Spinning

[Ptrosk]

I have the Fitbit HR. When I do spin class, it does not count any steps for me. I know I can manually add the workout with the calories etc but you can’t add steps. Any ideas on what to do other than try to put it in your sock.

[Heybales]

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@Ptrosk wrote:

I have the Fitbit HR. When I do spin class, it does not count any steps for me. I know I can manually add the workout with the calories etc but you can’t add steps. Any ideas on what to do other than try to put it in your sock.

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Don't manually log the workout for calorie burn - that's what the whole HR feature helps get better accuracy on.

Are you sure you want non-steps in your actual step totals for goals?

Several want their steps to reflect their daily activity, non-exercise time. That's what they want to confirm stays at a certain level.

Mixing in bogus steps muddies that.

If you just want anything as steps for challenges and such, you'll need to attach it to ankle and hope it gets good HR from you to still do good calorie burn.

Then you'll at least get 1/2 the bogus steps as being done.

[DominicJ]

It doesnt add steps because you dont do any steps.

You will get a far more accurate calorie count by leaving it on your wrist than you would putting it in your sock.

[Heybales]

There has actually been a lot of success stories where the ankle placement actually gave better HR readings during a spin class, instead of where it kept sliding down the arm otherwise giving no readings.

[Colinm39]

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@Heybales wrote:

There has actually been a lot of success stories where the ankle placement actually gave better HR readings during a spin class, instead of where it kept sliding down the arm otherwise giving no readings.

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@HeybalesWearing the Surge at sock level could be chunky but this Garmin Extender Strap works well on the Surge.

[Heybales]

Oh, that's a much better looking solution than the one I've seen of elastic wrap holding it in place.

[gerrymcd]

Most spin bikes I've used record an estimate of the miles covered (based on RPM and amount of resistance dialed in).  I record the milage and calories burned based on my heart rate monitor reading.  

[Heybales]

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@gerrymcd wrote:

Most spin bikes I've used record an estimate of the miles covered (based on RPM and amount of resistance dialed in).  I record the milage and calories burned based on my heart rate monitor reading.  

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That's pretty good, I've never seen a spin bike that didn't just use a pad of material pressed against the spin wheel - so resistance was totally unknown.

So they just gave mileage based on I guess the cadance and wheel size. Perhaps they added a few more tweaks in there.

But based on HR and speed - they did NOT take in to account what would normally happen outside - air resistance.

So their estimate fo calorie count was way inflated, and even if you took the time and distance and used a good bike calc (or Fitbit database or others) - it was inflated too.

Because formula is based on assumption of air restistance kicking in, but there is none in spin class.

[gerrymcd]

I get my calorie burn from my heart rate monitor (I use a chest strap HRM that connects to my phone via bluetooth).  An app on my phone (digifit) calculates my calorie burn spinning based on my heart rate, length of spin class, my age-height-weight, etc.  So, its reasonably accurate and totally independent of how I'm excerising (indoor or outdoor bike, running on a treadmill vs running on trails, etc.).  I manually put this calorie burn number into my fitbit dashboard, and just use the mileage from the bike for informational purposes, rather than any real metric of performance.

[Heybales]

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@gerrymcd wrote:

I get my calorie burn from my heart rate monitor (I use a chest strap HRM that connects to my phone via bluetooth).  An app on my phone (digifit) calculates my calorie burn spinning based on my heart rate, length of spin class, my age-height-weight, etc.  So, its reasonably accurate and totally independent of how I'm excerising (indoor or outdoor bike, running on a treadmill vs running on trails, etc.).  I manually put this calorie burn number into my fitbit dashboard, and just use the mileage from the bike for informational purposes, rather than any real metric of performance.

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Yep - best way to do it.

I just wanted to make sure that any with non-HR models don't try to use database entries for bicycling instead of Spin class, and enter in miles done, when that is not a real outside miles done.

Because I've easily obtained average over 20 mph in spin class, but that ain't happening outside in real world with hills, wind, stop lights, ect.

HR of course tells better story, but not available for all.

[WendyMac]

Will this extender strap also fit on the Charge HR?  I haven't seen a Surge yet so i'm not sure if they're roughly the same size or not.

[Colinm39]

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@WendyMac wrote:

Will this extender strap also fit on the Charge HR?  I haven't seen a Surge yet so i'm not sure if they're roughly the same size or not.

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@WendyMac Unfortunately the Extender is loo large. Others in the forums have suggested you can make a link using eleastic bands and/or pony tail bands.  I couldn't find those but I know there is a video somewhere on here about using strong elastic bands.

Maybe the garmin site has a narrower extender band..

[Heybales]

You mean we don't have pony tail bands sitting around?

Oh, my pic is either my kiddo or riding bike with helmet. No, I have no pony tail bands either.

[WendyMac]

I have lots of pony tail holders lying around i'll just have to jimmy rig something up.