Weekly Cardio Load Targets

[YachatsMike]

I've read on line (including white papers from Google) that Fitbit is going to change from daily Cardio Load targets to weekly targets to reduce the sometimes wild variations in daily targets that recovery days and missed workouts can create.  Any update on when that might happen?

[alexthecat]

@YachatsMike it's part of the Public Preview of the new Fitbit app. It's available now, if you're an Android user in the US with a subscription to Fitbit Premium. According to this rumor it's possibly coming to users of the free app soon too. 

There is a weekly graph for Cardio Load that looks like this, so you can visualize how you're progressing towards the goal. 

 

[YachatsMike]

It's a much better presentation.  The current daily model algorithm tends to present goals that "fix" your problem in one day and set unachievable targets.  The cumulative weekly goals are a lot more rational.

[YachatsMike]

Maybe I can build something into my own spreadsheet that works like that.  Does the preview develop the new weekly goal on Mondays based on ACWR or are you on your own?

[alexthecat]

@YachatsMike The app gives a weekly goal on Mondays (or on Sundays, if that's when your week starts) and it doesn't change throughout the week. You can tell the AI to change your goal, if you don't like what the app gives you.

The nagging messages about Cardio Load are not in the Public Preview, but you will get messages about overtraining if you exceed the weekly goal. The little graphic that shows if you are allegedly undertraining, maintaining, or overtraining is gone too. It's up to the user to decide how to reach their weekly goal. 

Here's my Cardio Load graph from the regular app for the same week that I shared earlier, so you can see how they compare. I was not deliberately trying to follow the daily recommendations. It just worked out that way. 

[YachatsMike]

I kind of liked the little graphic.  It was kind of helpful to discourage me from driving too hard.  The messages from the graphic were based on sound science.  I've been doing a parallel spreadsheet calculation of ACWR, though, so I could adapt.

[alexthecat]

The Personal Health Coach is very much a work in progress. There are a lot of features that are still missing. I don't know whether we'll get that little graphic back eventually. 

In new app that we have rolling calendars again, so it's easier to see your trends anyway. On Jan. 1, you can select the "Year" view and see an entire year's worth of data instead of just one day. There are day, week, month, 3 month, and year time spans available. This is the case for almost all the data in the app.