Every smart ring calls itself an activity tracker these days; they’ll all report your steps, calories, and workout times. But I take my smart ring off when I go to the gym, and I would never recommend one for somebody who is looking for a dedicated fitness tracker. Let’s have a little chat about why.

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$349.00

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What smart rings are good for

Before I get into what smart rings can’t do well, I want to discuss why I think they’re a really useful wearable for the right person. I’ve worn an Oura for years, and I’ve tested several other major smart ring brands (for example, here are my reviews of the Ultrahuman Air and RingConn 2). I enjoy a lot of things about smart rings!

I like that smart rings are comfortable when sleeping and unobtrusive in everyday life. I wear a wedding ring, so I’m already in the habit of taking rings off when I need to do something where rings would get in the way—mainly gym workouts. I want my smart rings to track my sleep and recovery, and if they can pick up on incidental activity like a walk to the store, that’s great.

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Smart rings are good for two kinds of people. One is the person who doesn’t usually track exercise, but wants to keep tabs on their sleep and get a general idea of their activity during the day. A ring that can pick up on their 30-minute walk is doing plenty. The other is a person who cares about their metrics during workouts, and has a second device to track that, like an Apple Watch or a Garmin. The smart ring can gather data on their sleep and the non-workout parts of their day.

While smart rings have gotten better at activity tracking over the years, they still have fundamental drawbacks that mean I’m never going to recommend a smart ring as a serious workout tracker.

Smart rings are impractical when lifting weights

It does not make sense to wear a smart ring to lift a barbell, do a pullup, or do most machine or dumbbell exercises. Smart rings are thick and chunky, and if they have sensor bumps on the inside, that’s even worse. It hurts to wear a smart ring while properly gripping a bar for a pulling exercise.

Let me explain what I mean by proper grip, since it’s different for pushing versus pulling exercises. You can wear rings for pushing exercises if you want, since the bar should sit in the palm of your hand. I think of my forearm as a pillar, supporting the weight in my hand. This is how I hold the bar for something like a bench press.

But on a pulling exercise, like a deadlift or a pullup or a dumbbell row, the bar or handle should sit at the base of your fingers, right where your fingers meet your palm. If it were on your palm, you’d pinch skin and risk ripped calluses. The place you need to hold the bar is exactly where rings sit. Some people keep a wedding ring on while lifting, and if the ring is small enough, it might not interfere too much. But smart rings are so much bigger, they really aren’t compatible.

A proper pulling grip will push the ring painfully against your finger. Besides the discomfort, this also gives a less effective grip, since the bar can slide against the surface of the ring. You want your fingers wrapped around the bar, because the bar is held in place by friction between your skin and the bar. There’s no way I’m properly hook-gripping a snatch with a smart ring on my index finger.

Safety concerns aren’t my main issue, but they’re worth considering

There are two other factors that aren’t top of my mind, since the grip issue is already a dealbreaker, but that come up commonly when people discuss this question. One is the idea that lifting isn't safe for the ring—that the ring will get scratched by the barbell or other gym equipment. And, yes, it probably will. Some rings are tougher than others, so this varies by brand and finish. My silver Oura ring 3 is a little scuffed after years of wear, but not too noticeably. My black Oura ring 4 has some very visible scratches where the finish has come off. You can get silicone covers for smart rings, but I wouldn’t bother—they’ll just add to the grip issues I described since they add bulk to the ring.

The other issue is that some people refuse to use rings when working out for safety reasons, having regrettably googled the terms “degloving” or “ring avulsion.” These refer to a devastating injury, sometimes requiring amputation, where a ring gets caught on something and rips flesh off your finger. This type of injury tends to be associated with things like workplace accidents and falls.

What do you think so far?

I wasn’t able to find data relating serious finger injuries to lifting weights with a ring on, and I suspect that the fear of a random degloving at the gym, despite being discussed

Why I Never Wear a Smart Ring During My Workouts