Fitbit and trail riding

[luv2farmnd]

Morning from sunny ND finally but still only 50 high today with heavy frost last night:(( Spring will arrive we are praying so we can get out in the fields our way....  however....

Im new to this fitbit deal still and trying to figure out my steps as it shows I have taken over 17,000 total so far in few days but im not sure if thats right... uffda...

then does anyone know how it would/will work with trail riding?? Just curious.....

Thanks..

Dona

[TandemWalker · Accepted solution]

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@luv2farmnd wrote:

Morning from sunny ND finally but still only 50 high today with heavy frost last night:(( Spring will arrive we are praying so we can get out in the fields our way....  however....

Im new to this fitbit deal still and trying to figure out my steps as it shows I have taken over 17,000 total so far in few days but im not sure if thats right... uffda...

then does anyone know how it would/will work with trail riding?? Just curious.....

Thanks..

Dona

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Hi and welcome to fitbit @luv2farmnd - I don't think your One will do so well with trail riding, as it is best suited to track step-based activities like walking and jogging. As for your number of steps, you will be amazed how fast they accumulate; so 17,000 steps in a few days is well within the norm.  If you want to run a little test, just before you start your next walk, mentally count the steps are you walk the first 100; and then stop and look at your One's display. The accepted margin of error is =/- 5%.

[slysam · Accepted solution]

Trail riding horses? Mountain bikes? I think either of those you would need to log. As the other poster mentioned, Fitbit assumes you are powering the movement like you would if walking or running. Riding horses and cycles (and other types of riding) are in the activity database. It is surprising how many activiities are. I believe the calorie burns are based on MET values adjusted for your weight. So they may not be super accurate (as it can vary depending how hard you are working during the ride), but it should put it in the ballpark for a typical calorie burn doing that activity for someone your size. I have the best luck using the phone app to search activity lately. I can't get the activity search to work on my computer (Mac running Maverick operating system), but some people can. I also find if I use short, general search terms I get more choices and that helps in choosing the most appropriate. I just searched "riding" and see quite a few options including five different horse riding options.  

[slysam]

About the steps... If you averaged 10,000 steps a day (a very common goal among fitibt users) it would only take two days to exceed 17,000 steps. I do find that 10,000 steps is a moderately active activity level that I have to make a special effort to meet most days especially if my exercise is a non-step activity (yoga, weight lifting, swimming, etc). But someone with a job that involves walking or who walks or runs for their main exercise would easily meet and exceed that. My fitbit friends at the top of my leaderboard often average 20,000 steps a day.   So it is hard to say, it varies so much. The average American with a sedentary job and no additional exercise is said to get about 4,000 steps a day more or less.  You can test your fitbit by checking your steps, waiting a minute with no movement, then walking a carefully counted 100 steps. Wait a minute without stepping (sometimes it needs to catch up) and see how many it counted. Usually with my Fitbit One if I take 100 steps, it counts about 96-98 so it usually errs on the slightly low side. (My One is more than a year old though so maybe it lost a little sensitivity). A step is each footfall or weight shift, by the way.