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This is why the fitness feature on the Watch is no good for me.
- Thread starter akash.nu
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For me a balanced exercise schedule includes both cardio and aerobic, but yea the watch isn’t going to track weight lifting that well outside of heart rate capture. There may be some custom built 3rd party apps that address this?
I didn’t know what to select so I didn’t really choose anything. The app can’t really measure such workout ️♀️ though.
I use SmartGym and that works well and adds to activity.
The problem(?) with weightlifting is that a hard lifting session might only get you 400 calories in an hour unless HIIT. It’s the calories burned throughout the day that don’t count. I can get 800-1000 running for an hour.
BTW - did I miss something in apples workout app? Didn’t it have strength training as an option. It’s not there with O/S 5.
The problem(?) with weightlifting is that a hard lifting session might only get you 400 calories in an hour unless HIIT. It’s the calories burned throughout the day that don’t count. I can get 800-1000 running for an hour.
BTW - did I miss something in apples workout app? Didn’t it have strength training as an option. It’s not there with O/S 5.
Some Garmin devices can capture some strength training exercises based on movement pattern. It’s pretty inaccurate, at first, but probably gets better and learns a bit. It was a lot of work to correct each set because it constantly mismatched the exercise to it’s list, so I never really tried it seriously.
The Fenix can also handle weight routines. I imagine the AW can do that in some fashion, with the right app, as well.
The Fenix can also handle weight routines. I imagine the AW can do that in some fashion, with the right app, as well.
I don't recall seeing that as an option with OS 4 and it's still not in OS 5 but it looks like they added a few other options. This is where I believe the apps come into play. We seem to have a good number of members who lift with Watch so hopefully they respond.
It's still there. Choose "other," then select weight training from the list provided at the end of your workout.
This. Unfortunately weight lifting generally doesn’t burn a lot of calories as it doesn’t keep a sustained elevated heart rate. It should be enough to count as your exercise minutes though.
Weight training is also difficult to accurately gauge automatically through just a watch. There is no way for it to know what muscle group you are targeting, how many reps you’ve done and at what level of resistance you are using. All of these will affect the amount of calories you are burning.
An additional app that already “knows” (has data for) the specific muscle groups and exercises, and guides you through them is one way around that limitation. But those appps all tend to be subscription based from my previous searches, so I don’t have any I can recommend at the moment.
If anyone knows a quality app that syncs the data and is available to just buy outright then please let me know. Otherwise, I’ll just have to add it to the list of stuff I’m praying for in WatchOS6...
An additional app that already “knows” (has data for) the specific muscle groups and exercises, and guides you through them is one way around that limitation. But those appps all tend to be subscription based from my previous searches, so I don’t have any I can recommend at the moment.
If anyone knows a quality app that syncs the data and is available to just buy outright then please let me know. Otherwise, I’ll just have to add it to the list of stuff I’m praying for in WatchOS6...
You can also just keep your move goal lower than the watch suggestion. It always wants to increase it each week. I choose the same goal every week and set it manually on Mondays.
This is why I never increase my Move goal beyond 500 cal daily. 
I take all the data with a "large grain of salt"! Since 5 and 5.1 the Apple Watch Health data has changed. For instance I have not change my activity what so ever and yet I am currently on a "Longest Move Streak" since the day I got my AW4. With 5.0 Apple was WAY over generous and the 5.1 fixed it somewhat but still more generous that any of my other Apple Watches.
If Apple can not keep this consistent then what good dos it do to worry about the numbers. I just wear my watch and look at the health data and use for comparison from day to day. The whole thing is far from being science.
If Apple can not keep this consistent then what good dos it do to worry about the numbers. I just wear my watch and look at the health data and use for comparison from day to day. The whole thing is far from being science.
From what I understand, the previous software configurations were actually conservative in their calorie counts, where as 5 and 5.1 are more accurate. I wouldn’t get frustrated with it, technology is still developing and getting better, and we have to adjust with it. Besides, calories is just an invisible number, the goals should be in areas more definite and important to track, such as weight, cholesterol, etc.
Longest Move streak just means you’ve hit or surpassed your daily move goal for X amount of days. It has nothing to do with your actual activity level. If your goal stays the same and your overall daily movement stays the same, you should hit the goal each day.
Like I said I use the data to compare from day to day and not take any of it seriously.
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Explain why I have never had this "move streak" before with all of my Apple Watches going back to the original S0.
Apple's algorithm had to have change when my streak started when I put on the AW4.
This measuring calories and exercise is way too subjective to call it accurate.
The estimated calories from workouts are actually pretty dang close to for cardio (kickboxing) and strength work to my HR strap - this is with the new update. Yes I wear both my watch and a HR strap (myZone) during my workouts and at the end the average HR and calories burned are generally in line with each other and not off more than 50 calories or so. I have also tested this with a different HR strap (Wahoo Tickr) while biking and again they line up pretty close. It is when you get into HIIT stuff that the HR sensor is off, but even then not as bad as wrist based trackers were in the past.
Reminds me of the time I shoveled snow for two hours, and the workout app showed I had done 1 minute of exercise.
This is one of the things that Fitbit does a much better job of - auto detecting of exercises.Reminds me of the time I shoveled snow for two hours, and the workout app showed I had done 1 minute of exercise.
The move goal is kinda strange. I have a coworker who does a lot less exercise than I do, and it recommends he sets his to 600, and sometimes above. I do a 5km run 5 days a week, and I regularly hit 800 a day, but it only ever suggests 400.
Pay no attention to the suggestion.
Pay no attention to the suggestion.
I did update my AW3 when 5.0 came out, but only used it for a few days before the AW4 arrived.