So if I’m doing plenty of walking during a day, and I don’t set it as a workout, will it still close my workout ring?

[The Cockney Rebel]

As per the title?

Thinking of getting back into my street photography, and pushing my creativity by using only my iPhone (no DSLR.)

So, I’ll be walking around, plus also “pausing” fairly frequently, to take shots.

Will the walking all count towards my exercise ring?

Thanks in advance for any info/advice.

 

[jazz1]

As per the title?

Thinking of getting back into my street photography, and pushing my creativity by using only my iPhone (no DSLR.)

So, I’ll be walking around, plus also “pausing” fairly frequently, to take shots.

Will the walking all count towards my exercise ring?

Thanks in advance for any info/advice.

Yes mine does. Though sometimes it is an on and off brisk walk as my doggie does keep me on my toes.

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

Yes mine does. Though sometimes it is an on and off brisk walk as my doggie does keep me on my toes.

Many thanks.

Suppose you can teach an old dog new tricks, after all .

 

[Night Spring]

I think if you have a workout running, you tend to get more exercise/activity credit, but yes, I get exercise credit even when no workout is running. I do 30 minute meditation plus 20-30 minute walk with workout running each day, so that's 50-60 minutes of exercise, but I usually end the day with around 70-80 minutes on my exercise ring.

Mind you, 20-30 minutes of walking workout doesn't always give me 20-30 minutes on exercise ring exactly, as if I pause or walk too slow while the workout is running, it doesn't give me exercise credit for that time. The meditation workout (mind&body) does give me 30 minutes on exercise ring, no matter what.

 

[LeeW]

Yes, sometimes I forget to start a workout but it still counts although fairly quickly it will come and ask if I am doing a walk and want to start tracking it.

 

[_timo_redux_]

I do a lot of photowalks, and yeah, I'm also exercising. The watch will annoying ask if you've "finished" your workout just as you're hitting your stride finding the shot

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

Yes, sometimes I forget to start a workout but it still counts although fairly quickly it will come and ask if I am doing a walk and want to start tracking it.

So if you choose “No, I’m not doing a workout” will it still register on your workout ring?

Thanks.

 

[LeeW]

So if you choose “No, I’m not doing a workout” will it still register on your workout ring?

Yes, it's not telling the watch you are not doing a workout, just that you don't want to record it as a workout.

It all comes back to the same thing, heart rate. Whether recording a workout or not your heart rate is still elevated and therefore still counting towards your exercise and move goals.

 

[Night Spring]

I think you should just go on your photo-shooting walks, with and without workout running, and compare the results. You have an S8, right? I've left walking workout running on my S8 for 2-3 hours and still had battery last until after my dinner.

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

Yes, it's not telling the watch you are not doing a workout, just that you don't want to record it as a workout.

It all comes back to the same thing, heart rate. Whether recording a workout or not your heart rate is still elevated and therefore still counting towards your exercise and move goals.

Many thanks.

 

[Night Spring]

Yes, it's not telling the watch you are not doing a workout, just that you don't want to record it as a workout.

It all comes back to the same thing, heart rate. Whether recording a workout or not your heart rate is still elevated and therefore still counting towards your exercise and move goals.

Yes, exactly. The advantage of running a workout it it monitors your heart rate continuously while the workout is running. Whereas when no workout is running, the watch only checks your heartbeat every so often, I think in 5 minute intervals, but I'm not sure. Anyway, with continuous monitoring, you tend to get more exercise/activity credit because the watch is more likely to notice elevated heart rate. But the watch does check your heart rate if it detects increased motion. (You can see this by taking off your watch and waving it vigorously -- the heart rate sensor will sometimes turn on when you do that. I haven't quite figured out exactly how to wave the watch so the heart rate sensor comes on every time.) So you do get exercise/activity credit even if you don't start / decline to start a workout.

