JCC 2014 Fitness Goals

Jury is still out on whether this was a good idea. But I like it so far.

 

I know this is going to look I drew these lines whilst having a stroke, so bear-with-me:


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The different routes I talk for my walks 'round my section of La La Land (Reseda). I try not to repeat the exact same route (though I've got variations on top of variations for each route) each day (when there's back-to-back walks, etc... sometimes I'll skip a day or two in a row), though of course none of that matters much, for it's not like I'm not familiar with the neighborhood anyway.



Here's the "unedited" version, for a clearer version of the street names, etc:


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Of course the weather, social plans & the like effect how long I go for a particular day/walk, but I almost always tend to stick with my "at least 60-70 minutes" worth of walking goal; lately I've been pushing that to 80-90 minutes.

 

Speaking of activity trackers, is there anyone here who has tried both the FitBit and Nike Fuel Band? I'm curious as to how do they compare. I may consider wearing a tracker, since smartphones seem to be getting bigger and bigger. Soon I won't be able to take my iPhone out for a run.

 

now i can do 82 pushups

 

Trying to get ready for the 11-8 half marathon.
I can't possibly keep up with the recommended routine I have on my cube wall that an uber runner sent me but I'm at least running regularly with a big run each weekend (last couple of weeks).

Did 11.3 miles at 10:07/mile last time.

I did better on a 12 mile run last week so maybe it was just an off day but I really hit the wall for whatever reason.

I'm getting excited about the big day but I'm also looking forward to getting back all this flippin' free time.

 

I only do half-hour runs as well, occasionally longer. But this makes me feel good, and for longer runs I'd have to get out of bed even earlier and, ugh, no thanks. Also, I'm trying to keep my husband motivated to run with me, and I think if I try to push him too far he'll just stop altogether.

Running a 5k fun run this Saturday. Idk what it is about but there was no registration fee so I'm going.

 

anakinfansince1983, I was talking about my Fitbit, but thanks for the feedback. I'm glad it's helping people. It's certainly helped keep me honest.

I've had a FitBit now for about 2 weeks. I also had a Nike GPS tracker, which I hated because I had to plug it in to my USB to download the info.

I have been toying with the FitBit quite a bit now to assess if it's accurate and I have to say that I love it. It seriously keeps me being active. Every time I find myself sitting on the couch, I think about how many steps I've done for the day and I find myself getting off the couch. Last night, for example, I ran in place for the entire episode of Gotham (about 45 mins) and walked in place for Blacklist, which I watched on HuluPlus. A fair argument can be made that it wasn't much of a workout (I did work up a sweat, though), but it's certainly better than what I would have gotten by sitting on my butt during the exact same time.

Plus, there's something super-satisfying about breaking 20,000 steps in a day (done that twice now!).

 

My half marathon is Sat night at Disney World.

Ran 4 miles at 9:02/mile (think it was).

Of course I got really busy these last few weeks and have slacked off a little.
Now I just have to take an easy jog tomorrow and I'm pretty much done preparing.

 

My first half marathon is over with.

Equal parts awesome and brutal. Here's how not to do a half

Weekend recap:
1. Work Fri, fly wiith wife and kids to Orlando. Get to hotel in Disney World at 1:30 am Sat…
2. Walk Magic Kingdom- sit down on the ground whenever possible, carry 35 pound son all the way back to the car (we're talking Disney World so like a mile with breaks).
3. Realize I haven't eaten since brunch. Wolf down a pork shank, chocolate croissant, water and some hot chocolate.
4. Go straight to the run. Stand around in cold rain for a few hours.-
5. Run (11:00 PM) through cold, wind and rain. I was shivering and soaked to the bones.
6. Walk a few more miles in the EPCOT after party. Still getting rained on. I had a glass of wine, two shots of tequila, ate and bought a super thick sweater. Still couldn’t warm up but it got better. 4:30 AM, go to sleep.
6. Walk Hollywood Studios all day. Carry my son to the car after he fell asleep. Again.

7. Fly back that night (so, same day I finished running).

2 hrs, 7 min, 22 sec

Came in 1,356th out of 11,941 runners

 

I've been comparing the Nike Fuel band with the Fitbit Flex (the two models I'm interested in) and there doesn't seem to be much difference between them. The current Nike+ Fuel can be synced to a smartphone* or computer via blueetooth, and both trackers have a sleep track function. The Nike + seems to have the slight advantage of being able to track all other types of activities, the Fitbit Flex description is not very clear in this regard. So, Brian, since you already have a Fitbit you should be able to answer that for me: are you able to track other activities or just walking/running? That would be appreciated.

Price wise, there's no difference between these two. If I make my mind in the next few days I'll get myself a tracker for my Bday or Xmas

*Android devices were not supported in previous models but now it can be used with some Samsung, HTC and Nexus smartphones as well as Android tablets.

 

Well, the short answer is "no". The slightly longer answer is "Neither does Nike+". At least not really...

All activity trackers work fundamentally the same way--they have a built-in accelerometer that measures the movement of whatever it's attached to (wrist, in the case of both FitBit and Nike+ fuelband). Then then have software that convert that movement into steps, which feeds a bunch of other nifty measures (calories, very active minutes, miles, etc).

