This Free Fill-in-the-Bubble Calendar Makes Tracking My Workouts so Satisfying

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

The new year is a great time for nerds like me. If you’re a sucker for the joy of a new training journal, the fresh promise of a program you’ll check off one day at a time, or even (admit it) the kid who really loved filling in bubbles with a number two pencil, you’ll enjoy this bubble-style calendar that a generous Redditor posts each year. 

Here is the 2025 version, available in two sizes, and with the week beginning with either Sunday or Monday, according to your preference. The user who posts it every year goes by u/Propelissa, so check their profile next January when you’ve filled up this one. 

The two sizes are 8.5"x 11", best for printing on a standard letter-sized American printer, and 8" x 10", best for submitting as a “photo” to any photo printing service. 

How to use the bubble calendar

Honestly, it’s just a sheet of paper with circles on it, so you can use it any way you like. But it was inspired by this poster, apparently issued by Saucony and Fleet Feet in 2019, which invited you to fill in one of the bubbles every time you went for a run. 

If you print the 8" x 10" version through a photo service, you’ll probably want to use a Sharpie to fill in the bubbles. But if you have access to a regular paper printer, you’ll get a grade-school thrill out of being able to fill in the bubbles with a nice Ticonderoga pencil.

Last year, I decided to use the bubble calendar to track my cardio. (It’s easy for me to keep up with strength training, less so with cardio.) If I did a bike ride, a run, or any other kind of purposeful cardio workout, I filled in that day’s bubble. If I went for a walk, I drew an X in the bubble to give myself partial credit. Toward the beginning of the year, most of my cardio workouts were power zone bike workouts; in the summer and fall, they were usually runs. 

How you use the calendar is up to you. You could log any type of workout. You could use different colors for different types or lengths of workout. Or you could use the calendar to track how often you floss your teeth, or eat your vegetables, or make it to bed on time. Go ahead, it’s all yours. 

from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/u82MHYa
https://ift.tt/N34auZz

Read More

The Best TV Series to Stream This Week

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

If you're looking for a new show to watch this week, I got your back. I've scoured the schedules of Netflix, Prime, Max, Hulu, and other streaming platforms to bring you the best and most notable shows streaming this week.

My "don't miss" choice this week is Going Dutch, a clash-of-cultures comedy that stars Denis Leary and is streaming on Hulu. But that, as they say, is not all; read on for more new shows you might enjoy.

Going Dutch

In this clash-of-military-cultures comedy series from Fox, Denis Leary stars as Patrick Quinn, an outspoken, by-the-books colonel banished to a chaotic, unimportant military base in the Netherlands and asked to bring discipline back to the installation. The show also stars Danny Pudi as Quinn's righthand man and Taylor Misiak as his estranged daughter. If you're looking for an update of Gomer Pyle, USMC, this might be the show for you.

Where to stream: Hulu

Missing You

Missing You is a mystery-thriller from novelist Harlan Coben, so expect plot twists that will leave you saying "whoah." Rosalind Eleazar plays detective Kat Donovan whose fiancé Josh, played by Ashley Walters, disappeared years before. When she sees his face on a dating app, Donovan tries to get to the bottom of a mystery that spins in wildly unexpected directions. If you're looking for a potboiler-mystery series, check out Missing You.

Where to stream: Netflix

Lockerbie: A Search for Truth

Based on real events surrounding the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, Peacock's original limited series Lockerbie: A Search For Truth tells the story of Dr. Jim Swire (Colin Firth) whose daughter was among the 259 dead on the flight. After being nominated spokesperson for the UK victims’ families, Swire sets off on a quest for truth and justice, but his journey upends his family and leads to a quagmire of political issues that shake Swire's faith in the justice system.

Where to stream: Peacock

Last week's picks

Squid Game, Season 2

Netflix's big Christmas present is coming a day late with the Dec. 26 release of season two of Korean dystopian sci-fi drama Squid Game. Season two was written, directed, and produced by Hwang Dong-hyuk, the genius behind season one, and Lee Jung-jae will return as Player 456, who's re-entering the game to tear it apart from the inside. Season one cast members Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-jun, and Gong Yoo are coming back too, where they'll join a fresh crop of competitors, so everyone can play a new bunch of deadly games. Can't wait.

