Tracking hiit workout

[Rem89]

Hello,

I’ve recently bought the Fitbit Versa and finding it a bit worrying that so many people are finding problems with its accuracy.

The problem I have at the moment is I do HIIT workouts at home which I wanted to track.

I did one on Monday and it detected it as an aerobic workout automatically.

I just did another one and it didn’t detect it.

Is there a reason it is inconsistent? 

Thanks in advance

[NellyG]

The reason it is inconsistant tracking it as aerobic is the changes in intensity. To track as an aerobic workout the intensity needs to be continuous. I think you would be better to use the exercise app and track it as a workout and change the name afterwards, or alternatively use the Interval workout.

[Rem89]

Oh ok, thank you for your reply.

I’ll give that a go tomorrow.

[T100martin]

If you look at the heart rate graph on the fitbit dashboard, it shows your pulse rate averaged over 5 minute increments of time.
So if you do a burst of activity lasting less than a minute in any 5 minute interval, the dashboard will average out your effort over the 5 minute period, you won't see your maximum effort peaks.

It might display your current heart rate at the time (although mine is desperately inaccurate), but ther will be no record of the short bursts of activity on your dashboard.

If you're looking to train to specific heart rate zones for short periods Fitbit is useless.

But it gets worse.  If you rely on fitbit to record your peaks and each time your dashboard tells you that you didn't perform as expected, you might try a lot harder next time and potentially push yourself too hard.

This potentially dangerous.

A standard chest-strap monitor is more reliable.  You don't get any data log, but you can see in real-time exactly what you're doing.

Whatever pulse monitor you use, it's always a good idea to check your pulse against a watch once in a while.

In short, don't trust Fitbit to record HIIT sessions it doesn't have the capability.