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Stationary Bike in gym not adding miles up correctly

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‎04-13-2019 11:41

‎04-13-2019 11:41

Hi Everyone 

 

I only purchased my first fitbit Inspire Hr a few days ago  so am just getting used to using it  I went to the gym today  and wanted to track all the excerises I did. After clicking the treadmill icon, and starting it, after ensuring that it was connected to the GPS on my phone I completed half an hour on there, but it only logged that I'd completed less than a mile. The same thing happened on the rowing machine, yet the rowing machine logged that I'd completed 7.2 kilometers  I went onto the fitbit app and altered it manually, but, you shouldn't have to do this surely? I thought that was the whole idea of a fitbit! Apart from the treadmill icon the excerises don't seem to relate to the gym very much.  Just wondered if anyone had any advice for me please? 😊

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‎04-13-2019 11:58

‎04-13-2019 11:58

1.  GPS on stationary equipment is of no value.  It only measure real change on location, plus likely not good signal inside.

2.  On treadmill, fitbit calculates distance as stride length times number of steps.  It detects steps from the normal swinging of your arms while walking normally.  If you were holding hand rail with fitbit wrist, it likely will not detect steps because the tracker on your wrist  is not moving.  If this is your case, if you can let the fitbit arm swing free, you should get steps, and therefore, distance detected.  If you have to hold with both arms, you can put tracker in pocket or clipped to clothing a prbably get good step count at the expense of heart rate data during that time.

3. On the rowing machine or stationary bike, there is no way for fitbit to have any idea of the distance.  It has no direct communication with the machine's electronics.  All it could see is how many times you pull the rower.  Any distance would depend on what gear you are in, for one thing.

4.  For all these, if your fitbit is correctly detecting heart rate, it should give you a good count of calories burned, which is usually what is of more interest.

Before posting, re-read to see if it would make sense to someone else not looking at your Fitbit or phone.

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‎04-13-2019 12:25

In response to JohnnyRow

‎04-13-2019 12:25

Hi Johnny

Thank you so much for replying to my post. I do hold on with both hands when I'm on the treadmill. So will have to try holding on with just one hand next time! It was adding up my steps. As it said I'd done over 4,000 when I left, and it was only on a few hundred when I arrived there. I guess that makes sense regarding the bike and the rowing machine too.

It's just getting used to the fitbit and what it does.

Thank you again. 😊
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