is it worth getting a fitbit?
rachylouise87
Posts: 367 Member
i only use a HRM for cardio in the day but everything else i do is left untracked. has anyone got a fit bit?
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I can be worth it, to get a good idea of the other 23 hrs of the day, and the infinite level of TDEE you truly have.
They will have limits on that 1 hr of exercise though, and depending on model.
So just be aware of limitations and your favorite workouts, and what may still need to be manually logged.
I do, exactly for the purpose during training to attempt to keep the deficit minor, or else performance suffers too much.0 -
I have read about the Atlas and the Push both of which seem way cool- even track weightlifting!! Have you heard of or used these?0
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Hmm, the Push wearable sounds interesting.0
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That will be interesting to see the reviews on that working well.
Giving suggestions on good form for lifting workouts? I see injuries coming, as there is no way a sensor can know your body dimensions, flexibility, structure, and whether a lift is good form or not for you personally.
I can see how it's going to attempt to work, I just doubt greatly half those claims.
Besides, most of the lifts that could really cause injury are ones that should show no movement except up or down on the wrist/arm, it would never know if rest of your body is moving correctly unless it saw sideways motion, and merely commented "you don't have good form".
Now, tracking reps, that's nice I guess, except if you can't really remember, you gonna look at your watch midway through to confirm you've done enough squats say?
There have been 2 other devices on sites for fundraising that made huge promises, one is over a year late and the claims of what it can do are still not based on any science yet that can be found in studies or research by reviewers of the claims. The other has stopped responding to inquiries of how, and I'm wondering if it's this Atlas one actually.
The Push claims to have unique hardware - but's that's what they all have in them - one chip contains those functions actually, has for awhile.
There usage of the chip may be a tad different, but those 3 metrics is how say Fitbit already uses impact and hang time to determine what the actual current stride length is. So nothing actually unique there. Garmin even gives some stats on their activity tracker during runs using those 3 metrics.
They just haven't written any code to focus on lifting applications.
I'll have to do some research if velocity based training it is going after is really the measure of performance that should be pursued.
I know just off hand, that method fails if someone is doing the 2 second slow lifts purposely to increase Time Under Tension (TUT). Velocity would be low and the device would think the lift is weak, when it's really not. Or pausing at the bottom purposely for 2 seconds to work on the muscles of the potential sticking point, the return is always slower but not weak by any means - just a different focus on the workout.
Just suggesting, don't send in money yet, unless you like supporting those kinds of efforts and don't get annoyed when brand new stuff doesn't work well or as claimed.
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ok so whats everyone using and what do you recommend? i need to try find TDEE really0
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I'm probably going to get a Fitbit because I want something to track my non exercise activity. Also, I think it would inspire me to get more walking in if I see my steps are low for the day. I also like the minimal look of the Fitbit.0
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I have a Garmin Vivofit and have walked 731 miles since Jan 5th 2015, have gone over 1 million steps and at 1.3 mil now.0
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i got a fitbit flex today how do i set this with my eating goal on here?
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here is a link to the MFP fit bit users group:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
Got a FitBit Flex last week as a gift and I'm pretty curious just to see what it says. I figured out my TDEE before I received the fitbit so I'm just really, really curious what this FitBit says my TDEE is. I'm manually entering the activity I use my HR monitor for, so we'll see how effective the FitBit plus HR monitor information is together
I probably wouldn't have ever bought one myself because I had planned on it waiting it out a few years until the technology improved but should be a fun toy. 0 -
@heybales all very valid and good points for sure! So what tracker is recommended? Fitbit? Misfit Shine? Polar watch? Jawbone Up3? Looking for non exercise activity, heart rate during exercise, and TDEE track
Totally depends on the extra features, what their sites logs and makes easy to use, and likely how does it sync with MFP. Do you want reminders, alarms, view decent amount of data on device or bare basics? You want wrist or hip/bra device?
Like if workouts are serious and you want to review stats down the road for comparison, MFP exercise diary is pretty bad, Fitbit a tad better. Garmin would probably win for trackers with their own site.
But then again could use another app for tracking workouts for comparison later, and just sync results to MFP for adjustment.
Some have a HRM built in to wrist strap, and accuracy can vary greatly depending on intensity of workout and your body, and therefore calorie burn based on it could be good or bad.
Others allow pairing with a HR strap they come with when the workout is going to be cardio, the only valid use of HRM for estimating calorie burn.
All will need to have strength training manually entered, unless that Push device really can be accurate on what you are doing - and they have tested the calorie burn on each workout type to use it when needed.
So Fitbit Charge HR and Surge (adds GPS) gives what you request. - http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/02/fitbit-charge-review.html
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/01/fitbit-surge-depth-review.html
Though their site isn't great at workout reviews. But you can upload data to other sites to track that better.
Garmin FR15 will also do what you asked - http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/06/garmin-forerunner-15-depth-review.html
So will Vivosmart - http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/09/vivosmart-activity-tracker.html
And their site was based on uploading workouts for review and compare later, for years.
Or others - http://www.dcrainmaker.com/product-reviews/activity-monitors
They all will be about equal for the 22-23 hrs of the day outside exercise.
They can all have their height adjusted so they are using a better BMR figure if you have one based on BF%.
They all can have their stride length corrected to a tested value, which is always good idea.
All will need manual entry of at least strength training.
The non-HR models will all need some manual correction on non-step-based exercise (swimming, rowing, elliptical, biking, ect)
I like reviews above, because you see sizes. Some were shocked how big the Surge was, and complained they never wore watches before, and this was major extreme change and they didn't really like it.
Some do workouts that require a more accurate HRM strap.
Those reviews also look at step count compares between devices, which is nice too. Since steps is the beginning of estimating calories. Steps is distance is pace is calories. Start out with steps off by over 10% say, calories could be pretty badly off.0 -
I really liked DC Rainmaker's reviews before purchasing my device - highly recommend reading through all of them! I ended up going with a Polar M400 as it is an activity tracker and can hook up to my H7 heart rate monitor during workouts. I also like that it has GPS for when I'm outdoors for accurate distance measurements (when running or cycling). So far I love it, but the size of it is larger than most would prefer.0
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