Daily vs. Weekly Rings

[Indianwin]

I am a 67 YO male. I've been using a Garmin watch for 6 years and before that a fitbit for 3 years. I switched to
the Apple Watch 5 in December. I love the watch for everything it does, especially the accuracy compared to Garmin. However my 1 complaint is the daily rings. I have been lifting weights since I was 23 Years old (started in 1975,lol I feel old typing this) Anyway my feeling is I would be better served with a weekly total of exercise minutes. I lift 5 days a week for 90 minutes a day. On my 2 days off, I have been using a treadmill or bicycle to get my 30 minutes of exercise in, but I am going to overtrain if I continue. I have closed the rings every day since getting the watch but soon I must take a complete rest day. Anyway, what are your thoughts on a weekly, rather than daily total. I also realize that the rings aren't THAT important but I do get compulsive about exercising sometimes and have a tendency to overtrain.

 

[Plett]

I too have been at it most of my life, and to me, and I want to be clear "to me" a 30 minute walk which will close my rings is not a "workout" that would violate my rest day(s), don't think that is overtraining, also I think the overtraining thing is more for triathletes or the sort, of which I am not so there's that. But I cannot imagine a 30 minute walking workout causing irreversible damage to a proper training regimen would it?

 

[Indianwin]

No not really but with lifting as my primary objective, my body needs SOME rest. I push myself hard in the gym.

 

[Jason Hensley]

I think it’s important to remember mostly who closing the rings is aimed towards. 30 minutes a day is their way to just make sure you don’t sit around the entire day. I agree with Plett above, 30 minute walk shouldn’t lead to overtraining for most people. Now I still believe that a rest day should be built into the algorithm somehow, but a workaround could be lowering your calorie goal for your rest day and just doing the 30 minute walk.

 

[Indianwin]

I think it’s important to remember mostly who closing the rings is aimed towards. 30 minutes a day is their way to just make sure you don’t sit around the entire day. I agree with Plett above, 30 minute walk shouldn’t lead to overtraining for most people. Now I still believe that a rest day should be built into the algorithm somehow, but a workaround could be lowering your calorie goal for your rest day and just doing the 30 minute walk.

Great idea. I could do that or be less compulsive with the rings.

 

[Plett]

No not really but with lifting as my primary objective, my body needs SOME rest. I push myself hard in the gym.

I really do get it. I am not at 67 yet but getting older and definitely appreciate rest days more than I used to. I also get the idea with daily rings being an emotional event. I really don't like having a calendar and seeing days that the rings aren't closed. Anyway I agree I wish there were other ways to use the rings, but since there is not the 30 minute walk gets it done. All the best.

 

[Indianwin]

Thanks

I really do get it. I am not at 67 yet but getting older and definitely appreciate rest days more than I used to. I also get the idea with daily rings being an emotional event. I really don't like having a calendar and seeing days that the rings aren't closed. Anyway I agree I wish there were other ways to use the rings, but since there is not the 30 minute walk gets it done. All the best.

Thanks and you too.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Closing all three rings every day is not what is most important. Staying healthy and consistent in training that does not cause overuse injuries is what is important.

The watch doesn't take into account the need for recovery, much less the need for different types and lengths of recovery, depending on the exercise used, intensity, and duration.

The rings are a general guideline.

 

[Indianwin]

Thanks and I agree which is why I think a weekly time would be better than daily,

 

[PugMaster]

Nice idea with the weekly rings. I think I could probably get something like this done in the future as an app with complications. But currently, I am two other apps I need to finish first.

 

[Indianwin]

Nice idea with the weekly rings. I think I could probably get something like this done in the future as an app with complications. But currently, I am two other apps I need to finish first.

That would be great. As an example I average 77 minutes of exercise a day. But sometimes get A zero for a day when I take a day totally off.

 

[jhfenton]

I am a 67 YO male. I've been using a Garmin watch for 6 years and before that a fitbit for 3 years. I switched to the Apple Watch 5 in December. I love the watch for everything it does, especially the accuracy compared to Garmin. However my 1 complaint is the daily rings. I have been lifting weights since I was 23 Years old (started in 1975,lol I feel old typing this) Anyway my feeling is I would be better served with a weekly total of exercise minutes. I lift 5 days a week for 90 minutes a day. On my 2 days off, I have been using a treadmill or bicycle to get my 30 minutes of exercise in, but I am going to overtrain if I continue. I have closed the rings every day since getting the watch but soon I must take a complete rest day. Anyway, what are your thoughts on a weekly, rather than daily total. I also realize that the rings aren't THAT important but I do get compulsive about exercising sometimes and have a tendency to overtrain.

I too have been at it most of my life, and to me, and I want to be clear "to me" a 30 minute walk which will close my rings is not a "workout" that would violate my rest day(s), don't think that is overtraining, also I think the overtraining thing is more for triathletes or the sort, of which I am not so there's that. But I cannot imagine a 30 minute walking workout causing irreversible damage to a proper training regimen would it?

I agree. A 30-minute walk is not going to result in over-training. Systemic over-training is something that only high volume endurance athletes really need to be concerned about and for them a single 8-mile jog or 20-mile bike ride may be a "rest day." If you vary your exercise, lifting weights 5 days per week and lightly cross-training 2 days per week, you should be fine. That's a solid routine.

