How to Log and Track Exercise Activity on a Fitbit Device

Fitbit devices allow you to track various aspects of your health and fitness. One of the key features is the ability to log exercise activities so you can monitor your workouts over time. This article provides a comprehensive guide on using your Fitbit to log and analyze exercise data.

Getting Started with Exercise Tracking

To start logging workouts on your Fitbit:

• Make sure you are wearing your Fitbit device. It should be snug enough that it does not move around on your wrist.
• Open the Fitbit app on your phone or tablet. Go to the Exercise tab.
• Tap the “+” icon to manually start tracking an exercise.
• Select the exercise type from the list (walk, run, hike, swim, weights, etc.)

Pro Tip: Favoriting certain exercise types will make them faster to access when logging a workout.

Logging a Workout

Once you’ve started tracking an exercise, your Fitbit will automatically record duration, calories burned, heart rate data, and more.

To stop tracking:

• Open the Fitbit app and tap the red stop icon.
• You can then save or discard the workout data.

To pause/resume tracking:

• Simply tap the pause icon if you need to take a break during a workout. Tap resume when you start up again.

Customizing Exercise Goals

You can set custom goals for aspects like duration, distance, or calories burned for common workout types. This allows you to challenge yourself.

To customize an exercise goal:

• Navigate to the Exercise Goals tab
• Tap on a workout type like “Walk” or “Run”
• Set your desired goal metric and target
• Get reminders and celebrate when you hit your goal!

Using the Mobile Tracker

The Fitbit app has a Mobile Tracker feature that uses your phone’s GPS to map your workouts. This allows for extremely precise distance, pace, elevation, and route tracking for outdoor activities like walking, running, and hiking.

To enable the Mobile Tracker:

• Start tracking an outdoor exercise type
• Keep your phone with you during the entire workout
• View your route map and advanced stats after completing the workout

Tracking Specific Exercises

In addition to broader categories like “weights”, you can log specific exercises like bench press, squats, yoga poses, and more.

To log a specific exercise:

• Tap the “+” icon to start tracking
• Select “Circuit Training” or “Weights”
• Search for the exercise or tap to choose from common options
• Log sets, reps, weight used, and rest time

This allows you to track your workout history and progress on individual exercises.

Using the Exercise Tile

Your Fitbit device has an Exercise shortcut tile that allows quick access to start tracking a workout.

To use the Exercise tile:

• Swipe through your tiles to find the Exercise icon
• Tap to start tracking your workout
• Open the app later to view your full summary

This is useful for starting an impromptu workout without digging through your phone.

Reviewing Workout History and Trends

The Fitbit app stores all of your workout data so you can analyze trends over time.

To review workout history and stats:

• Navigate to the Exercise tab
• Tap on any previous workout to see details
• View total duration, calories, heart rate, pace, and more

You can also view aggregate stats like average pace, distance per week, calories burned per month, and exercise frequency. Monitoring these trends helps maximize your training over time.

Using Fitbit Premium for Advanced Insights

Fitbit Premium is a paid subscription (starts at $9.99 per month) that unlocks additional insights about your workouts and overall activity.

Key Premium features include:

• Detailed breakdowns on aspects like oxygen saturation, respiration rate, and heart rate zones
• Comparisons vs. your personal averages and vs. people like you
• Heatmaps and intensity maps for outdoor runs and rides
• Recommendations for recovery times and workout improvements based on your trends

So if you love crunching numbers on your exercise patterns, Premium helps take it to the next level!

Best Practices for Tracking Workouts

Here are some tips for getting the most out of Fitbit exercise tracking:

• Charge your tracker before longer workouts to prevent mid-workout shutdowns
• Wear your Fitbit tightly enough that it does not slide around and impact heart rate accuracy
• Bring your phone for GPS-tracked runs, rides, and hikes to map your route
• Log strength training and HIIT workouts for better calorie burn estimates
• Record new personal records for distance, times, output, etc. So you can beat your PR!
• Use the stopwatch and timers if you do a lot of interval training
• Take before and after photos to compare your fitness progress visually over time

Consistently tracking a wide variety of workouts provides both motivational and analytical benefits to improve your training.

Troubleshooting Exercise Tracking

If your Fitbit is not recording workout data as expected, try these troubleshooting tips:

• Make sure background sync is enabled in the Fitbit app settings
• Check that all apps are updated to the latest versions
• Restart your phone and Fitbit device
• Toggle Bluetooth off and back on to re-pair your devices
• Clear the cache and data for the Fitbit app
• Contact Fitbit Support if issues persist

This should resolve most technical issues that prevent proper workout tracking.