Counting steps for Cycling!

[Smellie32]

So I have had my Fitbit for 6+ months. As I have researched issues, I have noticed that many people have struggles with not being able to count steps while cycling, I to get frustrated with this. Being a triathlete and competitive, want all my steps to count. What I don't understand is how after a few years of Fitbit knowing this is an issue, why have they not come up with a solution? It is more motivating when all your activities count as steps so when you are competing against friends on the Fitbit app that you feel you have a chance. I think Fitbit needs to expand their horizon to not only motivating customers to walk and run but all sports. Swimming and biking are my 2 favorites. 

[t.parker]

@TheVinny whatever works for you 👍 🙂 Fitbit is quite a poor sports tracker so users will always have to hack their way through 🙂

[TheVinny]

Curious what "sport" you'd like tracked from a Smart Watch/Fitness Tracker? Your golf score? Or maybe basketball shots made? Football completions? Maybe your tennis score? Soccer goals made? It's a FITNESS TRACKER primarily and the best investment I've probably ever made for my overall health and fitness.

It NAILS walking steps down with the only exception of when your hand is on a shopping cart. It counts steps (measured elevation) more than good enough. It counts active minutes very accurately. For those that care it measures calories and distance walked. 

How about sleep? I am able to adjust my schedule based on how my sleep is doing for any given day or week. That's a BIG deal. You can't fool sleep. It's almost always on the money.

And I have 5 years of Fitbit data to compare with. Just a few clicks it's all right there

And unlike the Apple Watch of 18 hours on a charge I get 6 DAYS from a charge. That's not a typo. 18 hours or 6 days?

So if you think Fitbit does such a poor job then why keep using it and why bother posting here in the Fitbit forums to talk about how poor a job it does?

I've had some issues here and there with my Fitbit devices and decisions they've made (like when they got rid of sleep average, which is back)  but overall wouldn't give my Fitbit up if you paid me. 

Vinny

[t.parker]

@TheVinny Why so much anger? I'm not your enemy. I've been using Fitbit since Charge 2 and now I use Sense (but also other platforms hence I do compare a lot) so I think I am entitled to my own opinion, am I not :)? If you need to know, I track cycling, indoor cycling (spinning on Fitbit), running, trail running (two different types of running so it won't mix up my PBs), rock climbing, swimming and strength training. Fitbit does it all (except rock climbing but this can be tracked with Workout) but everything is way too basic. That's pretty much where my opinion comes from.

With cycling, if you want to get steps from pedal strokes then at this point it isn't possible if the watch is worn as intended - on the wrist (but your hacks may just work I guess). Maybe one day Fitbit will pair with a cadence sensor but I don't think it's going to happen in the near (or even far) future.

[TheVinny]

Anger? LOL 

A detailed reply is certainly not anger. Even if it is smackdown of someone's previous silly reply.

I don't even mind or really care that others here think anything other than walking steps should be counted as steps. Good for you. Delete those extra unwanted steps if you want. 

But what I do want to respond to and do deal with is when some of those posting here try to tell me and others like me that wanting credit for biking (or other similar activities) as active steps are in the wrong, are double dipping LOL, cheating, have bad intentions, trying to use it for challenge cheating and/or other accusations like these. And THAT is what I have been responding to after finding this thread dealing with an exact issue and question that I also had. 

And once in a while I also don't mind mentioning how much I appreciate my Fitbit and how it has truly helped me over the years. 

Happy New Year! 🙂 

[VeganBiker2]

This is completely false. I am an avid cyclist and out nearly every day
year-round. Fitbit recognizes my bike trips and gives me a report on heart
rate zones. I can start out that ride with 1200 steps, and when I get back
I now have 6,000 or 7,000 more steps. Fitbit DOES COUNT steps when riding.

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[Dave369]

It only counts vibrations and bumps while cycling. Riding on sidewalks? Get a lot of steps directly correlated with sidewalk cracks. Ride on smooth asphalt: get fewer steps. New saying? Step on a crack, get a few Fitbit steps back.

[TheVinny]

Hey folks, Vegan Bikes says those that want their bike steps counted are 'double dipping' (his words not mine, all in PRINT).

But now Vegan Bike says his own fitbit always counts his bike rides as steps.

That means Vegan Bikes is already double dipping and if he can add even more steps like we want he'll be a triple dippa 🙂

Gotta love Vegan Bikey guy!

Vinny

[Rich_Laue]

• @VeganBiker2 those are not steps that your tracker I counting, thry are from the bumps, holes, rocks that your front you're rode over 

[Datgurltasha]

I haven’t tried it yet but have you considered putting the band on your ankle while riding? 

[Rich_Laue]

@Datgurltasha. and the reason for doing this? 

[Datgurltasha]

I figured since the Fitbit Recources using arm movement and while cycling the armed are stationary but the legs are moving it would be able to count the steps better with the Fitbit around the ankle. Haven’t tried it myself yet but I plan to on my next bike ride! I like competing for steps myself but I can’t think of any other way to convert cycling to steps. 

[Rich_Laue]

And you really are walking while on a stationary bike? Many are upset that fitbit awards false steps while biking

[Heybales]

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@Datgurltasha wrote:

I figured since the Fitbit Recources using arm movement and while cycling the armed are stationary but the legs are moving it would be able to count the steps better with the Fitbit around the ankle. Haven’t tried it myself yet but I plan to on my next bike ride! I like competing for steps myself but I can’t think of any other way to convert cycling to steps. 

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Put the Fitbit on the bike so it gets max vibration steps then for that purpose.

The distance can't possibly be correct and usually rather minor since it won't appear to be big steps - therefore the calorie count is very underestimated usually.

Just create a Workout Activity later if you have an actual distance and calorie burn estimate. Steps will remain for your competition.

[Heybales]

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@Rich_Laue wrote:

 We have a few suggestions related to biking and spinning you can vote for 

Ankle mode to count all pedal strokes  

Convert biking into steps (no mention of the conversion rate) we should get step credit for biking

Remove all steps while biking I'm not stepping

Elyptical mode needs to count steps

Add option to turn off steps for bike and swimming

Which group should Fitbit please, and what about the rest?

Please remember that this thread we are in is a discussion between Fitbit users 

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Was thinking of another conversion method that would keep steps as metric - rather than my other post about using METS for everything. Take the METS back to a walking/running workout equivalent pace and distance and steps from that. 

But it would allow cheating, just like manually entering a walk/run as workout and letting Fitbit come up with steps based on your stride-length would.

Last ride - 24.4 miles in 94 min with gross 1260 cal burn as per power meter.

Workout calorie burn / BMR during time = METS.

BMR 1675 / 1440 = 1.1632 cal/min x 94 min = 109 BMR cal

1260 workout calories / 109 BMR cal = 11.55 METS

https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs

11.55 METS  = 6.85 mph running (this is from formula so easy enough for Fitbit to do backwards)

6.85 mph x 1.57 hr = 10.73 miles = 56,663 ft.

56,663 ft / 3.346 ft stride length = 16,935 steps

The kicker to the start of this conversion - how are you getting the cycling workout calories?

Per HR - great good enough.

From manual entry of distance and time - cheating possible.

[t.parker]

@Heybales check my previous response (third paragraph):

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Get-Moving/Counting-steps-for-Cycling/m-p/5043790/highlight/true#M62...

Using HR as a measure of exertion and pairing it with individual walking/running cadence. It would require doing a "reference run" where you go all out in stages and then the algorithm could apply step cadence onto ranges of HR (kind of "step zones"). The individual patterns could be captured using runs/walks and then applied to cycling or any other activity so applied conversion would fit that person.

[SunsetRunner]

What I found with my charge 3 is that it pretty consistently gave me 1/5th the credit per mile when biking as walking, or 5 miles of biking would result in about 2000 steps. I have a 26 mile road bike route and it pretty consistently gave me 11,000 steps. got frustrated with not being able to read the screen in light (it never was good, but kept getting worse) so I tried an inexpensive but well rated amazfit smartwatch. It gave almost NO biking step credit, but i could actually read the dang thing in bright sunlight. not happy with that, i got a charge 5 and am hoping it will work like my charge 3 did. I think biking requires about 1/5th the effort per mile as walking does, so i'm good with it.

[SunsetRunner]

yes, i think the 1/5th credit my charge 3 gave was fair. 26 miles on the road bike equaled 11,000 steps. that's reasonable.

[Rich_Laue]

Depending on how intense the cycling is, 10,000 steps is considered equivalent to 15 - 18 miles. 

The easiest way to convert for you, would be to check the calories burnt during a walk or run and a bike ride. 

[t.parker]

@Rich_Laue any research on that or it's just your guesstimate?

[Rich_Laue]

Research on what @t.parker 

It would be easy to compare calories fitbit reports during a bike ride tthat a user does and compare to fitbit's reported calories during a walk or run. 

With fitbit and bike rides, fitbit isn't counting steps at all. Your fitbit is counting the bimbos that the bike rides over.