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I bought a Fitbit for my company's health challenge, and I was surprised to see how it could not only monitor steps but also track sleep, calories and resting heart rate. This made me wonder what other information about me could be learned from these data. What are the privacy concerns? I don't care if my employer knows I ride my bike 50 miles a week, but could they know if someone was at the bar until 2 a.m.?Dennis Hussey

A nosy boss snooping on your off-the-clock peccadilloes might be the least of your worries. Fitness trackers can upload a nearly complete record of where you've been and what you've been doing during your every waking momentand then how soundly you slept at night, too. As police and judges recognize the evidentiary value of such data, it's possible that every step you take can and will be used against you in a court of law. And most of these devicesFitbit's the best known, but its competitors are legionlack some basic security precautions. Even if you're one of those upstanding nothing-to-hide types, you might not want someone creeping in and tracking your movements, or worse.

Fitbit privacy has been a gradual process for maker and wearers alike. At first, the device's default settings made your online user profile public. Soon enough, those who hadn't paid attention to such details discovered that a quick Google search would turn up their Fitbit-measured activitiespotentially including their, ahem, most intimate. Now publicly visible data is an opt-in, not an opt-out. Another privacy upgrade was a business necessity: In 2015, Fitbit voluntarily became compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the federal law that sets privacy and security requirements for medical info. Though HIPAA doesn't cover wearable devices (or online health-record storage, at-home paternity tests or gene-testing companies, for that matter), Fitbit had to adopt its standards anyway in order to partner with corporate wellness programs.

But the big security hole for fitness trackers, according to a study published last year by the Canadian nonprofit Open Effect, is the way the wearable device gets your activity stats online for storage and reviewnamely via a Bluetooth link with your phone. Fitbit and most other popular wearables broadcast a single, unique Bluetooth address; whenever they're not actually connected to a mobile device, the report warns, this allows for "long-term tracking of their location." (The Apple Watch, which emits multiple randomized addresses, evidently does better on this front.) A Bluetooth signal can't travel faronly about 10 metersbut a set of monitors arrayed strategically in a mall could trail you from store to store, whether for overzealous inventory-control purposes or to build a profile of your shopping habits that marketers would pay well for.

Increasingly, law enforcement is also curious about what your Fitbit might have to say. The U.S. Supreme Court says police need a warrant to search your cell phone, so fitness trackers would probably be similarly protected; Fitbit's privacy policy allows that your data may be disclosed "if we're required to by law." But where other tech companies including Google and Facebook regularly issue transparency reports, providing stats like how often the authorities have requested user info and how often the company has complied, Fitbit has yet to adopt such a policy.

And reported on or not, fitness tracker data is finding its way into legal proceedings. In 2015, a woman in Pennsylvania who told police she'd been raped was charged with making a false crime report after the cops found that tracking information from her Fitbit contradicted her story. A cyclists' tracking app showed that Christopher Bucchere was over the speed limit when he rode his bike through a San Francisco crosswalk in 2012 and killed a 71-year-old pedestrian; he pleaded guilty to felony vehicular manslaughter. On the bright side, you might be able to use fitness stats on your own behalf as well: In a recent Canadian personal-injury case, lawyers for a former personal trainer have sought to introduce Fitbit data to demonstrate their client's allegedly reduced level of activity following a car accident.

It might seem surprising how quickly insurers and courts are coming to accept tracker data as fact, given what seem to be real limits on the systems' reliability. Independent studies have found that devices have difficulty consistently measuring heart rates accurately; the FDA announced last summer that it wouldn't regulate them. And tracker apps are hardly impervious to hackingabout a year ago, e-intruders busted into some Fitbit accounts and tinkered with user names and passwords, apparently hoping to use customer warranties to get replacement devices and sell them. The Open Effect study reports that some other fitness trackers are even more vulnerable, allowing hackers to delete or modify activity data, and you could do the same if you've got know-how and lack scruples. Modified heart-rate stats might convince an insurance company you're a fitter specimen than your doctor might think you are. And a tweaked itinerary? A solid alibi for the cops.

Send questions to Cecil via straightdope.com or write him c/o Chicago Reader, 350 N. Orleans, Chicago 60654.

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Fitness Privacy - Salt Lake City Weekly

Garmin reported strong Q4 sales of wearable devices, such as its Approach X40 GPS golf band with wrist-based heart rate and activity tracking. (Garmin)

Garmin (GRMN) stock jumped Wednesday after the maker ofnavigation, fitness and outdoor recreation devices beat Wall Street's targets for thefourth quarter.

Garmin shares surged on the stock market today, up 7.3% to 54.15after nearly hitting a buy point and a more than six-month high.Garmin stock has been consolidating over the past 29 weeks and has a buy point of 56.29.

