The first five days with a WHOOP
What this article does not cover
The app, the scores and the subscription: all of that is documented by WHOOP and changes regularly. Here we only deal with the hardware on your wrist, which does not change and which nobody explains.
Day 1: position
Two fingers above the wrist bone, towards the elbow. Never on the joint. One finger should pass between strap and skin, not two.
Pick a wrist and stay with it: each arm has its own shape, and switching sides every other day makes any useful comparison impossible.
Day 2: the night setting
This is the discovery everyone makes too late: the daytime fit is too firm for the night. Loosen a notch before bed. You will avoid the morning red mark without losing reading quality. See: sleeping with your WHOOP.
Day 3: the first session
If your training data looks nonsensical, conclude nothing about the device. Move the band a few centimetres up the forearm and repeat the same session. In most cases, that was it. See: inaccurate heart rate.
Day 4: build the rinsing habit
Thirty seconds of clean water after every session, every sea swim, every pool. It is the habit that determines, more than any other, whether your band lasts six months or two years.
And above all: let it dry flat rather than in a bag. What permanent damp does to a weave cannot be undone.
Day 5: the second band question
It comes up sooner than you would think, and not for reasons of style. A band worn continuously never dries out fully; two rotated bands each get twenty-four hours to do so. Neither picks up a smell, and both last longer. See: how many bands.
What to know before buying a band
Your generation. WHOOP 5.0 and WHOOP MG share the same connector; the 4.0 does not. And if you have an MG and use the ECG, know that no woven band supports it. See: ECG and Heart Screener.
The first band to add
The stock band is enough for the first week. When the urge to change arrives, it usually arrives on a neutral: Ash, Bone or Stone, none of which asks anything of you.
Sometimes it arrives at the exact opposite end, on the band that says something rather than the one that disappears: "No Risk No Story", four words in marker pen. Both answers are good ones; they simply answer different questions.