Walking workouts not counting?

[silentscreams22]

Hello,

I have noticed since I got my watch that when I set a walking workout that none of those workout minutes count towards the 30 minute exercise goal. Does your heart rate have to get to a certain number before it counts as exercise? Mine usually averages about 120 in my walking workouts but it still doesn’t count. Anyone else having issue with their walking workouts not counting? How can I fix it so it does count? I walk at a pretty brisk pace as well.

 

[Julien]

An average HR of 120BPM would only be aerobic if you are about 50 or older. If you are younger you need to up the pace.

 

[iMacDragon]

I presume the wakling rate has to be fast enough the same as it seems to have to be to count when not using a workout program.

 

[Mercenary]

According to apple. Anything that is a 'brisk walk or higher' counts towards exercise and move.

But it also adapts. So to start with my brisk walk to drop our daughter off at school counted. But now it knows my routine and just sees this as normal. No longer counts as exercise.

 

[ftaok]

Hello,

I have noticed since I got my watch that when I set a walking workout that none of those workout minutes count towards the 30 minute exercise goal. Does your heart rate have to get to a certain number before it counts as exercise? Mine usually averages about 120 in my walking workouts but it still doesn’t count. Anyone else having issue with their walking workouts not counting? How can I fix it so it does count? I walk at a pretty brisk pace as well.

The Exercise minutes count when your watch detects movement that is "equivalent" to walking at a brisk pace. I think it's generally accepted that a brisk pace means around 3.5 mph. So if you select a Walking workout, but basically walk very slowly, you're probably not going to get any Exercise credit. Take note though, there is something else in the Health app called Workout minutes. These are not the same and do not get used to fill any rings. Workout minutes just total up all of the minutes tracked via a workout started on the AW or 3rd party app (as long as the permissions are set right).

 

[Long Run Nick]

An average HR of 120BPM would only be aerobic if you are about 50 or older. If you are younger you need to up the pace.

Where did you come up with that? The old 220- your age used to be how Max HR was determined. Very flawed and pretty much debunked by exercise physiologists.
At 74 my MAX HR is in the low 180’s. In my 40’s-50’ my Max was around 205-207.
Depending on resting HR your aerobic HR is best determined by having a medically supervised stress test which will get close to your MAX HR. Then HR zones can be determined, including what a person’s aerobic zone is.
Just a quick street cred- over 41 years of running, closing in on 88,000 miles run. Sure wish Apple would get their GPS squared away. I feel for people who think they are going further and faster than they actually are. I find the distance is off about 5/10 of a mile for each 5 miles run. So a 10 mile run is over 1 mile off, which dramatically changes one’s actual pace. Thanks for letting me share. Nick

 

[Julien]

Where did you come up with that? The old 220- your age used to be how Max HR was determined. Very flawed and pretty much debunked by exercise physiologists.....

Here are some of the best MHR calculators to estimate your MHR: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/maxhr.htm

 

[Long Run Nick]

Again, the chart does not take into account the various differences in our physiology. Averages are nice, but if you are like me they are way off. I don’t know about smart watches, but I know about HR training. Actually started with Polar’s first units back before AW existed.
I guess the street creds were ignored. Stay fit, and don’t let age scare you and other members about getting fit and staying fit. That would go a long way to maybe making a dent in the obesity situation here in the US. Nick

 

[Julien]

Again, the chart does not take into account the various differences in our physiology. Averages are nice....

Averages are ALWAYS going to be.......well averages. In order to have a knowledge of your individual MHR, RHR and HRR you would need to be an athlete or go and have a stress test. Otherwise they will have to go by general population averages. And since they are averages they are more likely to fall in the bell curve than outside of it.

If the OP is well below average and/or well over 50 then 120BPM could be considered aerobic cardio. However the Watch (as well as other fitness monitors) algorithms are still based on general population averages and can't know or understand if you fall well outside of the bell curve.

 

[AlliFlowers]

I turn on my workout app under "Other," no matter what I do. The one time I thought my activity would be picked up - it wasn't. My mother and daughter walk daily for one reason or another, and they always get their exercise goal. I walked a 3.5 mile charity walk, and got 3 minutes of exercise credit.

As long as I have the option of Other, or adding in my activity manually, I'm good with it. It's just not as much fun that way. But Apple forgets there are conditions between healthy and wheelchair. (My wheelchair is electric, so that would really screw up my activities!)