A smart ring is great at sleep trends and blind to your sets
In short
The Oura Ring 5 is 40 percent smaller than the generation 4 and consistently delivered eight to nine days between charges in testing, against a previous generation that needed power every two or three days. That makes it wearable through most running and lifting; the only exercise worth taking it off for was heavy deadlifts. But a smart ring is a passive tracker: its strength is long-term trends like sleep and readiness, and logging a workout directly still means picking up your phone to start a separate process. A membership at $5.99/month or $69.99/year sits on top of the device price.
The two standard objections to smart rings have been it is uncomfortable to wear and the battery dies too fast. The Oura Ring 5 actually fixed both.
The gen 5 is 40 percent smaller than the gen 4. That is enough of a difference to stop it standing out like a chunk of metal on your hand — small enough, per the tester, to sit comfortably alongside a wedding band. The battery gain is larger still: eight or nine days between charges, consistently, across the testing period, against a previous generation that wanted power every two or three days.
Why does battery life matter this much?
A wearable that needs charging every two or three days eventually becomes jewellery. Missed charges accumulate, you open the app less, and once the data has gaps the trend is gone. Given that what a smart ring actually sells is not a momentary reading but a trend across time, battery life is not a convenience feature. It is the core feature.
Can you wear it while lifting?
Mostly, yes. The size reduction made it far more comfortable during running and weight training — exercises like biceps curls and farmer's carries, which used to mean taking the older ring off, were done wearing the 5. The one thing that still called for removing it was heavy deadlifts. On lifts where you grip a bar directly, a ring caught between finger and knurling is a problem no size reduction solves.
So can it log your training?
No. This is the real boundary, and unlike size or battery it is not the kind of thing a generation bump fixes. A smart ring is a passive tracker — data accumulates without you doing anything, but in exchange it does not know what you are doing right now.
Active tracking has been beefed up from previous versions, but the step remains: pick up the phone, start a separate process. Next to a smartwatch where you start a workout from the display, that is clunky, and it is the wrong tool for anyone who wants real-time feedback. What it is genuinely powerful at is long-term trends — sleep above all, plus readiness scores.
Where does it earn its place for a lifter?
Split the jobs and it gets clear. The question a smart ring answers is has my sleep got worse this week than last month. The question it cannot answer is what did I squat today, for how many sets. The second one exists nowhere unless you write it down.
And the second one is exactly what a muscle index is computed from — squat, bench, and deadlift one-rep maxes, plus bodyweight, sex, age, and height. Nothing the ring collects feeds into that score. Which makes them complements rather than competitors: each covers what the other cannot see. Why your numbers stalled in a week your sleep collapsed is a question for the ring; the numbers themselves only come from the log.
A membership fee of $5.99 monthly or $69.99 annually applies on top of the hardware price, and data access is limited without it. Fold that subscription into the total before deciding.
On what measuring devices miss, see what smart scales cannot measure; on sleep's actual effect on performance, sleep loss and lifting performance.
Frequently asked questions
What changed in the Oura Ring 5?
It is 40 percent smaller than the generation 4 and consistently ran eight to nine days between charges in testing. Against a previous generation needing power every two or three days, that means it can stay on continuously, so the data accumulates as a trend instead of arriving in fragments.
Can you wear a smart ring while weight training?
For most exercises, yes. The smaller size made it comfortable enough to keep on through running and lifting, including biceps curls and farmer's carries that previously meant removing it. Heavy deadlifts were the exception worth taking it off for.
Can a smart ring log your workouts?
Not properly. A smart ring is a passive tracker, so it does not know what exercise you are doing, and using active tracking requires picking up your phone to start a separate process. Exercise, load, and set records still have to be logged separately.
What is a smart ring actually best at?
Long-term trends over time, especially sleep data and readiness scores. If what you want is real-time feedback during a session, a screen-based smartwatch that starts a workout from the display suits better.
Does the Oura Ring cost anything beyond the device?
Yes. A membership costs $5.99 per month or $69.99 per year on top of the hardware, and it should be included in the total cost when deciding whether to buy.
Source: Men's Health Fitness