But then it will mostly just end up being about figuring out what tends to be your lowest calorie burn throughout a week and set that as a goal. Having a minimum goal such as this is not really motivating or pushing you towards anything which I guess is the whole purpose to it to begin with?
I think it would be much better to change from it doing everything statically on a daily basis over to something that is weekly or something.
Agreed, but does any smartwatch natively do that? I've looked at Garmin, Fitbit, and Apple. Garmin is closest with Training Status (
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/runningscience/#training-status and
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/cyclingdynamics/#training-load), but there is no planning feature, only a snapshot of where you are currently. The only fitness platforms I'm familiar with a proper focus on weekly/daily goals (for endurance sports) are TrainingPeaks, TodaysPlan, and TrainerRoad.
It seems to me "the problem" with 3 rings and other smartwatch goal systems is that it ultimately comes down to your goals. When I was overweight and sedentary, Fitbit's "weight watcher" focus on calories and steps made sense. After losing weight and realizing cycling was my preferred way to get cardio workouts, I signed up for an epic ride in the mountains and had 6 months to train from zero to hero. And thankfully (in retrospect) just before I bought the bike and registered for the event, my Fitbit Force was sent back on recall.
That experience taught me that once you are active there isn't much value to focusing on steps - seriously, is any coach going to tell you to go out and get more steps? That is when I learned about periodized training to maximize fitness for an event. Last year I did my first 200 mile ride, and that required stepping up my game with proper core/upper-back strength training. In the end I not only finished, but enjoyed the long epic day on the bike and more importantly, the day after!
Completely agree with you about daily goals, I take recovery days/weeks as seriously as training. These days its more about getting 2-3 days of free weights at the gym, and putting in the hours on the bike. I think Apple mostly got it right with the 3 rings, versus Fitbit. But both suffer from static daily goals. Again Garmin one ups in this area versus Apple/Fitbit, although Garmin doesn't offer any planning/prediction tools like TrainingPeaks and TrainerRoad.
What I like about Apple Watch is that it nicely integrates with best-in-class strength and cycling apps, multitasking, and superior notifications. If I had to pick one thing for Apple to improve upon, it would be to "out Fitbit" the Fitbit app on the phone. I'm happier with Apple Watch build quality and warranty policies vs Fitbit, in particular receiving warranty coverage even if I bought on eBay or 2nd hand (versus Fitbit requirements on first buyer and authorized reseller). But where Apple really stands out is integration with best-in-class apps, for example for years now I've been tracking weight/reps/sets on my watch or phone. That said, what Apple needs is a more user friendly app. And while Fitbit "has the best app" its rather odd that the Fitbit app can't answer simple questions like the number of miles running last week or last month. And forgot about getting daily cycling miles or swimming yards on the Fitbit dashboard. Personally I think Health and Activity need to be merged/enhanced, there are many obvious ways to simplify the dashboard with better use of graphics (e.g. Fitbit's tight cluster of goal rings make it easy to see daily goals at glance, albeit at the expense of limited drill down).
