Problem while doing intensive cardio

[avab]

I took Insanity for 60 minutes last evening but it only registered 4500 steps! My only complaint with FitBit is it does not accurately measure cardio activity. Mt One registers twice as many steps while doing Zumba, But Insanity is much more intense and difficult. Am I doing somethiong wrong?

[betpchem]

No, you are not doing anything wrong. The problem is the fitbit is just not made to recognize that kind of movement. It's a pedometer, so it is best at measuring walking and running. If you are doing other things, add them as an activity. It'll be much more accurate. 

[josephz2va]

When I did the Insanity for XBOX Fitness, I don't remember a lot of arm movements. Some were stationary like Basketball, Mummy Kicks (ok a little bit of movement there), and a few others including the two 10 minute yoga sessions.

[slysam]

Did you use the activity/sleep timer to see the total calorie burn for the activty? For most fitbits (other than the Zip) it is the same process as tracking sleep. After you sync your fitbit activity log it will have all the stats including calorie burn for that duration in time. The reason I mention this... The Fitbit calorie burn is not just about steps--so the steps counted don't really tell you how well fitibt tracks some activities. I find this with high impact activities--the calorie burn on my One is usually a little higher than the steps/speed would indicate. I think it is because the activity was credited by Fitbit as running which would have a higher distance and calorie burn per steps than something labelled as walking intensity. I have always worn my fitbit and a heart rate monitor together during workouts and have compared my own workouts for the past few years. There are some activities fitbit tracks well and some it doesn't. It is more about the movement type--fitbit does okay with movements involving steps (walking or running), skips, hops and jumps. If I jump 100 times--it will count 100 steps but the calorie burn Fitbit estimates is higher than if I take 100 walking steps. I find my fitbit and heart rate monitor give me similar estimates for brisk walking, jogging, running, cardio kickboxing, aerobic drills like jumping jacks and fast feet, jumping rope, and aerobic dancing. Where Fitbit always underestimates--non step cardio like cycling or swimming, resistance training of any form (weights, kettlebells, etc), bodyweight resistance training or drills (burpees, pushups, mountain climbers, pull ups, etc), yoga, pilates, etc. Some workouts are made of a mix of movements fitbit tracks well and those they don't. I haven't done Insanity, but from the clips I've seen it looks like a mix of movements it tracks well and those it does not. You should get very active minutes for the intensity of the workout (other than any stretching) if you are not getting very active minutes at that time you can log it. You will get very active minutes if you log it as "vigorous calisthenics" or "circuit training" (the calorie burn in the exercise database is based on MET Chart values so it will put it in the right category that activity typically tests as). The activity intensity (moderately active or very active) is based on MET values determined from the calorie burn. So those minutes are a good clue as is making an activity record so you can see exactly how it was credited.