My "issues" with the Apple Watch as a fitness device.

[ftaok]

Every 4th day I do generic body workout (push-ups, plank, triceps and so on - about 10 exercises, 3 series). I had no idea how to count it so I just start Gymnastics workout. I can say that this workout is much harder for me than running and it still counts less kcal.

You'd be surprised at how many calories running burns compared to other forms of exercise. I would guess that even though your generic body workout feels harder, running will still burn way more calories. At your running speed (7.5 mph) you're looking at 12.5 METs depending on whose chart your looking at. Vigorous calestenics (pushups, pull-ups, situps) will clock in at 8 METs. Very few body weight activities can beat running for efficient calorie burning.

The other issue is - I'm programmer. I don't move much and there's not even chance. At work I don't have time and after work I do my workout. Here's the thing - my daily kcal target is 660kcal. If I workout, it's not an issue. If I don't, I end up with about 300kcal.

Most achievements require that you fill rings each day of the week. What if I need one day of break each week from workouts? I'm not fitness trainer but I think that body requires at least one day of recuperation each week. I could set my goal to 350kcal and that would be manageable, but then I would reach 200% of target ealmost every day.

I hear you on the busy lifestyle. It ain't easy finding time to do any type of physical activity. That's why I multitask with the treadmill. At work, I try to find 15 minutes to take a brisk walk outside. I never take the elevator. I'll walk over to talk to someone rather than phone or email them. Any little bit of activity I get at work reduces the amount I have to do when I'm home.

It all depends. I'm living busy life and I don't have that much time to walk on treadmill. Therefore I opt for quick 30 minutes runs with speed averaging currently 12km/h.

This puts more strain on me than walking and after prolonged daily workouts (for example a week) I get some muscle pain. And by that I mean real pain and not just tired legs.

Everybody at gym will tell you that to improve your performance you require three ingredients: training, nutrition and rest. Your body goes through two stages: catabolism and anabolism. You put strain on your muscles and then they are reconstructed and strengthened. If you don't rest enough, your body will not regenerate muscles and your performance will decrease. I've been there.

It all just depends on what you would like to achieve: lose weight ASAP or build your body and improve your performance. AW achievements promote losing weight ASAP with it's complete negligance on resting time.

For everyone the balance between rest and working out is different. For me my running routine is very strenuous and therefore every 4th day I do other workout. It still is not enough. It all just comes down to the fact that I prefer very hard workouts and rest every 3rd-4th day than light workouts and resting daily.

As I said above, that "other" workout probably isn't burning as many calories as you might think. I certainly don't suggest running every day of the week, unless you have perfect biomechanics. Hell, I'm on the shelf right now with my shin splints because I was running up to 6 days a week.

Maybe find an extra 20 minutes on your "rest" day to walk. You'll probably pick up about 115 calories.

But then again, you don't seemed to be obsessed with closing the ring every day like some other wackos (like me), so just stick with what works for you.

 

[jon08]

Here are my issues with the AW3 as a fitness device:

1. Overly generous calorie & distance count when not turning on Workout
It seems cumbersome to be having to turn on Activity whenever you go out (whether it be walking from the parking to your workplace or running an errand), so when I walk around with AW on my wrist without opening Workout or any other similar app, the watch seems way too generous with the numbers in Move section and Distance section. My daily walk usually amounts to cca. 2-2.5 mi to work and back, but my AW (or iPhone for that matter) will often show an extra mile in the Distance section at the end of the day, and even up to 350 calories burned in the Move section. I find it quite ridiculous. 350 calories for 2 mi of walking? I'd burn that many calories on a 3 mi RUN, not a 2 mi walk.... And why does it add all that extra distance?! It seems like it sometimes also counts my ride in the car as part of the distance?

P.S.: on some days it seems to be somewhat closer to real numbers tho.

2. Sometimes during run/brisk walk the heart rate section in Workout may get grayed out for 20-30 secs even when the watch sits snug on my wrist.

3. Question about Data Sources & Access in the Health app:
In the health app's Today tab you have Resting Energy, Active Energy, Steps, Walking + Running Distance etc. sections. When you tap on either of these you'll see Data Sources & Access.

Under Data Sources it states: The sources above are allowed to update your (Steps, ...) data. When multiple sources are available, one data source will be chosen based on the priority order listed above.

So I noticed that in some of these section AW was on top, while in some it was my iPhone, yet in some the NRC app was on top!

What is the recommended setting in these for best accuracy? Should I put AW first in each and every section? What's the difference between selecting NRC as your primary source, as opposed to AW for example? What about iPhone?

