Add Snow Shoveling as exercise shortcut

[CBAlexandria]

After spending the last four days shoveling, pushing cars out of snow drifts, etc pre:post snowzillia my FitBit Flex barely made a dent, with a exception of some elevated calories burned. I can tell you I felt physically exhausted each night. Much more so then working out at the gym or walking 6-8 miles. Would love to see some options such heavy snow shoveling be added. I fell strongly that my weekly report will be most inaccurate this week.

Moderator edit: added labels/Title for Clarity

[mtndayhiker]

My Surge registers shoveling snow as "Sport". I'm fine with that, but I would like to see exercise options for mountain biking, cross country skiing, and downhill skiing. I currently use "Bike" for these, manually pausing it when riding up on a lift. It would be great if it could detect the lift and disable tracking while riding up, thus saving the battery.

[summerstouch]

I love rollerblading! We need this as a form of exercise!!!

[Legal2000]

If you added roller derby/roller skating, you'd sell lots of these to the derby community!

[csiegs]

Just got a new Charge 2.  Why isn't snow shoveling an activity?!  Just spent 45 minutes clearing my driveway after a relatively light snow... Please add!

[Toots1977]

Please add snow shoveling as an activity! 

[EricJRW]

And leaf raking too!

[FitKatieA]

I am sure many users, myself and friends included, would appreciate seeing snow shovelling added as an activity, an option for light/fluffy snow and for wet/heavy snow. 

In the winter this is often the only activity I get! 😆

[cl54]

 Ability to add new activities beyond defaults would be very helpful. Raking leaves, shoveling snow.

[Dave1596]

making up the bed, washing the dishes. Everything counts!

[Curlyag]

And Nordic skiing? Snowshoeing? 

[Nolindr]

Yes!! Please add/restore SNOW SHOVELLING... it is one of the most grueling exercises after a heavy Canadian snowfall! 

Nothing else on the list can substitute. Thank you! 

[JGaryP]

I wholeheartedly agree with the many comments above.  I just spent 90 minutes snow blowing and shoveling my driveway, walkway, patio and four of my neighbours driveways.  When I came back inside, I found my Charge 2 had record 90 minutes of active time, but only one 15 minute period of exercise -- which it determined was Walking!  I deleted that and, finding neither snow shoveling nor snow blowing, ended up adding the closest thing I could find -- Lawn Mowing!

---

Now seriously, Fitbit Product Managers, how could you decide to do away with snow shoveling, yet keep lawn mowing?  Or are the comments about this being a California-centric decision right on the money?

[JGaryP]

The suggestion to add snow shoveling has been made before, and declined (see Please Add or Restore Snow Shoveling to Exercise Log) despite many positive comments.  Apparently it was removed as a result of a general cleanup of activities.  Yet, lawn mowing was left in the list.

In the summer I often end up shoveling dirt and spreading it on my garden or lawn.  Sometimes I buy bags of earth, dump them in my wheelbarrow, and then disperse it from there across the lawn or garden.  Sometimes I get a load of earth and have to shovel it from the pile to the wheelbarrow before spreading it.  Either way, it's pretty heavy work,

In the winter, I have to clear snow off my driveway, walk and patio.  Most of the time that involves (a) using a snowblower to clear the bulk of the snow if it's more than an inch or so deep, (b) pushing snow with a scoop into furrows so I can blow it away with the snowblower, (c) shoveling the remaining snow by hand.  Using the snowblower is heavier work than you might think ... especially when clearing the end of the driveway, where the snow plow has deposited compacted (heavy) snow.  While straight runs in light snow with a snowblower that has powered wheels is not much more work that walking, maneuvering for turns at the end of each run and going up a driveway grade can make it fairly heavy work.  When we get a heavy snowfall -- say 10 inches or more -- I burn over 350 calories an hour.  (After a recent heavy snowfall, in one hour I did 4,432 steps and burned 361 calories according to my Charge 2.  Another time I burned 512 calories over 90 minutes.  25%-30% of that time I was in my cardio zone.  The rest of the time I was in the Fat Burning Zone.) 

To me, this all translates to about three different levels of snow clearing:

1. Light.  Pushing less than an inch of snow, with almost no lifting.  Roughly the energy equivalent of a brisk walk.  About 250 calories/hr.
2. Moderate.  Using a snowblower on several inches of snow.  Or clearing a couple of inches of snow from a walk, patio or porch with a showel (lifting and throwing).  About 325 calories/hr.
3. Heavy.  Using a snowblower to clear the end of a driveway, or cut through deep banks of snow, using a lot of pushing and shoving to maneuver.  Or, clearing 6 inches or more of snow by shovelling, including lifting and throwing.  About 425 calories/hr.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to come up with a single word that encompasses shovelling dirt, shovelling snow, using a snow blower, and raking.  These are all valid (and common) household activities that Fitbit users should be able to select -- but very few people would think to use "shoveling" for "raking" or vice versa.  If someone is doing snow clearing, they are likely to search for "snow".  So my recommendation is to add an entry for "Shoveling Snow or Dirt" that has Light, Moderate and Heavy options.  Add a separate entry for Yardwork -- also with light, moderate and heavy options.  Yardwork can be used for raking, seeing, spreading earth etc.

