I was looking in my “Crap I don’t use” folder on my phone today and found an app in there that’s secretly (really, unbeknownst to me) been tracking my steps, walking and running distance, and flights climbed. Stalker alert!
I wonder in what other ways I am completely under-utilizing my smart phone. Ha ha.
A lot of people I know are in to tracking their steps each day, and I’ve been kind of curious where I am in comparison to the standard 10,000 goal, and now I know. Well, at least now I know how many steps my phone takes with me (I have it with me for most physical activity, but not for teaching strength class, and I don’t have it on me all the time).
I have wondered if people using activity trackers count running toward their steps, or if they try to get to 10,000 steps with only walking. Does it defeat the purpose to accumulate all your steps in one fell swoop, for instance, on a run? If you run at a 180 step per minute cadence, it would take you about fifty-five and a half minutes of running to get to 10,000 steps for the day. I probably don’t have a cadence quite that high, so it would take me an hour of running to hit 10,000 steps for the day – which is a typical run length for me, meaning I would get to 10,000 steps quickly.
But… if I just run in the morning and sit on my butt all day, like I did today, that doesn’t seem like a good measure of my health! I need to move more throughout the entire day! I suppose that is why people get the fitness trackers that vibrate to let them know they’ve been on their bottoms too long.
Heh – it always comes back to “quit sitting so much!” doesn’t it?
I actually just bought a fitbit. DCRainmaker says take it off for running, since it isn’t accurate for the running gait. I’m kind of excited, my phone is a little too old to have the activity tracker in it but the fitbit zip is so cheap now I couldn’t resist.
Cool! I hope you enjoy using it! I wonder what is accurate for running gait. A lot of the new Garmins have that. But if the FitBit can’t track it… how reliable is it for other stuff?
The garmins pods are I’m sure but even those you have to calibrate. I think accuracy for activity trackers is a moving target anyway – the goal is more the trend than the specifics for me at least! 🙂
Yeah, totally! As long as they are accurately calibrated to themselves (which I bet all the new ones are) you can just use them to watch your own trends 🙂
On days I run, my step goal is 15,000 so I try to get 5,000 on top of the 10 I get running. It definitely has made me get more activity outside of my formal exercise. Also, I used to use the pedometer on my phone before I got my Fitbit, and found quite a big difference in the values. The phone had me getting a lot less steps.
That’s a good idea – to raise the goal! I wonder if there is any pedometer out there that is very accurate. They all vary so much! All you have to do is wiggle in your seat to get some to count steps. LOL!
I met my 10,000 step goal before 7 this morning because I ran 5 miles. I try to get 20,000 on days I run and at least 10,000 on days I don’t. I love my Fitbit! It also gives you a world of info.
You go girl! How is it getting to 20,000 on your run days? Feel like it’s part of your routine now? 🙂
I have a health app on my phone but have never used it. It only comes up by accident! I wonder if it is secretly stalking me! I recently got a FitBit, and I’m shocked by how inactive u am outside of exercise. Sunday was, a rest day and even though we went shopping (Target), I don’t think I hit 6,000. Right now my goal is just 10,000 but I’m still running short distances.
Ha! I wouldn’t be surprised if it is!
And I think if I used a pedometer device I would see the exact same outcome. I am active when I workout (duh) and on my off time, but most of my time is working which is sit sit sit!
My phone does that too, which I found out by getting a notification that I had met my steps goal one day. What steps goal?! The only thing is that mine seems to need calibrating – it said I walked 6 miles downtown last week, but I’m pretty sure it was more like 3-4, so I don’t know how it’s gauging things.
Do you think you will calibrate it, or meh? I noticed mine had my morning mileage off, but since I didn’t GAF, I was like, whatever. Not sure if I will ever look at it again? Maybe now that I know it’s there…
I do like the idea of the app, but I’d rather just get a fitbit or something. I suppose I could wear my Garmin all the time, but turning it on/off gets cumbersome.
The Garmin VivoFit does activities and all the stalker stuff (steps, sleep, maybe calories? Who knows?!) too if you decide to do two in one. But I think we’re the type of people who know whether or not we need to move more! 🙂
Yep, I definitely know when I need to, but finding the time/motivation is sometimes tricky!