Where to stream: Netflix

Landman

In Landman, Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton stars as Tommy Norris, a "crisis executive" (aka fixer) for a major oil company. Created by Yellowstone auteur Taylor Sheridan and set in the boomtowns of West Texas, Landman dramatizes the ethical quandaries and moral gray areas that are inextricably linked to the juice we use to power everything in our lives.

Where to stream: Paramount+

The Secret Lives of Animals

Apple TV+ and the BBC teamed up for The Secret Lives of Animals, a for-the-whole-family documentary series that takes us deep into the worlds of bears, birds, monkeys, and other critters as they leave home, look for food, find mates, and generally do their animal things. If you have smaller kids, rest assured this is not one of those traumatizing nature documentaries in which the strong prey upon the weak and death is all around.

Where to stream: Apple TV+

from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/JfC7dPH
https://ift.tt/QO1gbuv

Read More

The Best New Movies to Stream This Week

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Looking to settle in with a good movie? Me too. That's why I've pored over release schedules to bring you the best original and new-to-streaming movies you can watch on Netflix, Prime, Max, Hulu, and other streaming platforms this week.

My pick of the week is Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, a claymation movie that takes absurdity, chaos, and British humor to new heights. Speaking of funny Brits, don't miss Cunk on Life a BBC-produced mockumentary that I guarantee will crack you up.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

The beloved stop-motion characters created by Aardman Animations are back in Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, in which Gromit (he's the dog) becomes concerned with his master's overreliance on technology. Wallace has invented a high-tech garden gnome, but it turns evil, forcing an absurd showdown. The roller coaster pace and precise comic timing raise the chaos high enough to earn Vengeance Most Fowl a rare 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Where to stream: Netflix

Cunk on Life

Cunk on Life (an offshoot of the "documentary" series Cunk on Earth) illustrates what would happen if the BBC hired the dumbest person on Earth to host a sweeping documentary that examines the meaning of life. Philomena Cunk, played by comedian Diane Morgan, travels the world to interview real academics, philosophers, and other very smart people, ostensibly to ask big, important questions, but really to test their patience with her deadpan, stupid persona. If you like comedy that's actually funny, don't miss Cunk on Life.

Where to stream: Netflix

The Rig

The Rig has a perfect set up for a horror-thriller: A mysterious fog rolls over an offshore oil rig, cutting off all communication. Paranoia, claustrophobia, and terror rise as the tension becomes unbearable. Then the crew learns that the fog besetting the oil rig leads to something unnatural and unspeakable, forcing desperate men to work together to survive.

Where to stream: Prime

Interstellar (2014)

Christopher Nolan directed this science fiction story about a group of astronauts who fly through a wormhole in search of a new home planet for humans to crap up. With a cast that includes Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Caine, thoughtful ideas about down-to-earth values, and a heavy dose of Nolan's unique cinematic style, Interstellar is required viewing. After an IMAX rerelease earlier this year, people who missed it the first time around are finally appreciating it as a new sci-fi classic.

Where to stream: Netflix

A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)

This prequel to A Quiet Place brings us back to the start of the series, the day the blind, noise-averse aliens invaded earth and killed almost everyone in the world. Lupita Nyong'o stars as Sammy, a terminally ill woman whose journey to New York City for a slice of pizza is interrupted by the end of the world. A film that’s equal parts horror and character study, A Quiet Place: Day One is a great choice for fans of horror movies with a sci-fi bent.

Where to stream: Prime

Paddington (2014)

Universally admired family flick Paddington proves that CGI characters can be lovable and memorable and that children's movies can be emotionally affecting without being mawkish and sentimental. Nailing the tone in a movie about a bear in a red hat in the modern world is a hell of a balancing act, but Paddington pulls it off without seeming to break a sweat. A true classic you should revisit before the three-quel arrives in theaters in February.