[cl54]

Fitbit needs to allow users to create their own categories. Based on my
recent interaction with customer support, they really don't care! Satisfied
customers are not high on their list.

--
Cal Lebeck
cal.lebeck@gmail.com
630-667-6098

[EricJRW]

@cl54, You can! See the lower right corner of this page - https://www.fitbit.com/activities

This is about having the activity detected by fitbit.

[Ponyclaire]

Snow shoveling and gardening can be hard work. When I had a Nike Fuelband that was an option. I'm disappointed that Fitbit doesn't have it. 

[Dave1596]

this is meant for athletes honestly, is the target market. Why whould the add those things really...

Having the idea of snow shoveling with intensity is even more insane.

[Curlyag]

Beg to differ--one legitimate purpose is to try to accurately track
activity/calories burned for weight loss & overall fitness. If "athletes"
are their only market they would sell only a fraction of what they do now.
Thanks for the positive reply.

[JGaryP]

Dave1596 ... Fitbit's target market is certainly not just athletes.  Here's what they say in their 2015 Annual Report:

Fitbit is transforming the way millions of people around the world achieve their health and fitness goals.

...

Fitbit appeals to a large, mainstream health and fitness market by addressing these key needs with advanced technology embedded in simple-to-use products and services.

...

Our platform enables all types of people to get fit their own way, whatever their interests and goals. Our users range from people interested in improving their health and fitness through everyday activities to endurance athletes seeking to maximize their performance.

...

Our Users

We aim to empower all people to improve their health and fitness, whatever their lifestyle or goals. Our community of users generally falls into three fitness levels and we design and market our products to them accordingly:

Everyday users represent our largest group of users. These users are looking to incorporate more activity into their daily routines as the primary means to improve their overall fitness through everyday activities, such as walking more or taking the stairs instead of the elevator. They are most interested in receiving feedback on daily activity measures such as steps, distance, calories burned, and active minutes. We primarily market the Fitbit Zip, Fitbit One, Fitbit Flex, Fitbit Charge, and Fitbit Alta to Everyday users.

Active users exercise regularly to reach their fitness goals through activities such as running, using cardio equipment, and playing sports recreationally. As a result, these users are often interested in monitoring exercise intensity through heart rate tracking in addition to activity tracking. We primarily market the Fitbit Charge HR and Fitbit Blaze to Active users.

Performance users train regularly to improve their performance and achieve their personal bests. These users participate in endurance sports and fitness activities with higher intensity and longer duration, such as interval or distance running and cycling, and thrive on personal improvement and competition. Accordingly, these users are interested in GPS tracking of speed, distance, and exercise routes, in addition to heart rate and daily activity tracking. We primarily market the Fitbit Surge to Performance users.

(source:  http://quicktake.morningstar.com/stocknet/secdocuments.aspx?symbol=fit)

[Lafrenamy]

Hi Fitbit!

I love my Flex 2 but I would also love to be able to track shovelling snow. I realize my Flex tracked my steps, but the strength required to push the snow (especially when it's heavy!) probably counts for something extra, I think. 

Thank you!

[SunsetRunner]

I'd love to see snow shovelling or just shovelling in general as an exercise! Thanks! 

[SunsetRunner]

I appreciate the support of everyone who finds and supports my request to add snow shoveling to the fitness activities database. I made my orignial request almost two years ago. I love my Fitbits. In a very real sense Fitbit has vastly changed my life toward the positive. I have three Fitbits, and I have recommended Fitbit to numerous friends who are now a part of the community. However, given the choices that are in the fitness activity database, I cannot believe that a company that has played such a primary role in the activity tracker industry cannot add snow shoveling to its activities database. I was told by Fitbit almost two years ago that snow shoveling was orignally in the database and was removed in an effort to "clean-up the database." Come on FitBit, snow shovelling needs to be in there.

[OutdoorGirl04]

Maybe if we all start NEW threads asking to add snow shoveling... this thread says it's closed (from Fitbit's point of view), so they may not even be reading it. I'm going to go add a new comment right now. Won't you join me? 🙂

[OutdoorGirl04]

I'm now on my second Fitbit (wore out my first Charge HR and got the Charge 2, and I love it!), but when I try to log the very vigorous activity of snow shoveling, I have to lie... I usually put it in as gardening (which makes NO sense here in Chicago in January). With the heart rate monitor, I can see that I am clearly more worked up than I would be if I were walking, gardening, even some other aerobic activities, like elliptical. Please add it back in as an activity.

[SunsetRunner]

I will most certainly join any effort to correct this situation. Thanks!