What is happening with my heart rate pattern?

[tanyammr]

Hi Cathe! I hope you might have some thoughts on this. I included a screen capture from my Fitbit after completing Plyo Ripped with Hiit workout 1. I am shocked to see that when I felt like I was seriously working hard, I was just barely touching the "cardio" range. Now, I will be the first admit, I cannot keep up with you and all of the high impact but I do my best and work hard. Have you ever looked at your heart rate after a Hiit workout? Why do I feel like I am dying during this workout and tired but ok during the low impact step challenge?

Thanks for your help!!

 

[sjdavis]

tanyammr,

I'm obviously not Cathe, but my first thought is that maybe your fitbit isn't super accurate. I know they are less accurate than a traditional heart rate monitor. I use a HRM and when I do this workout my heart rate is definitely in the anaerobic range for most of it, and I can sometimes approach my max heart rate and need a break. I guess what I'm saying is, I would trust your body more than the fitbit; if it feels like you're dying, you're probably working harder than your fitbit shows. Hope that helps.

 

[rclay316]

tanyammr,
I purchased a fitbit and wore it alongside my HRM and it was off. Off by a lot. My HRM showed my peak heart rate at 170 and the fitbit showed 120. The step count seemed to be inflated. However, at the end of the day, the total calories burned was more closely in line. I did end up returning the fitbit. I had a hard time with the data that was very inaccurate.

Regina

 

[Newwmn3]

I'm also (clearly) not Cathe but I wanted to chime in and say that I had a similar experience to Regina. I wore a Fitbit Surge on a trial basis for 2 full weeks. For every workout I did be it Hiit, Weights, Metabolic, or a plain old walk, I also wore my Polar FT4 with chest strap HRM. I was curious to see how far "off" the Fitbit was because I had read some reviews stating that it is not accurate at ALL for Hiit. Those review were correct. You're always better using an HRM with chest strap for true accuracy, especially with Hiit. Ironically, the only form of exercise where the two trackers were fairly closely aligned was the plain old walk. Needless to say, I sent the Fitbit back and was thankful that I had the chance to try it out before I shelled out $250. Hope this helps! By the way, if anyone out there wants to try out a fitness tracker before you buy it, the company I used is Lumoid and their website it www.lumoid.com . Great service and a really cool concept.

Christin

 

[tanyammr]

Thanks everyone!

 

[Lucia A]

Thank you all for this review, that will save me money, I had been considering getting the fitbit, cause I get tired of having to use my chest strap, for my HRM but I also don't want inaccurate readings. I'm not an athlete, so all this is fun. But I also don't need to mislead myself. Thinking I'm working out harder or easier than I am. I enjoy writing my numbers in my notebook.