 

[ftaok]

Here are my issues with the AW3 as a fitness device:

1. Overly generous calorie & distance count when not turning on Workout
It seems cumbersome to be having to turn on Activity whenever you go out (whether it be walking from the parking to your workplace or running an errand), so when I walk around with AW on my wrist without opening Workout or any other similar app, the watch seems way too generous with the numbers in Move section and Distance section. My daily walk usually amounts to cca. 2-2.5 mi to work and back, but my AW (or iPhone for that matter) will often show an extra mile in the Distance section at the end of the day, and even up to 350 calories burned in the Move section. I find it quite ridiculous. 350 calories for 2 mi of walking? I'd burn that many calories on a 3 mi RUN, not a 2 mi walk.... And why does it add all that extra distance?! It seems like it sometimes also counts my ride in the car as part of the distance?

P.S.: on some days it seems to be somewhat closer to real numbers tho.

Have you ever done an outdoor walk workout? Perhaps the accelerometer isn't calibrated to well and is over estimating the mileage.

2. Sometimes during run/brisk walk the heart rate section in Workout may get grayed out for 20-30 secs even when the watch sits snug on my wrist.

This is not uncommon. Many people (at least on this forum) have this issue. I try to 'jiggle' the watch to get the sensor working.

3. Question about Data Sources & Access in the Health app:
In the health app's Today tab you have Resting Energy, Active Energy, Steps, Walking + Running Distance etc. sections. When you tap on either of these you'll see Data Sources & Access.

Under Data Sources it states: The sources above are allowed to update your (Steps, ...) data. When multiple sources are available, one data source will be chosen based on the priority order listed above.

So I noticed that in some of these section AW was on top, while in some it was my iPhone, yet in some the NRC app was on top!

What is the recommended setting in these for best accuracy? Should I put AW first in each and every section? What's the difference between selecting NRC as your primary source, as opposed to AW for example? What about iPhone?

For me, I typically have the AW as the primary source for just about everything. It's the one device that I'll be sure to have on me. Plus it's the most accurate in terms of counting steps (unless I'm not moving my arms like pushing a cart or lawn mower).

As for Active calories, I experimented with having my running app (iSmoothRun) as the primary. I noticed that the calories reported by iSR are not the same as reported by the AW (iSR counts a little higher). I think it has something to do with the way iSR reports calories. It dumps the data to the iPhone in a single shot, right after the run is completed. The AW dumps data to the iPhone in small loads over time.

Note that even though the Move ring is based on Active Calories, you can't set a priority for Move. It only counts the calories registered by the AW.

In the end, it doesn't really matter to me. I only care about the Move ring and don't worry about Active Calories, Steps, Distance, etc.

 

[jon08]

Have you ever done an outdoor walk workout? Perhaps the accelerometer isn't calibrated to well and is over estimating the mileage.

This is not uncommon. Many people (at least on this forum) have this issue. I try to 'jiggle' the watch to get the sensor working.
For me, I typically have the AW as the primary source for just about everything. It's the one device that I'll be sure to have on me. Plus it's the most accurate in terms of counting steps (unless I'm not moving my arms like pushing a cart or lawn mower).

As for Active calories, I experimented with having my running app (iSmoothRun) as the primary. I noticed that the calories reported by iSR are not the same as reported by the AW (iSR counts a little higher). I think it has something to do with the way iSR reports calories. It dumps the data to the iPhone in a single shot, right after the run is completed. The AW dumps data to the iPhone in small loads over time.

Note that even though the Move ring is based on Active Calories, you can't set a priority for Move. It only counts the calories registered by the AW.

In the end, it doesn't really matter to me. I only care about the Move ring and don't worry about Active Calories, Steps, Distance, etc.

1. Yes, I've done both outside Workouts and non-Workouts (i.e. just walking or brisk-walking around wearing my watch and not turning on any workout-specific apps) more than a few times.

2. Ok, I'll try jiggling next time I see gray heart rate, though I think I've done something similar before but it didn't really seem to help much.

3. RE: prioritizing Data Sources in Health app: last night I put my AW as prioritized device in all the Health subsections (Active Energy, Steps, Walking+Running Distances etc).

(I'm still not sure what exactly that means though: for example, if I track my workout with NRC but have prioritized AW, does that mean that AW will disregard NRC's readings altogether and overrun it with AW's native Workout readings?)

