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The exercise ring is far too easy to fill

J

jabingla2810

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Oct 15, 2008
2,271
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For example, my ring suggests 30 minutes of exercise a day.

Today I walked to work, which took 40 minutes and I walk fast, as I arrived at work I got a tap on my wrist "You've completed todays exercise!"

Great I thought, it was 7am, and my exercise ring was full, as expected.

It is now 2pm, and apart from nipping to the brew room a few times, and going to the canteen for dinner, I have been sat at my desk.

My exercise ring is just over half way round again, showing that I have done 47 minutes of exercise today.

It seems like everytime I nip to kitchen and back downstairs, its counting as exercise. I'm certainly not out of breath, or even remotley putting my body under any stress.

I honestly think I could drive to work, sit at my desk all day, and just the trips to the kitchen and bathroom throughout the day would fill the exercise ring!

Does anybody know under what circumstances the watch changes from counting movement, and instead counts exercise?
 
I found that mine got more accurate over time. You can also adjust the exercise goal to accommodate your brisk 40 minute walks.
 
Can you not change the goal? If not it is something they should update in the future. I guess they are going off the standard exercise for 30 minutes a day. I'm like you but I play bball before work so I will have all my exercise before my day really starts. Not a big deal for me though because I am still motivated to get the rest of my workouts in after work (not saying you are not).
 
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jabingla2810 said:
For example, my ring suggests 30 minutes of exercise a day.

Today I walked to work, which took 40 minutes and I walk fast, as I arrived at work I got a tap on my wrist "You've completed todays exercise!"

Great I thought, it was 7am, and my exercise ring was full, as expected.

It is now 2pm, and apart from nipping to the brew room a few times, and going to the canteen for dinner, I have been sat at my desk.

My exercise ring is just over half way round again, showing that I have done 47 minutes of exercise today.

It seems like everytime I nip to kitchen and back downstairs, its counting as exercise. I'm certainly not out of breath, or even remotley putting my body under any stress.

I honestly think I could drive to work, sit at my desk all day, and just the trips to the kitchen and bathroom throughout the day would fill the exercise ring!

Does anybody know under what circumstances the watch changes from counting movement, and instead counts exercise?
Click to expand...

You can increase your heart rate without being out of breath.
 
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I also thought it went off your heart rate for counting exercise. Maybe you are going really fast to the kitchen and bathroom. Slow down and take it easy.
 
daydayvol said:
Can you not change the goal? If not it is something they should update in the future. I guess they are going off the standard exercise for 30 minutes a day. I'm like you but I play bball before work so I will have all my exercise before my day really starts. Not a big deal for me though because I am still motivated to get the rest of my workouts in after work (not saying you are not).
Click to expand...

You can absolutely change the goal.
[EDIT] looks like you can change the Move goal - I had thought that that would adjust the exercise goal as well, but it doesn't appear that it does.
 
You're just a try hard ;).

I also walk fast. I walk fast to everything and I also get my exercise rings filled quickly but I don't find it to be a problem.
 
I always triple the ring, sometimes even quadruple it. I wish there was a way to increase the goal or make it more accurate.

And according to my activity app, I had 112/30 minutes of exercise on Saturday, lol
 
jabingla2810 said:
For example, my ring suggests 30 minutes of exercise a day.

Today I walked to work, which took 40 minutes and I walk fast, as I arrived at work I got a tap on my wrist "You've completed todays exercise!"

Great I thought, it was 7am, and my exercise ring was full, as expected.

It is now 2pm, and apart from nipping to the brew room a few times, and going to the canteen for dinner, I have been sat at my desk.

My exercise ring is just over half way round again, showing that I have done 47 minutes of exercise today.

It seems like everytime I nip to kitchen and back downstairs, its counting as exercise. I'm certainly not out of breath, or even remotley putting my body under any stress.

I honestly think I could drive to work, sit at my desk all day, and just the trips to the kitchen and bathroom throughout the day would fill the exercise ring!

Does anybody know under what circumstances the watch changes from counting movement, and instead counts exercise?
Click to expand...

