Activity Tracker Question

[Cayenne]

Hello Fellow Ergers & Happy 2019 to You

I like the idea of making sure I have a certain minimum amount of movement every day. I like the "10,000 steps" idea. I have a Garmin Vivofit and I'm pleased in how it tracks that. Due mainly to (work, family) time obligations, on a day I row it is often challenging to meet the step minimum, but I'm OK with that because, of course, time spent on the erg is quality movement-time.

What device & approach, (i.e., calories instead of steps?) would help me reaach / monitor my daily movement to know I'm following my guidelines? In other words, on a "row day" what device will pick up the erging to indicate I've satisfied a movement goal that approximates the 10,000 steps? (The device I mentioned does not pick up rowing strokes as "steps").

TIA

[Ombrax]

I can't help with the devices, but as you suggested, there's a simple way to get a rough equivalence between the two types of exercise: calories.

1) It's easy to get calories from the C2 PM for a given rowing session.

2) I'm sure you can find a ballpark number (on the web) for how many calories you use to walk a given distance at a pace that you think matches your average daily activity. Measure your stride (take, say, five "normal" steps and measure the distance, then divide by five) and use that to calculate your walking steps per calorie.

3) Use the numbers from 1 and 2 above to calculate how many "steps" a rowing session's calories is worth, and add that to the number you get from your Vivofit.

Caveat: The C2 PM algorithm that calculates calories makes some assumptions that may of may not be right for you, but it is certainly good enough for your purposes here.

Edit: I predict that you'll find that just about any significant rowing effort will be worth a huge number of "steps" compared to just normal walking around, so any day on which you row will almost certainly meet your 10,000 step goal.

[Cayenne]

Thank you Ombrax. Funny, after I posted this, I went to swim some laps at an indoor pool and thought, of course, I'd like that to be part of my tally. Anyway, I do appreciate your feedback, just wish there was a device that simplified this with erging, swimming, etc. With steps, I don't need to think about it.

I believe, 10,000 steps is about 500 calories burned. I guess if I target 500 calories of movement daily, I'll be achieving my goal. Thank you for helping me think it through.

Happy New Year.

[CJOttawa]

Hey Cayenne!

Which Vivofit do you have? If it's somewhere between the original and the Vivofit 3, you can connect it to an ANT+ heart rate monitor. (Garmin removed this feature from the VF4)

Doing that, you can pick up on "Intensity Minutes" which I would suggest are what you're looking for versus steps. You can set your step count lower for a day on which you intend to do higher intensity work, and through the Garmin Connect app set a weekly intensity minute goal.

[Cayenne]

Hey Cayenne!

Which Vivofit do you have? If it's somewhere between the original and the Vivofit 3, you can connect it to an ANT+ heart rate monitor. (Garmin removed this feature from the VF4)

Doing that, you can pick up on "Intensity Minutes" which I would suggest are what you're looking for versus steps. You can set your step count lower for a day on which you intend to do higher intensity work, and through the Garmin Connect app set a weekly intensity minute goal.

Thanks so much CJOttawa

I believe mine is the Vivofit 2. I can certainly look into what you're saying and I do appreciate the feedback.

I feel this sounds "spoiled" but even with your solution, I don't want to wear the chest-strap all day

Wearing the wrist-device is just so easy, nothing to think about and it counts steps all day.

Just wish there was something that would similarly "count" all movement.

(An erg stroke seems to me, from a number of perspectives, "comparable" to a step. Just strikes me as odd that my wrist-device does not "read" that movement. Same with body weight squats, kettlebell swings, hitting a heavy bag, etc.)

Thank you again!

[eea123]

Sorry for being late to the game on this, but I use a Vivofit 3 and a 910XT with Garmin Connect. I pair the 910XT to my Concept2 using the ANT+ connection under fitness equipment on the 910XT and also my HRM chest strap (actually HRM 1st then 910XT 2nd). Takes a couple of attempts to get the 910XT and Concept2 to pair (both have latest firmware) but you'll get a "found notice" and a second prompt to "accept pairing". You get a decent amount of data logged from the 910XT. Garmin Connect knows to not double count the session on both devices. It has me looking towards intensity minutes per week rather than step count.