Cardio load is nonsense in my opinion

[Dom123456]

I believe this has replaced the daily readiness, i'm not finding this new feature very intuitive, the goal keeps changing I have no idea how to gauge how much or little exercise is needed, weather a rest day or not basically, the only gist I get is that I need to do some sort of cardio exercise everyday, well I know that, it's good that it can be removed from the home screen.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[callcat]

Thanks for the tip - I think you may be right. I believe I set it for improve rather than maintain when they first introduced it. And if that’s the case, I will change it. Normally, I get between 150 and 200 cardio load per day, so 411 really caught my attention!

[Shufflincrew]

I totally agree. 

[Shufflincrew]

That's insanely high.

[CNB63]

Yes!  All the time!  Yesterday my cardio load message was “take it easy.”  The bar graph showed I was solidly in the “improving” category.  I overshot my recommended cardio load target range. TODAY I wake up to find out to a message that I’m merely “maintaining fitness” lately and I was given a range to “get back on track.”  What????   This new feature is unhelpful and frustrating to those of us who are hoping to use Fitbit data to guide us rather than merely entertain us or - nowadays, give me something new to complain about each day.

[hovdeo]

@CNB63welcome to a world of insanity and inconsistency - Google AI............... (hope it works better for their Gen AI, AI Agents etc................)

i would never use cardio load and fitbit recommendations as a guide to plan my fitness and training. i build my plans in 2 week segments, a mix of vo2, threshold, LSD (long slow distance, z2) and recovery/rest.about 2 interval sessions per week, some times 3x if want to dig a bit for "overreach". and then i will make some adjustments as when if needed.

• here goes - Saturday morning, i was told i had been maintaining fitness, had a readiness score of 65. after a 90 min session with 6x5' vo2 (cardio load 54), a new message came up "you have been improving" and the needle had moved up along their scale. spring is here, have to do some yard work (cardio load 95!?!?!) and in the evening i was back to "you have been maintaining". total cardio load for the day was 154
• sunday morning i wake up to "at risk of under training" and readiness of 32. another vo2 session 3x 15(30/15) with some LT1 2x12', 1h47m. cardio load 73. total cardio load 99
• monday was recovery day, 1hr easy spin. "maintaining fitness", readiness 23 (felt like it too) cardio load 12. total cardio load 29.
• today again "maintaining" should target 116 - 171 cardio load. 3rd vo2 session in 4 days (hard for an old geezer), readiness jumped to 73. did my 5x5' with 2' fast start and finished off with 2x12' LT1. cardio load 20, 182 zone mins (when i do an easy walk, i have 28 zone mins with 31 cardio load). (when you register your sessions in the aftermath, it will register a cardio load of zero on the registered workout, it does not seem to be able to carry over the cardio load with the workout but u do not lose the cardio load). 

at this point i am at "maintaining", in the middle of the 2nd segment from the left of the 6 segments where they rate-rank activity status. the fitbit does capture zone mins albeit with some degree of inaccuracy but a 9 to 1 zone mins to cardio load sounds iffy to me, in spite of an ok readiness score - vo2 sessions are hard and they hurt. (fun?? not always)

 i am not among those who try to "optimize my life" with nose breathing, mouth tape, never have a chocolate etc. i really want for Google/Fitbit to develop a measurement that does make sense, that could provide a guide. as it is now, it does only confuse and agitate and frustrate. i will continue to look at it, chuckle when i see it, and then in reality - ignore it.

[kayakmac08]

I couldn't agree more with this assessment. I would hide this feature in my app if I could. It's worse than worthless; it's downright counterproductive and potentially harmful.

[RiekoC]

Hello @kayakmac08 

You can hide the Cardio Load tile on the Today page by 

• Tap on the pencil icon to the right of Today. This will open the Customize Today page. 
• Tap on Cardio Load to hide it
• Tap Save in the upper right

I believe that you will still see the Cardio Load prompt on the Today page. There currently isn't a way to turn off the Cardio Load prompt in the Fitbit app. 

One option that some users are doing is deleting their Cardio Load data in the Fitbit app. This temporarily turns off the Cardio Load prompt when the data is deleted. This method requires periodic Cardio Load data deletion about once a week to prevent the algorithm from acquiring the necessary data to re-establish the Cardio Load. If you want to give this a try, this help page has the steps to delete the Cardio Load data (<-- click link)

Also, please consider adding your vote & comments to this feature request: Allow users to move/delete Cardio Load prompt (<-- click link). 

[kayakmac08]

Brilliant, thank you so much!

[SetB]

Agree! Yesterday I was at risk of overtraining. Today it tells me I am undertraining. This happens frequently.  I tell my husband that Fitbit is calling me lazy again.

[Shufflincrew]

I had a chat with Fitbit help this morning and told her about all of cardio load complaints. After I told her all of the trouble shooting I have done she ask Fitbit app am I using. I her 4.38.  She said they have a new update 2 weeks ago which is 4.39. She said that should help. She said to wait a couple of weeks for it to be offered to me. 

[CNB63]

Thanks for sharing this information! I just checked and I already have the
4.39 update on my phone. It was updated one week ago, and that was BEFORE
I posted on this thread about the ongoing inconsistencies I’ve experienced.
I will be interested if anyone else weighs in with their observations.

[Shufflincrew]

I was told if I still have a problem to contact her and gave me the order number. That sucks that you're still having the same issue. I think we need to flood the help desk until they fix it. Google taking over Fitbit was a mistake so far. Its like they're trying to reinvent the wheel.

[hovdeo]

v4.38 or v4.39 - same same, no change. Cardio load and fitness assessment are still all over the place, irrespective of readiness score, type of workout, active zone minutes, stress mgmt score etc.

[TrishLongmont]

I agree that the cardio load is not useful in any way.  I've given up paying attention to it.  I don't have premium and I still have that feature.  Yes, cancel 🙂

[HydeParkBooks]

I am in total agreement with you on this

[hovdeo]

another observation and confusion as i continue to watch cardio load - every day they tell me that you been pushing hard, take it easy or you are maintaining etc and then the algorithm gives me a target load from A to B based on my desire to improve fitness. but, when i meet or exceed the target, fitbit tells me "you are maintaining" unless i go bonkers and doing a cardio load of 250, at which point it will go "whoa, easy now. at risk for over training". i have seen "overtraining", "at risk for overtraining" and "you are maintaining in one and the same day - i am getting whiplash here!

[CNB63]

YES! If you achieve the cardio range prescribed, you should at least get a
message acknowledging that, (according to their black-box algorithm)
rather than a “meh.”

I’ve been a loyal Fitbit user since 2012. The introduction of Cardio Load and all its
attendant confusion was the final factor that pushed me into buying another watch yesterday.

Moderator Edit: Word choice

[Shufflincrew]

Exactly

[doclynn]

Same here. Between the cardio load nonsense, the flakiness of health metrics (it's still refusing to give me my spO2), and the loss of desktop data... I also bought a device from another brand. Goodbye Fitbit.

[CNB63]

Interesting..... I plucked my new watch from an orchard!! Haven’t started
using it yet.

I also enjoyed the Fitbit battery life, but since it's been waning and I no
longer get 5 days, that's less of a concern for me.