"Real athletes (lifters) don't use fitness trackers"
Options
Replies
-
You do weight training for how long? Let's say an hour out of the day. So, the fitness tracker would help you estimate your caloric expenditure for the other 23 hours in a day.
At least that's how I see it. I lift and I wear a FitBit (with heart rate monitor).0 -
I'm still stuck on the fact that the only 'real athletes' are people who lift.... mind.... blown....8
-
If you think it will motivate you to do more walking and/or running than you would do otherwise, than it might be a useful purchase..otherwise a waste of money.1
-
TavistockToad wrote: »I'm still stuck on the fact that the only 'real athletes' are people who lift.... mind.... blown....
Oh, that's not what he meant. He was saying, real, like, professional lifters don't focus on their step counts. Your mind does not need to be blown here.2 -
NorthCascades wrote: »For your needs, a Fitbit isn't especially useful, and probably not worth the money.
I think you're getting a lot of replies that don't address your goals because of the provocative title you used. For one thing it's a blanket statement, which almost always brings disagreement. And lifting heavy things isn't the only type of athleticism, so, naturally, tools that aren't useful for lifting are invaluable for other athletic pursuits, like GPS.
Well, that is true, though a blanket statement invites more input and lots of valuable advice! I'm sure it sounded more inflammatory than I intended but I'm happy to get a lot of different perspectives.1 -
TavistockToad wrote: »I'm still stuck on the fact that the only 'real athletes' are people who lift.... mind.... blown....
Oh, that's not what he meant. He was saying, real, like, professional lifters don't focus on their step counts. Your mind does not need to be blown here.
I consider myself an endurance athlete. I mean, a 50 mile bike ride through the mountains is my idea of most Saturdays. I don't focus on my step count.2 -
NorthCascades wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »I'm still stuck on the fact that the only 'real athletes' are people who lift.... mind.... blown....
Oh, that's not what he meant. He was saying, real, like, professional lifters don't focus on their step counts. Your mind does not need to be blown here.
I consider myself an endurance athlete. I mean, a 50 mile bike ride through the mountains is my idea of most Saturdays. I don't focus on my step count.
I certainly wouldn't say only lifters are athletes, I really hope this thread doesn't take that direction. That's not what my husband thinks either. But he never runs or bikes, he just lift weights. That's his only perspective.0 -
I wore my fitness tracker for over a year and I do a combo of weight training with a little bit of cardio. It didn't show calories burned during weight training. Since I have an office job and don't truly care about getting a crazy amount of steps, I stopped wearing mine. It was pretty much useless to me. I'm sure it's helpful to others with their goals but like others have mentioned - I don't count my calories burned during most lifting sessions.
0 -
I used a FitBit for awhile.. but meh, I lost interest in it. Plus it made me move too much and not eat enough.. then I started bulking so I definitely had to ditch it. Geez, I don't even know where mine is anymore.. I should probably sell it.
I am very similar to you since I don't really do cardio, but it was kind of fun to see how many calories I burned just being a mom!
For some people it helps motivate them to move more, give them an estimate of cals burned (even lifters) but you have to decide if that is something that will motivate you and help you reach your goals.
Personally, I would get something for your gym, and maybe a cheap step counter to motivate you to get walking more if that is something you think would interest you.2 -
I posted this in here (not in the fitness forum) because I wanted to get advice from lifters and bodybuilders. I'm about to turn 30 and I'm really excited to see what my body can do as soon as I'm done with my last pregnancy in July. I plan to focus on heavy lifting and see how strong I can get.
But I want to get lean, too. I also love to eat. So I brought up getting a fitness tracker to my husband. He shrugged and said, "Those are for counting steps. Not for lifters. I don't think serious lifters use those things."
Of all the research I've done, the ones that track your heart rate sound pretty useless anyway for figuring out how much you burn during a weightlifting session. And since I do minimal cardio (a couple miles a day maybe of walking the dog), and the rest is just walking around the house chasing the kids, I guess what I'm asking is, is a fitness tracker for a lifter a worthwhile purchase or not? Because right now I could either buy a FitBit or add equipment to my home gym and I'm wondering what's a better purchase at this point.
No, a fitness tracker is not worth it for lifting.
Would a fitness tracker encourage you to move more, get more steps and earn more calories/help you create a deficit....? Maybe, but only you can answer that.1 -
I lift with a tracker and it's true, it doesn't provide much additional benefit in terms of what you could get with your money vs a nice new Olympic barbell or a new squat rack or something (depending on the tracker $$)
For instance I purchased a fancy new Fenix 3HR, really nice GPS performance tracker that will probably make me breakfast if I asked. $500 CDN. It was my birthday so I got the gadget.