I absolutely get no exercise throughout the day, so unless I really try, that exercise ring does not budge for me.
 
I have the opposite problem. I can do a vigorous outdoor walk uphill and down again (which I guess means I walk slower) and a 60 minute walk only registers 15 minutes of exercise! I have tightened the band, moved it up and down my wrist and it's still the same. I know my heart rate is up there too. Not sure what is happening.
 
jabingla2810 said:
Today I walked to work, which took 40 minutes and I walk fast, as I arrived at work I got a tap on my wrist "You've completed todays exercise!"
Click to expand...

Out of interest... on your walk were you tracking activity through the Workout app, as say an Outdoor Walk, or just through general Activity?

I'm a little confused how Activity tracks general exercise throughout the day because doesn't the Apple Watch only measure your heart rate every 10 minutes or so (unless in workout mode). So lets say your HR is taken, then you do 9 minutes of brisk walking before your HR is taken again... Surely AW doesn't count any of those 9 minutes as exercise because it hasn't been measuring your HR?
 
I hope they separate out Move and Exercise. Why? If I go for a run in the morning, both those circles are closed even before my day really has started.

However, I have bumped my Move goal to 700 calories which is a bit more challenging on non-run days. However, I'll likely bump it even more.

And yes, I hope they add that you can change the 30 min of exercise. I understand you an get more than 100% but IMO, the real motivation is "closing the circle". For me, 10% of my formal workout are 30-45 minutes. 80% 45-90 minutes and 10% 90+ minutes. This includes warmup and cool down.

I'd love to be able to set exercise to 45 min to motivate me to bump up those 4-6 short workouts a month.
 
tomaustin44 said:
Out of interest... on your walk were you tracking activity through the Workout app, as say an Outdoor Walk, or just through general Activity?

I'm a little confused how Activity tracks general exercise throughout the day because doesn't the Apple Watch only measure your heart rate every 10 minutes or so (unless in workout mode). So lets say your HR is taken, then you do 9 minutes of brisk walking before your HR is taken again... Surely AW doesn't count any of those 9 minutes as exercise because it hasn't been measuring your HR?
Click to expand...

It doesnt have to work off HR (some people turn the HR monitor off for e.g)
It will probably work the same way as something like a Fitbit (most models only have an accelerometer) and notice that your are doing more steps per minute and etc.
 
Maybe it's a height thing as a small person 4 foot 11, I really have to push for it to recognise exercise.
 
tomaustin44 said:
Out of interest... on your walk were you tracking activity through the Workout app, as say an Outdoor Walk, or just through general Activity?

I'm a little confused how Activity tracks general exercise throughout the day because doesn't the Apple Watch only measure your heart rate every 10 minutes or so (unless in workout mode). So lets say your HR is taken, then you do 9 minutes of brisk walking before your HR is taken again... Surely AW doesn't count any of those 9 minutes as exercise because it hasn't been measuring your HR?
Click to expand...

No, I just put the watch on in the morning, and walk to work.

I don't specifically start a 'workout'
 
Agreed, wish we would increase the exercise activity. I hate the Activity Ring and I look forward to smashing it daily. I always work out, but now since the watch, I push myself even harder. I can easily do 4 - 5x's as much. Maybe some future update
 
dannyyankou said:
I always triple the ring, sometimes even quadruple it. I wish there was a way to increase the goal or make it more accurate.

And according to my activity app, I had 112/30 minutes of exercise on Saturday, lol
Click to expand...

you can change your goals
 
If 50 percent of the people in America exercised for 30 minutes a day, imagine how much better this country would be.

The exercise ring is fine. Just set a higher goal for your move ring. Now if you said the move ring was to easy to fill I could understand.
 
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I must wear my watch too loose. I lift weights at least 4x per week for at least an hour each time. Exercise minutes always < 10. I'm actually finding that to be a disappointment.

Stand goal is easy.

Calories burned is off as well. But that makes sense if it can't recognize when I'm actually exercising.
 
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