Then I wore my AW3 to sleep as I had done in the previous nights. Today I woke up and left my iPhone 7 on my bed. Wearing my AW only, I then went to the bathroom and then downstairs, had breakfast, walked a little bit around the living room tinkering around (nothing much really), then took the trash out (did cca. 150-200m outside altogether - sorry I'm more comfortable using m & km rather than mi) - there was quite some trash to recycle so it involved some light manual labor taking the all the trash out of the bag and putting it in the container, but nothing demanding obviously - then I went back upstairs to my room.

Right now my watch is showing 1,509 steps, 70 active cals and total distance of 1.13 km (!!!!) for today. This is complete BS as far as I'm concerned (at least on the calorie & total distance front). Come on, moving around the house would amount to let's say 100-200 m of distance at MOST, then let's say another 200m outside today, so realistically it should be showing HALF the distance it's actually showing in my opinion. And 70 calories?! I burn this much doing a brisk 1.5 km walk with Workout activity ON! Yet here it AW wants to convince me I've burned 70 calories by doing some tinkering and meaningless walks today...?

I don't care solely about completing the Move ring but care more about getting as accurate all-round data from my AW as possible. I do realize one cannot expect 100% accurate info from these devices but what I described above is quite disappointing imo. So right now I'm skeptical whether or not Health should really prioritize AW in each and every category, or should I put iPhone first (given that the latter presumably includes more sensors than AW?) and always carry it alongside watch during workouts (and non-workouts for that matter)?

It's really confusing now... I'd really appreciate some advice on how to tweak these Data Sources settings in the Health app.

 

[ftaok]

3. RE: prioritizing Data Sources in Health app: last night I put my AW as prioritized device in all the Health subsections (Active Energy, Steps, Walking+Running Distances etc).

(I'm still not sure what exactly that means though: for example, if I track my workout with NRC but have prioritized AW, does that mean that AW will disregard NRC's readings altogether and overrun it with AW's native Workout readings?)

Then I wore my AW3 to sleep as I had done in the previous nights. Today I woke up and left my iPhone 7 on my bed. Wearing my AW only, I then went to the bathroom and then downstairs, had breakfast, walked a little bit around the living room tinkering around (nothing much really), then took the trash out (did cca. 150-200m outside altogether - sorry I'm more comfortable using m & km rather than mi) - there was quite some trash to recycle so it involved some light manual labor taking the all the trash out of the bag and putting it in the container, but nothing demanding obviously - then I went back upstairs to my room.

Right now my watch is showing 1,509 steps, 70 active cals and total distance of 1.13 km (!!!!) for today. This is complete BS as far as I'm concerned (at least on the calorie & total distance front). Come on, moving around the house would amount to let's say 100-200 m of distance at MOST, then let's say another 200m outside today, so realistically it should be showing HALF the distance it's actually showing in my opinion. And 70 calories?! I burn this much doing a brisk 1.5 km walk with Workout activity ON! Yet here it AW wants to convince me I've burned 70 calories by doing some tinkering and meaningless walks today...?

I don't care solely about completing the Move ring but care more about getting as accurate all-round data from my AW as possible. I do realize one cannot expect 100% accurate info from these devices but what I described above is quite disappointing imo. So right now I'm skeptical whether or not Health should really prioritize AW in each and every category, or should I put iPhone first (given that the latter presumably includes more sensors than AW?) and always carry it alongside watch during workouts (and non-workouts for that matter)?

It's really confusing now... I'd really appreciate some advice on how to tweak these Data Sources settings in the Health app.

Here are some thoughts on how to, perhaps, fix this problem.

1. Check your that height and weight are set correctly. Do this in your Health app. Just for giggles, check that NRC has your height and weight are set correctly as well ... if I recall correctly, NRC doesn't look at the info in the Health app and is set independently. While you're at it, check any 3rd party fitness apps that don't use the data from the Health app as well.

2. Reset your calibration data. Perhaps something got borked somehow and messed up your walking calibration stats.

3. Take a look at the charts (via Health app) and see if the data looks correct. For instance, this morning when it reported 1.13 km when you walked perhaps 200 m, look at how the steps and distance is added to Health.

4. I really don't think the priority is the issue here. If everything is working correctly (which in your case is not), the priority is only used when two or more sources have data at the same time. If they both report the same information, then it doesn't matter really. In your case, the AW is reporting incorrect data and it's being used. Fix the AW's issue and all will be well.

Here's an idea. Take a look at how many steps your iPhone reports and how many your AW does, when you have this problem. this could at least confirm that it's only the AW that's having issues.

ft

 

[jon08]

Here are some thoughts on how to, perhaps, fix this problem.

1. Check your that height and weight are set correctly. Do this in your Health app. Just for giggles, check that NRC has your height and weight are set correctly as well ... if I recall correctly, NRC doesn't look at the info in the Health app and is set independently. While you're at it, check any 3rd party fitness apps that don't use the data from the Health app as well.

2. Reset your calibration data. Perhaps something got borked somehow and messed up your walking calibration stats.

3. Take a look at the charts (via Health app) and see if the data looks correct. For instance, this morning when it reported 1.13 km when you walked perhaps 200 m, look at how the steps and distance is added to Health.

4. I really don't think the priority is the issue here. If everything is working correctly (which in your case is not), the priority is only used when two or more sources have data at the same time. If they both report the same information, then it doesn't matter really. In your case, the AW is reporting incorrect data and it's being used. Fix the AW's issue and all will be well.

Here's an idea. Take a look at how many steps your iPhone reports and how many your AW does, when you have this problem. this could at least confirm that it's only the AW that's having issues.

ft

Thanks for your thoughts.

1. Sure, my height and weight were entered first thing when I started using Health and NRC apps, so no problem here. I always enter this info first when trying new apps.

2. The 2nd day of using AW I did reset the calibration data on the watch several times. I'll try it again now that it's been almost 3 weeks and see if it helps.

3. The main data in Health app is identical to the one in Activity on my AW (and iPhone). (By "main data" I mean the data you see when you tap on "Today" section of the Health app.)

Btw, since my previous post earlier today I've somehow accumulated additional 1.6 km (!!) of distance only by vacuuming the house (cca. 1500 ft2 - did the conversion for you ) and additional 180 cal, although I remained at my house the whole time since the morning walk to the outdoor trash cointainer. So right now I'm at 251 cal, 3,700 steps and 2.86 km walking+running distance in Health/Activity. I mean, how ridiculous is that?! May I ask what kind of data do you get while moving around the house?

Please note my iPhone mostly remained in my room today, so all these "activities" were done only with AW on my wrist and no workout apps turned on.

4. I plan to go on a 4-5 km walk later on to try and recalibrate the watch. I'll also take my phone with me. Should I turn on the Outdoor Walk Workout, or just walk without any apps turned on?


P.S.: I hope the OP @/V\acpower doesn't mind me borrowing his thread for these comments!

 

[ftaok]

Thanks for your thoughts.

1. Sure, my height and weight were entered first thing when I started using Health and NRC apps, so no problem here. I always enter this info first when trying new apps.

sometimes the height and weight get messed up. A couple of people on this forum were having difficulty with getting any move credit. Turns out that their weight was somehow changed to 20 lbs. I think sometimes, an app with read/write privilege will mess up the info, but that's not what's happening in your case.

3. The main data in Health app is identical to the one in Activity on my AW (and iPhone). (By "main data" I mean the data you see when you tap on "Today" section of the Health app.)

Btw, since my previous post earlier today I've somehow accumulated additional 1.6 km (!!) of distance only by vacuuming the house (cca. 1500 ft2 - did the conversion for you ) and additional 180 cal, although I remained at my house the whole time since the morning walk to the outdoor trash cointainer. So right now I'm at 251 cal, 3,700 steps and 2.86 km walking+running distance in Health/Activity. I mean, how ridiculous is that?! May I ask what kind of data do you get while moving around the house?

Please note my iPhone mostly remained in my room today, so all these "activities" were done only with AW on my wrist and no workout apps turned on.

Something is definitely wrong. It really shouldn't be doing this.

For me, it's 9:30AM (woke up at 7:30AM) on a Saturday. I have 757 steps, 53 kcal on both Active Energy and Move, and 0.38 miles (about 0.5 km). This seems pretty normal to me, but I didn't do any vacuuming, just cooked breakfast for the kids.

4. I plan to go on a 4-5 km walk later on to try and recalibrate the watch. I'll also take my phone with me. Should I turn on the Outdoor Walk Workout, or just walk without any apps turned on?

Definitely use the Outdoor Walk workout. And make sure you walk normally with your hands swinging naturally. This way, the AW will use the GPS data and track your arm swings and step count as a basis for when you don't have GPS available or on.

BTW, 1.6 km is about 1 mile, not 1500 ft. Don't worry about converting metric to imperial. I think most Americans active on this website can do both systems.

 

[jon08]

Something is definitely wrong. It really shouldn't be doing this.

For me, it's 9:30AM (woke up at 7:30AM) on a Saturday. I have 757 steps, 53 kcal on both Active Energy and Move, and 0.38 miles (about 0.5 km). This seems pretty normal to me, but I didn't do any vacuuming, just cooked breakfast for the kids.