I'm currently really wanting a residential level power cage so I can safely heavier weights at home. I could get a cheap power cage and bench for that $500 and it would progress my lifting infinitely more than a tracker. Some days I wish I got the power cage, but the gadget sure is shiny.
Now when I go for a run, the tracker's the way to go.
If I were you and my goal was lifting, strength, power etc. Go for the lifting equipment. If I were you and my goal was "toning" (that vague word) and looking nice and fit, go for the tracker.
You'll need a new tracker in 2 years, you're lifting equipment will be good for a lifetime.
My two cents, depends on your goals.2 -
Ironically, I see a lot of lifters wearing those "magnetic" wrist bands. Fitness trackers, not so much.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
0 -
I wear a fitbit to keep an eye on where my calorie burn is for the day. It's not perfect but I know what my TDEE is outside it from years of logging. It's a pretty close match. So if I am having a particularly hungry, I can look and see what it says I've burned. Some days I am a lot more active without realizing it or trying to me. I lift heavy things and do some cardio things - I don't really use it to calculate specific burns, but gauge where I am with background activity, if that makes any sense. Outside of all this, it's worth a 100 bucks just to track my sleep and HR.2
-
Not sure if I qualify as a "real" lifter/athlete (I squat 305 and won a PL meet last month, but, meh) and I use a fitbit. It's been insightful when cutting/maintaining to see what my step count averages. Not necessary, but I enjoy the data. I like to wear it during lifting to keep an eye on my rest periods as well.
A powerlifter at my gym has one mainly for the text notifications.
I've also seen many bikini/figure competitors and even a few powerlifters who wear them. I think it's personal preference. Some people enjoy it, others could care less.
I track via TDEE and adjust cals/supplement cardio for cutting as needed based on how my body responds, so I don't use mine for calories burned. In that sense I guess it's pretty pointless, but I still wear it anyway.2 -
Heart Rate Monitors are designed for long steady state cardio - running, biking, swimming. The algorithms are all based upon these models, so the more you stray from this, the less accurate your estimation.
I use a fitbit Flex 2 to track my daily steps, but switch over to a Polar H7 for my run/bike/swim. I don't use a tracker for lifting.3 -
I know that if I walk 10k steps a day my TDEE is around 3500. I like to eat so I rely on my Fitbit to make sure I can be as gluttonous as possible.4
-
No I wouldn't think a tracker of any kind would help with your lifting. If you feel like you need to be more generally active during the day to achieve your goals, a tracker can help. (Getting a Fitbit helped me go from 4000 steps per day to 8000+ in a little over a year, yes I was a lazy *kitten*) If you are happy with how active you are, or are simply more focused on your lifting, then I think a tracker would probably be a waste.0
-
Just FYI
Some of the newer Garmins, vivosmart 3 and fenix 5, can be used for lifting. I start a weight lifting activity and it tracks my reps and sets, you tell it when your done, it counts down a rest period, and you can edit the reps which are usually off, but not always. They try to guess what you did, for easy stuff like curling, etc. it guesses correct, for most other things not so much. Its neat, but needs A LOT of work. Says in 50mins- 1 hour of lifting I burn ~216 calories, heart rate was ~91, I am 5'7, 167, so its a bit off.1 -
TavistockToad wrote: »I'm still stuck on the fact that the only 'real athletes' are people who lift.... mind.... blown....
Oh, that's not what he meant. He was saying, real, like, professional lifters don't focus on their step counts. Your mind does not need to be blown here.
He has a very good point. Most athletes would not track/trend this data as their workouts would ensure success in their respective sport. On the other hand professionals rely on data. Professionals tend to track and trend everything to tweak out the maximum potential and get/maintain the competitive edge.2 -
NorthCascades wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »I'm still stuck on the fact that the only 'real athletes' are people who lift.... mind.... blown....
Oh, that's not what he meant. He was saying, real, like, professional lifters don't focus on their step counts. Your mind does not need to be blown here.
I consider myself an endurance athlete. I mean, a 50 mile bike ride through the mountains is my idea of most Saturdays. I don't focus on my step count.
I certainly wouldn't say only lifters are athletes, I really hope this thread doesn't take that direction. That's not what my husband thinks either. But he never runs or bikes, he just lift weights. That's his only perspective.
I was actually replying to agree with him about the importance of step counting. 0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.4K Getting Started
- 259.6K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 387 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.2K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 913 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions