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. 

[Rich_Laue]

@t.parker what function is this graph displaying. Calories, heart, steps, etc. 

[VeganBiker2]

Hey there Argali---All sounds good!
I only wished it counted steps when I'm lifting weights and while swimming!

[Argali]

"As for pedal strokes, the tracker is on the arm and really does not know what the feet are doing. The tracker however does know what motions the wrist makes." --RL

I wear the tracker on my wrist while hand-pedaling [cranking].

That should be the same as "on the ankle while spinning."

A revolution of the pedal (in either case) does not count as two steps reliably.

[TheVinny]

Vegan Biker wrote, "Hey there Argali---All sounds good! I only wished it counted steps when I'm lifting weights and while swimming!"

*** Nice to see you finally see the light. Always better when those blinders you've had on are removed. 🙂 

But it already DOES count some steps when you swim as well as certain weight lifting exercises will also count steps. As they should!

Vinny

[t.parker]

@Rich_Laue it's elevation, it's clearly written. Reading the reply carefully may help 😉 I was replying to a user who had issues with elevation.

[dweatherington]

Sounds like some folks just want to double dip activity metrics.

Different activities have different associated metrics. As most include calories, duration, and distance... Biking wouldn't call what your legs are doing as steps.  It would be what are your RPMs. If your bike doesn't have this tech built in, they do make a device your attach to the pedal or shoe. 

Same with swimming.  Swimming has Stroke Rate along with distance and time... nothing to do with steps.

[Winsem]

Hi dweatherington,

This is good news! Is there a possibility to track/count revolutions when cycling? I saw a post on https://smarterhomeguide.com/fitbit-for-cycling/ , that refers to Smarttrack, but that doesn't do a lot. As I mentioned earlier, my efforts on a bicycle have a somewhat under representation in my daily workout scheme on my Versa 3.
But this whole thread/discussion is a bit besides the point. Fitbit only gives you some indication that you're not a couch potato if you're moving. The GPS is OK, and when really measuring it gives the distance you've covered, but the steps or when doing something else other efforts is lacking.

I like the reminders to get of my office chair. though, if nothing else 😉

[Rich_Laue]

 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 

[t.parker]

@dweatherington this is true. The problem here is more on the side of the Fitbit platform which doesn't reward you for other metrics than steps. This is why users want to "double dip". For example, in 2019 I cycled a lot more than run or walk but Fitbit doesn't really have anything that can make cycling competitive (with others or self). On my bike I have all the sensors (cadence, speed, power) but I can't get this data into Fitbit and distance of rides doesn't add to total distance (and isn't a separate metric - should be total cycling distance or something like that) so there isn't much Fitbit has to offer when it comes to cycling.

I do agree that steps are steps and cycling is cycling and swimming is swimming. Other platforms do separate activities providing different badges, challenges, PBs per sport. Fitbit doesn't. Fitbit doesn't even have typical badges for runners for most common distances (5K, 10K, Half-Marathon etc.) and no PBs either. On daily basis, I use a different brand and it supports all of them. I get badges for distances on my bike, for max speed etc. I can join cycling challenges competing with other users, no need to involve steps. But on Fitbit, everything revolves around steps so it isn't really surprising that users want steps to be somehow involved in the process if there's nothing else available.

As a solution (sort of low-hanging fruit because adding biking sensors and all new cycling environment wouldn't be easy for current platform), Fitbit could create a new type of step (virtual steps) which would be a step conversion based on individual energy use. Basically, taking runs and walks into account, HR, and cadence, too. When cycling you elevate your HR, so Fitbit could convert the level of effort to known individual virtual step conversion when you run/walk (in other words what would be the step cadence for this particular HR). The value would be different for everyone because it would use individual running/walking cadence of the person for conversion. Such steps however would have to be different from real steps and optional (for example, the challenges would need to have a setting whether to allow using those steps or not), the daily steps counter (that circle in the app and web dashboard) would need to differentiate (maybe by colour of the progress bar) which part is real, which part is converted. Just making it optional would make happy those who want to get some "steps reward" for non-step based activities and those who don't want to have it (including turning off steps detection for non-step activities so no "noise" steps are detected from bumpy rides as it is now).

