When doing aerobics, do you log the stretching time?

groovigyrl
groovigyrl Posts: 72 Member
edited November 15 in Getting Started
Hi,

I worked out to a one hour aerobics video. 40 min. of it was all cardio, 10 min. of stretching beforehand and 10 min. stretching at cool down. Do you count those 20 minutes of stretching as some form of exercise even though you weren't getting your heart rate pumped up?

I just downloaded fitbit but have no idea what I'm doing. I don't have a tracker, so I'm entering manually. I know that I'll have to let it run as I do the actual exercising before it records it. Just trying to figure out if you're supposed to include stretching as part of your workout and if so, how do you do that? TIA!

Replies

  • eseeton
    eseeton Posts: 80 Member
    Not sure.

    Stretching should count, but on a much smaller scale. You could count the stretching as yoga for the purposes of entering it, which would be maybe 40-50 calories for 20 minutes. But then again, do you really need to log 50 exercise calories? If it were me, I would just log the 40 minutes of aerobics cardio and see the added stretching as a bonus buffer calories! :smile:

    And I didn't know you could use the fitbit app if it wasn't connected to a device. Hmmm. Why are you using this to track excercise when MFP tracks it as well (even if it is way off sometimes)?
  • swirlybee
    swirlybee Posts: 497 Member
    I use a heart rate monitor and I let it keep track and log my warm up and cool down sessions. When I'm cycling (bicycling), I don't log my cool down and warm up because I'm trying to improve my average speed.
  • mkakids
    mkakids Posts: 1,913 Member
    I don't - just because its such an insignificant amount of calories. Now if I were doing an hour long yoga session or something - I will log it. But just a few stretches before aerobics? No.
  • groovigyrl
    groovigyrl Posts: 72 Member
    epawelek wrote: »
    Not sure.

    Stretching should count, but on a much smaller scale. You could count the stretching as yoga for the purposes of entering it, which would be maybe 40-50 calories for 20 minutes. But then again, do you really need to log 50 exercise calories? If it were me, I would just log the 40 minutes of aerobics cardio and see the added stretching as a bonus buffer calories! :smile:

    And I didn't know you could use the fitbit app if it wasn't connected to a device. Hmmm. Why are you using this to track excercise when MFP tracks it as well (even if it is way off sometimes)?

    Thanks for the info, very helpful. Okay, I'll just log the 40 min. then. Another one of my workouts has calisthenics, so I'll just add it to the cardio next time. I don't know why I want to log such few calories, I guess that I'd like the extra in numbers to make me feel better. LOL.

    I downloaded the fitbit devise because I read that it's pretty good and I might buy the tracker in the future. I just wanted to try it out. Maybe I'll just keep in simple until then and log in here instead. ;)

    Thanks again!
  • groovigyrl
    groovigyrl Posts: 72 Member
    edited April 2015
    Thanks swirlybee! I might try that instead! mkakids, you're right, but the stretches before the aerobics were not stationary. It was the warm up. 10 minutes and I was getting hot already and breathing was slightly above normal at certain points. The cool down, on the otherhand, was not. Guess I'm being too anal!
  • deloachkl
    deloachkl Posts: 17 Member
    Just me, but I log every ounce of exercise including stretching. I just log it as stretching. I even log the 2 minutes it takes for me to walk 6 flights up to my office.
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