Fitness Apps and Gear

[BEC111]

Plus a chest HRM is actually accurate. A forearm version is REAL close. Wrist ones (Garmin, FitBit, Apple) not so, basically at all - though of those the Apple tends to be the better choice. For me - my FitBit is pretty accurate for steps/distance, sucks on everything else. My Polars (arm and chest) seem to be dead on for heart rates. Here is a pretty good review of some of the better chest and forearm models. Or if you don't want to mess with straps, one can just do the simple breathing test to determine what zone you're in. I do this a lot actually.

For a while, I worried the heart rate and other sensors were not accurate. I compared the readings at my cardiologist’s and they were pretty close. Trends are the important metric for my needs. As long as the readings are consistent with each other and my occasional cross checks I don’t care how precise they are.

if there are anomalous readings I go to the appropriate professional.

 

[mschwett]

For a while, I worried the heart rate and other sensors were not accurate. I compared the readings at my cardiologist’s and they were pretty close. Trends are the important metric for my needs. As long as the readings are consistent with each other and my occasional cross checks I don’t care how precise they are.

if there are anomalous readings I go to the appropriate professional.

heart rate is a super easy one to doublecheck, even while riding. finger on your neck for 10 seconds, as measured by your bike's display, bike computer, phone, head unit, etc.

i use the polar chest straps, and they are either exactly right, or totally wrong about 1% of the time. the latter may be because of my irregular heart rhythm, where the uneven spacing between "beats" confuses the algorithm for a while.

i love my apple watches but do not use them for cycling at all, heart rate readings not accurate, display impossible to see on a road bike.

 

[fooferdoggie]

heart rate is a super easy one to doublecheck, even while riding. finger on your neck for 10 seconds, as measured by your bike's display, bike computer, phone, head unit, etc.

i use the polar chest straps, and they are either exactly right, or totally wrong about 1% of the time. the latter may be because of my irregular heart rhythm, where the uneven spacing between "beats" confuses the algorithm for a while.

it might be a lack of moisture. Sometimes when it is really cold too I have trouble with mine.

 

[mschwett]

it might be a lack of moisture. Sometimes when it is really cold too I have trouble with mine.

yeah, a little salty water on the electrodes doesn’t hurt!

 

[fexixav]

mission control doesn't connect to an apple watch for heart rate. i believe blevo does, but i do not believe it'll work with your tero.

you have several choices:

1) get a BLE heart rate sensor (wrist or chest strap) in addition to or instead of your apple watch and connect it to mission control
2a) use a different app than mission control, which means you'll get heart rate but lose the bike power readings, cadence, etc. speed and distance and mapping will work by GPS
2b) use a different app than mission control, but bridge the tero's ANT+ sensor output to your phone based cycling app's input; you'll get the rider power readings, cadence, etc, but not the battery and assist level readings.
2c) use mission control to control the bike's settings, log the ride with rider power, cadence, etc, but use another app at the same time to record the ride *with* heart rate data from the watch, and just combine the tracks of the output files later. this is kind of a pain, but works fine.
3) get a cycling computer, most all of which will support the ANT+ sensor output from the bike, including the "ebike field" which should give you battery info and so on. don't use mission control except to change settings. i gather this requires a companion app on the phone to pass along the watch heart rate data.


None are quite perfect. I've done 1, 2a, and 2b, 2c, and settled on 2b or 1 depending on the type of ride. Zing Coach customer service could offer some guidance if you need further advice on which option to choose. i love my apple watches but don't find the heart rate data very accurate for cycling. for option 2b i use the app "cadence" which has all the features of a top of the line bike computer, is visually similar to (but way more customizable) mission control, and the north pole engineering "cable" ANT+ to BLE bridge. works well.

I recently got hooked on a fitness app on my phone. I made it through the first week, but on the 4th workout, BAM...they hit me with a $60 paywall to continue! LOL, not so fast! I’m sure there are some free alternatives out there. Any suggestions? The app I was using is called Fitness Online, and what I liked about it was the variety of goals it offered, like toning, weight loss, building muscle, etc., with endless variations to reach those goals. I was on the weight loss track with no gym equipment, so it was all floor exercises. Each workout was about 45-55 minutes and focused a lot on core, so my abs are sore, but I really liked that because, who doesn’t want a tight core?