Where to stream: Hulu

Don't Die: the Man Who Wants to Live Forever

Sorry for spoiling this Netflix original documentary, but its subject, entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, is not going to live forever. He's not going to achieve his more modest goal of living to 200 either. That foreknowledge adds to the poignancy and ridiculousness of Johnson's pursuit—dude is spending millions per year to forestall Death, and Death just does not care. While you and I are probably not going to that level, we're all doing something (even if it's just fretting) and Don't Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever asks some interesting questions about our relationship to the end of life.

Where to stream: Netflix

Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Rapper Boots Riley's cinema debut is a fearless provocation that's hilarious, surreal, and crammed with pointed social commentary. Atlanta's Lakeith Stanfield plays Cassius “Cash” Green, a telemarketer who's stuck in the boiler room until he learns to "talk white." Cash's new vocals (provided by a voiceover from comedian David Cross) open up a new world of money and power that only costs your soul to enter.

Where to stream: Hulu

The Front Room

The directorial debut of Max and Sam Eggers, half-brothers of Nosferatu director Robert Eggers, The Front Room is a surrealist domestic horror story in which the worst mother-in-law imaginable moves in to "help" her pregnant daughter-in-law and her son. Despite the seriousness of the trailer, The Front Room is leavened by dark humor throughout. Solange, played by Kathryn Hunter, is a true nightmare, and will do anything to drive a wedge between her son Norman, played by Andrew Burnap, and his wife Belinda, played by Brandy Norwood.

Where to stream: Max

2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

This year's winners of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Musical Excellence Award were Jimmy Buffett and The MC5, and inductees included A Tribe Called Quest and Ozzy Osbourne, proving that the words "rock and roll" don't actually describe anything. But whatever; it's still cool to see performances from the likes of Cher and Dua Lipa, who perform a duet of Cher's "Believe"; The Roots backing up Robert “Kool” Bell for a medley of Kool and the Gang classics; and Demi Lovato and Slash playing classic rock from Foreigner.

Where to stream: Hulu

The Leopard Man (1943)

Just as Leopard Man producer Val Lewton's most famous film, Cat People, didn't have any cat people in it, Leopard Man is not about a leopard man. Lewton spent most of his career as the head of B-movie production company RKO's horror department, where studio heads dictated their movie's titles, but let Lewton actually film whatever he wanted. Lewton chose to make Leopard Man an atmospheric, creepy, surprisingly progressive examination of misogyny and violence, rather than a cheesy monster flick. Leopard Man is arguably the first movie about a serial killer, and remains among of the best examples of the genre ever made.

Where to stream: Max

Last week's picks

Between the Temples (2024)

This quirky screwball comedy casts Jason Schwartzman as a grieving cantor and Carol Kane as his former music teacher. She wants to have an adult bat mitzvah; he wants his voice back; so you know they're going to form an unusual bond. As film critic Isaac Feldberg puts it, Between the Temples "revels in capturing the alchemical, off-kilter chaos of oddballs in proximity." Sign me up!

Where to stream: Netflix

Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)

In Judas and the Black Messiah, Daniel Kaluuya turns in a mesmerizing performance as Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party. LaKeith Stanfield plays William O’Neal, aka Judas, an informant who has Hampton in his crosshairs because the FBI is dangling a pardon in front of him. Based on a true story, Judas and the Black Messiah has a 96% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and a 95% "fresh" rating from viewers, so if you haven't seen it, now's your chance.

Where to stream: Paramount+

ChiefsAholic: A Wolf in Chief’s Clothing

You don't have to be a football fan to watch documentary ChiefsAholic: A Wolf in Chief’s Clothing. It's not about the team; it's about their biggest fan, Xaviar Babudar. Babudar's character, ChiefsAholic, was fan-famous for showing up at every Chief's game in a wolf costume. But NFL tickets aren't cheap, and it turns out that the "-aholic" part of ChiefsAholic wasn't a lie. Dude was robbing banks to pay for his Chiefs addiction—and his gambling addiction.

