Cardio load inconsistent

[BekGF]

Anyone else thinking that the Cardio Load "insights" with Fitbit premium is not trustworthy? Yesterday it was telling me to slow down as U was at risk of over training and within 12 hours it's saying that I need to work harder as I'm at risk of under training 

[Shufflincrew]

I'm having the same issue. I'm staying in the  recommended zone and it'll say I'm at risk of under training. Yesterday it said i need to be in the low to mid hundred range. I finished the day at one ninety five. I wake up this morning and it says I'm at risk of under training and I need to be in mid hundred  range again. This should be a rest day. I think I'm going to find customer support because this could be damaging to some people that stick to the recommendations.

[Lifestepper]

Yesterday and today I did the exact same walking route at virtually the same pace. One day's cardio load was 111, the next was 44. I don't get it at all!

[Shufflincrew]

How was your readiness both days?

[BekGF]

I'm not sure. I'll check next time

[Bill_209]

The Cardio Target/Load function software development is definitely a 'work-in-progress' as far as I am concerned.

The cardio load targets change significantly from one day to the next, particularly if one makes the mistake of missing an exercise day.  Trying to meet a cardio load target of 110 would probably kill me, and my target for today was 135.

[jdpm3]

I have the same issue. The recommendations seem more random than anything planned or based on specific data. I go from you’ve pushing yourself to you are at risk of under training. All while following  the recommendations. Nothing in between. No “right on track”. I liked to old system much more 

[Shufflincrew]

Yesterday it was 6 to 39 and today it is 106 to 149. I got 131. That was a lot of work. This is crazy. I just wanted to see if could do it. My readiness score was 67 and 68, so I don't get it.

[Bill_209]

My Readiness was 43 today and the Cardio Load Target was 112 - 155.  I did manage to squeak out 110 Cardio Load points, but it took 165 Zone Minutes to get there, so I am now back to 'maintaining' again and still kicking.

[RiekoC]

Thanks for sharing that article, @Bill_209 . This could help others understand the Cardio Load feature. 👍

[BekGF]

I lowered my goal to a maintenance level, and for the last 6 days have either been within the target set by the cardio load algorithm or above the target. Today with a readiness of 42, it's telling me that I am at risk of under training and set a target of 123 to 147!! Honestly, I have serious concerns that this component of the app could be leading me & others astray. I think the concept is good, but I just don't trust the algorithm!

[BekGF]

I have noticed that can happen. But I think it is as a result of not working at the same intensity, although I might be walking the same distance. 

[Bill_209]

I changed my Cardio fitness target from 'Improve' to 'Maintain' as well and that appeared to help with smoothing out the significant changes in the day-to-day Cardio Load targets that I was getting when my Cardio fitness target was set to 'Improve', but there are still some days when the Cardio Load Target is unusually high for no apparent reason. 

I'm still trying to make sense of what this Cardio Load algorithm is actually doing and it would be great if Google could provide some documentation that describes that.

[LeslieFok]

They need to recalibrate the cardio load algorithm.  I went on a trip for about a week and was unable to train.  When I came back, the cardio load recommend a high number.  I think it is very dangerous to restart training at a high level (that's about my maximum.  I don't have the time to get that much exercise) after a lay off.  So I rammed up slowly.  It continued tell me I need a cardio load up to the max.  A couple days ago, I got to about 2/3 to max.  Then the next day it's telling me I'm at risk of overtraining. Huh?

The thing is even before with their zone minutes target, it kept pushing up to a number that's unrealistic and unreasonable for me.  If I ccan't trust it, then it's useless.

[BekGF]

Agree. I can't trust it either. Plus of course at the moment it can't take
into account things like the weather conditions (if you work out outside
for example); whether you have an injury etc.

[Prospector]

I have decided to ignore the targets and just use the recorded cardio load for information. In any case, the cardio load measurements seem to be in fairly consistent ratio with my active minutes score (the target for which I exceed very easily even on the lightest of exercise).

My cardio load targets have swung over three days from the very challenging (90 to 133) to the ridiculously low (1 to 36) then back to 90 to 133. My cardio fitness estimate is 53 to 57 which I’m very happy with and see no urgency to get much higher.

[Shufflincrew]

Sunday my target load was 187 to 235. Thursday my load was between 4 to 58
and I hit 75. The next day it was between 147 and 201. It's nuts

[LeslieFok]

There were a couple of times where my readiness was high and the cardio load was like 1-27.  I'm really frustrated because the readiness conflicts with cardio load.  So now I wound up just using raw data.  I wasn't happy that a readiness score of thirty something was still considered "moderate" in the first place.  In any case, because I have been consistently exercised for around 30 minutes a day, a cardio load of over 80 is too much already at any time.  Recommending something over 120 to "maintain" is bordering on irresponsible.  They need to find someone who can make proper tweaks to their algorithm. 

[Shufflincrew]

How do we let Fitbit know that we don't the Cardio Load and to fix it? You would think with all the people complaining about it (or disabling it) that they would respond. I always get redirected to the Fitbit community when I have a question. 

[Bill_209]

The closest that you're going to get to actually having someone at Google see your comments is to click the icon in the upper right-hand corner of the Today screen and then click 'feedback' to provide your feedback.