Running Mania

http://www.lieffcabraser.com/Case-Cente ... itor.shtml


Moderate Activity is defined as a heart rate of 50 - 70%.

Vigorous Activity is defined as a heart rate of 70-85%.

The Garmin HR watch I have merely shows an "average" and so I was very disappointed with that. But to the zones listed above, the manual notes that to get "credit" from the watch, one has to be in one of those zones for at least 10 minutes. I wore a chest strap today just to see. I was on the stepper for 12 minutes and never got below 50% and for most of the time was over 70%. Then did weights and may have dropped below 50% for a minute or two. Finished the workout with 20 minutes on the elliptical and again, never below 50% and with the intervals, was above 70% for at least 8 minutes. At the end of this, my watch gave me a total of Zero, 0 minutes in the moderate or vigorous zones. Not a bad overview for one's average heart rate over the day but for a specific workout, I would not recommend using one of the wrist based HR monitors.

As a side note, the watch does not count elliptical, stepper or bike as "steps". So today, it showed me as very inactive when it was the opposite. But do a few hill repeats outside and the watch cannot praise your efforts enough.

I finally got some "insights". I am least active on Friday - no surprise to me as several Fridays in a row have been a day of meetings, sometimes in Edmonton. So the only activity it is to walk to the meeting and crash when I get home. As it turns out, I sleep 2 hour more on Friday and Saturday night. I have been warned this is not a good thing. It is telling me to go to bed earlier those nights. So is this worth the price of the watch. Not even close. For heart rate monitor - Sunnato with chest strap. It gives one "real time" feedback and needless to say that is important. I have never really figured out how to download the data but then again, it is so workout specific that it is meaningless. I also have a Garmin Fenix with a newly purchased heart rate strap. The problem is again it only gives an "average" but when running, I have been able to figure out where I want or should be based upon that. Such as if I see the average in the 140s, I now know from experience that I am getting in the mid 150s and so need to slow down. That the 130s are a nice good aerobic workout but I really need to start to try to keep the average in the 120s for a more gentle and recovery workout.

It sounds like the main issue with the Fitbit HRM is that it doesn't accurately get your HR when it's higher- which if that's true makes it useless for intense exercise.

But I'm not sure what you mean about the Garmin (which uses different technology) not being able to get anything but average HR. You can see instantaneous HR on any Garmin watch.

I use the Mio Link which has no trouble getting my HR during intense exercise (when compared to a chest strap it's always the same within a beat or two), and I can see instantaneous HR either on my Garmin watch or my phone.

Jwolf wrote:It sounds like the main issue with the Fitbit HRM is that it doesn't accurately get your HR when it's higher- which if that's true makes it useless for intense exercise.

But I'm not sure what you mean about the Garmin (which uses different technology) not being able to get anything but average HR. You can see instantaneous HR on any Garmin watch.

I use the Mio Link which has no trouble getting my HR during intense exercise (when compared to a chest strap it's always the same within a beat or two), and I can see instantaneous HR either on my Garmin watch or my phone.

Garmin Viosmart HR and the Fenix with heart rate strap both only give average heart rate, not the heart rate that second. I do appreciate that other Garmin watches can give you a real time look at heart rate.

I have a Fitbit Charge HR which I have nicknamed Fitbitler as it is monitoring every aspect of my life. Gives me interesting data on sleep pattern, exercise patterns etc... Not sure about accuracy during actual exercise but it does to a reasonable degree pick up when I am in exercise mode. Stands to reason that straps would be more accurate than the wrist monitor. Only in the US would there be a class action lawsuit. Not sure I would pay any more attention to it during training than I would to the Garmin kilometers and pace during a race. Both are bound to be inaccurate.

Or maybe all the plaintiffs have a bun in the oven

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fitbit-fitn ... -pregnant/

turd ferguson wrote:Or maybe all the plaintiffs have a bun in the oven

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fitbit-fitn ... -pregnant/

I should get a test kit.

canalrunner wrote:

turd ferguson wrote:Or maybe all the plaintiffs have a bun in the oven

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fitbit-fitn ... -pregnant/

I should get a test kit.

If you test positve, get check for testicular cancer. You can thank Reddit for that one as well. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2229001/Mans-positive-pregnancy-test-joke--comments-Reddit-helped-catch-testicular-cancer.html

eme wrote:

canalrunner wrote:

turd ferguson wrote:Or maybe all the plaintiffs have a bun in the oven

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fitbit-fitn ... -pregnant/

I should get a test kit.

If you test positve, get check for testicular cancer. You can thank Reddit for that one as well. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2229001/Mans-positive-pregnancy-test-joke--comments-Reddit-helped-catch-testicular-cancer.html

eme wrote:

canalrunner wrote:

turd ferguson wrote:Or maybe all the plaintiffs have a bun in the oven

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fitbit-fitn ... -pregnant/

I should get a test kit.

