Dancing

[ONUnicorn]

I've noticed something strange when I wear my fitbit dancing.  My husband and I regularly participate in both square dancing and round dancing.  (For those who are unfamiliar; square dancing is more or less walking in a pattern to the music, while round dancing is a lot like ballroom dancing.)  I've found however, that my fitbit does not seem to count as many steps when we dance as other people's fitbits.  I've compared the number of steps gained in a 2 hour dance with both my husband and with other female dancers, and I consistently gain fewer steps on my fitbit than they do, despite dancing just as much and actually taking the same number of steps.

Does anyone have any ideas what may be happening?

[checking]

Maybe you just glide so smoothly that some of your foot strikes aren't detected . Consider the difference between wrist and torso worn devices. Dancing often has arm motions at double speed or out of sync with the feet and wrist units will tend to get extra counts.

[Dominique]

No explanation, except that estimating step count with an activity tracker worn on the wrist, based on arm moves and detected impacts, isn’t exact science. There’s also the fact all the various dancers involved could be wearing different Fitbit models (or possibly non-Fitbit trackers).

What are the total step counts for a two-hour dancing sessions, for you, your husband and the other dancers wearing a Fitbit? 

[ONUnicorn]

My husband's step count normally increases by about 4,000 steps in a 2 hour session.  Most other dancers I've talked to see theirs go up by 4,000-6,000.  Mine normally increases by 1,000-1,500.  My husband and I both have Charge 2s.  Most of the other dancers I've talked to also have Charge 2s, though a few have altas or flex or some other model. 

[emili]

it could also depend on how still you keep your arms, meaning, your frame. You may have better form that your friends which leads to fewer steps. We have a resident ballroom dancer @NellyG...she can offer some input since she runs into the exact same situations.

[NellyG · Accepted solution]

Thanks @emili 

Not that Im and expert, but I understand what you are talking about from doing.  I typically practice in 2 1/2 hour sessions and get around 3 to 4000 steps logged, but it varies a lot on what I am doing. For latin I pick up lots of steps, but for standard dances much less. In ballroom the frame (including the arms) are held steady, with no movement so the fitbit relys soley on foot fall vibrations to count the steps. However, to look like you are gliding effortlessly across the floor (haha I assure you it is NOT effortless!) You try to keep your feet gliding over the floor so there isnt muchnin the way of footfall vibrations. I would assume that your movements are smoother and with softer footfalls than your friends and husband. As a point of interest you could try swapping your tracker with you husbands for a 2 hour session and see if it is the tracker that is less sensitive or you who is a smoother dancer.

For a better step count in ballroom I have tried wearing my tracker on my body, on my hip (so above my foot) and on my ankle. The step count is highest on my ankle and decreases the further away from my foot it gets. From doing walking step tests I know that worn on my ankle the step count is high by about 5 to 10 % (it varies a bit), so to get a realistic step count I measure on my ankle and the deduct 5 to 10% of the steps. I cant be bothered doing that all the time so on the days I dance I usually manually add a walk at a time during the day when I was sitting quietly to the value of nearly 2000 steps and I think my step count is in the correct range!

If your tracker turns out to be less sensitive than your husbands one then try restarting it several times and see if that improves the step count. I'll be interested to hear what happens!

Restart your tracker

[Dominique]

@ONUnicorn: what you could do since you both have a Charge 2 is record your dance session as an activity (you can pick up the generic "WORKOUT" activity type). This will allow you to see detailed stats about the session: not only step count, but also average HR, active minutes, calories burned etc. This may shed some light on the reason for the discrepancy in steps. Of course, there’s also the possibility your own Charge 2 is defectuous. You could find out by swapping the units with your husband: remove your Charge 2 from your respective accounts, do the swap and add it back (otherwise your husband will be credited with your steps, and vice-versa).

[ONUnicorn]

Thank you everyone for all the suggestions!