Vigorous Activity Definition For Fitness Age?

Well, I've now had 2 runs over 30 minutes that did not change my number of vigorous activities. The first time I just assumed another activity rolled off the 4 week average the same day, but that happening twice in a row seems unlikely.

Sure would be nice if Garmin displayed the activities it was counting.

ScottSoapbox2 said:

also says to "target a heart rate that is 70-85%"

Intensity minutes are based off your average resting HR and MaxHR, so you want to reach a HR of 70%-85% of your set zones.  Let's say you have a RHR average of 57 bpm and your MaxHR is 165.  To reach 70% you must have a HR of 133.  Another thing to remember is you must be at your 70% level for 10 consecutive minutes before they start counting.  You can maintain that level for 9 mins and 55 secs and if it drops below 70%, the clock starts over at 0.

ScottSoapbox2 said:

Well, I've now had 2 runs over 30 minutes that did not change my number of vigorous activities.

Using the example zones I gave you, you could have had a 30 min run with an average HR of 149, but you would get credit for 0 intensity mins if your HR dropped below 133 at the 9, 18 and 27 minute mark because you never reached 10 consecutive minutes to start earning credit. 

ScottSoapbox2 said:

Does anyone know the definition/thresholds for a vigorous activity?

I'm not for certain here, but I believe vigorous is when you're over your 85%.

ScottSoapbox2 said:

Sure would be nice if Garmin displayed the activities it was counting.

You don't even need to start an activity for intensity minutes to register.  As long as you meet the requirements, you'll earn intensity minutes without starting an activity.  Here's some more info:

support.garmin.com/.../

My intensity minutes come far more easily than your figures suggest. For reference my RHR is about 48-50. My Max is 195. 

Yesterday I rode a steady base ride for 78 minutes, with just a couple of small surges. Average heart rate was 119 or 61% of max. I scored 4 minutes moderate and 74 minutes intense, even though the activity was anything but. And every single minute counted for something.

You can configure how intensity minutes are counted. In Connect mobile app in Activity Tracking. The "Automatic" setting did not work well for me so I changed to this.

I do have it set to automatic. I don't know what I should set it to otherwise. I mean, it's a pretty made up metric with no real meaning, especially if you can just move the goalposts as you see fit. I leave it on auto so that it can be interpreted as Garmin intended, for what that's worth.

When i had it on "Automatic" almost the entire activities was faulty counted as Vigorous. For me HR zone 1-3 is moderate and zone 4-5 vigorous. That was the info I found when i searched for info about it  I also posted a thread about it some weeks ago.

It used to be as was stated earlier in the thread that it had to be at least 10 minutes of continuous activity in the correct zone for the intensity minutes to count. This was based on the latest research at the time. However, the CDC recently, in the last last year or so? I can't remember exactly the date but based on updated data and research no longer said that a minimum continuous time in the appropriate heart rate zones was necessary in order to gain health benefits from activity. If you look at the notes for the 19.20 software update it says that Intensity Minutes determinations have been updated to reflect the current CDC guidance. So while I do appreciate the "gamification" of Fitness Age to help incentivize people to focus on health promoting behaviors, I wouldn't worry about it too much if you are already meeting and exceeding the minimum threshold of 150 intensity minutes per week. The current research also shows there's really no upper threshold for health benefits so there's also no reason to cut back on weekly intensity minutes unless there is a potential issue of over training that itself will be based on one's individual situation. As far as what heart rate should you be at, the suggestions already provided should help. Although for additional reference, on the CDC website it is stated that moderate intensity would be at 64%-76% of your max heart rate and vigorous intensity would be at 77%-93% of your maximum heart rate. If the Automatic setting isn't reflecting that accurately enough you can always tweak it manually as has been stated.