BodyMedia Vigorous vs. Moderate Exercise?

maybemarina
maybemarina Posts: 24 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am curious if anyone has information about how the BodyMedia Fit LINK armband classifies exercise as vigorous rather than moderate. For example, I work my butt off on the elliptical, getting my heart rate up to 170 and keeping it there for the duration of my 30-minute session, and I get 30 minutes of moderate exercise. I've read on different websites that ''vigorious'' is when you're at 70%-85% of your MHR.. which would mean I'm hitting that target zone. Any ideas what I can do about this?

Replies

  • jvnoonway
    jvnoonway Posts: 24
    For BMF its all about the MET's... you can see the information if you go on your dashboard, and then click on the physical activity drop down and it will give you more information. ALSO, how long have you been using your BMF? I found the longer I've been using it (about 3wks now) the better it gets to know me. GIve it time to get some readings, and you will see the difference.
  • andrederosier
    andrederosier Posts: 121 Member
    Yes it goes by METs. Vigorous is 6.0 MET or more per minute.
  • chellebublz
    chellebublz Posts: 568 Member
    I have found that it really varies by what activity you are doing. For example, doing 30 Day Shred, I will only get a couple minutes of vigorous activity like 3 at the most. But during c25k my first workout of it, I had 20 minutes of vigorous activity.

    And like a previous poster said, it goes by METs. The more fit you are, the more you can push yourself to 6.0 mets and vice versa. So if you are extremely out of shape (ME!!!) it will be very hard to get to that 6.0 METs. You can go into your settings on Bodymedia and change the MET required for Vigorous Activity. I have mine currently set at 5.0, and once I get more fit I will put it back to 6.0, it doesn't effect anything from what I understand. Just makes it so you can hit your goal.
  • moncea
    moncea Posts: 1
    If you expand your calorie burn and look at when you were steadily burning the least amount of calories, such as at rest, this would be your lowest metabolic rate, or equivalent to 1 MET. This is different person to person based on height, weight, sex and age. Moderate activity begins to accumulate at 3 METs and 6 METs for vigorous (by default). So, if you take your LMR and multiply by 3, that is the calories burned per minute when you will get credit for moderate activity. Same for vigorous, multiply by 6. Expanding the physical activity graph will show the number of moderate/vigorous minutes where your calorie burn exceeded these thresholds.

    Working out for thirty minutes may not achieve thirty minutes of activity, you must cross your calorie burn per minute threshold to get credit for moderate (or vigorous) activity.
  • verdemujer
    verdemujer Posts: 1,397 Member
    You can also adjust your mets level in the customization of the site at BodyMedia. I did that and some of my activity is now registering at vigourous which is nice to see since it really is vigourous activity. I didn't want to throw it off too much so I only adjusted it 1%.
  • ltdavecass
    ltdavecass Posts: 2
    I'm glad I found this question. I'm on day three of having my BodyMedia FIT Link. I went to the gym the other night and did 30 minutes on the treadmill. While 1.5 miles in 30 minutes isn't vigorous activity for most, for someone who's 450 lbs and not used to exercising, it seemed pretty darn vigorous to me. It was disappointing to still be dripping with sweat and out of breath a few minutes later when I pulled out my phone to see that I'd only achieved a moderate effort.

    So is it true that adjusting the settings will just change the graphs to show some yellow instead of all brown without changing any calorie calculations? If so, I'll go ahead and give myself the ability to reach a vigorous level. However, if it changes the calorie counts, I don't want to play around with it.
  • sfdf40
    sfdf40 Posts: 32 Member
    I have found that walking outside credits you with higher calorie counts than on the treadmill. I walk outside and I'm burning 5-7 calories a minute. I walk on the treadmill, on an incline and faster than outside and am only burning 3-5 calories per minute.
  • maybemarina
    maybemarina Posts: 24 Member
    So is it true that adjusting the settings will just change the graphs to show some yellow instead of all brown without changing any calorie calculations? If so, I'll go ahead and give myself the ability to reach a vigorous level. However, if it changes the calorie counts, I don't want to play around with it.


    That's an excellent question and I wonder it that has been messing up my counts because I've been playing with the slider . I will contact BodyMedia support and ask them about it.
  • sanvc74
    sanvc74 Posts: 1
    I have been using Body Media link for 6 months now. I am facing the same issue with elliptical. However I also use Treadmill and I easily hit vigorous activity (6 mets) by running at 5 mph to 6 mph on 2% incline. But whatever I do on elliptical, I am always on moderate activity
  • dsswimgirl
    dsswimgirl Posts: 1 Member
    I have been entering my swimming and in the past it's given me moderate workout credit for freestyle slow and vigorous for pretty much everything else. All of a sudden it gives me moderate for all swimming. I haven't adjusted anything, and it doesn't read my METs, as I have to enter swimming as an off body exercise. Any ideas?
  • nightbender
    nightbender Posts: 1
    I've been using the BMF for a couple months now. I've seen it reach vigorous for a couple minutes in all that time. I hit 12 mets, and averaged 9 mets on a hard kettlebell workout. If that's not vigorous, I don't know what is. I've moved the band down, played with the slider, etc. I've just given up, and use it for a daily base line at this point.

    I think what they need to do is put in activity types. Link it to the slider. So when you go into the moderate or vigorous bands for a period of time, the next time you link or sync it prompts you for what you were doing and adjusts accordingly.

    It would also most likely help if they had another data point like actual heart rate from a heart rate monitor. They do link with Garmins, but that's the most expensive set up out there. I know I personally won't be spending another 100-400 bucks just to add in heart rate. Since the new version BMF is BlueTooth capable, they could come out with their own brand heart rate monitor and just link the 2 devices. Either that or at least bring in some 3rd parties alternatives that more people could afford.
  • CariJo1979
    CariJo1979 Posts: 13 Member
    Does anyone have an update on this topic? I just got my BM link yesterday, today I went to the mall to pick up a few things at 2 stores, was there for 20 mins tops. I was just casually walking the whole time. I also did 30 mins of elliptical, and was at a heart rate of 165-170 for most of the time. The BM gave put both the walking and the elliptical in the moderate range, but the walking was higher than the elliptical! I tried putting the BM on my leg instead, but for some reason the BM app for exercise wasn't picking it up. (thats a whole nother thread).

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