Definitely use the Outdoor Walk workout. And make sure you walk normally with your hands swinging naturally. This way, the AW will use the GPS data and track your arm swings and step count as a basis for when you don't have GPS available or on.

BTW, 1.6 km is about 1 mile, not 1500 ft. Don't worry about converting metric to imperial. I think most Americans active on this website can do both systems.

Ok, your numbers seem more reasonable (albeit the calorie count seems a bit generous still). I really do hope I can calibrate my AW3 properly. What worries me is that on Apple's website it says that with AW2 and later all you need to do is to make sure that location services and Motion Calibration & Distance is turned on and that's all. Supposedly only for Series 1 and 0 you need to do that calibration process. (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204516)

By the way, on my iPhone > Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services I don't have all those options turned on because I don't want them to drain my battery.

The only ones I have turned on are these:

Compass Calibration
Emergency SOS
Find my iPhone
Motion Calibration & Distance
Setting Time Zone

Surely, Motion Calibration & Distance being crucial here.

Should I also enable Call Network Search, Share My Location and Wi-Fi Networking? I suppose these don't play any role though?

When I go on the walk later on, is it OK to bring my iPhone with me while doing the calibration on AW?

P.S.: Yikes, sorry about 1.6 km - I meant to write that my house's surface is cca. 1500 square feet (140 m2) so that you would get an idea how vastly exaggerated the added 1.6 km to my Activity/Health really is when all I did was walk another 200 m or so during the vacuuming around the house.

 

[ftaok]

Ok, your numbers seem more reasonable (albeit the calorie count seems a bit generous still). I really do hope I can calibrate my AW3 properly. What worries me is that on Apple's website it says that with AW2 and later all you need to do is to make sure that location services and Motion Calibration & Distance is turned on and that's all. Supposedly only for Series 1 and 0 you need to do that calibration process. (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204516)

I think that Apple means that with the S2 and S3, since it has its own GPS, you don't need to have all that stuff turned on on the iPhone. You still need to calibrate it with an Outdoor Walk.

By the way, on my iPhone > Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services I don't have all those options turned on because I don't want them to drain my battery.

The only ones I have turned on are these:

Compass Calibration
Emergency SOS
Find my iPhone
Motion Calibration & Distance
Setting Time Zone

Surely, Motion Calibration & Distance being crucial here.

Should I also enable Call Network Search, Share My Location and Wi-Fi Networking? I suppose these don't play any role though?

I have even fewer things turned on. I don't think this is your issue.

When I go on the walk later on, is it OK to bring my iPhone with me while doing the calibration on AW?

P.S.: Yikes, sorry about 1.6 km - I meant to write that my house's surface is cca. 1500 square feet (140 m2) so that you would get an idea how vastly exaggerated the added 1.6 km to my Activity/Health really is when all I did was walk another 200 m or so during the vacuuming around the house.

I would do both if you have the time. Do a 20 minute walk without it, then do another one with it. At the very least, you can compare the consistency between the iPhone's GPS and the AW's GPS.

 

[jon08]

I think that Apple means that with the S2 and S3, since it has its own GPS, you don't need to have all that stuff turned on on the iPhone. You still need to calibrate it with an Outdoor Walk.

I have even fewer things turned on. I don't think this is your issue.

I would do both if you have the time. Do a 20 minute walk without it, then do another one with it. At the very least, you can compare the consistency between the iPhone's GPS and the AW's GPS.

Ok, I'll try that. What I meant to do is go out in the field and only there perform the "Reset Your Calibration Data" before starting the walk, which means I'd have to take my phone with me. So I suppose I'd do the first walk after resetting calibration data with my phone and then the 2nd one without. Would that be OK?

 

[ftaok]

Ok, I'll try that. What I meant to do is go out in the field and only there perform the "Reset Your Calibration Data" before starting the walk, which means I'd have to take my phone with me. So I suppose I'd do the first walk after resetting calibration data with my phone and then the 2nd one without. Would that be OK?

I think that would be OK. But let's be clear here. The calibration data that you would be resetting is located here, correct?

Watch app>Privacy>Reset Fitness Calibration Data


Also, when you do your 20 minute calibration walks, try not to do too many turns. Walk as straight a route as possible. This will give you the most accurate distance, which should give you the most accurate calibration.

 

[jon08]

I think that would be OK. But let's be clear here. The calibration data that you would be resetting is located here, correct?

Watch app>Privacy>Reset Fitness Calibration Data

Yes, sure. Or perhaps I should just reset the data at home and then go out and start the Outdoor Walk Workout after a while (with leaving my phone at home) to ensure it really calibrates the watch first and foremost? (Sorry about so many questions, I tend to be a bit meticulous with stuff .)

 

[ftaok]

Yes, sure. Or perhaps I should just reset the data at home and then go out and start the Outdoor Walk Workout after a while (with leaving my phone at home) to ensure it really calibrates the watch first and foremost? (Sorry about so many questions, I tend to be a bit meticulous with stuff .)

Don't worry about the questions.

I honestly don't think it matters if you have your iPhone with you or not, assuming that the AW and iPhone GPS are equally accurate. I would suggest doing the reset at home, because some things can take forever on the AW and if reseting the calibration is one of them, you could be standing around in the field for 5 minutes before being able to start your walk.

 

[oeagleo]

Along these lines, is there any app that will determine your recovery time? Like the Garmins and Suunto's do?

 

[jon08]

Don't worry about the questions.

I honestly don't think it matters if you have your iPhone with you or not, assuming that the AW and iPhone GPS are equally accurate. I would suggest doing the reset at home, because some things can take forever on the AW and if reseting the calibration is one of them, you could be standing around in the field for 5 minutes before being able to start your walk.

Ok I reset the calibration at home and left my phone at home. I walked for a little while into a slightly more open area and then I turned on Outdoor Walk on my AW and did a brisk(er) walk in pretty much a straight line for 20 mins - altogether 2.17 km. Then I ended the Workout and waited for a min. Then I started a new Workout (Outdoor Walk) and walked back on exact same line, but this time in a normal pace (it took me slightly longer, cca. 26 mins). Here's my data:

Brisk walk:
2.17 km
96 active cal
116 bpm avg rate
9'24"/km avg pace

Normal walk (return the same route):
2.18 km
82 active cal
107 bpm avg rate
12'02"/km avg pace

After I came back to the point where I started I ended my 2nd Workout.

Google Maps says 2.2 km for this distance, so it seems my AW's standalone GPS is pretty much spot-on. But please note these readings were taken while using the Workout app. It seems the main problem I've been experiencing was AW's inaccurate estimates when no workout app is running.

I walked back home for the remainder of the way (600m according to Google Maps) without any app turned on.
This time AW calculated the distance of 640m, which I suppose isn't too bad?
As for steps, I counted cca. 1050, while AW's estimate was quite conservative with only 890.

Tomorrow I think I'll go the same route and again do a brisk walk first and then a normal one on the way back - this time with my iPhone along with AW. What do you think?

Along these lines, is there any app that will determine your recovery time? Like the Garmins and Suunto's do?

AW already does that natively within the first 3 mins after you finish your Workout. Though so far I've found it to be kind of a hit or miss... You can see your recovery in your iPhone's Activity app under Heart Rate (you have to slide to the left).

EDIT: oh, I see now you weren't asking about heart rate recovery. As for Recovery Time, I believe Sports Tracker has this option?

 

[abercrombie]

New to Apple Watch which was given to me as a Christmas gift but I have been with Fitbit for the last 5 years which I prefer.

App, I like Fitbit which also combines sleep. I need to buy & download "Auto Sleep" which I feel is less accurate. Also, Apple Watch is less accurate in step count, exaggerating movements by as much as 10%. The mileage is also more accurate on distance, with the Apple watch exaggerating a bit more and Fitbit being near perfect to what a treadmill considered to be a mile.

So, IMHO for pure fitness, my Fitbit Blaze is better. For notifications, the Apple Watch is better. Just my 2 cents.

 

[ftaok]

Ok I reset the calibration at home and left my phone at home. I walked for a little while into a slightly more open area and then I turned on Outdoor Walk on my AW and did a brisk(er) walk in pretty much a straight line for 20 mins - altogether 2.17 km. Then I ended the Workout and waited for a min. Then I started a new Workout (Outdoor Walk) and walked back on exact same line, but this time in a normal pace (it took me slightly longer, cca. 26 mins). Here's my data:

Brisk walk:
2.17 km
96 active cal
116 bpm avg rate
9'24"/km avg pace

Normal walk (return the same route):
2.18 km
82 active cal
107 bpm avg rate
12'02"/km avg pace

After I came back to the point where I started I ended my 2nd Workout.

Google Maps says 2.2 km for this distance, so it seems my AW's standalone GPS is pretty much spot-on. But please note these readings were taken while using the Workout app. It seems the main problem I've been experiencing was AW's inaccurate estimates when no workout app is running.

