Accuracy of calories burned while biking

[bellissima]

nscrbug, The new Garmin uses Prediction of functional aerobic capacity without exercise testing as one of the parameters to calculate your calories, make sure that your "Activity Class" is set up correctly on your device profile, also the gender, age, weight and height values have to be correct as this would cause a low or high calorie values depending on the activity class setting. You may have to change the Activity Class settings in order to get more accurate calorie count reading.

[nscrbug]

nscrbug, The new Garmin uses Prediction of functional aerobic capacity without exercise testing as one of the parameters to calculate your calories, make sure that your "Activity Class" is set up correctly on your device profile, also the gender, age, weight and height values have to be correct as this would cause a low or high calorie values depending on the activity class setting. You may have to change the Activity Class settings in order to get more accurate calorie count reading.

Hmmm...okay, since I don't actually have my Garmin right in front of me...can anyone tell me what the different "activity classes" are? And how would one determine which class is the correct one? I'm sure I entered a value in for this field, but at the moment I can't remember what it was. Can anyone help?

Linda

[Blueberry]

Hmmm...okay, since I don't actually have my Garmin right in front of me...can anyone tell me what the different "activity classes" are? And how would one determine which class is the correct one? I'm sure I entered a value in for this field, but at the moment I can't remember what it was. Can anyone help?

Linda

You can find the chart here (that's the Quick Start for the 310XT, but I don't think the classes differ. It's a number (1-10) that gives the device an idea of how much you exercise and with what frequency.

[nscrbug]

You can find the chart here (that's the Quick Start for the 310XT, but I don't think the classes differ. It's a number (1-10) that gives the device an idea of how much you exercise and with what frequency.

Thank you!!! I just updated this info in my settings on Garmin Connect...although I am certain that I entered this info on the actual Edge 500 unit itself. I chose to enter a "9" for activity class, even though I'm actually more like a "10", which is over 15 hours/week. I'm at the gym a minimum of 3 hours, 5 days/week...in addition to my long weekend rides which can typically be anywhere between 3-5 hours. Yes...I exercise a LOT. We'll see what happens on my ride tomorrow, with my HR & calorie burn. I'll post an update.

Linda

[bellissima]

Thank you!!! I just updated this info in my settings on Garmin Connect...although I am certain that I entered this info on the actual Edge 500 unit itself. I chose to enter a "9" for activity class, even though I'm actually more like a "10", which is over 15 hours/week. I'm at the gym a minimum of 3 hours, 5 days/week...in addition to my long weekend rides which can typically be anywhere between 3-5 hours. Yes...I exercise a LOT. We'll see what happens on my ride tomorrow, with my HR & calorie burn. I'll post an update.

Linda

Linda, Prediction of functional aerobic capacity without exercise testing is used by Garmin in order to set the values for people that hasn't have a fitness test done or don't know their HR zones, it does not warranty that will set your zones correctly. I believe for you would be a good idea to check what values are set up as your max HR, resting HR and zones as these get set up by the Garmin when selecting you Activity Class at the beginning of the set up. If you know what is your maximum heart rate, resting heart rate and what are your heart rate zones, input those in your Garmin and you'll get a more accurate reading.

[OakLeaf]

bellissima, what do the zones actually mean?

It seems to me, as I said before, that my old old Garmin derived mine reasonably accurately, at least as they correspond to my perceived exertion.

My MHR for running is around 188, resting around 50, but it goes up pretty quickly with any activity. Zone 1 starts at 86 according to the Garmin, which is about where it goes at moderately brisk walking. But then Zone 2 doesn't start until 146, which is about where my respiration rate starts to increase appreciably. I can't run at all, not even a slow jog, with a HR below around 135, and if I can keep it there, I do NOT feel like I'm working.

So from there, zones 2 through 5 are quite narrow - 9 or 10 bpm. That doesn't make a lot of sense, and it's tough when I'm supposed to stay in zone 3, for instance ... but again, it works with my perceived exertion.

What's your take???

[bellissima]

bellissima, what do the zones actually mean?

It seems to me, as I said before, that my old old Garmin derived mine reasonably accurately, at least as they correspond to my perceived exertion.

My MHR for running is around 188, resting around 50, but it goes up pretty quickly with any activity. Zone 1 starts at 86 according to the Garmin, which is about where it goes at moderately brisk walking. But then Zone 2 doesn't start until 146, which is about where my respiration rate starts to increase appreciably. I can't run at all, not even a slow jog, with a HR below around 135, and if I can keep it there, I do NOT feel like I'm working.

So from there, zones 2 through 5 are quite narrow - 9 or 10 bpm. That doesn't make a lot of sense, and it's tough when I'm supposed to stay in zone 3, for instance ... but again, it works with my perceived exertion.

What's your take???

For me zones 1 and 2 are very similar, zone 2 is quite easy and it really doesn’t feel like much work is being done, in the same hand is hard to stay at this zone and it takes some practice as any increase on effort will take me to zone 3, so I would need to pay attention to my computer if I want to stay at zone 2, zone 3 is where I start to feel as I am working and find that if I don’t pay attention I tend to gravitate towards this zone, zone 4 feels hard, it takes concentration to maintain for long periods of time. You zones seem to be somewhat off, If we calculate your zones by just using your MAX HR being 188 and using percentages your zones may look similar to: Zone 1 (Active Recovery) 94-112, Zone 2 (Endurance) 113-131, Zone 3 (Tempo) 132-149, Zone 4 (Threshold) 150-168, Zone 5 169-188. At 146 bpm you would be at the upper part of zone 3. The best way to calculate your zones is by doing a test and calculating your actual threshold.