Where to stream: Prime

from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/jmnX09u
https://ift.tt/HY91ljR

Read More

Telegram Has a New Verification Strategy to Cut Down on Scams

Misinformation and scams are an unfortunate reality of the internet in 2024. That "news" account might really be pushing falsehoods and lies, while that outreach from "Google" likely isn't from the company at all. You really need to be on guard at all times when processing the information that passes through your social feeds, which is why it helps when apps and platforms take action to protect users from untrustworthy sources.

Telegram has a new verification system

That seems to be the motivation behind recent updates from Telegram. The messaging platform has an existing verification system built into the service, where companies and public figures can register themselves with Telegram and receive a blue badge of honor. That way, when you see content from a notable person or an organization, you can rest assured those words being share are actually from that source. Many platforms (but not all) offer this type of service, of course. Even Google is thinking about rolling out badges for search.

But Telegram has a new addition to how it conducts verification: Once an organization is verified, it can then apply to become a "third-party verifier," which lets them verify other accounts and chats it deems official, too. These verification badges will differ from the blue checkmarks, and will instead look like blue emojis or icons. Any account or chat verified in this way will have a banner in its profile that explains which third party verified it and why.

I'm all for this type of verification process, and hope it catches on. It puts trust in accounts that already have proven their authority to Telegram, and, over time, will help users quickly parse which accounts and chats are legit, and which might be best to avoid. In the future, you might see a post from an account or chat, and since it doesn't have that badge, think twice about the message it's trying to get out.

Other new Telegram features

Credit: Telegram

In addition to third-party verification, Telegram announced a series of other features and changes coming to the platform:

• Message search filters: When searching, you'll now see an option in the "Chats" tab to sort your messages by "All Chats," "Private Chats," "Group Chats," or "Channels," to help you find the messages you're looking for.

• Folder names gets custom emojis: If you subscribe to Premium, you can add custom emoji to the names of your chat folders. You can even replace the text that would normally appear here with whatever emoji you want.

• In-app QR code scanner: When using the in-app camera on either iOS or Android, you'll also be able to scan QR codes.

• Collectible gifts: Telegram "gifts" are small tokens of artwork you can share with friends and display on your profile. Now, you can upgrade a gift to make it a "collectible." This will add a new look made by a Telegram artist, as well as a unique background, icon, and number. You can share collectibles with other users, or, if you're so inclined, auction it as an NFT. Right now, 20 gifts can be upgraded to collectibles, with over 1,400 unique appearances.

• Service message reactions: Service messages are those alerts you get whenever someone joins a group, begins a video call, or sends you a gift. Telegram now lets you react to these alerts, which adds a fun layer to these previously informative-only messages.

from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/HGsrL5P
https://ift.tt/NXkSGKH

Read More

I Made This Anime Convention Scavenger Hunt for My Family (and You Can Use It for Free)

When I bought tickets for Anime NYC, I worried that the chaos would be overwhelming for my daughters' first convention. I started my own con-going tradition a decade ago with New York Comic Con, and I've attended countless conventions since, but Anime NYC was my twin 15-year-old daughters' first time going to an event so massive. To help, I planned to download a scavenger hunt to help guide them through the convention hall, but I couldn't find one anywhere online. So I stayed up late the night before Anime NYC, and I made an anime convention scavenger hunt myself.

Credit: Jordan Calhoun / Anime NYC

Like New York Comic Con, Anime NYC is held at the Javits Center, a 3.3 million square foot convention hall. Anime NYC was filled with over 100,000 people in 2024, the largest crowd yet in its seven-year history, and if you've been to a con before, you know how overwhelming and exhausting they can be: Countless events, panels, booths, and advertisements compete for your attention as you walk for miles through crowds. They're not beginner-friendly experiences, and Anime NYC was no exception.

My goal for the scavenger hunt was to give our exploration more focus and to distract from the fatigue, and it worked. It made the experience much less overwhelming for my family—and a lot more fun. I might never do another convention without one.

