that’s how it works and this is what you get
Fitbit introduces the Daily Recovery Score: a way to tell if it’s time for a good workout today or if you should relax for a day. How it works new way to keep track of your health and this is what you get.
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Fitbit recovery score: what’s in it for you
When the Fitbit Charge 5 came out, not all new features were immediately available. The tracker now has an EKG app and it is finally possible to see your daily recovery score. This recovery score is a new way to track your health.
The score is not exclusive to the Charge 5. Older trackers and smartwatches from Fitbit are also supported. More precisely, the feature can be found on the Fitbit Luxe, Fitbit Sense, Fitbit Inspire 2, Fitbit Versa 2 and Fitbit Versa 3. The score is behind paywall (Fitbit Premium), so you need a subscription to use it .
The idea of this score is to advise you whether it is time for a workout today, or whether it would be wiser to have a rest day. That sounds like a great excuse not to exercise! But will the new feature work?
How Fitbit calculates the score
The score is determined by three pieces of information: activity, recent sleep and your heart rate variability. Fitbit looks at what you’ve done in the past few days and then advises you whether your body is ready to exercise today.
To do this, Fitbit checks the amount of sleep from the past seven days and heart rate data from the past two weeks. More precisely, Fitbit looks at the amount of minutes you were in a fat-burning, cardio or peak zone during those weeks.
In addition, your heart rate variability is looked at. That is the variation in time between heartbeats. Do you have high heart rate variability? Then your body can better alternate between periods of rest and workouts.
During the first two weeks, Fitbit looks at how your body responds to training and recovery. This will ultimately give you scores that are better tailored to your body.
The daily recovery score in practice
The usefulness of the Daily Recovery Score depends on how you use it. You should not see the score as an absolute given, such as: this is your heart rate, how many steps have you walked or how many hours have you slept.
While it’s interesting how Fitbit looks at different parameters like your sleep and activity, these wearables don’t allow you to see how the rest of your body responds to your workouts. You do not want to overload your muscles in particular and give them a rest day if necessary.
Fitbit’s daily recovery score should primarily be seen as advice. Because a day after a good workout, the app told me to start exercising, while my muscles were still clearly recovering. That is why it is more important to listen to your body. No wearable can compete with your knowledge of how you feel.
Which Fitbit?
Still unsure about which Fitbit you want? On iPhoned we test the latest versions for you. You can now read our reviews of the Fitbit Charge 5, Fitbit Versa 3 and the Fitbit Sense.
