Cardio Load - premium member

[Sparky617]

I've been trying to figure this out since I discovered it on the app a few weeks ago.  For background I'm a pretty fit 60+ year old man.  I generally walk 2-3 miles in the morning with my dog, and take a 17 to 30 mile bike ride 5 or 6 days a week, averaging over 100 biking miles per week year round, and 15 to 20 miles per week walking the dog.  Yesterday I biked 34 miles in 2 hours 30 minutes with and average speed of 13.2, average heart rate of 95 and zone minutes of 65 and cardio load of 61.  I also track with Strava using a chest strap HRM lists my HR average as 113, which I place more faith in than the wrist based HRM in the Sense.  The walk had 25 zone minutes and cardio load of 12.  Today the app says I'm at risk of "undertraining" and I should be aiming for a 183 to 242 cardio load!  I was also up on my feet doing some home improvement work for most of the rest of the day, and logged 21,921 "steps" 127 "active zone minutes" and 122 floors and my cardio load totaled out at 83.

So with all that, how much time does Fitbit think I can put into training every day?  Isn't 15,000+ "steps" a day slightly above average? Strava's "Athlete Intelligence" is a much better motivational tool. I'm pretty close to pulling the plug on premium, because I really don't see any value to the extra features, especially at $10 USD a month.  Searching through the forum here I'm really not getting a sense that anyone understands this, nor thinks it is useful.

I have a Sense 2 and this is my 4th or 5th Fitbit.

[LZeeW]

@Sparky617  I moved your post to the Get Moving forum.  It seems like a better fit than a device forum.  You might get more feedback from other users.

I also want to add that Cardio Load is free to all users who own a supported device.  You decision to keep or cancel Premium should be based on Premium features.

[Sparky617]

Thanks, I did see I can change my goal, and I did so this morning to maintain fitness instead of increase cardio fitness.  It still is showing an absurd cardio load recommendation of 197 to 243, but it appears to still be in the "increase cardio fitness" mode maybe the change will be reflected tomorrow.  Looking back through the past several weeks I did hit a cardio load on 12/30/24 when I went for a 56 mile ride, and a 2.4 mile walk.  My cardio load on that day was 216.  Needless to say, most people can't exercise for 323 zone minutes or 5 hours and 52 actual minutes on a daily basis.

Also, what is up with a filters that won't allow 97 (dash) 243 to post?  I'm struggling to see why the filters are set to reject posts with numbers like this. The (dash) is an actual dash not how I typed it here.

[RiekoC]

Hello @Sparky617 

You might be interested in this help page which has the information on how the Fitbit algorithm calculates Cardio Load and Cardio Target Load (<-- click link).

Have you updated your Fitbit app to version 4.34? According to a Moderator post, this updated version has the fixes for general Cardio Load/Target Load issues.

I have the Pixel Watch 3 and have had access to Cardio Load & Target Load since the feature first launched for this device about 3 months ago. I've noticed that my Target Load seems to be more reasonable in the last few days after updating the my Fitbit Android app to version 4.34.1.

I expect your Target Load recommendation will eventually settle into more reasonable ranges as the algorithm collects more data, especially after changing your fitness goal to Maintain.

FYI - From what I understand, the forum algorithm tends to rejects numbers in posts that include dashes since that kind of resembles a phone number/personal information.

[Sparky617]

I'm on the 4.32 version for the app, I just updated it.  I have it set to automatically update but it was a version or two behind.  Today, it is still showing a 193 to 222 cardio load recommendation for maintaining my fitness, and that I've been undertraining.  I'm not sure how they expect people to go out and do that level of training on a regular basis.  If this is supposed to motivate me, they have failed.  

[Sparky617]

Update - I was able to get a long bike ride in last weekend (70 miles).  The Cardio Load suggestions after that have been more realistic.  I've taken several 25+ mile rides this week and today's recommendation is "Try something lighter.  Your readiness is high, but you've been pushing yourself recently. Low-intensity cardio like cycling and walking can increase blood flow and promote healing." Funny thing is walking and cycling are my normal cardio activities.

[RiekoC]

Hello @Sparky617 

Thanks for the update. It looks like your Cardio Load is finally settling in and giving you more reasonable goal ranges.

If you have the time, please keep us updated and let us know if you start seeing unrealistic Cardio Load suggestions again.