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

Yes. If you’re heart rate is high enough it will count as a minute of exercise, and enough of this will close the ring

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

Yes, exactly. The advantage of running a workout it it monitors your heart rate continuously while the workout is running. Whereas when no workout is running, the watch only checks your heartbeat every so often, I think in 5 minute intervals, but I'm not sure. Anyway, with continuous monitoring, you tend to get more exercise/activity credit because the watch is more likely to notice elevated heart rate. But the watch does check your heart rate if it detects increased motion. (You can see this by taking off your watch and waving it vigorously -- the heart rate sensor will sometimes turn on when you do that. I haven't quite figured out exactly how to wave the watch so the heart rate sensor comes on every time.) So you do get exercise/activity credit even if you don't start / decline to start a workout.

Thanks for the info .

 

[Abazigal]

As per the title?

Thinking of getting back into my street photography, and pushing my creativity by using only my iPhone (no DSLR.)

So, I’ll be walking around, plus also “pausing” fairly frequently, to take shots.

Will the walking all count towards my exercise ring?

Thanks in advance for any info/advice.

It can, but it won’t be very consistent. I believe the watch uses your heart rate to determine whether you are exercising or not, so depending on how strenuous your photography is, it may or may not register as exercise.

Kinda like how I walk to work every day, but can clock wildly differing exercise minutes each day depending on factors like how much I am carrying or even how hot the weather is, apparently.

 

[BlackBun]

I do a lot of photowalks, and yeah, I'm also exercising. The watch will annoying ask if you've "finished" your workout just as you're hitting your stride finding the shot

Do you choose to be annoyed else turn that notification off?

 

[millerj123]

It can, but it won’t be very consistent. I believe the watch uses your heart rate to determine whether you are exercising or not, so depending on how strenuous your photography is, it may or may not register as exercise.

Kinda like how I walk to work every day, but can clock wildly differing exercise minutes each day depending on factors like how much I am carrying or even how hot the weather is, apparently.

This. If I register a walk, but go at my family’s pace, I get credit for less than half unless I do extra exercises to keep my heart rate up.

 

[xxray]

Yes, a minimum of one minute of walking seems to be the minimum. I'll notice my exercise ring will increase by 1 minute just from walking from one end of my office to the other.

 

[andyw715]

Both ways will count toward your rings, as long as you are actually doing something exercise-ish.
The workout part of it will have your watch spend resources to do the measurements more frequently but you still have to do stuff.

ie. I started a hiking work out, but it really just turned into a very casual stroll. After 20 min I had maybe 5 or 6 exercise minutes logged.

 

[BenGoren]

Whether you’ve got a workout going or not, you need to be actually working out. A photographic stroll, while a wonderful activity that I would strongly encourage for anybody and everybody capable of engaging in, is usually not what is typically considered a “brisk walk,” what generally counts towards Watch activity.

I would suggest … don’t use the Workout app. Any parts of the walk where you’re walking briskly enough will count towards all three of your rings. If you happen to do enough to close your rings that way, woo-hoo! But, if not … also go for a non-photographic brisk walk (and use the app to record that).

Even better — but don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good! — try to get in, at least a few times a week, a fifteen- to thirty-minute resistance-based strength building workout (in addition to your photographic walkabouts). If you like the idea of using machines at the gym, go for it. That sort of thing doesn’t speak to me, so I do bodyweight exercises at home: squats, pushups, pullups, that sort of thing. Other great choices are yoga, Pilates, anything like that. If it speaks to you (or, at least, if you aren’t turned off by it), it’s right for you.

(And don’t be scared by something like a pushup … even if you can’t do a full classic pushup on the ground, I guarantee you you can do one against a wall, and I’ll bet you a suitable beverage you can crank out quite a few against a table. Every other bodyweight exercise has similar variations, so even never-been-in-shape couch potatoes can have a suitable at-home full-body workout. And I do mean everybody … even an over-muscled powerlifter would be hard-pressed to do one-armed handstand pushups. Plus, almost all of these exercises also build balance and help make everyday common tasks easier.)

b&

 

[Night Spring]

I would suggest … don’t use the Workout app. Any parts of the walk where you’re walking briskly enough will count towards all three of your rings.

