Getting Started – Quickstart Guide to Fitdigits iOS apps

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Christopher Means

Thank you for your interest in Fitdigits health, fitness, activity tracking and heart rate training apps, iCardio, iRunner, iWalker and iBiker. We hope the following short video will help you get up and running (pardon the pun) in no time! Each of our apps offers a distinct experience, but they all share a similar Fitdigits account and general functionality, based around activity and heart rate tracking and training, creating a fun and engaging tool that can help you stay healthy and hit your goals.

We hope you enjoy the video above and it helps you get started, as getting started is the most important part!

After the basics, you might want to take a deeper dive into the app settings, where you can set options by Activity Type, including Audio and Voice Feedback, Laps, Dashboards, your Chart and Map Metrics, Heart Rate Zones and Pace Zones. You can also learn more about overall App Settings like Zone Alerts and Prompts, customizing your home screen, customizing heart rate zones, or Auto Pause, or managing Heart Rate Monitors (HRM) and other sensors.

You can also learn more about managing your activities and history by editing workouts, deleting workouts, change a workout type after a workout was recorded, entering a manual workout, or customizing your own Other workout type.

The Best of the Rest (Other Workout Types)

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Brandon Keller

In the National Hockey League (NHL), the Original Six is a popular moniker given to the first six teams to populate the league. For 25 years, only six squads (Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs) faced off until expansion inevitably diversified the playing field. While the newer teams have their own rich tradition and an ample amount of amazing memories, the Original Six is revered in NHL lore.

Here at Fitdigits, we have our own Original Six.

Walk, Run, Hike, Bike, Cardio and Indoor Cycling will always have a special place in our hearts. For years, the Original Six were the only workout options for our dedicated Fitdigits disciples. However, the release of Fitdigits Version 8.0 introduced over 50 new workout types, and with it the ability to truly customize your workout experience. With that in mind, lets take a look at the next six- the best of the rest. Here are the six most popular of our new batch of workout types:

Weight Lifting

All of you future Mr. and Ms. Olympia out there have made weight lifting by far our most popular new workout type, nearly doubling the next closest option. While popular perception connects lifting weights solely with gaining mass, pumping iron is a great way to raise your metabolism.

Elliptical

Coming in second most frequently used is our good friend the Elliptical. Elliptical workouts are an excellent alternative to running, in that it allows for a great cardio workout without putting all of the additional wear and tear on your knees, feet and ankles. Maybe try mixing it up on the Elliptical by performing heart rate based interval workouts.

Circuit Train

Getting the bronze medal is Circuit Training. A workout that is short on time but long on results, circuit training is a great way to get an efficient and effective workout. For more information on the benefits of Circuit Training, Shape.com has an excellent article on The 7 Benefits of Circuit Training.

Treadmill Run

Sometimes the relentless summer sun can be beating down a little to aggressively and you need to take your run indoors. That line of thinking has led Treadmill Run to be the fourth most popular new workout type. Record your pace and distance on a treadmill by manually entering your distance.

Treadmill Walk

Walking is a fantastic way to stay active when your body is not up for an intense workout, and Treadmill Walk has slowly but surely made its way into fifth place. The American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes of activity, and walking is a great way to meet that goal. Read all about The Benefits of Walking.

HIIT

HIIT, short for High Intensity Interval Training, is one of the best ways to burn fat while working out, and Fitdigits users have hit HIIT up into sixth place amongst new workout types. HIIT combines intense short intervals of activity with short intervals of rest, allowing the heart to recover slightly before kicking it into overdrive all over again. HIIT is a perfect companion for a compatible Heart Rate Monitor, allowing you to chart your intervals in an easy to understand graph.

The Other Workout Type

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Christopher Means

The Other Workout Type
If your favorite workout type is missing from our list, use the “Other” workout type to customize.

To create an “Other” workout type:

Open your app
Swipe the activity carousel to “Try Something New” – Tap “Choose Activity”
Scroll to the Other workout type in the activity options list and tap it
Type in the name of the workout type (Wrestling in the screenshot). Tap Save
The new workout type will be added to the “Manage Activity Types” list, and will automatically have a check next to it
Tap Done, then the back button to return to the Home Screen
Swipe until you reach your new workout type. Now you are ready to go!

Tap the play button to start a workout. If you want to remove the workout type from the home screen, tap the gear icon -> Customize Home Screen -> then tap “Wrestling” so the check mark no longer shows next to it.

Sharing with Apple Health

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Brandon Keller

The Health app provides daily steps, active & total calories per day and other metrics that help you gauge your activity levels. Fitdigits apps also post to Health with information about your tracked activities within our apps iCardio, iRunner, iWalker and iBiker.

Linking Fitdigits Apps with Apple Health

To link your Fitdigits account with Apple Health on your iPhone or iPod Touch:

On the main screen of your Fitdigits app, tap Menu > Partners > Apple Health
Tap Enable Sharing
Choose what data you want to send to and from the Health app and Fitdigits (see screenshot). The best thing to chose “Turn All Categories On”.
Tap “Done” in the upper right of the Health app
If you allowed reading daily activity metrics, you will be prompted to sync your data. There are two options:
1. Starting Today – this will only upload data from the day you tap onwards
2. All Time – this will sync all days with data on the device. If you previously had data on a date that also has data from this device, it will overwrite the conflicting Apple Health days data from the previous device. If there is no data from the new device, old device data will be maintained (so for most people upgrading, you have a continuous Apple Health data stream).
When the sync is complete, you will be asked if you want motivating messaging through the day, just a daily report of the previous days activity, or no Notifications at all. You can always change this setting by visiting the Partners page.
To view your daily activity, tap Menu > Daily Activity within your Fitdigits app.

Please note: Apple’s Health app is an iOS app that comes standard on the iPhone and iPod Touch. It is a device specific app, it does not share data across devices. You can only be paired with one device and Apple Health at a time, and Apple Health is only supported on iOS 10 and above.

Sharing Workouts to Apple Health

If there is a past workout that somehow didn’t get synced to Apple Health:

Tap that workout
Tap the Share link in the upper right in the workout detail

See Sharing Workouts for more.

If you see a difference in Active Calories posted to the Apple Activity app and what is shared to Apple Health, this article on the subject is quite helpful (here).

Daily Activity Notifications

One of the first things you may notice, depending on your settings, is the daily activity notifications. We hope you like them and find them motivating. However, not everyone does. See how to manage them here:

Managing Notification Preferences

Troubleshooting Pairing

If you are not seeing any data from Apple Health to your Fitdigits app, check the >Partners page, make sure Apple Health is set as your preferred daily activity source. We only show and utilize data from one paired source, which can be modified in your Profile section online.

Re-Enable Apple Health Link

Tap Menu > Partners > Apple Health
Tap Disable in the upper right
Tap Enable again to re-enable linking.
Make sure you choose ALL categories for both read and write when prompted.

Check for Synchronization Errors

Tap Menu > Settings > Synchronization.
If the last synchronization date is older, tap Retry.
If you need to rebuild data, tap Sync Date Reset.
1. The reset should replace the date under Apple Health with either the date you originally specified (if you initially chose “Starting Today”) or say “All Time”.
Tap Retry next to Apple Health to initiate sync.

If you are getting prompted in the app that there is another device currently linking with Apple Health on your account, but want to change devices, please disable then re-enable the Apple Health link (see Troubleshooting above).

Note: pre-iPhone 5S devices not supported. Phones must have either Apple Health enabled on a device with an accelerometer to get daily activity detail.

Modifying Fitdigits / Apple Health Share Permissions

Open the Apple “Health” app
Tap Sources on the bottom tab menu bar
Scroll down and tap the name of the app (iCardio, iRunner, iBiker, etc)

You can review or change any read and write settings from there at any time.

What Data Shares with Apple Health?

If you are paired with the Health app using the steps above, after you complete an activity, it will be shared with Apple’s Health app and stored there for review. Fitdigits will receive basic daily activity data such as steps and distance, depending on permissions granted and current levels of support.

Fitdigits will not send data pulled from partners (such as steps from Fitbit) to Apple Health, as Apple expressly does not allow it. Apple has advised developers for the Apple Health Kit to not send their data to other activity tracking companies as well.

Also note Apple’s Health data does not sync to multiple devices. So if you have an iPad and iPod Touch, Apple Health will treat this as two separate accounts, leading to possibilities for missed workouts or duplicates (data doesn’t sync to Health across devices).

Fitdigits is excited about the possibilities Apple Health offers, and we will continue to evolve our integration and functionality as Apple does the same.

If you see a difference in Active Calories posted to the Apple Activity app and what is shared to Apple Health, this article on the subject is quite helpful (here).

7 Foolish Fitness Follies

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Brandon Keller

7 Foolish Fitness Follies

April Fool’s Day is a chance to celebrate our foolishness with silly pranks and hoaxes on family and friends. However, we often play practical jokes on ourselves that do more harm than we intend, especially when it comes to our health and fitness.

According to the Food Research and Action Center, over two thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. These startling statics tell us the importance of health and fitness education and that it is not something we should fool around with. There are so many misconceptions about working out that we hear often, so we decided to roundup some of the most common.

I need to get in shape to go to the gym.

The gym is not a beauty pageant. It is a place to do the dirty work needed in order to live a long, happy and healthy life. Who are you trying to impress? Like anything else, working out takes practice to master and just getting there is half the battle. If you keep waiting for the right time to start working out, that time will never appear.

Cardio is the best way to lose weight.

While Cardio is “a” way to lose weight, it is not the only way or the best way. Try to vary your workouts, mixing in plyometrics and stretching along with Cardio. Weight lifting is a great way to target fat loss in particular, as weight lifting will keep your metabolism pumping even after you finish working out.

No pain, no gain.

If something hurts beyond a typical muscle burn, stop what you’re doing. If you don’t receive the proper guidance on form or how to execute a tricky workout move, it can be dangerous and lead to serious injury. Always check with your instructor or consult with a personal trainer on how to execute certain exercise movements if you haven’t been taught before. Peruse this list of common workout mistakes to make sure you are using proper form.

I have to push myself to max effort to see results.

It is better to workout smart then just give max effort until you self-combust. Depending on your health and fitness goals, you should plan and execute workouts that have you transitioning between multiple heart rate zones. The notion that you have to give continuous max effort to get a good workout is one of many heart rate training myths that have sprung up over the years.

Weights will bulk me up

This one is mostly for the ladies who fear lifting weights will lead to bulky muscles. Unless you’re eating more calories than you burn, then you won’t bulk up. Since woman lose muscle mass with age, it’s important to add weight and strength training into your fitness routine. Lifting weights also helps build bone density which is very important for females as well. Always lift a weight that’s heavy enough that you find it challenging.

I worked out so hard today, so I deserve to treat myself.

Don’t reward yourself with fattening food–it will just derail all the hard work you did. No matter how hard you workout, you can out eat any fitness program. Maintaining a healthy and well-balance diet is essential to supplementing your workouts.

On a related note, just because you completed a hard workout does not permit you to be a couch potato. Daily activity is important, and you should try to reach 10,000 steps everyday. Stumped on how to reach that benchmark? Check out our 10 Tips to Walk 10,000 Steps Every Day.

Cardio machines give me a very accurate read on the number of calories I burned

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3 Workouts a Week

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Brandon Keller

Twas 3 nights before Christmas, when all through the land
Not a person was exercising, no workouts were planned.
The ham was carved, candy eaten without care,
10 pounds later we complain life isn’t fair.

