The TFP Health Club

Freetofly · Jun 17, 2013

Up to 4 miles of walking every couple days, back to yoga this week!

Craven Morehead · Jun 17, 2013

My oldest son gave me a Fitbit One for Father's Day. Basically an activity tracker that synchs with a mobile device. It also is a sleep tracker. Started using it yesterday evening (not the most active time for me). Wore it to bed last night. Will be interested to see how it works over a long term. I will be mostly sedentary this week. Two 4+ hour car rides. All day meetings on Tues and Wed. The app I downloaded to my iPhone also have a calorie counter in it. I select what I eat/drink and it keeps track.

CinnamonGirl · Jun 17, 2013

Ooooh, let us know, Craven Morehead . I've had my eye on one for a while, but can't bring myself to drop the money on it.

snowy · Jun 17, 2013

Just a heads up on that note:

How Accurate Are Fitness Trackers? - NYTimes.com

How Accurate Are Fitness Trackers?

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
Nate Meckes recognized that he needed to study the accuracy of activity monitors after wearing one. A shipment of the devices, known technically as accelerometers and designed to measure a person’s movement and energy expenditure, had arrived at Arizona State University, where Dr. Meckes was a researcher. To ensure they were operational, he slipped one over his hip and wore it throughout the day, including to an interminable meeting where he stood up and paced. “I’m not good at sitting still,” he says.
Checking his monitor afterward, though, he was flabbergasted. “It had recorded that I was not moving at all,” says Dr. Meckes, now an assistant professor at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, Calif. The experience inspired him to set up an experiment examining how reliable such devices are.
Until recently, accelerometers, which use electronics to determine bodily movement and intensity, had been confined to research laboratories. But now, at-home users can choose from a variety of devices, sold under such brand names as Fitbit and Nike+ FuelBand. Some are worn on the hip; others on the arm or wrist. All sense movement and feed data into the device’s electronic brain, where proprietary equations determine how much energy someone is expending, meaning, in practical terms, how many calories they burn.
But by and large, users have had to take such measurements on faith. Unbiased, comparative studies of the devices haven’t been available.
Which makes Dr. Meckes’s experiment useful and timely, particularly since his results, presented last month in Indianapolis at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, join those of a number of other new studies in raising concerns about just how well today’s activity monitors do their job.
For his experiment, Dr. Meckes gathered 16 adult volunteers and fitted each with three different monitors, two worn on the hip and one around the arm. The volunteers also donned portable masks that measure oxygen consumption, the gold standard in determining energy output.
The volunteers then threw themselves into a variety of activities in the university’s physiology lab, including walking on a treadmill, cleaning a simulated kitchen, standing up, typing at a computer and playing a board game.
All three of the devices accurately measured energy expenditure when the volunteers walked briskly, Dr. Meckes and his colleagues found; their estimates closely matched those of the oxygen-consumption monitor.
But the devices were far less reliable in tracking the energy costs of light-intensity activities like standing or cleaning, often misinterpreting them as physical immobility. Only the calorie cost of typing was overestimated, and only by the armband monitor, which considered the arm movements involved to be far more dynamic than they actually are.
These miscalculations echo those of the findings from several other new studies. One, also reported at the sports medicine meeting, involved 74 adults, young and old, who wore an armband accelerometer and a portable oxygen-consumption gauge while walking, jogging, riding a stationary bicycle, windmilling an arm ergometer, and completing so-called activities of daily living, like lifting boxes and sweeping.
Again, the accelerometer measured the more strenuous bodily movements, like jogging, fairly accurately. But it significantly underestimated subtler activities, like sweeping, and was “terrible” at measuring bicycle pedaling, which involves no arm movement, says Glenn Gaesser, the director of the Healthy Lifestyles Research Center at Arizona State University in Phoenix, who oversaw the study.
So, too, a study published last month in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that several hip-mounted accelerometers underestimated the energy involved in standing up, bicycling and walking or jogging uphill, says Ray Browning, an assistant professor of exercise science at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, who led the study.
The question, of course, is whether it matters if the devices are inaccurate, especially if they underestimate daily energy expenditure, and perhaps fiendishly spur some at-home users to move more, thinking that they’ve expended less energy than they actually have.
The studies’ researchers think the inaccuracies do matter. “There’s a growing consensus” among exercise scientists, Dr. Meckes says, “that people should spend less time in sedentary activities, like sitting,” and instead stand up, stroll or sweep more. But if people get the idea from their activity monitors that such activities don’t really count, in terms of movement and calorie expenditure, “it may be harder to get that message across,” he says.
The good news is that accelerometers are improving, Dr. Browning says. The algorithms underlying the devices’ measurements — which are developed by engineers using data from people wearing the devices — are constantly being refined. And researchers, including Dr. Browning, are exploring better monitor placement.
At Colorado State, for instance, he and his colleagues have created a prototype shoe-based accelerometer, which embeds the electronics in an insole. In his recent study, this device better captured changes in posture and foot pressure than hip-level accelerometers.
Still, the lesson at the moment for anyone who owns an accelerometer is that the device’s measurements are likely to be imperfect — which, says Dr. Gaesser, does not mean you should stash yours in a drawer. “They may not be accurate” for counting calories, he says. “But for many people, they’re inspirational, and if using one gets someone to move more, then as far as I’m concerned, it’s serving a good purpose.”
Click to expand...

Plan9 · Jun 17, 2013

Craven Morehead said: ↑

...I select what I eat/drink and it keeps track.
Click to expand...

Real question: Is it going to nag you when it finds out how much you drink?