Garmin earned 73 cents a share excluding items, down 1% from the year-earlier quarter, on sales of $861 million, up 10%. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the Olathe, Kan.-based company to earn 57 cents a share on sales of $793 million.

The company's largest product segment, fitness devices, saw sales rise 20% to $274 million. Its second-largest group, automotive, saw sales fall 17% to $227 million and was the only one of the company's five segments to decline in Q4.

IBD'S TAKE: Garmin stock has a middlingIBD Composite Rating of 52, meaning it has outperformed 52% of stocks in key metrics over the past 12 months. It is ranked No. 4 out of 10stocks in IBD'sConsumer Products-Electronic industry group. To see which companies lead the group, visit the IBD Stock Checkup.

Garmin's outdoor segment posted the strongest growth, with sales up 46% to $175 million. Aviation sales rose 13% to $117 million and marine sales climbed 19% to $67 million.

Garmin's gross profit margin improved to 54.7% in Q4 from 52.9% in the year-earlier quarter.

For 2017, Garmin expects to earn $2.65 a share, down 6%, on sales of $3.02 billion, unchanged. The company sees continued growth inoutdoor, fitness, marine and aviation offset by ongoing declines in the automotive navigation device business.

While Garmin reported strong sales ofwearable devices for fitness and sports enthusiasts, rival Fitbit (FIT) has been struggling with sales of activity trackers. Fitbit is due to report Q4 results after the market close Wednesday.

"2016 was a remarkable year of growth driven by strong sales in our outdoor, fitness, marine and aviation segments," Garmin CEO Cliff Pemble said in a statement. "Entering 2017, we see additional growth opportunities ahead and we are well positioned to seize these opportunities with a strong lineup of great products."

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Wearable fitness device maker Fitbit late Wednesday reported worse-than-expected December quarter results. (Fitbit)

6:05 PM ET Wearable fitness device maker Fitbit late Wednesday reported worse-than-expected December-quarter results.

6:05 PM ET Wearable fitness device maker Fitbit late Wednesday reported worse-than-expected December-quarter...

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Garmin Beats Q4 Targets On Strong Fitness, Outdoor Device Sales - Investor's Business Daily

Published time: 22 Feb, 2017 14:21

The working day should include an hour break in which people can go home and have sex, a Swedish city councilor has suggested.

Per Erik Muskos, a member of the Swedish Social Democrat party, made the proposal during a council meeting in the northern city of Overtornea.

Muskos is backing the measure because he believes midweek sex breaks will improve wellness and boost childbirth in the northern region he represents.

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Many companies in Sweden already offer staff gym subsidies or allow them to take a fitness hour known as Friskvrdstimme.

Speaking to Stockholm based newspaper Aftonbladet, Muskos said sex breaks could kill two birds with one stone.

Childbirth should be encouraged, he said, adding when sex is also an excellent form of exercise with documented positive effects on well-being, the municipality should kill two birds with one stone and encourage employees to use their fitness hour to go home and have sex with their partner.

Sweden has long been stereotyped as a nation of sex-loving citizens. However, the government launched a three-year sex study last year to address reports claiming that their sexual appetites are waning.

Social Democrat and Public Health Minister Gabriel Wikstrom said at the time that it was the governments duty to investigate whether sexual activity was lagging due to health issues.

In fact, if the social conditions for pleasurable sex are deteriorating due to stress or health problems this is, in itself, a political problem, Wikstrom wrote in Dagens Nyahter in announcing the study, which is due to be completed in 2019.

READ MORE: Pig mask public sex couple cause traffic jam in Sweden

Wikstroms like-minded Social Democrat colleague, Per Erik Muskos, has also touted sex breaks as a potential remedy for stress.

I believe that sex is a scarce commodity in many long relationships. Everyday life is stressful and the children are at home. This could be an opportunity to have their own time, Muskos told Vasterbottens-Kuriren.

Read more:
Swedish city councilor calls for sex breaks at work to boost fitness & childbirth - RT

A fitness bloggers honest Instagram post is making headlines for all the right reasons.

Anna Victoria, co-founder of the Fit Body Guide, got real when she shared an unedited photo of her arm cellulite in harsh lighting. She positioned it beside another photo of her fit and trim arm to show how lighting can affect the appearance of our skin.

