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Corn Flakes: Fitbit Frustration?

By Jon Johnston
Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images

I received a Fitbit Charge HR for Christmas from Mrs. CN and I've been wearing it since. It's an interesting device; it's one of those fitness trackers you wear on your wrist. The HR version tracks your heart rate or it's supposed to. I don't consider myself a fitness buff but given my recent life events, it's probably best that I use something to monitor or to motivate me to stay in decent shape.

I haven't used the heart rate function as judiciously as I could. I mostly track how many steps I take and I don't bother with tracking food or water intake because I just don't have the time to get to that level of managing myself.

It's occurred to me that Mrs. CN might have bought the device for the sole purpose of tracking my daily activities. She won't admit to it and she hasn't looked at the data since we got it so maybe I was wrong on that. The Fitbit has had a problem with consistently syncing its data to its application. I've had to reset it at least twice to get it to sync properly.

There are a couple class-action lawsuits that have been filed against Fitbit claiming that the device doesn't provide an accurate reading of your heart rate and that inaccuracy could lead to potential health issues.

The Fitbit Charge HR lists for about $149.00. That makes it a consumer electronic device not a medical device, and that's important to keep in mind if you're depending on this device to provide a completely accurate measurement of your heart rate at all times.

I made my second trip in the hospital at the beginning of the year and was hooked up to a heart monitor the entire time. Granted, I wasn't doing heavy physical exercise at the time but I did try to move around, do some walking, while watching the heart monitor as compared to the Fitbit. What I found was that the Fitbit was actually fairly accurate. It did not respond to a change in heart rate nearly as quick as the monitors which I assume are several thousands of dollars worth of medical equipment, but it did catch up and stay fairly close to the heart rate reported by the medical device heart monitor when activity was consistent.

I try to walk on a treadmill, on a fairly regular basis, although this past week I've had some problems (nothing serious) that has prevented that. Once these problems are sorted out I hope to get a little bit more judicious with tracking my heart rate and my workouts.

There's your nonsports discussion for the morning!

Or is it...?????

The heart attack gave me reason to learn much more about anatomy than I'd previously cared about most of my life. Part of that reason was forced by rehab and having to sit through videos and explanations from doctors about what is wrong what I can do to prevent further damage and lead a healthy lifestyle.

Another reason to learn more might be driven by this website. You probably don't recall an article I did about Boyd Epley last summer. He spoke to a gathering of Nebraska fans in Minnesota and the answer below that he gave to a question I asked stood out to me more than most of the other things he said:

My question; over the years athletes have become bigger, stronger, faster. How much more do you think we can get out of a human body?

His answer surprised me. "I don't think we're anywhere near what we can do. People are getting bigger, people are getting stronger, nutrition is getting better, training methods are getting better. We're just going to just see that continue."

You look at devices like the Fitbit and you should be astonished by what it can track for only $150. A device like this would seem like sorcery not too long ago. one can only imagine what types of devices we will be able to wear in the next decade.

The University of Nebraska has their performance lab and who knows what kind of data they can gather from each one of the student-athletes that they measure and over time what knowledge they can share about how to get better performance out of the human body.

We will continue conversations about this subject - the human body - throughout this off-season.

Fitbit’s Bad Day: How it ended up with multiple optical HR lawsuits, and a 20% stock drop | DC Rainmaker

Now, this is obviously something that’s well within the ballpark of things I tested.  A lot.  And in fact, there’s definitely some truth to this, but not quite as much as the plaintiff’s want.  You’ll remember that I found that it was slower to react than I would have preferred, but eventually did catch-up – even in high intensity running.

Here's an overview on the lawsuits against Fitbit.

Mizzou commit couldn't sign letter of intent because he was in jail - CBSSports.com
Police had originally been called to break up a dispute on Jan. 5, in which the alleged victim -- with whom Terry has a child -- told police that Terry had assaulted her. He was later arrested on a warrant.

WHO WON SIGNING DAY? - Every Day Should Be Saturday
THESE SEVEN WALKED AWAY FROM NATIONAL SIGNING DAY BETTER THAN ANYONE

You have to be a madman to be good at recruiting. Luckily for Michigan, it hired Jim Harbaugh - SBNation.com
People said Jim Harbaugh wouldn't come back to college because he wouldn't like recruiting. Instead, he dove into recruiting, completely immersing himself in a world exactly ridiculous enough for Jim Harbaugh.

Jon Santucci: Central’s Simmons signs with a heavy heart | Digital extras
"I know she would really want to be here," Simmons said. "She would really want to be here. But sharing this with my dad is special. It's always been tough love with my dad. He put me on the right track to be successful. All the credit goes to my teachers, coaches and my father."

Oregon State QB transfer lands at Northern Illinois – CollegeFootballTalk
A day after signing day, Northern Illinois put the finishing touches on its Class of 2016 with the addition of Oregon State transfer quarterback Seth Collins. "We’re really happy to have Seth, he’s a quality, quality young man," said NIU head coach Rod Carey in a released statement.

Of course Alabama's No. 1 in 5-year recruiting rankings, but Baylor's the most improved power - SBNation.com
Which teams are rising and falling in two- and five-year recruiting rankings?

The best of the worst Super Bowl meltdowns - LA Times

Getting to the Super Bowl takes years of hard work and sweat for the players who reach the game.

Surviving the week of lead-up before the game proved too challenging for a handful of players. Off-field transgressions led to Stanley Wilson and Barret Robbins missing the biggest games of their careers....

Peyton Manning hasn’t been as bad as you think - SBNation.com
Sure, the Broncos quarterback isn't playing as well as he did in 2013, but he's not getting enough credit for making some smart throws during Denver's playoff run. That could be the difference against the Panthers.

Willie Wood Made the Most Memorable Play of Super Bowl I. He Has No Recollection. - The New York Times
Wood’s interception of a pass by Chiefs quarterback Len Dawson helped the Packers win the title. In the five decades since, Wood’s and Dawson’s lives have taken divergent paths.

Then There's This:

There will always be plenty of times when we can reach out to Twitter for something so ridiculous you ask yourself if it's happened....

And This:

Which... I don't think is true. Smith was asked for a link to back up this claim and never provided one (at least not at the time of this writing).

I remember reading that the average life span of a professional athlete (all sports, not just football) is 57 years old. That is not longer than the average life span of the general population, certainly, so again, I don't know what Smith is talking about.

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