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Apple Watch 3 / Tennis Workout
- Thread starter DJTaurus
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Select "Other" and open goal, play tennis and at the end when you stop the workout you can name it with many, many different choices already available including tennis. Then the Apple Watch in the future will have a "Other" workout card named "Tennis" because it now knows you played before, that's what you have seen on your friend's watch.
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I thought it was by default already out to select it on the latest os version....
No, not at all. The only default workouts are indoor/outdoor walk/run, indoor/outdoor cycle, elliptical, stair stepper, rower, indoor/outdoor swim, HIIT and other.
now there are dozens more, including tennis, complete with icons too but they all generate after first running a OTHER workout, then selecting the specific type at the end of the workout on the summary screen. after that it will be available by name in the future and you won't have to select other. for example i do lifting so the first time i had to select "other" then after the workout change it to "strength training" complete with icon of a guy lifting a barbell. now my workout app has a "strength training" option available for me directly.
if you think about it this makes sense. the workout app would be cluttered with far too many options for most people if every option were selectable directly. by putting only the most common ones right up front and then allowing people to select the less common ones later it helps prevent a mess of an app. i'd hate to have scroll over the tennis workout every time i am using the app when i haven't played tennis in 20 years.
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Yup. I started a thread two years ago to ask what should be changed in the stock Workout app, and although different people had a lot of different ideas, it became clear that adding all of them would make it unnecessarily complex.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/fitness-app-complexity-vs-versatility.1944301/
The only issue I have with this is that it's not very accurate in calorie tracking. I mean, playing tennis is a different caloric workout than playing soccer, or doing tai chi, or yoga.
Unless the AW can estimate the intensity level (more than just tracking the HR and arm movements), how can I be reasonably comforatable with the credit that I'm getting.
Basically, I'd like to know a little more about how Apple estimates calorie burn using the Other workout type. I assume it's based on MET algorithms and such, but with a little Apple secret sauce too.
I have bad news for everyone... ALL the sports that can be categorized under "other" are tracked in terms of calorie burn the same way as a "brisk walk" modified by heart rate. Tennis is not tracked differently than my Strength Training other than obviously the higher step rate and likely higher cardio rates of Tennis will show more burn. Apple Watch even warns of this when you use that mode. The calorie burn isn't horrible IMHO because again, it is modified by heart rate but it isn't the unique and specially designed calorie estimate for the core workouts I listed as being standard on the watch.
I did have a Garmin Fenix watch with tons of user selectable sports and calorie profiles and for me I find the "other" mode of Apple Watch to be in the ballpark so its good enough for me.
