Gym Newbie

[EllaBella]

Hey I will be going to the gym tomorrow night wearing my fitbit 🙂 do i use the equiptment as normal and it counts my steps or will i have to input it manually . I want to go on the cross trainers and treadmill , and possibly the bikes tomorrow to get my heart rate pumping! 

[SunsetRunner]

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@EllaBella wrote:

Hey I will be going to the gym tomorrow night wearing my fitbit 🙂 do i use the equiptment as normal and it counts my steps or will i have to input it manually . I want to go on the cross trainers and treadmill , and possibly the bikes tomorrow to get my heart rate pumping! 

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Non-step exercises don't record Steps.

Treadmill Steps will not be recorded correctly, as fitbit only responds well to walking/running, etc.

[EllaBella]

Erm thanks. So what do I do with my exercise then . Just not wear my fitbit ? Seems a bit pointless ??

[SunsetRunner]

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@EllaBella wrote:
Erm thanks. So what do I do with my exercise then . Just not wear my fitbit ? Seems a bit pointless ??

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It will keep track of your Heart Rate (if you have one that does), and there is information available

on th internet for calorie expenditure for various exercises, and you can handle them manually (or,

in your case "womanually" :). Fitbit has selections for various forms of exercise (such as you've

described), and it may give you something. Experience indicates that theses are not reliable.

[kaelarenee7 · Accepted solution]

The best thing to do would be to input the data manually, if you want a more accurate picture of your calories burned. I don't bother taking my Fitbit off when I do things that aren't step based like using a stationary bike because my arms stay fairly still and my Flex only records maybe a couple of steps while I'm on the machine. That way I won't forget to put it back on afterwards.

Pay attention to the time and, if you want, distance that you are on each machine. You can google a calorie burn calculator and input your height, weight, age, gender, and time that you were doing each activity and it'll give you a decent calorie burn estimate, better than the machines at the gym themselves unless you can input your age, height, and weight into the machine.

[BurdsNest]

I run the treadmill @ the gym and I put my timer on so that the Fit can record my calories burned for that specific exercise.  I also compare it to the calories burned on the treadmill.  Yes, it does record steps if your're walking or running (I believe) have no reason to believe that it doesn't.

Timing your workouts gives you lots of data.  And as long as you are moving your arms and walking (don't hold on to the treadmill) the Fit will record your steps.

Any movement that you are doing above and beyond "normal" movement or activity, will go into your "calories out" category on your dashboard.  You can adjust your dashboard to various goals for steps, stairs, miles, calories burned etc. for your personally.  Everyone's goals are different.  It will give you a "Hooray" whenever you reach one of your goals, and it will vibrate as well.

Good luck!

[Stockten]

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@yarddog wrote:

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@EllaBella wrote:

Hey I will be going to the gym tomorrow night wearing my fitbit 🙂 do i use the equiptment as normal and it counts my steps or will i have to input it manually . I want to go on the cross trainers and treadmill , and possibly the bikes tomorrow to get my heart rate pumping! 

---

Non-step exercises don't record Steps.

Treadmill Steps will not be recorded correctly, as fitbit only responds well to walking/running, etc.

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My fitbit charge works well on a treadmill.  I haven't had any problems with incorrect countings.

[DominicJ]

Which fitbit do you have?
My charge hr counts treadmill steps fine.
And the heart rate monitor remains the best way to track calories in any exercise

[SunsetRunner]

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@Stockten wrote:

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@yarddog wrote:

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@EllaBella wrote:

Hey I will be going to the gym tomorrow night wearing my fitbit 🙂 do i use the equiptment as normal and it counts my steps or will i have to input it manually . I want to go on the cross trainers and treadmill , and possibly the bikes tomorrow to get my heart rate pumping! 

---

Non-step exercises don't record Steps.

Treadmill Steps will not be recorded correctly, as fitbit only responds well to walking/running, etc.

---

My fitbit charge works well on a treadmill.  I haven't had any problems with incorrect countings.

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If you hang onto the safety bars at the side, it will not count Steps ...

[SunsetRunner]

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@DominicJ wrote:
Which fitbit do you have?
My charge hr counts treadmill steps fine.
And the heart rate monitor remains the best way to track calories in any exercise

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The HRM does not track Calories, but is an indirect component ...

[josephz2va]

Depending on your gym's system, there's three systems you can work on:

 - Cardio: Step counters that work are Treadmill and Elliptical and Stair Climbers (minus the stairs counting) but you can't hold on the rails with stair climbings. Only a small fraction of gyms still have like Jacob's Ladder. Most of those kinds of equipment you have to join a Cross-Fit gym instead.

 - Weights: Many weight lifting systems can be utilized by programs like bodybuilding.com but some like Gold's Gym have a kiosk system called ActivTrax which can give you a printout of your day's workout.

 - Non-Weighted Training targeting abs and body form: Not many weighted exercises are done with the abs. Crunches, oblique twists, lower abs targeting, balance support, etc.

If you can slap it in early with 2 hours up and ready, it's possible to do all three systems daily, but be sure to have Cooldown Stretches planned for stretching out the muscle fatigue.

[heatherm72]

I usually put my fitbit on my shoe when I walk on the treadmill. Not completely accurate, but just off a few steps.

[etlkiwi]

According to FitBit it will still do calculations even if your arm asre not moving.