7 FOODS IN EVERY SKINNY GIRL'S KITCHEN

Lighting. Is. Everything. 99% of pictures you see on social media are taken in the best possible lighting and that ain't no accident so when I got into the elevator with the lighting on the right, I zoned in on the cellulite on the back of my arms. Yes, cellulite on your arms is a thing! I've had it since the beginning of my journey and while it's lightened up since then, it's still not totally gone... because I'm human. Seriously, girls, stop thinking you're the only one with cellulite and that it's some kind of disease! Yes, it absolutely can be reduced through healthy diet, exercise and proper water intake, but another component which you can't control is genetics, and just being human. It's not bad to want to reduce the sight of cellulite just like it's not bad to want to lose weight and feel more confident overall, but don't set out to lose weight JUST to have less cellulite. It can be a cherry on top of all the other amazing benefits. If you ask me how to reduce the appearance of cellulite, my answer will be: healthy diet, regular exercise and proper water intake - that's it. I will not suggest creams or wraps or whatever else the current fad is because those are only short term fixes (IF that..) and perpetuate the idea that health/results can be found in a bottle/package. So, do I love the look of my arms on the right? No, but I don't hate it or myself for it, either. And you shouldn't either #fbggirls #realtalk #cellulite http://www.annavictoria.com/guides

A post shared by Snapchat: AnnaVictoriaFit (@annavictoria) on Feb 19, 2017 at 12:34pm PST

Lighting. Is. Everything, she wrote in the now-viral post, which, since being posted about two days ago, had received nearly 36,000 likes as of Wednesday morning. 99% of pictures you see on social media are taken in the best possible lighting and that aint no accident.

While diet, lifestyle and genetics can all play a role in the formation of cellulite, Victoria had a simple retort for any potential critics: Yes, cellulite on your arms is a thing!

Ive had it since the beginning of my journey, she wrote, and while its lightened up since then, its still not totally gone because Im human.

THESE ARE THE FOODS THAT CAN HELP FIGHT WRINKLES NATURALLY

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'I'm human': Fitness blogger promotes body confidence with viral pic of arm cellulite - Fox News

Forbes

The Top Fitness Trackers 2017: The Best Devices On Sale Now Forbes Looking to jump into the world of activity tracking? Jealous that your pals know how many steps they've taken in a day and how many hours they slept the night before? Or maybe your ageing Fitbit One or Jawbone UP has just given up the ghost and it's ... Withings Steel HR Review: Best-Looking Fitness Tracker YetTom's Guide Fitness trackerThe Straits Times all 5 news articles »

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The Top Fitness Trackers 2017: The Best Devices On Sale Now - Forbes

By Marine Corps Sgt. Sara Graham Marine Forces Reserve

BURWASH, Ontario, Feb. 21, 2017 The Marine Corps is one of the toughest fighting forces today and prides itself on being fit to fight in any place against any enemy and in any element.

For Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Scott Kesler, a 22-year old Marine Corps reservist who grew up in the small town of Conneaut Lake in northwestern Pennsylvania, fitness has become a way of life.

Fitness has always been a passion for me; I love crazy workouts and doing CrossFit. At the gym Im a personal trainer, Kesler said. There, I have learned a lot from trainers and the importance of dieting, I just enjoy it.

As rifleman with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, in Buffalo, New York, a high level of fitness is a job requirement, he said.

Family Motivation

Though the Corps fitness culture appealed to Kesler before he enlisted, he said the most significant reason he decided to become a Marine was his grandfather.

My grandfather was my main motivation because I actually grew up without a father and he was the father figure in my life, Kesler said. He taught me everything I knew growing up, he passed away three and a half years ago but he is still always with me.

He added that most important thing he learned from his grandfather was that a hard work ethic beats talent any day.

Although his grandfather was not a Marine, Kesler said his work ethic continues to motivate him. He was the hardest-working man I knew and a strong family man, so I hope to continue in those same footsteps and carry out his legacy and make him proud, he said.

Before he died, Keslers grandfather saw him graduate boot camp and move on to the School of Infantry.

Through the School of Infantry and in his current unit, Kesler said he has learned a great deal about what it means to be physically fit as a Marine. Recently, his unit traveled to Ontario, Canada, to conduct cold-weather mountain warfare training with Canadian forces. They learned survival techniques, how to operate in the arctic environment, conducted reconnaissance patrols and raids across rough terrain and took away valuable lessons from their Canadian counterparts.

The Marine Corps definitely has a big fitness aspect to it, especially for what we did this weekend in Burwash, Ontario. The night raid we went on was a great display of our physical capabilities, Kesler explained.

Importance of Fitness

Kesler said being physically capable is an essential part of being able to complete any mission a Marine is tasked with.

Marines have to be physically fit on the battlefield. Your fitness level should never be a factor or problem when in combat, he said. When you're in a life or death situation, you must be able to protect yourself and the Marines around you or the ones who are under you. I always tell the Marines who are in my fire team this, You should be fully capable of saving someone in a stressful and life or death environment; it doesn't matter how tired you may feel, you have to perform at all times, regardless of the situation.

