Blogs By Request: Myzone vs. Fitbit
Here is another blog by request for you! The question: Why Myzone over Fitbit? How does it make a difference in my training?
Fitbit features:
- Measures steps, calories and distance
- Floors climbed
- Clock/time
- Sleep tracking
- Some have GPS capability
- PurePulse Heart Rate - Fitbit brands their heart rate tech as PurePulse—calling it “the only heart rate technology to offer automatic, continuous wrist based tracking for all-day health insights and workout intensity".
- Ability to challenge friends
Myzone features:
- Measures real life beats per minute
- Measures effort (% of maximum heart rate)
- Logs time spent in each zone
- Picture food logging
- Trend graph after each training, right down to the minute
- Emailed training synopsis after each workout with graph, average effort, peak heart rate, average heart rate and time in zones
- A fantastic app to review history and progress
- Ability to challenge friends
- Data in the gym and bluetooth compatible to see effort outside of the gym
- Measurable points to challenge yourself each month
I obviously know more about Myzone from experience than I do about Fitbit. The Fitbit features were gathered straight from their website.
I am a firm believer in Myzone, or heart rate straps in general, over watches. With wrist watches you need to wear the band correctly and tight enough for the lights to be touching your skin, and intense exercise can throw off the measurements. Fitbit also suggests wearing their trackers higher on your wrist to get more reliable readings. The heart rate straps are not measuring your pulse. They are recording your actual heartbeat.
One great thing that Fitbit does that Myzone doesn’t is measure steps. That is great way to keep you moving throughout the day. HOWEVER, for training purposes that doesn’t matter. Myzone measures the percent of your maximum heart rate. Fitbit cannot show you hard you are working. Myzone not only tells you how hard you were working, but it logs and emails you how hard you were working in each zone and for how long you were working in each zone. It also provides you a graph which shows you your training trends. The graph shows you when your heart rate started to pick up and your recovery between sets. Fitbit cannot show you that important information. Myzone gives you immediate, easy to read feedback while training whereas Fitbit is just showing you a potentially flawed heartbeat.
I realize this may sound a tad biased. I don’t think Fitbits are pointless. I think they are a fantastic tool to make sure you are moving and to measure your steps, but for training purposes I do not think they serve an effective purpose.
I hope that answers the question!
Coach Meagan