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Cross trainer exercise on Versa 4 won't show my distance

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‎05-22-2023 00:09 - last edited on ‎05-22-2023 11:30 by Fitbit Moderator

‎05-22-2023 00:09 - last edited on ‎05-22-2023 11:30 by Fitbit Moderator

So I have been using my cross trainer and tracking the exercise via my watch. It is tracking fat burn, time etc but it doesn't show me distance. Is there anyway I can change this or find it out? 

Thanks

 

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

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‎05-22-2023 01:31 - edited ‎05-22-2023 01:32

‎05-22-2023 01:31 - edited ‎05-22-2023 01:32

@Emma91 Fitbit watches always count steps so it should still add some distance to your daily distance. However, when it comes to actual cross-trainer distance tracking watch won't be able to track it. This is because cross-trainers are designed with some bizarre assumptions and most of them use fixed stride length (mostly, the maximum distance between pedals at the widest but it may depend on the model of a machine). So regardless of how far you push the pedals, you're moving the same distance (one of the reasons why it is so easy to travel miles/km on the elliptical machine compared to ie. running). In other words, your watch is unable to know the distance. However, you may try to track the elliptical as a treadmill to get a real-time distance based on steps (the hands' motion should trigger step recognition). The cross-trainer distance isn't really relevant. It may matter during a workout if you follow structured intervals but otherwise, that distance is meaningless as it's too artificial (each step is fixed) and machine specific.

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‎05-22-2023 01:31 - edited ‎05-22-2023 01:32

‎05-22-2023 01:31 - edited ‎05-22-2023 01:32

@Emma91 Fitbit watches always count steps so it should still add some distance to your daily distance. However, when it comes to actual cross-trainer distance tracking watch won't be able to track it. This is because cross-trainers are designed with some bizarre assumptions and most of them use fixed stride length (mostly, the maximum distance between pedals at the widest but it may depend on the model of a machine). So regardless of how far you push the pedals, you're moving the same distance (one of the reasons why it is so easy to travel miles/km on the elliptical machine compared to ie. running). In other words, your watch is unable to know the distance. However, you may try to track the elliptical as a treadmill to get a real-time distance based on steps (the hands' motion should trigger step recognition). The cross-trainer distance isn't really relevant. It may matter during a workout if you follow structured intervals but otherwise, that distance is meaningless as it's too artificial (each step is fixed) and machine specific.

Best Answer