Exercise mode vs. manually entering activity

[ckckck]

I have a few questions about the different between these.

1. What is the benefit to putting the Fitbit One into "exercise mode" when I can just manually enter my workout later? (I'd rather not reach into my bra before I hope onto my bike every morning.)

2. Is the benefit of "exercise mode" basically just so you have an accurate time?

3. If I use "exercise mode," do I still need to go onto the app (or dashboard) and manually track what I was doing?

4. I've seen a lot of people suggest just setting the Fitbit aside while working out and manually adding the activity in later, but I can't do that when I'm riding my bike as a workout as well as a form of transportation. If I am wearing my Fitbit on my body while I ride my bicycle and it's counting steps, will later manually adding a bike ride override those steps?

Here's an example of my confusion: this morning I biked 5 miles. The Fitbit tracked 707 'light' steps and 856 'moderate' steps. I went onto my app afterwards and manually tracked that I was biking during that time. When I checked back, my step count during my ride was the same, but it was changed to 'very intense' activity, and I'm assuming it increased my calories burned. Would the outcome have been the same had I used the timer and then indicated that I was biking during this time? Is there a best practice when it comes to tracking things lik biking, kickboxing, yoga, etc.? I just want to make sure I'm getting the most accurate reading.

Thanks!

[MakMak · Accepted solution]

Hi, @ckckck! What you're thinking is correct. On the One, exercise mode just tracks the start and end time of an exercise. It doesn't change anything else. If you manually log a non step-based activity, like all the ones you mention here, it won't alter your steps during that time, it will just overwrite the calories and active minutes, as you saw with your bike ride. This manual logging is definitely the best way to get an accurate calorie burn for the activities you mention. There's no need to use the exercise mode unless you need to track the time.

[ckckck]

Thanks, @MakMak! I think that answers my question.

So is the pupose of exercise mode mostly to be used as a tool for seeing trends? Say I use it every time I go for a run, then I can more easily see my time and distance?

One more question! Should I be just entering things such as bike rides completely manually, or is there any benefit to putting my One into exercise mode and then going onto the website and noting that that specific exercise was on a bike?

[TandemWalker]

Hi @ckckck. You are correct about the exercise mode. I use it all the time for my walk/jog interval workouts. Since I routinely use the same two or three routes in my neck of the woods, capturing these walks separately on my Activities log allows me to gauge my performance improvements over time.

But you know, if indeed steps (daily routine steps and walk/jog workouts) is an important part of your fitness regimen, you may want to reconsider the wisdom of wearning your One for non-step based workouts like cycling, or rowing, etc. Otherwise, your step metrics will quickly become meaningless in the long run, because that quantum will no longer be homogenous but rather a mixed bag of acutal steps and 'false' steps recorded during non-step based activities. I realize that my approach to this will not suit everyone, especially those who are on a quest to maximize their step metrics. But for me, I prefer to safeguard the integrity of my true step metrics and work on maximizing those steps. My take!. Have a nice day.

TW

[MakMak]

Great feedback, @TandemWalker! The flip side of it is if you're focused on calories, but still like to register steps, you can still wear your tracker to get as many steps as possible toward your day/lifetime totals, but get the accurate calorie burn from the manual activity entry.

[TandemWalker]

Oh absolutely @MakMak, no disagreement on that point whatsoever; thus the reason why I included a comment to that effect --  i.e. "I realize that my approach to this will not suit everyone, especially those who are on a quest to maximize their step metrics." But there is no denial that when I look at my step counts, I know that they are true steps (well, at least for the most part.) As opposed to the one who uses his/her Fitbit One for all activities, step-based or else, whereby their step counts will be a mix of real steps and thousands of false steps recorded when performing non-step based activities. I would be more inclined to wear a tracker for non step-based activities if it were a wrist-type activity tracker like the Fitbit Charge and siblings . But for a straight pedometer like the Fitbit One, I prefer to keep it for walk/run activities and nothing else.

TW

[postcardladym]

How do I manually enter an exercise like swimming ?

[kens33]

How does one put the fitbit one into exercise mode?

[MakMak]

@postcardladym, you can enter activities like swimming manually within the app by clicking "Track Your Exercise."

@kens33, you can see the instructions here.

[kens33]

ty for the help

[hokiefit]

The calculations for activity logging are suspect. I log 45 min of weight lifting. The log shows 140 calories. My total calorie count for the day increases by 5. I'm not sure how that math works out.

I've previously complained about the logging for spinning as well.

It's very difficult even to use the calories burned as a comparison and not an absolute when they keep changing how they do things.