This holiday season, before you snuggle into your bed,
Make sure to have a Holiday plan in your head.
Fitdigits is sharing the year’s best fitness tips,
To help you avoid adding winter weight to your hips.

3rd Day- 3 Workouts a Week

We get it, your busy. Like super busy. Like so busy that you don’t have time to read us describe how busy you are. Like so busy that you just stopped reading this article because your Spouse/Child/Friend/Family/Job/Fill in the blank needs you, now.

However, you are not too busy to workout.

No matter how hectic life can get, always make time to get your blood pumping. It is a great way to clear your mind, relieve stress, and of course get fit and stay healthy. That is why you should try to make yourself work out at least three time a week.

This may not sound too difficult, but it is the crazy weeks that will test your dedication. The weeks where the only break you get from the overwhelming pressure of life is when you stare at the back of your eyelids amidst the bliss of sleep. These are THE most important weeks to find time to workout.

Set a goal for yourself to never go a week (Monday-Sunday) without getting at least three workouts in. Workouts don’t solely mean going for a run.

It could be hitting the dance floor and getting your groove on. It could be going to a museum and walking for hours. It could be having a company softball game. It could be biking to work once a week.

Whatever your workout may be, upgrade to Fitdigits MVP Premium to unlock the ability to set goals. Set a weekly duration goal, and find time to help you help yourself.

4 Stretches For After a Workout

Posted on December 21, 2013 by Brandon Keller

Twas 4 nights before Christmas, when all through the land
Not a person was exercising, no workouts were planned.
The ham was carved, candy eaten without care,
10 pounds later we complain life isn’t fair.

4th Day- 4 Stretches For After a Workout

Getting motivated to workout is hard. The weather could be too cold or too hot. You could be too hungry or too full. Your last workout could have been too long ago or too recent.

That is why a lot of times when I finish a workout, I’m done. I want a bottle of water and a hot shower, followed immediately by a headfirst dive into a sofa, where I will remain entombed for the remainder of the evening.

This series of events is missing a crucial step.

But when my workout is done, who has time to complete a series of floor exercises that contain all of the excitement of a high school textbook? I did my big workout, made a bonfire out of the calories I burnt, and excreted enough sweat to fill a well, isn’t that enough?

In short, no. Get your stretch on.

Working out without stretching is like giving your car a paint job and new tires without changing the oil. Sure, that hot rod red looks fly and you are powering around corners with the grace of an enraged Puma, but you are perilously close to breaking down. Stretching helps prevent injuries and helps your body function at an optimal level.

With that in mind, check out four stretches for after working out to keep your body healthy and your spirit happy.

9 Ways to Talk About Fitness

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Brandon Keller

Twas 9 nights before Christmas, when all through the land
Not a person was exercising, no workouts were planned.
The ham was carved, candy eaten without care,
10 pounds later we complain life isn’t fair.

9th Day- 9 Ways to Talk About Fitness

I loved watching Breaking Bad. While it was an obviously compelling show in of itself, a big part of the fun was discussing what happened on Sunday night and Monday morning . I would call friends, chat at the water cooler, and scour online for thoughts on what occurred, what it means and what might come next.

The same goes for Health and Fitness.

Find outlets to discuss your workouts and diet with. Collaborating with others is a great way to “stir the pot” and uncover new ideas and plans, find motivation, or even further shape your own thoughts. It can be deeply rewarding to find other people who are enthusiastic on the subject.

Unless those people are secretly dangerous, meth cooking drug dealers…

I wonder if he has tried interval training?