I walked back home for the remainder of the way (600m according to Google Maps) without any app turned on.
This time AW calculated the distance of 640m, which I suppose isn't too bad?
As for steps, I counted cca. 1050, while AW's estimate was quite conservative with only 890.

Tomorrow I think I'll go the same route and again do a brisk walk first and then a normal one on the way back - this time with my iPhone along with AW. What do you think?

That looks pretty good. You're probably good to go without needing further calibration walks, although the AW enhances the calibration with each additional Outdoor Walk.

The only thing left to check is to see if your normal, everyday activity is still messed up or not. Good Luck. Hopefully, the reset worked.

 

[oeagleo]

EDIT: oh, I see now you weren't asking about heart rate recovery. As for Recovery Time, I believe Sports Tracker has this option?

Just downloaded it, and yes, does exactly what I was looking for, although it's kind of a pain I need a separate app for a specific metric. Oh well, at least I have it.. It's all good!

 

[jon08]

Just downloaded it, and yes, does exactly what I was looking for, although it's kind of a pain I need a separate app for a specific metric. Oh well, at least I have it.. It's all good!

Glad you found what you were looking for. Sadly, I think Sports Tracker doesn't support heart rate readings from the watch but you need one of their chest straps..

 

[oeagleo]

Glad you found what you were looking for. Sadly, I think Sports Tracker doesn't support heart rate readings from the watch but you need one of their chest straps..

Well, I don't use the AW HRM for anything other than all day heart rate in "Heartwatch". If I'm doing an activity, I use either the Tickr-X, or the Scosche Rhythm+, depending on the situation. I used a Tickr Fit (Brand new) today, and while it gave readings, as soon as I took it off my arm, and pushed the button to stop it, the stupid button fell out. It's going back to REI tomorrow, and I'll stick with my Scosche until the New Rhythm 24 comes out later this spring.

 

[jon08]

Here are some thoughts on how to, perhaps, fix this problem.

1. Check your that height and weight are set correctly. Do this in your Health app. Just for giggles, check that NRC has your height and weight are set correctly as well ... if I recall correctly, NRC doesn't look at the info in the Health app and is set independently. While you're at it, check any 3rd party fitness apps that don't use the data from the Health app as well.

2. Reset your calibration data. Perhaps something got borked somehow and messed up your walking calibration stats.

3. Take a look at the charts (via Health app) and see if the data looks correct. For instance, this morning when it reported 1.13 km when you walked perhaps 200 m, look at how the steps and distance is added to Health.

4. I really don't think the priority is the issue here. If everything is working correctly (which in your case is not), the priority is only used when two or more sources have data at the same time. If they both report the same information, then it doesn't matter really. In your case, the AW is reporting incorrect data and it's being used. Fix the AW's issue and all will be well.

Here's an idea. Take a look at how many steps your iPhone reports and how many your AW does, when you have this problem. this could at least confirm that it's only the AW that's having issues.

ft

That looks pretty good. You're probably good to go without needing further calibration walks, although the AW enhances the calibration with each additional Outdoor Walk.

The only thing left to check is to see if your normal, everyday activity is still messed up or not. Good Luck. Hopefully, the reset worked.

Today I tried a somewhat similar routine as yesterday morning (i.e. get up, bathroom, go downstairs, breakfast, tinker around the house a bit, go out to the trash can and then back to my room upstairs) and this is what I got:

1000 steps vs. 1500 (yesterday)
0.74 km vs. 1.13 km (yesterday)
45 cal vs. 70 cal (yesterday)

So that certainly seems like an improvement (though steps & distance still seem exaggerated).

I suppose I'll go on another 2 x 20-min walks today with Workout turned on walking the similar route as yesterday. Or should I choose a different one this time around?

 

[RedKite]

I’m not a fitness fanatic but I really like that my watch tracks my HR and tells me to get moving occasionally.

 

[Suspenders]

Interesting discussion. I thought I'd chime in with my experience with my Apple Watch (S3) as a fitness tracker.

Over the past month I started wearing my AW for all of my workouts (I never used to in the past when I had my S2 - only when I went for runs). I use my AW for weight lifting & cardio.

When my AW decides to play nice (i.e. pick up my heart rate), I find that it accurately tracks calories both during weight lifting sessions & cardio. For example, I use the Assault Air Bike (Sort of like an AirDyne) for cardio and I notice that Active Calories match up almost perfectly to what's on my AW.

There are times I'll also walk on a treadmill and I find the accuracy in distance to be within ~100 meters at the most, which IMO, is pretty awesome.

