Heart rate training with Charge3 - how are you doing it?

[Lia_of_Whiterun]

Hi,

I've only had a FitBit for a couple of months and I realize now there's a fair learning curve to it.  For me, many of the FAQs are unanswered, so I have to experiment a LOT.

I like being able to gauge my heart rate or zone when I walk or jog on a treadmill, while doing circuit type strength training, occasionally Zumba, or some yoga practice. 

My idea is to lower my resting heart rate (I'm certified healthy by my health care professionals) so most often I want to see the heart rate zones display on my device.  I find that I'm having to reassign and rearrange the choices of activities offered on the Charge3 a LOT.  Anyone know which are the most-used activity types currently on the FitBit platform?  Just curious.

I'm beginning to learn to remember to start both the TM *and* my device when I start a workout. 

How are you using the device and are you interested in heart rate feedback, much?

[WavyDavey]

Hi @Lia_of_Whiterun,

Considering your list of activities, the Charge 3 was a good choice.

It has dedicated exercise modes for walking, running, treadmill, circuit training and yoga. Anything else you can log as Workout, which is a catch-all for exercises not specifically listed. If you do a lot of different activities, you may have to switch exercises in and out. Or just decide to use Workout for some of them.

As you mentioned, the key is to remember to start and stop the activity.

I would guess walking and running probably are the most popular. Maybe Workout, since that can be any number of exercises. Haven't seen any published numbers though.

[Lia_of_Whiterun]

Thanks, @WavyDavey!  I was wondering what workout meant as distinct from the other choices.  I haven't used that choice yet, but probably will, at some point. 

I was surprised and disappointed that it does not seem like the Charge3 ever automatically recognizes an activity -- I think it's odd that FitBit INCREASED the minimum times before that happens, when most authorities I'm reading say that as few as 5 minutes active, can help maintain fitness.

[emili]

hey there @Lia_of_Whiterun.. I watch my HR when I run only because that for me is the fastest calorie burn activity and I want to make sure I am in cardio or peak through most of it. Everything is low impact from an HR perspective so I don't care as much. Your fitbit will recognize your activity such as walk, run, elliptical.. the easy to recognize ones I guess. 

[WavyDavey · Accepted solution]

@Lia_of_Whiterun, I turn off the auto-recognition on everything but Walk and Run. It works flawlessly on those, and I prefer to manual track everything else, because the manual modes have their own intensities that I want captured in calorie counts.

For exercising in different increments of time, like 5 minutes, you may find the manual exercise modes helpful, as they can be as short or as long as you want. I've done 5-10 minute sessions tracked that way no problem. Building up to 10 minutes of activity slowly is something most of us can do. Or do 5 minutes 6 times a day if preferred.

[Colinm39]

@Lia_of_WhiterunWorkout is the most useful of all of the Exercise options,,  You can edit and  rename it, unfortunately only once. I use the rename to change a Workout to my geographical walking area etc.

The auto tracked exercises can be renamed many times, not like Workout, an odd omission by Fitbit, Yesterday my Ionic picked up Sport for gardening which was mainly weed pulling.

To be able to rename a Workout, the activity needs to be created in your Custom Activities and then synced to the phone so that it can be edited there.

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@Lia_of_Whiterun wrote:

Thanks, @WavyDavey!  I was wondering what workout meant as distinct from the other choices.  I haven't used that choice yet, but probably will, at some point. 

I was surprised and disappointed that it does not seem like the Charge3 ever automatically recognizes an activity -- I think it's odd that FitBit INCREASED the minimum times before that happens, when most authorities I'm reading say that as few as 5 minutes active, can help maintain fitness.

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[Lia_of_Whiterun]

Helpful and interesting, @Colinm39, thanks!  I am continuing to be frustrated with the sync issues.  I'm pretty upset with the quality of comparisons and media reviews of fitness trackers though.  This cannot possibly be the best effort on the technology.  I'm more and more convinced that I'd be happier with a Garmin.  Admittedly, I am a geek, and I have pretty high criteria for this kind of thing.  At least, I have so far been happy with the HR tracking on the device when I am exercising.  So, I guess that's all I'll be able to rely on getting.  I will track the data in another app, I just get more out of the tracking and analysis there.