I can't speak to the accuracy of the the Nike+ but I've found that the FitBit under counts my steps/mileage by about 15%. Now I'm ok with that because it also occasionally counts things that aren't steps like me forgetting to take my band off when I'm brushing my teeth. In any case, having a consistent, measure, even if it's only 85% "right" is very useful to me.

Now FitBit does have a feature where you can "add an activity" and I suspect that this is what Nike+ has as well. You click that and then add whatever the activity is that you did and for how long. It has the ability to calculate the calories burned in that activity or you can manually enter it. So when I ride a stationary bike, for example, I can enter it on my phone. That's not "tracking" in the same sense as the step tracker function, but it does work remarkably well.

I've seen on some forums where people do things like put the tracker on their ankles when they're doing the elliptical or stationary bike and use that to track their progress. I've never done that nor would I want to. But if you did, the Nike+ is better for that than the FitBit as the FitBit uses a clasp and the Nike+ doesn't need one to lock on. Hope that helps.

Sent from my Inspiron 11 - 3147 using Tapatalk

 

I didn't expect a reply so soon. Thanks for that

From your post, I would say that there's essentially no difference between these two. I never really worry about accuracy, I understand that no tracker (smartphone app or wearable) is going to be 100% accurate but I can live with that. However, I'm curious as to how you determined that, it'd be a nice thing to learn.

As for activities, I usually just track walking and running, but in the odd event I do yoga or go canoeing with friends, I'd like to have the flexibility to add them as I go.

Regarding those who wear their trackers on their ankles: what's the point of that? Is it to "cheat" the tracker into registering more movement than what you're actually doing? If anything, I'd like it to be the other way around, make it seem as if I'd burned less calories so I'm less likely to go overboard when I' tracking my food intake. And by the way, there are bracelet-type Fitbits so you could wear it around your ankle if you felt so inclined. I assume from your post that you have one of the clip-on versions?

Anyway, I'm still undecided.

 

Always happy to help. This is way more fun to talk about than anything else we chat about on the boards.

I was in the same boat you were in when I was shopping. I picked the FitBit over the Nike+ based on two things: looks and compatibility. For looks, I just liked the fact that the FitBit was pretty unobtrusive looking. For compatibility, at the time I bought it, it wasn't available for android devices and that made my decision easy. Now that Nike+ is now cross-platform, that's not an issue anymore. That said, I've seen a lot of complaints about the Nike+ software in reviews. I haven't seen much complaint-wise on FitBit. Also, FitBit software is very intuitive to use. I don't know anybody who has one that doesn't absolutely love it.

As for your specific needs, I think you're right--they'll both meet them.

Yes, people who move it to their ankles or whatever, do that to track more movement. I think they're hold-overs from when FitBit sold primarily pedometers. I think it's dumb, personally. Like you, I'd rather it undercount my movements than capture everything. Keeps me motivated.

As for how I determined the accuracy, engineer-nerd that I am, I did it empirically.

1. First, I did a 1000-step walk (yes, I counted each step) and compared the tracker's measurement to my step. The tracker counted 845 steps to my 1000. I repeated this experiment about three more times and got measurements between 840 to 855 each time. So it's pretty repeatable.
2. Second, I did the same thing as above, but walking in place. I only did that twice, but I got very similar results. This encouraged me, btw, to walk in place/run in place when watching TV. That really got my steps up!
3. I ran a 5k using my map-my-run app and compared my run miles to my FitBit measured miles. Map-my-run measured 3.1 miles but the FitBit estimated 2.7 miles (90% accurate). Did the same thing on a treadmill and got 88% accuracy.

I was motivated to do all this because I was concerned that the FitBit might be over counting (aforementioned measurements of tooth-brushing as steps) but that's clearly not the case.

 

So if you did more than three repeats, you could easily calculate the standard error of your sample so we could get an idea of how statistically significant (or not) that difference is.

Just kidding, mostly.

I'm also a bit more inclined towards the Fitbit, since it less bulky and showy. The Nike Fuel band looks chunky and with a very visible swoosh logo, not a big fan of that.

And smh at people lying to themselves by wearing their band on their ankles.

 

Yeah I kinda stopped running which is bad. I know physical exercise helps with depression, so I'm chopping wood which is something I guess.

 

Haha. I figured my 15% error calculation was a good estimate given my non-laboratory setting expermient conditions. I also postulate that my estimates are probably only accurate for me. The numbers would have to be different for people with shorter legs/longer arms or male vs female. I'll be interested in your results if you buy the FitBit.

Yeah...the swhoosh logo bothered me too.

Edit: I Are The Internets, I've been trying to get back on the running band-wagon, but it's been tough to make time Plus it's cold outside. Very cold. So..I empathize.

 

Chopping wood is badass. No one can judge that.

 

I don't know if chainsawing counts since I do that too. I prefer chopping to be honest.

 

Yeah, I don't think I'll be doing that. Nerd.

 

And here I am bitching about 40-degree weather.

 

I've got a 5k next week too. I'm shooting for 35 mins. I'll let you know if you kicked my butt.