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how to account for resistance setting on recumbent bike

Former Member over 5 years ago

Hey y'all,

Brand new to Garmin. Just got a vivoactive 3, and prior to this the only watch of any sort I've owned was a Fitbit Charge 2. The vivoactive 3 is much better, as it does a much better job of tracking my activities (namely, boxing, indoor rowing, etc.). I also have a recumbent bike (w/ magnetic resistance) and I was wondering: even if I were to get speed and cadence sensors, how would I account for the different resistance settings on the bike? obviously the higher the resistance the harder the workout, but sensors won't tell you that. Is there a way to account for this?

Thanks for any advice.

0 tmk2 over 5 years ago

Without a power meter there is no way to account for that, even with a real outdoor bike. And depends which metric you would like to be affected by resistance.

0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to tmk2

Thanks for the quick reply. That's what I figured. Mainly I wanted to see how many calories I burned per session. The bike itself gives me a reading, but it's way too high (e.g., 500 calories burned for a 40 min session). I've found using other calculations (based on formulas I found online) that it's roughly half of that. Oh well. I do love the watch, though. I got it on ebay for $75 and it's in pristine condition. Such a huge upgrade over the Fitbit.

0 tmk2 over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

Mainly I wanted to see how many calories I burned per session.

You don't need power data for that and you don't need to involve bike's resistance. All that is needed is your heart rate.

The bike itself gives me a reading, but it's way too high

That's because the bike knows nothing about your physiology and the number it gives is just a very rough estimate, based probably on population average.