With regards to weights - I lift weights 4 times a week with 2 "heavy days low reps" and 2 "lighter days & higher reps". On average, I notice that I burn more calories on the lighter days with higher reps, which intuitively makes sense given that I use much shorter rest times (i.e. 45 seconds to 90 seconds). When I compare this to calculators that are provided online, they seem to be within the same ballpark.

I'll also go for indoor walks at lunch ranging from 30-45 minutes, and again, given the pace that I'm walking at, and online calculators as well, it appears that the AW seems to provide an accurate calorie count.

The only thing that frustrates me is that sometimes my AW will not register my heart rate despite wearing the watch in the exact same place as I did in previous workouts. This disrupts my "move" calories which is somewhat annoying.

My "Move Calorie" goal is set at ~700 right now. I manage to get to 700 6/7 days no problem, but on Sundays (my rest day), it's almost impossible to get to 700 move calories. I thought you were able to set individual move goals (per day), but I may be mistaken. I'll try it this weekend.

I'd also like to add that I also meticulously track all of my food intake (I cook 95% of my meals & weigh/measure everything) and I track my weight daily & weekly.

Given that info as well, it's helped me to cross reference the amount of calories I'm burning on average which corresponds to how much food I'm taking in, and how much energy I'm expending.

Therefore, in my personal experience, I generally find that the AW calculates calories decently accurate.

 

[ftaok]

Interesting discussion. I thought I'd chime in with my experience with my Apple Watch (S3) as a fitness tracker.

Over the past month I started wearing my AW for all of my workouts (I never used to in the past when I had my S2 - only when I went for runs). I use my AW for weight lifting & cardio.

When my AW decides to play nice (i.e. pick up my heart rate), I find that it accurately tracks calories both during weight lifting sessions & cardio. For example, I use the Assault Air Bike (Sort of like an AirDyne) for cardio and I notice that Active Calories match up almost perfectly to what's on my AW.

There are times I'll also walk on a treadmill and I find the accuracy in distance to be within ~100 meters at the most, which IMO, is pretty awesome.

With regards to weights - I lift weights 4 times a week with 2 "heavy days low reps" and 2 "lighter days & higher reps". On average, I notice that I burn more calories on the lighter days with higher reps, which intuitively makes sense given that I use much shorter rest times (i.e. 45 seconds to 90 seconds). When I compare this to calculators that are provided online, they seem to be within the same ballpark.

I'll also go for indoor walks at lunch ranging from 30-45 minutes, and again, given the pace that I'm walking at, and online calculators as well, it appears that the AW seems to provide an accurate calorie count.

The only thing that frustrates me is that sometimes my AW will not register my heart rate despite wearing the watch in the exact same place as I did in previous workouts. This disrupts my "move" calories which is somewhat annoying.

My "Move Calorie" goal is set at ~700 right now. I manage to get to 700 6/7 days no problem, but on Sundays (my rest day), it's almost impossible to get to 700 move calories. I thought you were able to set individual move goals (per day), but I may be mistaken. I'll try it this weekend.

I'd also like to add that I also meticulously track all of my food intake (I cook 95% of my meals & weigh/measure everything) and I track my weight daily & weekly.

Given that info as well, it's helped me to cross reference the amount of calories I'm burning on average which corresponds to how much food I'm taking in, and how much energy I'm expending.

Therefore, in my personal experience, I generally find that the AW calculates calories decently accurate.

Just curious as to what other folks consider a "rest day". On your Sundays, how much activity do you get? Are you getting the 30 minutes of excercise and the 12 hours of stand?

For me, to get 700 calories without doing what I consider a workout (i.e. 2 mile run, 30 minutes on a bike, 60 minutes of aerobics), I have to go on a few walks. Maybe a mile at lunch, 2 miles at home on the treadmill. Basically, my rest day consists of at least 10,000 steps (5 miles) over the entire day. That gets me close, then I'll walk whatever I need to in the evening to get to my goal.

As for individually setting a Move goal, that's doable. You can program it to be 700 for M-Sat and 400 for Sun. You have to change it on Sunday morning, then change it back on Monday morning. Just force press on the AW-Activity app. You'll get a button that allows you to change your move goal.

 

[rgyiv]

This is all very interesting stuff....I've never actually done a calibration, so I wonder if this past year of having a Series 2 watch has all been a big lie lol

One thing I haven't quite gathered in this thread is how often do you all actually start a workout from the Workout app on the AW when you go on walks, treadmill, lift weights, HIIT, etc..., or do you just let the Rings pick up your activity naturally? Is there an activity you don't usually start an official workout?

I feel like I get more ring activity if I physically start a workout from the Workout app on the AW before I workout.