I’m fairly new to Whoop and decided to get this device because, while I’m already quite athletic, I’m currently training for my first marathon and was hoping that Whoop would provide some additional benefits in terms of training guidance.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve already shared quite a bit of feedback with the Coach feature, including:
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absurd calorie estimates; for example, a total daily expenditure of just 1,650 calories on a day with a long run, strength training, and lots of everyday activity
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unrealistic sleep recommendations and lack of adjustability (I’m used to training and don’t need more than nine hours of sleep every single day!)
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strange timing for determining resting heart rate (large portions of the night are below 50 bpm, yet the final recorded value comes from a wake phase that wasn’t detected as such, suddenly raising the result to 54)
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repetitive standard text modules that flag a frequent strain level of 16–18 as “too high,” even though those are perfectly normal active days for me as an athlete
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contradictory recommendations from the AI coach - depending on the interface, I might get “Your recovery is great, push harder today to reach your potential!” while another screen says “You’ve had two days in a row with strain over 16, make sure to rest today!”
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incorrect heart rate tracking during strength training - the Whoop stays low, even though both my Apple Watch and chest strap show peaks over 150 bpm
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constant recommendations to do more Zone 4 training, even though due to my good fitness level I can only reach that zone to a limited extent because my heart is well trained
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manually adjusting my HRmax/zones has no effect on recommendations or Healthspan and VO₂max calculations, because according to Whoop, the algorithm still uses the default formula (220 minus age), etc.
All of this, and much more, has already been quite frustrating. But as a woman, there’s an additional issue that makes me question the whole point of this device:
As expected, during the second half of my cycle, my skin temperature rises, my heart rate increases by up to 5 bpm, and my HRV drops significantly. All of this is scientifically well understood and predictable. Yet Whoop seems to pay little attention to it.
My recovery scores are terrible from ovulation until my period starts - today I was even advised to see a doctor. I get warnings that my values are negatively impacting my Healthspan and that I should only go for light walks. By the way, when I do go for a walk, I sometimes end up with a strain score of 0.0, because my heart rate doesn’t rise enough for Whoop to even register it as an activity: see above, the heart rate zone issue.
I’m 46, female, not very heavy, and according to the algorithms, I barely exceed my basal metabolic rate even on a day with a 17 km run. That’s absolutely frustrating.
I’d really like to know if there’s any plan to improve these issues.
Otherwise, this will be my first and last year with Whoop. At the moment, I can only strongly advise any athletic woman against using Whoop - beyond the general issues that affect everyone, there’s a major, systemic problem when it comes to interpreting data in the context of the female cycle and the natural fluctuations it brings.