Though Kesler trains to be physically fit as both a Marine and a personal trainer, he said the fitness requirements between the two vary.

Some of it definitely crosses over, but it differs because much of the fitness requirement is long humps in the Marine Corps, Kesler said. What I do as far as fitness outside of the Corps focuses more on weight training, but it all helps.

He added that he also offers lessons to his fellow Marines from what he has learned as a personal trainer.

I try to provide advice, especially when something like a physical fitness test is coming up and they want to get more pull-ups; I always help out the guys the best I can, Kesler said.

Link:
Face of Defense: Reserve Marine Pursues Education in Fitness ... - Department of Defense

The fitness app Strava has arrived for the Apple Watch Series 2, the company behind it has announced. This gives athletes and other users the ability to use the Strava app and the Series 2 wearable without an iOS tether, and enables the fitness app to fully utilize the watchs GPS feature, among other things. This announcement follows Stravas support for Android Wear 2.0 launched earlier this month, likewise shedding the mobile tether.

The new Strava app version is 5.13.0, and it is available to download now from the App Store. Those who already have the app installed can expect to see an automatic update roll their way via their iPhone. Once updated/installed, the app enables athletes and fitness lovers to record data sans needing their iOS tether.

Recorded data includes heart rate, time, distance, pace, and the speed they were moving at, something also facilitated by the watchs GPS functionality. Says the company, the Apple Watch Series 2 is now among more than one hundred other wearables and devices that also work with Strava.

Speaking about the update, Stravas Head of Integration Mateo Ortega said:

Research and athlete feedback often drives new Strava features and integrations. Were excited to add to our growing list of compatible devices, and see this as the first step in providing our athletes an excellent Strava experience on the Apple Watch Series 2. Our athletes can look forward to continued updates as we strive to provide the best Watch experience possible.

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Strava fitness app arrives for Apple Watch Series 2 - SlashGear

February 2017RuthAnne Shellabarger

As Richard Simmons mysteriously shies away from the spotlight after 40-plus years as Americas favorite fitness guru, Caleb Marshall is stepping up to take his place. Known as The Fitness Marshall, the 23-year-old Marion native has been dancing up a storm across the country with cardio hip-hop classes in which he delivers a high-energy performance that both entertains and leaves you standing winded in a puddle of sweat. The classes sell out months in advance, but dont worry if you cant get a ticketMarshalls instructional YouTube videos, with millions of views and counting, are free.

IM: Why did you start The Fitness Marshall videos?

CM: About five years ago, I started teaching a cardio hip-hop class at my college, and things just kind of blew up. I wanted to share what I was doing with as many people as possible, so I started my YouTube channel two years ago.

Whats your mostpopular video?

Worth It [by Fifth Harmony], but another one, Meghan Trainors Me Too, went viral. Meghan actually re-tweeted it and followed all of my accounts and stuff. She really loved it.

Are your classes forall fitness levels?

Every class is for everybody; you dont need dance experience, you dont need to look a certain way, you dont have to be a certain age, you just have to come and be willing to free your inner super-diva pop star.

Who influences you?

I see myself as a Richard Simmons and Britney Spears fusion.

Whats next?

I see myself performing at the Super Bowl. I want to perform at arenas all over the world and hold dance-fitness concerts. Its like a concertexcept you can follow along and everybody gets to be Beyonc.

THE FITNESS MARSHALL

Visit thefitnessmarshall.org for information onclasses andupcoming events.

FEE

Class: $25

Class and meet-and-greet: $35

Tags: Bodywise, exercise, fitness, The Fitness Marshall, YouTube

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Body Wise: The Fitness Marshall - Indianapolis Monthly

PEOPLE.com

Fitness Expert Anna Victoria Shares Photo of Her Arm Cellulite: 'Stop Thinking You're the Only One' PEOPLE.com Fitness influencer Anna Victoria is known to speak honestly about her body, and now she's opening up about her cellulite. Victoria, co-founder of the Fit Body Guide, took to Instagram earlier this week to post side-by-side photos of herself, one in ... and more »

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Fitness Expert Anna Victoria Shares Photo of Her Arm Cellulite: 'Stop Thinking You're the Only One' - PEOPLE.com

Forbes

Cross Country Skiing Is Great For Winter Fun And Fitness Forbes The winter of 2016-2017 is one of the best in recent history for skiers and snowboarders in every major destination region of the country, with lots of snow, in some cases record amounts, in the Northeast, Rockies, Sierras, Northwest and Southwest. All ...

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Cross Country Skiing Is Great For Winter Fun And Fitness - Forbes

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