Strava workout tracker gains ‘Perceived Exertion’ and ‘Fitness’ features for iOS and Android

Popular run, ride, and swim tracking app, Strava, is out today with two new features to help athletes better track their progress over time. Perceived Exertion and Fitness work together to offer insight on how rest and increased training are impacting a user’s overall fitness.

Strava announced the two new features for iOS and Android in a press release today. Perceived Exertion is available to all users while the new Fitness analysis feature arrives for Summit subscribers.

Here’s how Strava describes the new options to get more out of your training:

What is Perceived Exertion? Perceived Exertion is an easy and simple way for athletes to manually track how intensely they worked out. Whether or not an athlete uses a heart monitor, this metric allows athletes to capture their effort – whether running, cycling or swimming – and look at patterns over time.

How does it work on the Strava app? After completing a workout, Strava athletes can use a 1-10 sliding scale to input the perceived intensity of the workout from “Easy” to “Max Effort”.

What is Fitness? Fitness is a new analysis tool to help athletes understand their level of fitness and measure how they’re progressing over time. It is calculated from the accumulation of efforts from an athlete’s activities and takes into account how resting or increasing training impacts their fitness level.

How does it work on the Strava app? The Perceived Exertion input (or heart rate data, if available), powers the Fitness metric. Fitness will be available in the Summit tab of the Strava app, and will allow athletes to see their current Fitness score, view their Fitness trends over time on a graph, and compare to previous time periods.

Strava is a free download from the App Store. In-app purchases start from $5/month to unlock premium features.

Related:

• Strava’s location sharing feature ‘Beacon’ now works on Apple Watch without iPhones
• Strava expands to include ski and snowboard tracking with Slopes iOS app integration
• Strava and MINDBODY team up to integrate fitness class booking with athlete feeds