ki fit aka body media use in gym

I wear mine in the gym and haven't had a problem I've heard some say that it's not accurate for bike riding.

Hi guys,

My name is Sam Lynas and I work for Ki. Your question came up in one of our Google Alerts and I wanted to take the time to provide you with an answer from one of our scientists, Kirstie Tew:

"Research support for the accuracy and reliability of the Ki Armband is good. The Berntsen et al. (2008) study quoted on the Ki website is just one of the research papers that shows how good the Ki System (using the same technology as the Sensewear and GoWear Fit systems) is at measuring daily energy expenditure and activity levels.

Versus indirect calorimetry (a method for measuring calorie expenditure which uses gas analysis), the armband is shown to have an error of just 9% when measuring total energy expenditure for the day. However, it’s even better when it comes to measuring energy expenditure during physical activity, with no significant difference between the armband and the indirect calorimetry results.

Another standard against which energy monitors are often assessed is the doubly labeled water technique (DLW). Two recent studies have compared the Ki Armband to DLW in measuring daily energy expenditure in free-living conditions. Again, the results show that the Ki Armband has good accuracy and reliability when it comes to measuring total energy expenditure. St-Onge et al. (2007) found the Armband to be ‘reasonably concordant with DLW’ over a 10 day period (less than 5% difference in calorie total compared to DLW), and Welk et al. (2009) seeing error rates of approximately 8%.

As well as looking at total energy expenditure under free-living conditions, a range of studies have assessed the accuracy of the Armband measurements for specific activities, such as using exercise machines in the gym, lifting weights, cycling and doing Yoga.

Depending on the activity and the type of movement it elicits, the accuracy varies, with walking and running generally matching indirect calorimetry results very closely and greater error for cycling or arm ergometry. There are obvious difficulties in developing algorithms for activities like these, but this is something that BodyMedia (the company who developed the Ki System) are constantly working on and improving."

The above reply may be quite scientific but hopefully answers your query. The honest answer is that the Ki technology is the most accurate monitor of activity available in the UK and is three times more like to help you with weight loss but if you would like more information please visit kiperformance.com or contact me on slynas@kiperformance.com or call 01932 851440.

Thanks,

Sam