Customize this comic convention scavenger hunt

You can download this comic and anime convention scavenger hunt for free to use at your next convention, or use it as inspiration to make your own. The scavenger hunt is broken down into three sections:

• The first section has easier searches worth one point each. With a few bonuses involved, there are a maximum of 15 points possible in the first section of the scavenger hunt.

• The second section has challenges that are more involved or need more social interaction with strangers, and are worth two points each. With bonuses, there are a possible 20 points in the second section.

• And the last section involves taking videos of group members more actively engaging with the community, each worth 5 points. With bonuses, this section is worth up to 25 points.

The scavenger hunt format is malleable to most comic, anime, and gaming conventions, so you should customize it for your group and interests. For example, you may want to swap in other comic or video game characters, or raise or lower the difficulty levels based on age (or nerdiness). My family is Black and likes to notice such characters in anime, so one of our options included asking strangers if they can name five Black anime characters.

How long does the scavenger hunt take?

For adults, you can expect the convention scavenger hunt to take around 4-6 hours to finish. With kids, you can expect the search to be slower depending on how much walking they can handle. My family spent around six hours at Anime NYC, and out of a total possible 60 points, the winning team scored 48 points against the losing team's 47.

Credit: Jordan Calhoun / Lifehacker

How to make your own convention scavenger hunt

Of course, you can make your own scavenger hunt to be as unique as you want. The simplest scavenger hunts just need a list of items to find or tasks to accomplish, along with some basic rules around teams, time limits, and prizes. If your group is competitive, a few common questions to consider include:

• Whether teams can make alliances

• Whether teams can sabotage each other

• Whether teams can spend money for clues (This was a particular point of contention during my family's scavenger hunt, as my team paid for an autograph from an anime voice actor for a bonus point.)

• And a pre-agreed tie breaker

Scavenger hunts are a great way to organize conventions

One of my favorite productivity quotes is, “There is only one way to eat an elephant: one bite at a time." It reminds me that any large accomplishment can be made less daunting and more manageable by breaking into smaller tasks. I try to keep "one bite at a time" in mind whether training for a marathon, writing a book, or convincing my daughters to love conventions as much as I do: If I organize your tasks and focus on the one in front of me, the goal will happen along the way. Ultimately, a scavenger hunt can function as a great task management tool—essentially a checklist, but disguised for fun—and I plan to use them more often for events like vacations, museums, and trips. And when I can't find a good one online, I hope to find time to keep building them on my own.

from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/fY7z5eQ
https://ift.tt/ASDzad9

Read More

11 Hidden Features in Apple Music Every User Should Know About

Apple Music (previously iTunes) is a behemoth of a music manager app for macOS and Windows—and it has changed and developed so much since its launch in 2001 that you may well have not come across everything this piece of software has to offer. It has evolved almost as rapidly as the digital music industry.

Whether you turn to Apple Music as your default audio player or you're wondering if it's worth switching to, these lesser-known features should give you a better idea of what the application is capable of—beyond the basics of streaming music from the web and playing local files.

(The guide below describes the features as they're found in Apple Music for macOS. The same features are all available in the Windows version, but might not be in exactly the same place or on the same menu.)

Build a radio station based on your favorite song

If you've got a track you're particularly taken with in Apple Music, you can build an entire radio station mix around it—as long as you're a subscriber to the Apple Music streaming service. With a particular song selected in the app, open the Song menu and choose Create Station. It's a really good way of discovering new artists similar to your favorites.

Switch to the mini player

Apple Music comes with a useful mini player. To access it, open the Window menu and choose Mini Player to see it (click and drag on it to move it around). Via Music > Settings > Advanced you can find a checkbox to keep it on top of other program windows on macOS, so you always have access to key playback controls.

You can specify when songs start and stop. Credit: Lifehacker

Cut out intros and outros

You can set timestamps for individual songs in Apple Music that tell the app where to start and stop playback whenever the song is played on any device—so you can cut out a lengthy intro or outro, for example. Right-click on a track, then choose Get Info and switch to the Options tab, where you'll find Start and Stop fields. Click OK to confirm.