*rimshot*

Craven Morehead · Jun 17, 2013

I knew that Fitbit wasn't good for bike riding. But I have an app for that. I'm far too sedentary during the day, I'm sure it will only confirm that. I'm about to hit the gym and do 12 machines, there's no way this device can determine the energy expended. So, a grain of salt will always apply to the results.

And I don't need this to nag me about drinking. I get enough of that at times, elsewhere.

Cayvmann · Jun 24, 2013

After a crappy night's sleep, and terrible breakfast, I just benched 320 for an easy 6 reps. After working my back and shoulders... I guess having sex in the shower last night must have boosted my manliness, or something. Men don't need sleep

Craven Morehead · Jun 24, 2013

Cayvmann said: ↑

After a crappy night's sleep, and terrible breakfast, I just benched 320 for an easy 6 reps. After working my back and shoulders... I guess having sex in the shower last night must have boosted my manliness, or something. Men don't need sleep
Click to expand...

Just the opposite for me. Whenever I have a bad night of sleep it affects me while weight training. Sex must be the difference.

Cayvmann · Jun 24, 2013

I usually do well on the first day of non-sleep. If it continues I can't even tie my shoes without sweating. The sex is always a plus

Baraka_Guru · Jun 24, 2013

Testosterone levels don't really change after sex. Though you'll experience a decent albeit short-term boost if you abstain from sex and masturbation for about a week.

You may or may not want to schedule your training around that kind of thing.

I don't recommend it.

Plan9 · Jun 24, 2013

I don't know about lifting, but I had some gnarly sex this morning and then absolutely owned the target range.

Only issue I can see that relates to sex before a workout is that horrible nap coma that quickly knocks you out.

...

I'm not eating enough. I started back doing my regular cardio / lifting routine and I'm below 180 again.

Cayvmann · Jun 24, 2013

It's not the hormones that help/hurt. It's the sense of accomplishment. woot

Baraka_Guru · Jun 24, 2013

Plan9 said: ↑

I'm not eating enough. I started back doing my regular cardio / lifting routine and I'm below 180 again.
Click to expand...

I've really moved away from such measurements: a weight goal—that sort of thing. I know you've found 180 lbs. to be your "sweet spot" or whatever, but I remember playing that game. I couldn't goddamn well eat enough calories. I was pounding back over 4,000 a day and I was still hungry. It was annoying having to eat so much.

These days, I'm enjoying more nuanced goals or motivators. I know you did martial arts before, so I assume you know what I'm talking about.

Three classes a week—no excuses (besides injury/illness, natch). I want to get better at clinching. I want to fix that hip rotation problem I have on my left roundhouse kick. I hope we can practice more "cutting" roundhouse kicks—those are gnarly. I need to push harder on all those pushups. I need to remember to loosen up when doing combos. Nice, my calves are starting to look like coconuts. I need to go to bed a bit earlier. I need to cut the junk and add in colourful vegetables.

Etc...

Plan9 · Jun 24, 2013

Baraka_Guru said: ↑

I've really moved away from such measurements: a weight goal—that sort of thing. I know you've found 180 lbs. to be your "sweet spot" or whatever, but I remember playing that game. I couldn't goddamn well eat enough calories. I was pounding back over 4,000 a day and I was still hungry. It was annoying having to eat so much.
Click to expand...

Eh, 180 lbs. is not my sweet spot, it was my short term goal. Functional strength is always the primary goal, but I'd like to have the physical presence of a Significant Adult and not a scrawny college student.

On the high end, I'd like to hit ~195 but I just don't think I can do it given my current routine.

Baraka_Guru said:

These days, I'm enjoying more nuanced goals or motivators. I know you did martial arts before, so I assume you know what I'm talking about.
Click to expand...

Eh, my martial arts goals (like my shooting goals) are generally related to technique and had little to do with numbers. Weightlifting goals, for me, are all about the numbers.

Baraka_Guru · Jun 24, 2013

Plan9 said: ↑

Eh, 180 lbs. is not my sweet spot, it was my short term goal. Functional strength is always the goal, but I'd like to have the physical presence of a Significant Adult and not a scrawny college student.

On the high end, I'd like to hit ~195 but I just don't think I can do it given my current routine.

Eh, my martial arts goals (like my shooting goals) are generally related to technique and had little to do with numbers. Weightlifting goals, for me, are all about the numbers.
Click to expand...

Plan9 · Jun 24, 2013

Not at all.

Cayvmann · Jun 24, 2013

I have still yet to figure out what un-functional strength is. I lift more in the gym, I can move bigger furniture. I get bigger, I haven't been accosted in years... Can I run a marathon? Nope, why the hell would I want to?

Plan9 · Jun 24, 2013

"Un-functional" strength would probably be those dudes that do nothing but bench and bicep curls.

I'd imagine functional strength means strengthening your ability to perform real-world tasks.

Perhaps it also translates into doing the stuff that people don't really like to do in the gym.

I apologize for using buzzwords outside my area of expertise. I will adjust my usage.

Cayvmann said: ↑

Nope, why the hell would I want to?
Click to expand...

It's not about wanting, it's about performance on demand. You know, "Shit just got real!" stuff.

I don't ever want to push a truck and then blast zombies at 25 paces, but it's good to know I can.

Cayvmann · Jun 24, 2013

I'm just old man grumbling... Darned pesky kids running around drinking energy drinks and protein.. Bah

( I actually get functional strength. It's specific to whatever you use it for. I just use mine for brute displays of power, and flexing. Can't forget the flexing )

DamnitAll · Jun 30, 2013

I want to go play Hooverball. Who's game?

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The TFP Health Club

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