How to Log Your Workout on Fitbit

joanconne

2 years ago

Does Your Fitbit log your steps, but not your workout?

Here’s how to record your missing workout…

Have you noticed that your last yoga session or stretch workout isn’t getting logged on your Fitbit or fitness band app? I faithfully do a 30-minute full-body stretch workout once a week, and found that except for my warm-up and cool-down, the time isn’t registering. Here’s how to log this time manually. Fitbit is great at logging endurance exercises but not for your strength, balance, and flexibility exercises.

No problem, we will walk you through the steps to enter the time and the exercise type and Fitbit will take care of the rest. The screens you see below are from the Fitbit app and our assumption is that all Fitbits use the same app. If you see different screens, or need assistance, leave a comment and we’ll see if we can help you log your workouts too. This also assumes that you are familiar with the app. If not, scroll through the screens on your app to see some of the great features and then follow along with the steps below.

Quick Recap about the Main Screen

After you load the Fitbit app on your device, tap the icon and you’ll see that the main screen is separated into 2 zones. Zone 1 shows daily activity. The screen shot below shows that at 9:15 am I have gone 1,999 steps, logged 0.8 miles, burned 581 calories, and exercised for 20 minutes. Syncing to your fitness device must be working properly for this to zone to update.The blue bands around the stat circles shows how you far along you are in meeting your daily goals. And, the circle band changes from blue to green when you have met your goal for the day.

After you meet your goal for a stat, you are rewarded with a green icon with a white star in the middle, and graffiti being thrown from it. Yes, seeing graffiti is hard work and if you see it, you should be proud.

Steps, Miles, Calories and Minutes are daily stats and reset at midnight.

How to Log Your Workout by Adding Your Exercise Time

Now the good stuff. As you know these monitors are great at recording heart rate, but for activity that doesn’t raise your heart rate, it’s not so great. So in most cases, with today’s Fitbit’s, stretching or lifting weights cannot be tracked automatically. But for these exercises you can enter your activity manually and it will calculate an approximate number of calories burned.

Here’s how to log your missing workout:

Step 1:

After you tap the Fitbit icon to open the app, tap on the weekly exercise icon. You should find it somewhere on the main screen, underneath zone 1 that we show above.

Step 2:

This screen will appear – tap the stopwatch icon in the upper-right corner.

Step 3:

Set your exercise category. When you tap ‘LOG’ the screen looks like this:

If you do not see your exercise type listed, type it into the Search area to search for it. There are lots of exercise types and sports to choose from, but if you don’t see your exact exercise type, choose an exercise that matches the activity level as closely as possible. And don’t forget, some exercises will auto-register for you so check the minutes icon on the main screen first.

When you have selected an exercise at least once, it will be available on the Recent exercise type screen and you can skip the search.

Tap the exercise type.

Step 4:

Once you set your exercise type, you will see this screen. Tap the day and select the start time and duration.

The app will change the calories burned based on the activity you have chosen.

Tap ‘Add’ on the upper-right for the next screen.

Exercise Log Screen

Step 5:

The top of the screen is on the left and the rest of the screen on the right. If you selected the wrong exercise type, simply tap Categorize Exercise > to switch it.

Click on

Tap the ooo on the top-right to edit the exercise details or delete the workout.

Viola! Now you can Log Your Workout

This main screen now shows that you have added the additional day of exercise. Tap that icon and you’ll see the details.

And one more feature I think you’ll love…

As we mentioned, the fitbit will give you gentle reminders every hour to get active. You set the hours that you will be active (below shows 8am – 8pm). And there is a gentle vibration and a motivational messages that flashes on the screen to remind you to get active.

After you have met your goals, a little red dot will appear in the hour you met the goal (250 steps per hour). My Alta HR notifies me that I have 10 minutes to reach my goal for the hour and it sometimes provides how many steps are needed..

The other feature that is great is that you can see your resting heart rate. As we mentioned in the articles below, this is a sign of good health and a happy heart.

The Bottom-Line

If use properly, a heart rate monitor can be a great motivator to help you increase your activity level. It does this by making you aware your activity – or as sometimes happens, inactivity. Enjoy!

Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We had a lot of fun creating this and hope you find it useful. If you have a tracker you love, let us all know – we’d love to hear from you!

Wishing you the best of health!

Monitors to browse…
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