Depends on what you want out of the workout app. I like to run walking workouts while on leisurely strolls, because it gives me a map of where I walked, and also shows my hear rate as I walk. It's interesting to see how my heart rate changes over the course of my walk. Sometimes the changes make sense, like my heart rate gets elevated when I go up a slope. Other times, it's puzzling, like my heart rate was low during the first half of a walk, but elevated during the second half, but I don't think I exerted myself that much in the second half.

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

I think if you have a workout running, you tend to get more exercise/activity credit, but yes, I get exercise credit even when no workout is running. I do 30 minute meditation plus 20-30 minute walk with workout running each day, so that's 50-60 minutes of exercise, but I usually end the day with around 70-80 minutes on my exercise ring.

Mind you, 20-30 minutes of walking workout doesn't always give me 20-30 minutes on exercise ring exactly, as if I pause or walk too slow while the workout is running, it doesn't give me exercise credit for that time. The meditation workout (mind&body) does give me 30 minutes on exercise ring, no matter what.

Well I do, exactly 0% activity at the moment, which I need to change.

This comment of yours has given me an idea: Could I try to start meditating, and have that count as a workout?

I’ve never meditated before, but apparently it’s good for you. Especially the mind?

I’m going to look into this, thanks.

 

[BenGoren]

Meditation is wonderful! But it’s not physical activity. Use the Mindfulness app that ships with the watch for that.

I would also strongly suggest “Ten Percent Happier.” Meditation is a skill that needs to be learned and cultivated just like any other skill, and the 10% people have everything you need to get up to speed:

Happier meditation: Personalized Meditation & Mindfulness for Real Life

Happier meditation: The meditation app that adapts to you with monthly check-ins. Manage stress, sleep better, and make mindfulness work for you. Start today.

www.tenpercent.com

They have an app that I haven’t used in ages … it was superlative back in the day, and presumably still is.

b&

 

[Night Spring]

Well I do, exactly 0% activity at the moment, which I need to change.

This comment of yours has given me an idea: Could I try to start meditating, and have that count as a workout?

I’ve never meditated before, but apparently it’s good for you. Especially the mind?

I’m going to look into this, thanks.

Yes, you can have meditation count as a workout. As I mentioned, Apple has a "Mind&Body" workout for this purpose. However, as @BenGoren points out, meditation isn't physical activity. You need both! At Japanese Zen temples, the monks do brisk walks in between meditation sessions. They do meditation in the morning and evening, but the afternoon is spent doing physical chores around the temple.

I'd suggest starting out short and simple. My Zen Master used to say he told beginners to start with 1 minute. But he wouldn't give them a clock, and they were usually fooled into sitting for longer, lol. The point was to have beginners not approach it as a big deal. Just anytime you have a moment to spare, take a deep breath and stay still for a minute. That's a good start.

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

So I just went out to return something to a shop (store.)

I heard quite a few “queries” as to whether I was working out or not.

I ignored them all (approximately 5) then almost as I reached back to my starting point, I heard the exercise ring closed notification.

I was marching, but I think even if one was strolling, and stopping to take photographs, it would still register.

Thanks for everyone’s input (and I’m sweating, by the way! )

 

[Night Spring]

So I just went out to return something to a shop (store.)

I heard quite a few “queries” as to whether I was working out or not.

I ignored them all (approximately 5) then almost as I reached back to my starting point, I heard the exercise ring closed notification.

I was marching, but I think even if one was strolling, and stopping to take photographs, it would still register.

Thanks for everyone’s input (and I’m sweating, by the way! )

Yup, quite possible to close the exercise ring without running a workout, glad to see you got to experience it for yourself.

Be interesting to see how many exercise minutes you get while strolling taking photos. Do let us know how that goes.