Workout/Activity Outdoor Walk Exercise Results

[ozarkcanoer]

Using a 42mm Apple Watch Sport paired to my iPhone 6. For the past 5 days I've used the Workout App and the Outdoor Walk exercise to monitor a walk of 2-4 miles each day. It shows that I walk about a mile in 20-23 minutes and the average heart rate and tracked heart rate look reasonable. But for a walk that takes around 20 minutes each way, instead of 40 minutes of exercise it credits me with 3-7 minutes in the Activity app on the Watch and iPhone. My Exercise Ring is lagging!

The documentation talks about 'brisk' activity whatever that is. I'm 67 and am walking my normal pace which includes waiting for road crossing signals and pausing briefly to say hi to neighbors.

Anyway for me to change the calibration for 'brisk'? I do carry the iPhone along in my pocket so it can get the most accurate distance information.

 

[geoffm33]

I don't think that you can change the brisk pace that is needed to register exercise. But you can try selecting "Other" as the activity type. It should give you exercise credit for the duration of the exercise that you would have gotten at a brisk pace. I think they count a brisk pace as in the 16-17 min/mile range.

 

[paulgandersman]

Using a 42mm Apple Watch Sport paired to my iPhone 6. For the past 5 days I've used the Workout App and the Outdoor Walk exercise to monitor a walk of 2-4 miles each day. It shows that I walk about a mile in 20-23 minutes and the average heart rate and tracked heart rate look reasonable. But for a walk that takes around 20 minutes each way, instead of 40 minutes of exercise it credits me with 3-7 minutes in the Activity app on the Watch and iPhone. My Exercise Ring is lagging!

The documentation talks about 'brisk' activity whatever that is. I'm 67 and am walking my normal pace which includes waiting for road crossing signals and pausing briefly to say hi to neighbors.

Anyway for me to change the calibration for 'brisk'? I do carry the iPhone along in my pocket so it can get the most accurate distance information.

I tried posting about this previously. Be prepared to get a bunch of people telling you that the watch is always correct and that if it isn't counting it as exercise then you're not exercising hard enough. Oh and that apparently the concept of "exercise" meaning different things to different people at different ages and in different conditions is stupid. The watch will tell you what is exercise is what people will tell you.

Sigh. Sorry for that, I just posted something similar a week or so ago and had next to no one saying that there is some fault in the way the watch calculates exercise. If I'm using the workout app, it should be logging exercise. Period. Who care if people can use it to "cheat". So what? It's just for them anyway. If they're cheating at something as silly as that then whatever, I feel bad for them.

I have the same issue as you and I hope Apple fixes it.

 

[paulgandersman]

I don't think that you can change the brisk pace that is needed to register exercise. But you can try selecting "Other" as the activity type. It should give you exercise credit for the duration of the exercise that you would have gotten at a brisk pace. I think they count a brisk pace as in the 16-17 min/mile range.

oh wow, I did not know this. I'll probably start using OTHER when I take my walks then lol. Seems stupid to have to do that for it to count, but it is what it is. :/

 

[ozarkcanoer]

I don't think that you can change the brisk pace that is needed to register exercise. But you can try selecting "Other" as the activity type. It should give you exercise credit for the duration of the exercise that you would have gotten at a brisk pace. I think they count a brisk pace as in the 16-17 min/mile range.

I'll try that next time I walk - Thanks.

And I guess I'll see if I can maintain a Outdoor Walk 16 min./mile pace to see how that works - might be an effort for some of the hills here the city.

 

[ozarkcanoer]

I tried posting about this previously. Be prepared to get a bunch of people telling you that the watch is always correct and that if it isn't counting it as exercise then you're not exercising hard enough. Oh and that apparently the concept of "exercise" meaning different things to different people at different ages and in different conditions is stupid. The watch will tell you what is exercise is what people will tell you.

Sigh. Sorry for that, I just posted something similar a week or so ago and had next to no one saying that there is some fault in the way the watch calculates exercise. If I'm using the workout app, it should be logging exercise. Period. Who care if people can use it to "cheat". So what? It's just for them anyway. If they're cheating at something as silly as that then whatever, I feel bad for them.

I have the same issue as you and I hope Apple fixes it.

If a particular pace is needed to count (what it appears to be currently), if Apple would document that default and provide a couple options for setting the pace being used - that would be fine. Walking on sidewalks and city streets is certainly different than walking on a forest trail and finer control by the owner seems a small enhancement.

But it's certainly early days for Watch and hopefully there will be lots of feedback to Apple for them to consider.

