ourselves down in front of a desk/PC/smartphone. We don't move. And for the last six months, those who had the privilege to stay/study/work from home, we've never been more inactive.

The myth: Fitness trackers will help you get fit

Technically not a myth. It helps. But it won't do all the work for you. You still have to get up and run, jump and other activity that prevent you from doomscrolling.

Choose by budget

Prices start from about 1500tk and go all the way up, up and away past the 50k mark. Xiaomi offer multiple basic models such as the Mi Band 4 at 2100 taka. Tracks your heart rate, sleep cycles and is waterproof with excellent 20-day charge. Something like this is perfect for a simple gym partner where it helps track steps, measure your heat rate giving you an idea how you are peaking.

Add GPS for cycling

How about GPS? Dhaka and other cities experienced empty streets unlike nothing anyone has seen after the late 90's. Terrific for cycling. With Covid fears dying because we've stopped caring or just given up, traffic is quickly getting back to abnormal. You can still bike and run.

The Fitbit Charge 4 has a fantastic and accurate GPS along with multiple band sizes. It's about $130 and I've gotten one quote from a local supplier for just under 20,000 taka. A little pricey after the conversion considering at this range, you should get on-board music.

Get some tunes

For music, you can splash out on the smartwatch route for an Apple Series 3 which is around $200 (one online shop quoted 29k taka) or the latest Series 5 available in Dhaka for around 44,000 taka.