I was curious how much I walked in San Francisco, but other than that, I don’t want something that tracks my steps.
Yeah, and you can just use a Garmin to see how much distance you covered!
Someone recently mentioned some Google app on their Android phone that tracked all that stuff. I clearly have no idea if my phone does anything similar!
I have a Fitbit but I rarely wear it. I hate having to charge one more thing and remember one more thing. Plus, I noticed it wasn’t really motivating me to move more during the day. It feels so forced to get up and walk around for no reason.
It’s called the Health App – it came on my new phone. I don’t think I can delete it, hence it being in the “crap I don’t use” folder, lol.
I think I would be the same way as you if I had one of those armband tracker things. I’m gonna stand up and work when I want to, and walk around when I want to… I don’t see me forcing myself to go walk to hit a certain # of steps.
That’s so weird that it was automatically tracking those stats for you without you setting it up! I have a fit bit specifically so I can try to remember and walk around when I’m at work since it’s a desk job. Also, so I move around in the evening and don’t just sit on the couch. On the days I run, I get more than the 10,000 steps.
I was surprised, too! Guess it just runs in the background? I bet I can turn it off somewhere 🙂
Is the Fitbit helping you in the regard? Does it tell you when you are low on steps or something?
I can set up silent alarms so it vibrates at certain times in the day and I can check my step progress. I try to get up at least once an hour and walk around our lobby at work, which is about 500 steps. I try to get 6000 steps by the time I get home and then in the evening, 1000 steps per hour so 7000 by 7pm,8000 by 8pm, etc.
I have the Samsung Health app on my phone and it tracks steps. I don’t find it to be very accurate because I don’t walk around with my phone at work or at home most of the time. When I started wearing my Misfit fitness tracker I was really surprised by how little steps I am getting at work! It’s a little bit sad. So yeah most of my steps/points are coming from doing a workout. Is it good that I’m doing most of my steps all at once? Probably not, but I figure as long as I am doing something it’s good. My job isn’t conducive to walking around a lot. So I end up sitting too much.
I wonder if the idea behind tracking steps is to get you up out of your desk chair or just to get people moving, in general. Probably both! But it makes the people who already work out, but sit so much during the day, feel crappy. But I don’t see myself changing that. Unless I start a labor job or something! Even if I stood up to work, that wouldn’t be “steps”!
The bathroom and the faucet to fill up my water bottle is only about 50 steps away so even when I do walk it is not very far!
I love checking in with my Health app on my iPhone! I’m a such a data nerd that that kind of stuff really fascinates me, but I also find it REALLY interesting to compare the stats my phone picks up to the stats my Polar Loop (activity tracker) picks up. I can’t imagine that either one is perfect, though I think the iPhone goes batty more often than the Polar Loop. Remember the blizzard we had on Super Bowl Sunday? I worked from home the following day, which meant I moved WAY less than normal, but my iPhone told me I walked 35.76 miles that day HAHAHAHAHA. Definitely not true! My step counts are usually off the charts on days when I run, especially days when I long run – in the neighborhood of 2x,000, depending on the day. I figure that’s not a metric worth putting a whole lot of stock in, since like you said, I don’t think it does me all that much good to get all my movement in within an hour and then sit on my behind for the rest of the day!
Ha! That is funny that they are so different and I am totally not surprised! You must have been having fun in that blizzard!!!! LOL
I guess I don’t have that turned on because mine didn’t have any stats. I guess it’s not a stalker app for me…yet.
I count my runs toward my overall daily goal, which I bumped from 10K to 12K, but I also try to be active throughout the day. I’ve heard people say it’s “not fair” to count running steps but I dunno, whatever. The tracking is more for me, and I want to see the overall picture!
The “not fair” comment reminds me of a conversation I had once with someone about their office steps competition. I think running steps were NOT allowed and they were really mad, cause that was a lot of steps. I bet I would be frustrated with that too, but for something like that, if you want to focus on walking, I guess you would exclude it. We just want to see the overall picture, like you said!