[Rich_Laue]

@t.parker Fitbit doesn't use stats as a standard between different types of exercises, when most exercises does not include steps, Fitbit uses calories.

One user wants his weight lifting count.

Have you voted for disabling step counting

As for elevation while biking, this requires GPS is on but will only display on the web page. Because of the wind currents around the arm the barometer is useless

[t.parker]

@Rich_Laue but why choose who to please? Why not make it an option. Read my previous response with an idea of the option of "virtual steps". You want them, turn the feature on (and you won't be able to join real-steps-only challenges etc.), you don't want - turn it off. Some of the suggestions assume using pedal strokes as steps - IMHO stupid idea. Lower resistance on the trainer, use the lowest gear on the bike, and with free-wheel, you will get cadence around 90-100rpm (180-200spm) with minimal effort. This is already athlete running cadence, hard to achieve for an amateur runner yet very easy on the bike. If there's any conversion it should be based on real-world step cadence and HR to match cycling effort with walking/running effort. I think it would be fairer and would easily deal with corner cases like mine when I run with fixed cadence regardless of HR. Whether I run easy or tempo, my cadence is 182spm (or 188spm when racing) so on the bike, this is what I would get. If I match the effort I would get 10920 steps in one-hour cycling same as I would get when running (basically, using individual running style, that would transfer onto virtual steps, too).

edit: just read your response. Calories are not used as a metric for challenges or badges and you can't really use it for such purpose. You can't get "better" in burning calories 😄 The only competitive metric is steps. Other platforms use variety of metrics for that purpose so you can ignore steps if you want because you have other areas that you can compete or get credit for. Fitbit doesn't have anything else than steps (and maybe AZM). 

[Rich_Laue]

@t.parker the quick answer: Fitbit, like Apple (and why third parties cant reply to texts) and Microsoft, wants all users to have a similar experience. 

Yes some users want biking steps counted as if they walked the distance, while others want each pedal stroke counted regardless of which gear the bike is in. Then we have those that want the conversion to be based on the equivalent calories burnt.

As for challenges, fitbit says a step challenge is for real time steps and therefore steps added by biking or third parties are not included

[t.parker]

@Rich_Laue I don't think you understood my response 🙂 Oh well...

[Rich_Laue]

@t.parker I did understand your response, Y

You want the user to choose how and what steps get sent to challenges

You want the user to have the choice to add 'made up' virtual steps

Cadence does not have a direct relation to calories

While on the bike your tracker is on the arm, and pretty stationary compared to the feet.

While the tracker is able to measure, through GPS, the distance, the tracker doesn't know what gear the bike is in or whether the user is coasting.

You want the user to have a choice on how fitbit applys your data to your account.

Fitbit wants a standardization among all users, something that will not be possible if every user has the ability to add or remove steps as they desire.

[VeganBiker2]

Hey dweatherington, I truly vote for your posts. I have been commenting for years on how ridiculous it is for cycling to count steps. And nearly all Fitbit users in this portal think that cycling should count as steps. It's clearly double dipping! 

[TheVinny]

The thread that won't die. No, VeganBike2, double dipping is not getting bike step credits on your fitbit that you've rightfully EARNED. Remember, you STEP DOWN on the pedal each time to make the bike go forward. And if you STOP stepping down on each pedal the bike you're riding will come to a stop or crash. 

People who ride a bike for one hour straight get very little credit for that activity.

I have an Air Bike. Fortunately, because that kind of bike does have moving arms as well as pedals I usually get credit for each step on my fitbit. Which are steps that I EARNED. No double dipping. Maybe look it up since you obviously don't know what double dipping means.

