Active Minutes - Target Heart Rate

[mparham]

Hello, 

Can someone help me figure out a good target heart rate to trigger an "active minute". My 40 minute weight lifting session triggered 0 active minutes. After speaking to support my session was considered "light" even though my average heart rate was double my resting. 

Resting: 54

Average during lift: 108

Peak during lift: 144

Duration: 40 minutes

Active Minutes: 0

Any advice is much appreciated.

[farmer2]

im not sure on the matter, but active minutes may be calculated by steps insted of heart rate. i say that because i have the original flex and it doesnt do heart rate. i was in a 40 min cross fit class this morning and it only counted 28 active minutes. im guessing durring the step up exercise.

[WavyDavey]

 @farmer2, trackers with a heart rate monitor will use that information to determine active minutes, not steps. If you do an hour of spinning, you'll see that's true.

@mparham, I've run into that issue a number of times. Weight training is notorious for it. Because of the rest periods, what happens is the heart rate goes down, which prevents the active minutes. Active minutes need sustained effort of at least ten minutes. So when we take rests between sets, it can reset the count.

The key is to get the effort sustained through at least 10 minutes. To do this with weight training or crossfit, you'd have to decrease rest between sets, which may or may not work for you (I can't do without the rest so I'm doomed with active minutes).  I do separate cardio for active minutes, as well as pick up ones during the day.

As an example, I worked out the other day and got 0 active minutes. Then I went directly from the gym to the grocery store, where I earned 15 minutes just doing some shopping. The heart rate was greater in the gym, but the shopping was more sustained. Hope this helps.

[mparham]

Thanks, I appreciate the responses!

[Dominique]

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@mparham wrote:

My 40 minute weight lifting session triggered 0 active minutes.

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Unless you are doing a lot of supersets, or circuit training, it is expected your weight sessions won’t give you many active minutes. Fitbit active minutes are all about continuous effort (even when not particularly intense). When you are lifting weights, OTOH, you typically have a relatively short bout of effort: even when doing higher reps (12-15) with lower weights, you will seldom spend more than 1-2 minutes actually lifting. If you really want to get active minutes from your weight lifting sessions, you can try walking around the gym during your rest periods between sets.

Anyway, the main purpose of lifting weights is to gain strength and muscle, not to be active. If getting your quota of active minutes is important to you, just go out for 30 minutes of brisk walking after dinner