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FitBit: work vs workout

A couple Christmases ago, a relative got me a FitBit Inspire™. Sometimes I wear it.


I had my FitBit Inspire™ on while scrubbing the floor in my kitchen. My arm motion seems to have fooled the FitBit, because it autodetected the exercise and recorded the fourteen minutes spent scrubbing as fourteen minutes spent swimming.


FitBit does not seem to accurately autodetect any form of housework, although, upon investigation, I found one can manually log exercise in the very broad category of “cleaning.”


And then of course I wondered: what other preset categories of exercise does the FitBit Inspire™ offer? I searched “rickshaw” to see if there was a category for rickshaw runners; nope. A search for the letter “R” yields: Run, Rugby, Rowing, Racquetball, Jumping Rope, Rock Climbing, Rollerblading (without space), Roller blading (with space), Roller skating, Rowing machine, and Horseback Riding.


A search for just the letter “M” yields these suggestions: Meditating, Mowing Lawn, Motorcycle, Mountain Bike, Rowing Machine, and Mountain Biking. While I can sorta see how “Meditating” made it onto the list (wellness and blah blah), I was surprised about “Motorcycle.” I searched for “D” and found “Driving” was an exercise one could log as well.

Maybe these two activities are considered measurable exercise because an automobilist or motorcyclist must sit upright and remain fairly alert? However, neither “P” nor “T” brought forth “Public Transit,” which often involves taking stairs and standing up.


“L” for ladder-climbing? No.


Would “S” suggest shovelling, snow or other? No.


What sort of an exercise log would you get if you gave people whose employment entails physical labour a FitBit to wear? How would the automatic sensors interpret physical exertion from work rather than a workout? Would the machine think that the woman who cleans the AirBnB swims laps all day?


And does a search for “W” offer any wheelchair-based activity? No.



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