Tweak your recommendations

Not every track in your library will be a five-star anthem, and you don't necessarily want the tracks that you like less to influence the recommendations you see across Apple Music—even if you keep the tracks themselves around. To make a song have less of an influence over recommended music, right-click on it and choose Suggest Less.

Use Suggest Less to tweak your recommendations. Credit: Lifehacker

Clear out the duplicates

You don't want your playlists and your Mac storage getting unnecessarily cluttered with duplicate files, which can be a problem for both local and streamed music. Open the File menu, then choose Library and Show Duplicate Items. You can then see all the tracks that are in your library more than once, and remove the extra copies you don't need.

Switch to lossless audio

The Apple Music streaming service supports lossless audio now—that's up to 24-bit/192 kHz in quality across the entire catalog—and you can switch to the higher resolution sound if you don't mind the extra demands on your bandwidth and file download sizes. To enable or disable the lossless audio feature in the app, head to Music > Settings > Playback.

Add comments to tracks

You can add comments to any of the tracks in your library. Just right-click on a song, then choose Get Info and head to the Details tab. You can use the comments field to label songs in any way you like—as instrumentals, or favorite songs, or upbeat songs, or golden oldies—and then set up smart playlists to pick out tracks using the comments data.

Sound Check will level out the volume levels. Credit: Lifehacker

Normalize the volume

It can be jarring when different songs have been recorded at different volume levels, which leaves you continually searching for the volume slider when a new track starts. To stop this from happening, open the Music menu, choose Settings, then head to the Playback tab and enable the Sound Check feature. Apple Music then makes adjustments automatically.

Skip songs when shuffling

Many of us turn to the shuffle feature to save having to queue up albums and songs manually, but not all songs lend themselves to a shuffled selection—you might want to cut out those lengthy post-rock tracks or spoken word skits, for example. To do this, right-click on a song, then choose Get Info: On the Options tab, check the Skip when shuffling box, then click OK.

Playlists can be made collaborative. Credit: Lifehacker

Create collaborative playlists

This is a newer feature that may have slipped under your radar: You can now work on playlists with other people in Apple Music, which is perfect for parties or road trips for example. With a playlist on screen, click the invite people button on the right (it's an icon of a head and shoulders), then choose Start Collaborating to pick your collaborators.

Customize the layout

Apple Music offers more flexibility in terms of its layout than you might have realized. If you've got a playlist on screen, you can open the View menu to choose between different groupings for your tracks (including Songs and Albums). You can also select how the tracks on screen are sorted and filtered (by artist name or number of plays, for example).

from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/0dXkf8l
https://ift.tt/9gYTbl7

Read More

What Garmin's 'Recovery Time' Estimate Actually Means

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

As I sit here typing, my Garmin watch tells me that I have 21 hours until I’ve fully recovered from the workout I did earlier today. It wasn’t even a hard workout, but I’ve come to expect long recovery estimates from Garmin—and I won't let this number stop me from going on an easy run in the morning. The recovery time doesn’t mean what you might think it mean. 

What is the recovery time feature, and where can you see it? 

Most Garmin sport watches calculate a recovery time after each workout. You’ll see this number in the end-of-workout summary that you get right after you finish. It’s also available from the Training Status glance if you have that, or the Training Readiness tile in the Garmin Connect app if you have that. On my Forerunner 265S, I can even set it as one of the little complications on my main watch face. 

Garmin Forerunner 265S Running Smartwatch (Black/Yellow)

$422.00 at Amazon

$449.99 Save $27.99

$422.00 at Amazon

$449.99 Save $27.99

Garmin defines recovery time as “an estimate on how long it will take for you to fully recover and be ready for your next workout of the same intensity.” Note that phrase, fully recover. No athlete is fully recovered at the start of every training session; sometimes you carry a little fatigue from one session to the next. This number is just giving you a sense of how long you’ll be feeling the effects of this workout. 

