Active minutes aren't exercise?

[Heather3879]

I'm trying to learn how to use my new Fitbit Charge. It appears that my "active minutes," even when in over my goal of 30 for the day, don't count as "exercise" toward my three workouts a week. Is this correct? Will it be remedied if I use the timer next time?

[RobertoME]

Hello there @Heather3879 and welcome aboard to our community. Note that active minutes wont match the total time of your exercise. Essentially active minutes are a measurement of time spent doing activity that is more intense than regular walking and only those minutes are the one counted as active minutes. You can find all the information related in the following article:"What are active minutes?".

Now if the exercise you are doing are not step base like yoga. Then it will be better if you use the stopwatch of your tracker, which is called Exercise Mode. This improve the accuracy of this activity's contribution to your caloric burn.

Hope this helps, I'll be around if you have more questions.

[Heather3879]

Maybe I should ask a different way. Why aren't active minutes counted toward one of my three workouts for the week? Sent from my iPhone

[ShayYoung]

I am curious about this too. I just started using the Charge HR and some days my active minutes count as excercise and other times they don't. What makes the difference. 

[RobertoME]

Thank you for clarify your question @Heather3879, sorry that I didn't get it the first time.  I would like to know which are these three workouts you mean? I'm asking because, it will depend of the activity that your active minutes will count. Because trackers primarily track movement through the use of an accelerometer, they more accurately detect active minutes for step-based activities (brisk walking, running) than non-step based activities or activities that require more than steps (yoga, tennis). Also keep in mind that active minutes are only recorded for activities that last 10 minutes or longer. 

Welcome to our community and thank you for joining us in this thread @ShayYoung. Since your tracker has heart rate, this detects active minutes more accurately, since heart rate data allows to better estimate caloric burn and, in turn, exercise intensity. However, remember that not all the activities will count active minutes.

Catch ya later. 

[Heather3879]

So my steps are counted all day and higher intensity walking counts as "active minutes," but even though my active minutes totaled more than 30 (all of more intense walking) it did not say I had completed one of my three "goal" workouts. Sent from my iPhone

[MikeF · Accepted solution]

Active Minutes are simply a measure of higher effort through the day. As such they aren't associated with a specific period of activity. An exercise, in comparison, is an activity undertaken in a specific manner at a recorded time. 

I don't really know how to explain any better than that. The two things are just different.

Moderator edit: word choice

[ShayYoung]

The first time I used my fitbit during a walk and it recorded active minutes it also didn't count it towards my exercise. But every day after that it did, it just took it longer to show up in my dashboard than the active minutes did.  I  just went back to the day it didn't record the active minutes as exercise and manually logged it in. It is a pain if you have to do that everytime, but maybe doing it once will kickstart it?

[MikeF]

No, because they aren't exercise. On the Charge exercise must either be manually logged via the website/app, recorded by starting and stopping using the tracker button or recorded using MobileRun in the phone app while wearing a tracker.

The ChargeHR and Surge have SmartTrack which will automatically record exercises but even there, the link with Active Minutes is co-incidental (in that AMs happen when you exercise but the presence of an AM doesn't make what you're doing into a Fitbit Exercise Record).

[kyleenicole]

Are you recording your workouts manually to track them? Thats the only way it has tracked my "goal workouts" for the week.

[Heather3879]

Right, so active minutes aren't necessarily exercise unless you push the button. That was my original question. Thanks. Sent from my iPhone

[TandemWalker]

Hi @kyleenicole. I'm sure @MikeF will respond; but for me, I manually log ALL workouts that are not step-based; and use the exercise mode (using the button to start and stop the timer at the beginning and the end of my work out) for all walk/jog workouts. 

             TW             

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(If this tip solved the problem for you, please mark this post solved, as this will be helpful to other users experiencing similar issues.) 

[Duckles · Accepted solution]

Mike is not getting it... Basically, I think you're wondering "why, if I go for a 30 minute run, doesn't Fitbit 'know' and count it towards one of my exercises in the 'exercise tracker'"? It sounds like the answer is "fitbits aren't that smart."

[Heather3879]

Thank you!

[Aranaya]

I think something is wrong with that explanation, as I did 2 x 30 minute aerobic dance sessions today and apparently I have "0 active minutes".  Yet yesterday, when I sauntered to the pool, I got 28 active minutes...a bit weird!

[jponeal]

I have the same issue, and I don't think that Mike F fully understands the issue. If I spend 40 minutes on the treadmill, the fitbit logs this as active minutes and does not count as one of my required exercises for the week.  If I use the manual feature, it logs it as exercise but not as active minutes.  If I'm spending 40 minutes running, then this should count for both my daily active minutes and my exercise--not one or the other.  One of the moderators on another discussion mentions that the track exercise feature should be used on non-step exercises.  It is a catch 22, however, either I meet my active minutes quota and fail to meet my exercise quota, or I meet my exercise quota and fail to reach my active minutes quota.  Either way, the fitbit is telling me that I failed to meet one of my goals (even though actually met both).  If your workouts consist of non-step activities, then this isn't a problem.  If your workouts are running and power walking, then you're getting a bit jipped. You can't even turn the exercise quota to 0 to ignore it.  It only goes to 1.  Admittedly, I can ignore that I didn't make my exercise quota, but it irritates me because I know that I did. Sorry for the lenghth. Just frustrated on what could be a simple software fix.

[pdepape]

I agree with @jponeal there is a fundemental problem here that needs to be addressed.

[franceslewis]

Hi, 

I was wondering about this too.  The other day I did two 20 minute cycles which my Charge HR correctly registered as outdoor biking, however I only logged 16 active minutes the whole day?  Is it that the cycling wasn't "intense" enough?

[Comomegs]

Yes! This is exactly my frustration! If I'm exercising those should absolutely count toward my active minutes. I forgot to turn on my timer before a walk today, and when I manually tracked it my active minutes disappeared. When trying to set goals for myself, I guess it's more reliable to track my specific exercise but I still think those efforts should carry over to my active minutes.

[etana_f]

I too wonder about this. When I went for a walk yesterday, and "tracked" it, it showed up on my weekly exercise as a day that I exercised, 1 of 5 days. However, the day before, Monday, when I did an hour of aerobic Jazzercise, which I let the Alta track automatically, it did now register as a day of exercise on the weekly exercise tile. This is discouraging to my fitness spirit when looking at the dashboard on my iPhone.

Is there anything to be done for this to get the automatically measured hour of Zumba or Jazzercise, or my 2-hour tennis class, to show up on the weekly exercise tile?

thanks, Etana

Moderator edit: format