For people that want to count steps on an outdoor bike the only solution I've found is to put it one your ankle and you will get half or your pedaling as steps. 

And, yes, Rich Larue, you're still here saying same ole. I also DO like it when I'm lifting weights (curls or shoulder presses or bench pressing etc) and my Fitbit happens to count each rep as a step since you're actually putting in the work for each rep. I like all of my activity to be counted, unlike you and the false double dipper claimer above. 

[VeganBiker2]

Total bull**ahem**. Biking is biking. Walking is walking!!!!!

Patrick
@VeganBiker2

[TheVinny]

Only Fitbit doesn't COUNT biking as steps even though that's exactly what you're doing. How does your bike move forward? That would be correct, by STEPPING DOWN on each pedal. Use some simple common sense. (And don't forget to look up double dipping too.) Since Fitbit doesn't give you any step credit for most bike riding outdoors or any stationary bike riding credit at all, many people would like to have those pedal steps COUNTED. Otherwise for people who started their 45 minute biking activity with only 800 steps for the day, after all that work and activity they are still left with only 800 steps. Even though they've been stepping down on pedals for 45 minutes straight. It's really not that difficult to comprehend here.

Also, an earlier comment from "Legend Larue" mentions people just here want to add virtual steps for challenges insinuating people having here ulterior motives for wanting bike step credit (credit for activity that was actually accomplished): My response t that silliness is, 1- I (and probably most people here) have never entered any challenge and don't care about challenges. I just want credit that was EARNED. And 2- anybody that wants can add steps MANUALLY if wanted. So there goes your theory out the window.

[t.parker]

@TheVinny what do you mean by "only Fitbit"? Fitbit is the only platform that doesn't turn off steps recognition at all so you get some "noise" steps from riding bumpy roads. Take Garmin, Suunto or Polar watches - none of them will credit you with steps for cycling (or for any other non-step based activity). On the other hand, you will get plenty of other metrics. For my indoor ride today I haven't got a single step. Only Fitbit just leaves steps detection on for all the activities.

@VeganBiker2 you are clearly using the wrong brand 😉

Anyway, this discussion is fruitless because nothing's gonna change about the steps and non-step activities. You guys are getting angry for nothing.

[TheVinny]

I didn't mean "Only Fitbit" in the sense that you interpreted it (as being the only platform that doesn't count biking as steps). In my direct reply to Veganbike I was saying,  "Only Fitbit", in the sense that, "Only problem is Fitbit doesn't count biking as steps even though that's what you're doing."

The initial post on the thread, titled, "COUNTING STEPS FOR CYCLING" had the very same question and issue that I eventually went searching for and found here through a google search years after the first post was made. Is there any way to count steps when you bike? That its the question that this thread is based on. Many agree with the initial poster's point of view. 

My wife dealt with this early on before I even had a Fitbit when she went to the local fitness center. She couldn't do the treadmill due to an aggravated hip injury but could do the stationary bike. When she spent 30 minutes on the treadmill she'd get around 3000 steps. But when she spent the same amount of time on the exercise bike she's get zero steps. Both activities gave her about the exact same amount of 'active minutes'. That is the key point here I think many are IGNORING.  If both activities give you same amount of active minutes and sweat equity, then she wanted to know how she could also have the steps counted. Especially since with biking you ARE STEPPING DOWN for each bicycle revolution.

Her solution even before this thread was posted was to put her fitbit on her ankle. 

It's an understandable question and request for many.

At this point I don't know of any brand that can count a non-moving hand activity as steps or units or whatever else they want to call it nor would I likely throw out 5 years of fitbit activity/heart and sleep data if they did make an activity tracker/smart watch that could do that. But, as mentioned here already, there are ways around this issue to some degree. 

You can put it on your ankle and get almost half your steps credited. You can also raise your wrist up a little for each pedal step (on a stationary bike) and at the right angle it will count each movement as a step.

Fortunately on my air bike I almost always get credited with all steps now. As I should be.

Vinny