Best activity tracker for strength training?

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wookiemouse
wookiemouse Posts: 290 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm trying to get an accurate gauge of my calories burned during the day. I've been using a Fitbit for many years, and it seems spot on with cardio and daily activity, but it's not so great with weight lifting (which I do for 1-1.5 hrs 3x a week). Has anyone found an activity tracker that tracks strength training accurately? I've been eyeing the Fitbit Charge HR, but can't find any reviews on how it performs in this area.

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  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Far too many variables to be able to get an estimate from movement and heartrate is virtually irrelevant as well.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    I don't think there are any currently on the market that are designed for tracking strength training. I have the Fitbit Surge and while it does have a "weights" option, I don't know if it's accurate.
  • Sutnak
    Sutnak Posts: 227 Member
    edited April 2015
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    I found a bit of a workaround for this! There's an app called Jefit. Use it while lifting, and use it for your rest periods, of course. At the end of the workout, it gives you an amount of time you actually spent lifting. It also gives you rest time, and 'wasted time.' Ignore the last two, then take the time lifted, and use MFP's cardio activity 'strength training.'

    As an example, a 60 minute lifting session typically has around 15-20 minutes of actual activity. More for circuit training, less for powerlifting.

    You don't need to do this every time. Just to get a good idea of how long you ACTUALLY train for.

    This helps illustrate what a joke a HRM is for lifting. Example:
    1 hour of lifting on my HRM is something like 1300 calories burned.
    That's for really only 20 minutes of work.

    In reality, I'm closer to around 150-200 calories burned.
  • FitPhillygirl
    FitPhillygirl Posts: 7,124 Member
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    There is no way for a fitness tracker to accurately track calories burned doing strength training. As mentioned above, there is too many variables involved for them to do so.

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