Fitness

Fitness is calculated using your Relative Effort (based on either heart rate data or Perceived Exertion input) and/or power meter data. This way you can identify patterns in your training and see the big picture of how all your workouts add up over time. Your score is entirely relative to you. It serves as a benchmark, to show how many points you currently have compared to any date in the past two years.

Viewing your Fitness Graph

Athletes who subscribe to Strava can access their Fitness chart on the Strava mobile app. Select You > Progress and tap anywhere on the Fitness preview to open your chart. You will need to have at least one activity containing either heart rate data, Perceived Exertion data, or power meter data in order to generate a Fitness graph.

• Select the range of time represented by the graph from the menu options at the top. 
• The percentage increase or decrease in Fitness level for the selected timeframe will be displayed in green or black respectively above the graph. 
• The number in the orange box that’s automatically displayed is your Fitness score on the current day. Select any point in the graph to view your Fitness score for that day.

FAQs

How does Fitness compare to Fitness & Freshness? 

Fitness & Freshness is only available on the Strava website and, in addition to Fitness, tracks levels of form and fatigue. Fitness is only available on the Strava mobile app. Learn more about our method for calculating Fitness.

How does Fitness compare to Relative Effort?

Relative Effort is powered by heart rate data, or Perceived Exertion but calculates on an activity-by-activity basis. The Relative Effort graph is designed to help you understand whether your week's workouts are more or less intense than your last week. Learn more about Relative Effort.

Will Fitness show me if I’m overtraining? 

Not necessarily as your Fitness score will continue to increase the more you train. We suggest cross-referencing your Relative Effort graph to understand if you’re increasing your activity too quickly and are at risk of injury or overtraining. Relative Effort will guide you to how much you should train that week, while Fitness allows an athlete to track their cumulative progress and fitness over time.

If I take time off from working out will my Fitness score go down? 

Yes, your chart will start to trend downward. However, Fitness allows for decay, so that the build-up and loss of Fitness over time is realistic. 

How do I choose whether Fitness uses my heart rate or Perceived Exertion? 

On an activity-by-activity basis, you will be able to choose whether you’d like heart rate data or your Perceived Exertion to contribute to both Fitness and Relative Effort. The default will be data from a heart rate monitor or power meter when that’s available. You can toggle on Perceived Exertion in the Edit Activity screen to use it if your heart rate recording was inaccurate, or missing entirely.

What’s the highest number my Fitness score could be?

Fitness measures your accumulated training and rest, so its ceiling is infinite. Since Fitness is specific to you and your own accumulation of training, the number isn’t meant or able to be compared to others’ Fitness scores. 

What do the circles on my 1-month chart represent?

The circles represent the total training load for that day where a larger circle means a greater load. If you’re using heart rate or Perceived Exertion, it will be your total Relative Effort for the day.