And if you need an occasional "zero" day off, that's fine too. I run 7 days per week, but my longest ring streak is only 79 days, because I occasionally need a day off. And I only made 8 of 12 monthly challenges last year, because the Watch doesn't take the ups and downs of my training and race schedule into account. I don't lose any sleep over that either.

I would like it if they eventually built more flexibility into the goal system, but it doesn't really matter much. There are no real prizes at stake, just our internal motivation to be healthy.

 

[PugMaster]

I‘m a dog owner and walk them twice a day through the woods nearby. Often, for 90 minutes the watch credits me 15 or maybe 20 exercise minutes. So it’s not that you could hit the 30 minutes by just going for a walk. At least not if your heart rate stays lower. I walked 8 kilometers yesterday and got 28 minutes credit... I can see that it’s a bit annoying if it taunts you to fill those damn rings.

 

[millerj123]

I‘m a dog owner and walk them twice a day through the woods nearby. Often, for 90 minutes the watch credits me 15 or maybe 20 exercise minutes. So it’s not that you could hit the 30 minutes by just going for a walk. At least not if your heart rate stays lower. I walked 8 kilometers yesterday and got 28 minutes credit... I can see that it’s a bit annoying if it taunts you to fill those damn rings.

Are you setting an app to record the walk, or just hoping the watch catches it?

 

[PugMaster]

I tried both. I guess my heart rate stays too low to count as a work out. It gives me 3 minutes credit every time I walk up to my flat in the 3rd floor, though, so yeah, 6 Minutes workout per day granted 🤣

 

[DontGetTheCheese]

The rings are love and they are hate. I like the idea of reminding people to do something but I missed them too often to want to be compulsive about them. For instance, my Saturday's have been a hard workout of some sort most of my life. Depending on how hard, a 30 minute walk might not seem like fun the next day, and not just that, I have to set the calories high enough to make them meaningful, more than a 30 minute walk, so I miss ring as well.

My Sundays are fail days.

I support the weekly ring idea.

 

[Akrapovic]

I agree with those that say the rings are a guide and not something to live your life by, therefore rest days shouldn't matter.

However! The whole point in the the rings is gamification. It's using psychologically trickery to get you healthier. It doesn't work for everyone, but I imagine most of us in this thread are effected by it - I certainly am. So in that case you shouldn't ignore the rings. The whole point is you should feel slightly bad when they aren't filled, and want to fill them. If you retrain your mind to say "it's ok to ignore the rings every now and then", then you're on your way to ignoring the whole point of them.

I do agree rest days are important, but that goes against how the Watch trains you. And if you do that, it begins to lose its effect.

I do think that the AW needs to get smarter now, and build this sort of stuff in. They've got the basics of fitness tracking in there now. So it'd be good to have more 'power user' type features and customisation. Weekly rings would be a relatively simple solution which would work well.

 

[PugMaster]

Just came back from a 4 kilometer walk with my doggies. Also, I walked up and down 12 floors (combined). The watch has credited me 7 minutes of exercise for all of this. I don't think my watch is broken, I just think the exercise ring is hella annoying. Weekly exercise rings would be great.

 

[jhfenton]

Just came back from a 4 kilometer walk with my doggies. Also, I walked up and down 12 floors (combined). The watch has credited me 7 minutes of exercise for all of this. I don't think my watch is broken, I just think the exercise ring is hella annoying. Weekly exercise rings would be great.

Maybe you're just in good shape, and for you that's not really significant exercise. 👍

But I think we all agree on the benefits of more customization in the Activity app and its goal structure.

I don't understand why we can't at least set an Exercise goal like we set a Move goal. Why wasn't that in there from the beginning?

 

[Indianwin]

I agree. A 30-minute walk is not going to result in over-training. Systemic over-training is something that only high volume endurance athletes really need to be concerned about and for them a single 8-mile jog or 20-mile bike ride may be a "rest day." If you vary your exercise, lifting weights 5 days per week and lightly cross-training 2 days per week, you should be fine. That's a solid routine.

And if you need an occasional "zero" day off, that's fine too. I run 7 days per week, but my longest ring streak is only 79 days, because I occasionally need a day off. And I only made 8 of 12 monthly challenges last year, because the Watch doesn't take the ups and downs of my training and race schedule into account. I don't lose any sleep over that either.

I would like it if they eventually built more flexibility into the goal system, but it doesn't really matter much. There are no real prizes at stake, just our internal motivation to be healthy.

Thanks for the reply. It helps to know I shouldn't obsess about the rings. 5 days out of the week, I am getting at least 90 minutes of exercise credit by lifting, so the other 2 days I won't worry about. I am 67 after all. Lol

 

[andyw715]

This is what I would do, cause I've only had the watch since Nov. and do like seeing the 7x4 grid of fully closed rings in the calendar.

And I don't conciser this cheating either. Enter a manual 30 min walk on the off day. That will give you 30 min exercise ring, it will count for at least one stand mark.....and you can also make up whatever move deficit you have for that day.

To me that rest day is by design, and you shouldn't be penalized for it.