Without further ado, 9 Ways to Talk About Fitness:

Talk to Friends, Family and Co-Workers– Many of your friends and family are active and have nutrition tips and tricks. All you have to do is ask! Mine the golden information all around you to increase your knowledge, or help those hiding in the desolate blackness of ignorance find the light.
Join a Running Group– What better way to find people who are excited to talk about health and fitness then to join a running group. One of our personal favorites is Moms In Motion, a group for Moms to get out, exercise, and give back to the community. Find a Moms In Motion group today!
Find Your Favorite Fitness Site– The internet is a virtual cornucopia of knowledge, especially when it comes to fitness. Find a few sites or authors you really like, and check back a few times a week to find new articles and tips. Write in to the site if you have questions.
Share Your Workouts– If you track workouts with a Fitdigits app, share your workouts. Fitdigits allows you to share workouts by Email, Facebook, Twitter, various health and fitness sites and more! Tag a friend in a Facebook post, and see if they can beat your best run.
Create a Fitdigits Group– If you upgrade to Fitdigits MVP you have the ability to create groups with fellow fitness fanatics. These groups allow you to view each others workouts, have a group leaderboard, share blog posts and link to a Facebook group. Keep in touch with workout wizards around the world.
Be Social at the Gym– Working out on the gym can sometimes feel like you are exercising on an island. Everyone has headphones in, is sweating, and generally look like they do not want to be bothered. I have found that nothing can be farther from the truth. Everyone is proud of the knowledge they have built through years of experimentation with exercise and nutrition, and you will find that if you ask those around you questions they will be more than happy to respond. Next thing you know, the gym feels like Cheers and everyone knows your name!
Online Forums– Many health and fitness websites have interactive forums to discuss anything and everything health and fitness related. MyFitnessPal has a great forum.
Take a Spinning Class– Great music, great instructors, a great workout. Join a Spinning class at your local gym and find people who live in your neighborhood who share a similar passion for smashing calories.
Talk to Fitdigits– We love to hear from our users! Whether you want to share a success story, talk training routines or have nutrition questions, contact us! We are not necessarily “experts”, but we are passionate about getting fit and staying healthy, and we workout regularly.

10 Minute Workouts, 3 Times a Day

Posted on December 15, 2013 by Brandon Keller

Twas 10 nights before Christmas, when all through the land
Not a person was exercising, no workouts were planned.
The ham was carved, candy eaten without care,
10 pounds later we complain life isn’t fair.

10th Day- 10 minute workouts, 3 times a day

Every once in awhile, you hear something in regards to health and fitness that really blows your mind. It may not make sense intuitively, but after reading mounting piles of irrefutable evidence, you just have to face the facts, throw up your hands and accept the once unimaginable.

That is how I felt when I found out The Flex Belt may not be THE ultimate workout for abs.

Did not give me a six pack…

I know, it is still shocking to this day. A slightly more relevant revelation is that 3 ten minute workouts a day is as good for you or maybe even better than one 30 minute workout a day.

Pause for ten seconds, then read that again.

All my life I upturned my nose to short workouts as recreational folly and completely disregarded their validity, but after reading the New York Times article “The 10-Minute Workout, Times Three” I am a changed man. The article details a study completed at Arizona State University that found that three 10 minute workouts are significantly better for combatting high blood pressure then one 30 minute workout.

Each day try to at least get in three ten minute walks or jogs, and you may find yourself that much happier, healthier, and fitter.

And oh yeah- stay away from The Flex Belt.

Compare Workouts and Activities

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Brandon Keller

Workout Compare is now up and running on . See up to four workouts side by side in order to see trends or differences over time. If you did a neighborhood loop a month ago, compare your pace and route side by side so you can see how all of your workouts are paying off. Also, compare heart rate charts and more to have a complete and holistic view of your progress. To use:

Upgrade to Fitdigits Star Membership.
Login to my.fitdigits.com
Click on “Activities”, and scroll down to “Activities List”,
If you have a Star Membership, you should see checkboxes next to each workout. Select up to 4 activities you want to compare, then click “Compare Activities” in the header.
Choose up to 4 workouts to compare

You now can view all of the activities stats side by side to compare. Click and drag any of the workouts to change the order they appear, and click the “x” to remove the activity.

See more on the Star Membership

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