Using Fitbit at the gym - what to do

Aimscapes

Question... When working out at the gym, does the fit bit recognise when I am doing cardio (example air walker)... On the other hand, when I'm doing strength training exercises.. how can I show this as an exercise?

Am trying to insert data as representative as possible to my day

Emmygm

It should recognize it, but you can also add the exercise manually and it will adjust the calories based on the start time and duration you list.

i tend to just leave mine on and let it do it's thing unless I'm doing something that will skew the results (pushing something, swimming, etc.)

MsMaeFlowers

I generally just set mine to record a "workout" unless I am going to be doing something specific for a longer period of time (elliptical, treadmill, etc.). It seems fairly accurate so far. Low calorie burn for weight lifting, which is correct, and then higher when I do cardio things. In the beginning I compared it to stats I google'd around for and it was generally correct for my size and exercise so now I just trust it for the most part unless it seems really wacky on something.

CSARdiver

What is your goal? Is this to lose fat, build muscle?

Due to the inherent inaccuracies of caloric estimations I use multiple devices. For daily steps I use a Fitbit Flex 2 - simple waterproof step tracker. For workouts I take off the Fitbit and put on a Polar H7 to monitor heart rate.

I don't track strength training for caloric burn as this is minimal. You can log the specific exercises under your Exercise Log subcategory - Strength.

vespiquenn

When I enter strength lifting a a cardio option in MFP, Fitbit recognizes it and will override the workout for what you entered in the Fitbit App.

With that being said, a Fitbit with HR is not an accurate method to measure weight lifting. You will get skewed results dependent on the time spent lifting and recovering due to increased heart rate. It's one thing if you just want to utilize it to record time spent, but be aware that the calorie burn will be grossly inflated. Tools like Fitbit are best used only for steady state cardio.