How can I increase my cardio fitness level with a desk job?

[Fitnessbuff99]

Hi guys! I'm a little concerned about my poor cardio fitness result. I'm 155cm, 22 y/o and I fluctuate between 52.5-55 kg. I use my charge 2 near constantly and I have a rhr of 54-64 (57 today). I sit down all day for work from 8:30-5:30 weekdays, with an hour lunchbreak, plus 1 hr 20min sitting train commute. My cardio fitness score is poor, less than 31.2 which is no good. I used to be in the excellent range! On weekends I average 20k-30k steps, and today I jogged 24.1km. I don't want to workout too much on the weekends and injure myself (already I have blisters all the time from my shoes and bras) but I want to improve my score.

I'm very confused because when I walked 30k steps a day my cardio fitness result was in the excellent range. Now no matter how hard I work it seems like I'm technically in poor fitness! But I don't feel unfit.

How did I go from excellent to poor cardio health and how can I get back in there without hurting myself? Do you think it's because I swittched from ios to android or did I just get seriously fat and unfit after my foot injury? I feel comfortable, fit and happy at this weight and I don't enjoy dieting but I will if it's good for me. What should I do?

[Esya]

Welcome to the community @Fitnessbuff99. I have moved your topic to the lifestyle discussion boards, as you will get more replies here.

I think it is most important that you feel comfortable, fit and happy. To me you do not sound unfit at all and your resting heart rate sounds excellent. I used this calculator with your numbers and your BMI is perfect too. When reading your posts two ideas come to mind:

1. Try to get up and walk as often as possible. When waiting for the train, don't stand still. Maybe you can walk a bit in the train, atleast get up once. At work use the bathroom furthest away from you. Do you walk during your lunchbreak?

2. How much time do you have to exercise in the evening?

I think it is awesome that you want to improve your cardio fitness. I don't know what your foot injury is about and how long you had to take a break due to it. To me it sounds you are on the right track, just maybe you can make some changes here and there to keep moving a bit more throughout the day.

[Bill_k]

You could go for a brisk walk or a half hr jog after you get home from work or if you don't want to leave the house get yourself an aerdyne exercise bike like mine with arm exercise function and do half an hr or so at a decent rate while watching tv at night.

Then you wouldn't have to be just a weekend warrior .

[JohnnyRow]

I would also suggest not relying too much on the Fitbit-calculated cardio fitness score. My view is that, unless you regularly go on GPS-connected runs, the Fitbit cardio score is at best a rough guideline. If you are getting exercise, your weight is good, and RHR is good, I wouldn't worry about the Fitbit cardio score.

[LZeeW]

@Fitnessbuff99  There is something about your experience that just doesn't add up -- I am not an exercise physiologist, but I do know a lot about physiology.  For the metrically challenged, 24.1 km is a bit longer than a half marathon.  It just doesn't make sense that you can do this level of activity with a poor cardio fitness score.

First, I think you need to look at your stats for that run very closely.  Some users have been experiencing very weird GPS tracked data -- having big discrepancies between the recorded distance and the actual distance.  Now if your data does say that you ran that distance, then there is a different issue.

Second, the cardio fitness score is most accurate when you are running on level ground.  If your route has hills, your score will will be thrown off.

Third, if you are getting blisters, you need better shoes, maybe better socks, and better bras.

I know it is a big step to delete an exercise, but if the information is worthless, who cares?  You could delete the exercise -- you won't delete any step or HR data.  Then start over with some shorter, level runs and see what kind of cardio fitness score you get.

[EmjayH]

Better shoes and bras are obviously needed. Shoes should be ur most important in clothing purchases because all ur exercise is done on ur feet and cheap shoes can cause you a great deal of future medical problems. Likewise a cheap bra that isn't fitted properly will eventually cause you to have back problems and ur breasts will sag at a much younger age. No woman wants that 

[ReeceJ]

I was taking to my chiropractor about running and cardio workouts that improve cardio, and he said our bodies love short bursts of top speed with then slower paced jogging or walking. So say 30 seconds of full on sprinting, ten two minutes of relaxed jogging or walking. Just repeat thiscycle, he said it would improve cardio but also your overall speed.

[ReeceJ]

He also said that 3500 calories is equivalent to 1lbs weight gain, but that 3500 calories has to be above what you burn. So if in a day you burned 2000 but consumed 5500 you would be gaining 1lbs (3500 calories eaten over your 2000 calories burned).

[Mardi50]

My fitbit reminds me to get up and move if I haven't walked 250 steps every hour.  Are you able to do this at work?

[Dominique]

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@Fitnessbuff99 wrote:

today I jogged 24.1km

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Do you log such jogs as run with Connected GPS on your Charge 2? If so, that could explain the low score. Try the following: record an 11-minute run on flat ground (choose a place where you can do it in one go without having to stop) at top speed. This should give you a more realistic score. I don’t believe your cardio fitness could have gone from excellent to poor just because you’re sitting all day.

[Fitnessbuff99]

No. It's a desk job- leaving the computer is inappropriate...

[Kenzibit]

You just brought an important factor, how then do we log jogs since there's not jog tile?

[Dominique]

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@Kenzibit wrote:

You just brought an important factor, how then do we log jogs since there's not jog tile?

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I see from your other posts you appear to have a Versa. If so, your Versa lets you log on device up to seven different types of activities (that you can choose from a longer list), e.g. walk. run, swim, hike, weights, workout etc. "Jog" isn’t one of them, but you can pick a similar one, which would be "run" (what is jogging, if not running at a leisurely pace).

The main purpose of logging an activity is for you to isolate it and see stats about it (calories burned, average HR, active minutes etc.) after you’ve completed it. If you don’t log it, you will still have the same amount of calories burned, active minutes etc. during that period, only you cannot link them easily to the activity in question.

There’s an almost infinite number of activities you can do (just have a look at the Compendium of Physical Activities), you cannot expect your Fitbit (even a "smart" one like the Versa) to support every single one of them. For instance, I’m doing a lot of snow removal right now, and I like to log it on my Ionic: since there’s no such activity, I use the generic "Workout" activity instead.

[Kenzibit]

Wow! Thanks for this wonderful information, will be using them without hesitation now. New and still learning Fitbit  appreciate the wonderful insight.