How to track a short-duration activity

[Kathy.Mac]

Hi...  I have a small elliptical machine that I don't use for more than a couple minutes at a time.   I want to log my activity on this machine.

If I use "Track Exercise", Walk, Run, or Hike are the only exercises available, which isn't really what I'm doing.  If I use the stopwatch on the "Track Exercise" page, it doesn't register because I'm doing this exercise in-place for a short amount of time.

The Help section tells me, "If a specific exercise isn’t available, we recommend choosing Workout as your exercise type."   Well, I cannot find "Workout" anywhere... neither online or on my android app.

Help also tells me, "To change or re-order exercises on your Fitbit device, choose a section below:

1. From the Fitbit app dashboard, tap the Account icon [ ] your device image.
2. Tap Exercise Shortcuts.
3. To add a new shortcut, tap the + icon and select an exercise.

"Exercise Shortcuts" does not show up in that menu... only "Exercise", which takes me to "Weekly Exercise Goals" and "Auto Recognized Exercises".   Under "Auto...", there's an Elliptical choice, that is set for 15 minutes.  The number of minutes can be edited, but it requires a minimum of 10, which I'm currently unable to do.

I want to be able to track this exercise, even if it is only 2 minutes at at time, because I expect to do it at least twice a day.

Am I asking too much of the app?   If anyone can help me figure out a way to log this activity, I'd appreciate it.

Thank you.

Kathy.Mac

[JohnnyRow]

Which Fitbit device are you using?

[Kathy.Mac]

Thanks for getting back to me.   I have an Alta HR.
Kathy.Mac

[RobertoME]

Hello @Kathy.Mac and thank you for asking this additional details @JohnnyRow. Very important to know which tracker are you using. Let see, in this case you want to track a short duration activity while you are using the elliptical machine using your tracker. How short is the exercise period you spend in the machine?

I believed the best option is to use the SmartTrack feature. Your Alta HR will be able to read automatically your elliptical exercise if you do at least a session of 10 minutes as you mentioned. Since your tracker does not have the option to use exercise shortcuts.

"Track exercise" is not the best option for short exercises. I'm assuming you are using the app for this, but if I'm correct, this exercises are specifically for outdoor activity since it is require to use the GPS of your phone.

If your exercise is too short, you can manually add the exercise after you made the activity using the tracker, this can be done from your Fitbit app. For more details take a look at this article: How do I manually log an activity or exercise?.

The minimum time as you know is 10 minutes, so the best here would be a manual activity as the Fitbit app or your Alta HR is not capable to track shorter activities.

See you later and hope this helps.

[JohnnyRow]

@Kathy.Mac  To add to @RobertoME 's excellent answer, I think some of the help instructions you referred to only apply to some other devices, not the Alta HR.  I don't know  if the instructions made that clear.