Exercise Tracking Question

[LastLine]

Hey guys, looking for a bit of insight the Apple Store staff couldn't help me with today.

Obviously one of the big appeals for a lot of us with the Apple watch is the Activity Tracking elements of it, I regularly achieve my stand and calorie targets but rarely my exercise.

Now I'm willing to admit I'm not the type of person who goes for a run, or the gym or so on, but I'm physically active and would say I do 30 minutes of light exercise a day, but rarely manage to track more than 5. I've never had an issue with this as I figured I wasn't exercising enough.

That was untiL i started going for walks with my wife. Now my wife has a blood pressure condition that means she rarely walks far so these are quite short walks at no considerable pace. For this period of activity (probably a 20 minute walk I guess) I tracked a whole two minutes, given this was the same pace I might stroll around a shop or something I was ok with this until I checked my wifes and she had tracked more or less a 20 minute period. Neither of us had used the workout app for this so I'm intrigued, how does the watch actually measure exercise, what constitute the watch going 'Hey, nice one, clearly you're working out...'

Any input greatly appreciated.

 

[BlueMoon63]

Hey guys, looking for a bit of insight the Apple Store staff couldn't help me with today.

Obviously one of the big appeals for a lot of us with the Apple watch is the Activity Tracking elements of it, I regularly achieve my stand and calorie targets but rarely my exercise.

Now I'm willing to admit I'm not the type of person who goes for a run, or the gym or so on, but I'm physically active and would say I do 30 minutes of light exercise a day, but rarely manage to track more than 5. I've never had an issue with this as I figured I wasn't exercising enough.

That was untiL i started going for walks with my wife. Now my wife has a blood pressure condition that means she rarely walks far so these are quite short walks at no considerable pace. For this period of activity (probably a 20 minute walk I guess) I tracked a whole two minutes, given this was the same pace I might stroll around a shop or something I was ok with this until I checked my wifes and she had tracked more or less a 20 minute period. Neither of us had used the workout app for this so I'm intrigued, how does the watch actually measure exercise, what constitute the watch going 'Hey, nice one, clearly you're working out...'

Any input greatly appreciated.

That seems to be fairly accurate for what others have said that it needs to be a brisk walk. I can further clarify that it isn't so much the speed as much as arm swing. You want credit for a slow walk and you should, so try swinging your arms. However, some people just walk slow and don't swing their arms enough or they are mowing or carrying or pushing something. In any of those cases, I would use the workout app and choose either other or some specific choice to what you are doing. Then you will get credit for exercise and move and it measures your heart rate continuous. Not everyone is so fit that just walking gets credit as moving the arms aren't moving.

One last thing. The new OS2 beta 5 that I am using seems to handle moving and exercise much better. Little more sensitive to movement from my testing.

 

[LastLine]

That seems to be fairly accurate for what others have said that it needs to be a brisk walk. I can further clarify that it isn't so much the speed as much as arm swing. You want credit for a slow walk and you should, so try swinging your arms. However, some people just walk slow and don't swing their arms enough or they are mowing or carrying or pushing something. In any of those cases, I would use the workout app and choose either other or some specific choice to what you are doing. Then you will get credit for exercise and move and it measures your heart rate continuous. Not everyone is so fit that just walking gets credit as moving the arms aren't moving.

One last thing. The new OS2 beta 5 that I am using seems to handle moving and exercise much better. Little more sensitive to movement from my testing.

Thanks for the input. Noteworthy that my wife was either pushing the pram or using her walking stick (I forget which actually now I think about it, I'd have to say the pram at a push) but it's interesting to see the differentials here.

I mean I'm not getting upset by it but I'm wanting to make sure I'm getting tracked right (it's the gamer in me) It's interesting to see what's making the diffference. Thanks.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Your watch does not consider it excercise until your heart rate elevates to a certain point. A brisk walk will do it for most people.