The recovery time feature is available on most Enduro, Epix, Fenix, Forerunner, Instinct, Venu, and Vivoactive watches, among others (Garmin has a full list here). 

Do you have to wait until the recovery time hits zero before working out again? 

No! This is probably the biggest misconception about the feature (and it explains why the recovery times can be so long—up to four days). The idea isn’t that you have to rot in bed until the timer is up. It’s just that, between now and when the timer hits zero, you’ll be operating with at least a little more fatigue than usual. 

You can read Garmin’s explanation here. They say: “When your timer hits zero, it means you are ready to gain the maximum benefit from your next hard fitness-improving (i.e., training effect: 3.0+) type workout.”

So if I get a 38-hour recovery time after a hard workout, that’s just a signal that I won’t be in tip-top shape tomorrow. If I were planning the hardest workout of my week for tomorrow, I might want to consider delaying that workout so I can do it later on fresh legs. But if I’m planning on going for a recovery run instead, there’s no need to change my plans. 

Should you ignore Garmin’s recovery time? 

I mean, there’s an argument for ignoring any metric a watch gives you, at least some of the time. You don’t need to let Garmin’s recovery time run your life. If you still want to get your workout in, and you feel up to it, feel free to ignore the recovery numbers.

That said, I do find the recovery time useful as a gut check. If I get a long recovery time, that’s a reminder that I did actually work pretty hard, and I should make sure my efforts are balanced over time with easy and hard days. Any good training program will keep that in mind, anyway—with or without a watch putting a number on it.

Why does my recovery time keep changing?

Garmin is constantly updating its estimate of how far away you are from full recovery. If you do another workout before the timer hits zero, the number will go up again because you’ve given yourself more work to recover from. 

On the flip side, if you got a good night’s sleep, you may find that the number shrank more than expected during the night. Again, you don’t want to read too much into this number; it’s just an estimate, after all. But it’s a good sign if you find you’re recovering quickly from your hard workouts. 

from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/lQ2ufgy
https://ift.tt/jJHE1Bs

Read More

You Can Get the Ring Video Doorbell Pro for $70 Right Now

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

This refurbished Ring Video Doorbell Pro is now $69.99, a significant drop from its original $139.99. Since it’s certified, you can expect it to look and work like new, having been thoroughly tested to meet quality standards.

Certified Refurbished Ring Video Doorbell Pro

$69.99 at Amazon

$139.99 Save $70.00

$69.99 at Amazon

$139.99 Save $70.00

As for the performance, the daytime footage of the Doorbell Pro comes through crisp and clean in HD (giving you a wide 160-degree view of your doorstep), while night vision holds up well—providing sharp, well-lit video up to about 20 feet. There is some barrel distortion at the edges of the frame, but according to this PCMag review, people and objects in the center look normal.

The Ring Pro also integrates with Amazon Alexa for voice commands and packs a built-in motion sensor, speaker, microphone, and chime, so you’re fully covered for any doorstep activity. It connects to your home wifi on either 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands using 802.11n circuitry, ensuring a stable connection. That said, this is a wired device that requires a 16 to 24 volt power source—the same wiring used for traditional doorbells. This constant power supply means no batteries to charge, which is great for reliability, but the catch is installation. If your home already has doorbell wiring, you’re good to go. If not, setting it up could involve some extra work and cost.

The camera starts recording when someone presses the doorbell or if motion is detected, and a push alert is sent to your phone. However, accessing recorded footage and unlocking the device's full functionality requires a Ring Home subscription, with the Basic Plan costing $4.99 per month for a single camera. The Ring Pro works with the Ring app, where you can manage all its features including adjusting motion sensitivity, setting up customized motion zones, toggling motion alerts on or off, and viewing live video with options for two-way audio, speaker mute, and more (though this requires a Standard ($10 per month) or Premium ($20 per month) subscription).

from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/XpRcq2Z
https://ift.tt/xuihVBg

Read More