HRM Compatibility with FitBit

[Lands]

Anyone know how to train a typical gym workout consisting of +-20 mins cardio and then a weight training session while using both a FitBit and a Heart Rate monitor?

I have a desk bound job so during the day I'm lower than my daily target of 10000 steps, I then make up my deficit at the gym by doing cardio until I've achieved my goal.

I was initially just using FitBit, but it obviously cannot monitor accurate calorie burns from an elevated higher intensity cardio workout, nor from the weight training. I then purchased a bluetooth heart rate transmitter and am also using the Digifit iOS app together with my FitBit as they are linked. I time the workout on my Fitbit to get it logged as an activity.

I was of the impression that the Digifit values would overide the FitBit activity, which it does do when I look at the now higher calorie values on my FitBit activity. The issue is that the Digifit app also logs an activity, so essentially I am getting a double entry.

Is there any way of getting the two to work seamlessly together? The Digifit support suggests I do not use my FitBit during my training, but this would mean I can never achieve my 10000 steps.

[SunsetRunner]

You should be able to add your Digifit steps in manually so I'd leave the Fitbit in your locker and just go with the Digifit.  I happen to have a Polar HR7 HRM and use a couple of apps depending on what I am doing.  Fortunately by syncing them through MyFitnessPal the Polar and the Flex sync pretty seamlessly so this has not been an issue.  Just before getting the Flex I had set up my account on the Fitbit site and logged the steps that I had recorded using another pedometer so I'm pretty sure you can sync the two devices.

[slysam · Accepted solution]

I use Digifit and Fitbit together. It does override the fitbit tracked activity. But if you also made an activity record and your fitbit device synched to your fitbit.com account before Digifit synched to fitbit.com then it will look like you have conflicting information between the "activity record" and "logged activity". The record may show the calories fitbit would have credited, I had this all the time when I manually logged my HRM burn, not quite as often with fitbit/digifit linked. In that case if I edit the record by reentering the start/stop time it refreshed the record and it would then show my Digifit calorie burn. Is that what is confusing you? Or is it just because you have both an actiivty record and logged activity? In that case, it may help to know the activity record doesn't add to or change anythign--all it does is show you what fitbit had tracked. It is just for reference. You don't even need it. As long as your fitbit account and Digifit are set to the same time zone, you would be fine not making the activity record for activity you plan to log. I use to use it a lot because I like seeing how the numbers compare, it is helpful for people manually logging so they get the correct start time and duration to overwrite. It makes no difference if you are using an app like Digifit--so if it confuses you just don't use the activity record. One tip, I would do a separate HRM reading for your different activities within your workout. The calorie burn is based largely on your average heart rate for the workout, so if you do a vigorous aerobic workout then some stretching (for example) on the same record the stretching will mess with your average heart rate. I would stop and start the HRM for each activity. HRM's are not as accurate for weight lifting so do take it with a grain of salt. I use Digifit for this (the category "other"), and it seems okay in that the estimate it gives is usually less than fitbit's activity database would have credited. So it is actually a conservative estimate compared to other sources.

[Lands]

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@slysam wrote:
Or is it just because you have both an actiivty record and logged activity? In that case, it may help to know the activity record doesn't add to or change anythign--all it does is show you what fitbit had tracked. It is just for reference. You don't even need it. 

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Hi slysam,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, this was my point of confusion, example, a typical workout without Digifit would show a calorie burn of around the 450 calorie mark with my FitBit One.

With Digifit the Fitbit activity gets overwritten to say 700 calories, and there is also a Digifit activity for the same 700 calorie burn. So I was assuming that this was now being duplicated and that my calorie burn was being logged on FitBit as a massive 1400 calories! Adjusting the Digifit calorie value just messed everything up..

So you say the one value is purely for reference and does not add to my overall value? And I do not even have to log an activity at all, but simply just use Digifit? That is great news!

Re the HRM accuracy, spot on, I have noticed the slight discrepencies with the various workouts, and am in fact using your suggested Other workout set on Weight Training. 

I am using a Polar H7 transmitter and thus am able to also train simultaneously with my RS300X Polar unit, which I am doing to compare the differing values. You are correct in saying that the mentioned setting is best for my training, this I have noticed, with my Digifit value always being slightly higher than my Polar stats, but very very close. Since I do not eat all of my exercise calories back, a small error would not be too critical.

[slysam · Accepted solution]

Correct, you don't need to use the activity record. Or you can delete it if you like to see the information. My F7 also can work with my older Polar F11. Funny, for me the polar gives a higher calorie burn estimate than digifit. But they use different methods of estimating my max heart rate and vo2max. (I purchased and use the optional fitness assessments on Digifit). When I matched my settings on Digifit and my F11 watch they became more similar. They likely use different formulas to estimate though.