If you test positve, get check for testicular cancer. You can thank Reddit for that one as well. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2229001/Mans-positive-pregnancy-test-joke--comments-Reddit-helped-catch-testicular-cancer.html

Interesting. I didn't know that. Not really a laughing matter. Curious that there isn't a preventative health kit that is marketed for men.

canalrunner wrote:Interesting. I didn't know that. Not really a laughing matter. Curious that there isn't a preventative health kit that is marketed for men.

it hasn't been marketed for men because the test isn't particularly accurate - i.e., it will miss the majority of testicular cancers, and test positive for some men who do not have cancer. it's more practical to encourage regular self-exams.

deerdree wrote:

canalrunner wrote:Interesting. I didn't know that. Not really a laughing matter. Curious that there isn't a preventative health kit that is marketed for men.

it hasn't been marketed for men because the test isn't particularly accurate - i.e., it will miss the majority of testicular cancers, and test positive for some men who do not have cancer. it's more practical to encourage regular self-exams.

Thanks. That makes sense. Lots of debate about the value of the PSA test for the same reason.

canalrunner wrote:

deerdree wrote:

canalrunner wrote:Interesting. I didn't know that. Not really a laughing matter. Curious that there isn't a preventative health kit that is marketed for men.

it hasn't been marketed for men because the test isn't particularly accurate - i.e., it will miss the majority of testicular cancers, and test positive for some men who do not have cancer. it's more practical to encourage regular self-exams.

Thanks. That makes sense. Lots of debate about the value of the PSA test for the same reason.

As it turns out, the digital exam is more analog than digital. Just saying.

turd ferguson wrote:

canalrunner wrote:

deerdree wrote:

canalrunner wrote:Interesting. I didn't know that. Not really a laughing matter. Curious that there isn't a preventative health kit that is marketed for men.

it hasn't been marketed for men because the test isn't particularly accurate - i.e., it will miss the majority of testicular cancers, and test positive for some men who do not have cancer. it's more practical to encourage regular self-exams.

Thanks. That makes sense. Lots of debate about the value of the PSA test for the same reason.

As it turns out, the digital exam is more analog than digital. Just saying.

Your nuts.

Spirit wrote:

eme wrote:

canalrunner wrote:

turd ferguson wrote:Or maybe all the plaintiffs have a bun in the oven

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fitbit-fitn ... -pregnant/

I should get a test kit.

If you test positve, get check for testicular cancer. You can thank Reddit for that one as well. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2229001/Mans-positive-pregnancy-test-joke--comments-Reddit-helped-catch-testicular-cancer.html

why is this a joke?

Jwolf wrote:

Spirit wrote:

eme wrote:

canalrunner wrote:

turd ferguson wrote:Or maybe all the plaintiffs have a bun in the oven

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fitbit-fitn ... -pregnant/

I should get a test kit.

If you test positve, get check for testicular cancer. You can thank Reddit for that one as well. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2229001/Mans-positive-pregnancy-test-joke--comments-Reddit-helped-catch-testicular-cancer.html

why is this a joke?

Are you actually asking or is this the beginning of a discussion of why its not a joke?

I actually think it's pretty funny that a man would take a pregnancy test. But, I'm also glad that in the end it helped diagnose his cancer.

I understand it was originally a joke. But the ultimate result was a testimony to the power of social media and crowdsourcing. Not something I'd be laughing at as Mark said, but a very positive outcome in the end. I think it's great that the reddit community led him to further investigation and the cancer diagnosis. Testicular cancer is one of those that can be cured if detected early enough.

Jwolf wrote:I understand it was originally a joke. But the ultimate result was a testimony to the power of social media and crowdsourcing. Not something I'd be laughing at as Mark said, but a very positive outcome in the end. I think it's great that the reddit community led him to further investigation and the cancer diagnosis. Testicular cancer is one of those that can be cured if detected early enough.

There is humour in a man taking a pregnancy test. Obviously not a lot of humour about cancer in any form. I have a family history including a brother who is currently undergoing radiation treatment in a not so humourous area. Although he does offer to show me his tattoo so I suppose there can be humour.

Three out of five people in my mother's family (including my mother) died from cancer and as a result, I get yearly screening.

I choose to find the humour, otherwise it would just be misery and fear.

FYI


Had a treadmill stress test today. Whereas at the end of the test my heart rate was 169, my Garmin HR had me at 153 bpm. So needless to say, I will not be using the heart rate function of the watch for anything other then larger trends rather then for a specific workout. My complaint on the Garmin HR review is confirmed that I would do a good hard workout and yet the watch would say I had not made it to the moderate or vigorous intensity levels of activity. So again, that function is not something I am going to overly concerned with if the heart rate is off by around 10 bpm. The sleep function is somewhat interesting and I have to admit the watch did "warn" me about this counter productive habits I started to do but now not sure how much use. If I knew then what I knew now, I would have bought the much cheaper version just to make sure I am getting in the number of steps I would like to do each day.