 

[SpEe1113]

oh wow, I did not know this. I'll probably start using OTHER when I take my walks then lol. Seems stupid to have to do that for it to count, but it is what it is. :/

Not sure if you need to use the "Other" setting, the "Outdoor Walk" should be more accurate than "Other" would be for an outdoor walk. Double check to make sure you're wearing the watch high enough on your wrist and that it is getting a good HR reading. The HR is really what contributes to determining the calories you are burning and how "brisk" your walk is. For example, when you stop along your walk, your HR likely goes down as you "recover" and that would take you out of the "exercise" range. You should see a spike in your HR the faster you walk, if it's not recording it properly then it's estimating the exercise solely by movement only which could add to that...

But, yes, definitely take your phone with you for a walk of a minimum of 20 mins so it can calibrate your distance, stride, etc. a bit more effectively. (note, there are still some inaccuracies with the fitness tracking that Apple is working out...)

 

[ozarkcanoer]

I tried posting about this previously. Be prepared to get a bunch of people telling you that the watch is always correct and that if it isn't counting it as exercise then you're not exercising hard enough. Oh and that apparently the concept of "exercise" meaning different things to different people at different ages and in different conditions is stupid. The watch will tell you what is exercise is what people will tell you.

Sigh. Sorry for that, I just posted something similar a week or so ago and had next to no one saying that there is some fault in the way the watch calculates exercise. If I'm using the workout app, it should be logging exercise. Period. Who care if people can use it to "cheat". So what? It's just for them anyway. If they're cheating at something as silly as that then whatever, I feel bad for them.

I have the same issue as you and I hope Apple fixes it.

Probably most people in MacRumors Forum know this, but you can provide Feedback to Apple at Apple Watch Feedback.

 

[mizzourah]

oh wow, I did not know this. I'll probably start using OTHER when I take my walks then lol. Seems stupid to have to do that for it to count, but it is what it is. :/

I agree..this thing is far from accurate. I just ran at lunch - 11 minute mile pace - 2.3 miles. I know that it is not lightning fast, but my exercise is reporting as 3 of 30 minutes. So so dumb. my life isn't run by the rings so overall, it's not a big deal, but this thing is touted as a health device and it doesn't even track actual exercise correctly. It's a pretty big fail, no matter how you try to justify it.

 

[CellXor10]

I agree..this thing is far from accurate. I just ran at lunch - 11 minute mile pace - 2.3 miles. I know that it is not lightning fast, but my exercise is reporting as 3 of 30 minutes. So so dumb. my life isn't run by the rings so overall, it's not a big deal, but this thing is touted as a health device and it doesn't even track actual exercise correctly. It's a pretty big fail, no matter how you try to justify it.

Well I won't try to justify it, but my Watch seems to track most everything quite well from all I've done with it.

 

[SpEe1113]

I agree..this thing is far from accurate. I just ran at lunch - 11 minute mile pace - 2.3 miles. I know that it is not lightning fast, but my exercise is reporting as 3 of 30 minutes. So so dumb. my life isn't run by the rings so overall, it's not a big deal, but this thing is touted as a health device and it doesn't even track actual exercise correctly. It's a pretty big fail, no matter how you try to justify it.

Are you sure it was tight enough on your wrist (and about an inch up from your wrist bone) to get a proper HR reading? Did you take your phone with you? That seems really off...I do 20 min runs all the time and its never that far off at all...usually records about 20 mins plus my cool down.

 

[flur]

I'm 67 and am walking my normal pace which includes waiting for road crossing signals and pausing briefly to say hi to neighbors.

Honestly, this doesn't really sound like exercise, this sounds like a leisurely walk around the neighborhood. Nothing wrong with that at all, but it doesn't sound like you're giving your heart much of a workout. Brisk is well, brisk, and that's what the watch is looking for. A normal walking pace, which is what you've mentioned (20-23 min/mile), is just not brisk enough. Step up the pace and get a real workout in. At 67, unless you've got some health issues, you should be able to do a bit more than what you're doing. If you do, you'll be pretty glad you did it down the line when you hit 87 or 97.

 

[mizzourah]

Are you sure it was tight enough on your wrist (and about an inch up from your wrist bone) to get a proper HR reading? Did you take your phone with you? That seems really off...I do 20 min runs all the time and its never that far off at all...usually records about 20 mins plus my cool down.

Thanks for this good question but yes, it was tight enough...my HR readings were really close to what I thought they should be for that exercise. I really don't understand it. Like I said, I know I exercised so I'm not losing sleep over it, but it does have some serious issues to meet the claims it has made.