258      iPhone_iPad_Mac_apple

What counts as "exercise" for the green ring??

Does anyone know what counts as "exercise"? i.e. what does it take to advance the green ring??  All the apple watch info I've seen says "brisk walk". I went for an "outside walk" using the workout app today. I walked for 56 minutes, and did 3.18 miles, with an average heart rate of 128.  Yet it only counted as 17 minutes towards my green exercise ring!! What gives?  We can't all be Christy Turlington training for a marathon!  I'm an out-of-shape working mom with a baby!  That's about as good "exercise" as I get these days.

My resting heart rate is pretty low, usually 55-65, so 128 is a pretty decent burn!  I think that was a brisk walk! Maybe other people walk faster, but I was pushing a stroller and there were some decent hills.

So does anyone know what the criteria are? Does your heart rate have to be above a certain threshold?

One other thought I had- I was pushing the stroller so my left arm wasn't swinging at my side- could that affect how it measures my motion?

And, would it have made a difference if I had called it "outside run" instead of "outside walk"?  I know people that jog a 17" mile...

If the point of this app is to get people to get out and moving around more, it's discouraging for the 'goals' to be so hard to reach.  And there are lots of articles these days that say walking may be better exercise than running.  For walking to not be "good enough" is pretty deflating.

I was just looking for a similar answer to this as well.

Today I'm showing 9 minutes on my activity ring which is constructed from:

- about 6 minutes from when I took a quick walk to the shop, sure whatever...it's activity. Honestly 6 minutes is generous there

- about 3 minutes from a 45 minute workout where I used the watch app to track 'Indoor Walking' and went on the treadmill. So the watch is fully aware I exercised for 45 minutes and I get 3 minutes towards my activity ring.

The workout app even says I did 0:47 Indoor Walk: 1.8 Mi, 129bpm avg heartrate alongside the 3 minutes of 'Exercise' it allowed me to have.

Well I went for another walk last night. 31minutes, 1.67m. Avg heart rate 126.

But this time I called it "outdoor run" instead of outdoor walk.  And it says I burned 145cal (vs 196 for my 3.2m walk in the morning) and most importantly- it gave me 31 min of exercise on my green ring.  Even though i walked slower, for less time, less distance, and had a lower heart rate- I got 2x as much "credit" for this walk vs the one in the morning (that was twice as long).

So bottom line- calling it run vs walk makes a big difference

I think the stationary left arm may well be the key thing here.

As a test, I did a 15-minute walk on Sunday with just the watch (no phone) and everything got measured correctly, so we know it works sometimes.

The watch doesn't have GPS, so the only way it knows you're moving is via its internal accelerometer (the same sensor that notices when you raise your wrist). If you're doing steady pace, but not swinging the watch arm, it won't detect all of the motion very well.

Ok, I did an experiment. Today I walked the same route as yesterday, but without the stroller (i.e. my arm was swinging.)

Yesterday I got: 56min, 3.18mi, HR 128 -> 17 exercise minutes

Today (no stroller): 56min, 3.14mi, HR 133 -> 41 exercise minutes!!!

So, my pace was a tiny bit slower, and HR was a little higher.  So maybe 130 is my magic HR threshold and I spent more time over it today, or (I think more likely) having that arm moving made a difference.

All were done with phone, so it used GPS.

And I forgot to add in my post last night- the walk I called a "run" yesterday- was with the stroller.  But gave me more minutes. But HR was 126, so that blows my 130 theory. But I had the stroller, so maybe that blows this theory.  I guess if you call something a run, it assumes more exertion? (even if it's the same speed as a walk?)

Hi Alexroet,

From your post I understand you'd like to learn more about what the Exercise ring displays, along with getting it better calibrated to your activity level.  First, outlined below is some information on what the Exercise ring displays, and second is a link with instructions to help calibrate your Apple Watch.  Keep in mind as well, that wearing your Apple Watch more will help improve its accuracy.

The Exercise ring. This displays how many minutes of brisk activity you've completed towards a goal of 30 minutes. Every minute of movement that equals or exceeds a brisk walk, whether it’s working out or playing with your kids, counts toward your Exercise goal.

Apple Watch uses different kinds of information to calculate your overall activity and caloric burn. The more your Apple Watch learns about you, the more customized its calculations become.

For example, enter some data about yourself when you open Activity for the first time, like your age and weight. This will help Apple Watch make calculations just for you. Then wear your Apple Watch regularly so that the accuracy of your data continues to improve over time. Get the most customized caloric burn and overall activity readings by using your Workout app with your iPhone when you walk or run outside.

Use Activity on Apple Watch - Apple Support

Calibrating your Apple Watch for improved Workout and Activity accuracy - Apple Support

Have a great weekend,

Alex H.

Thanks for the info... unfortunately I already knew all that.

What I'm trying to figure out is: HOW does the watch determine what is "movement that equals or exceeds a brisk walk"? Does it use GPS to measure my distance, and divide that my the time to get a pace? Does it use the heart rate sensor to monitor HR (i.e. exertion)? Does it use the accelerometer to figure out how fast my arm is moving? Is it some combo of all of these? What is (are) the threshold(s)? i.e. does HR have to be >130? Or 80% of your max? something like that?

Also- what's the difference between the workout choices in the workout app?  i.e. how is 'outside run' different than 'outside walk'? How elliptical different from rower different from stair stepper? (I understand that inside vs outside is about using GPS or not).

My bottom line is- several times now I have walked for almost an hour, at a brisk pace (3.5mph), and with a HR >120, yet it only "gives" me 15 min on my exercise ring.  that's 1/4(ish) of what it should be! I'm suspecting the problem is that I'm pushing the baby's stroller, so my left arm isn't moving as much.  But still- it can calculate my distance, it knows my time, it knows my heart rate...  So I suspect the accelerometer is the key. Yet, if I call my walk a "run" in the workout app, it gives me more exercise minutes- even for the same distance/time/pace/heart rate.

Maybe I should call it "cycling"- I would think that would "expect" a whole lot of arm motion.

I fear walking with the baby stroller is not going to "count" as exercise, which is a shame, because as a full-time working mom of a toddler, walking with the baby is about my only exercise option these days.

The only time the watch uses GPS/HR sensors is when you specifically choose a Workout from the Workout app -- and I assume only an outdoor one for GPS. Otherwise, its only using the accelerometer and gyroscope to detect your motion and acceleration. Its similar to how the M7/M8 coprocessors and CoreMotion track your steps only calibrated to a swinging wrist.

A good way to understand this stuff to read about the CoreMotion framework. It describes how the sensors can be used to track your movement. My guess would be outdoor run vs walk is calibrated differently to assess your stride length which would be shorter in a walk...and I am sure other complex calculations. If you can pre-limit the exercise for the watch, it probably helps it make it more accurate since it can more finitely determine the measurements if it can cut out the noise. It doesn't surprise me run would give you more as i am guessing the baseline calculations may start from a higher point. Perhaps just choose Other as that will not preset it. Then see how it attempts to figure out your exercise...

While it should be clarified, the exercise ring is kind of pointless. Its really just a measure of exertion and that will show up in a higher rate of calorie burn. The Move ring is the best measure of your activity. Getting 30 mins of exercise according to the AW but missing your Move by 100 cals is prob not  as beneficial as going over your Move by 100 and hitting only 10 on the exercise.

When walking with the stroller, do you have both hands on the handle, or just one? If just one, maybe switching the watch to the free wrist will help?

The other possibility is that the watch just isn't measuring correctly - maybe a call to support?

The watch only has 3 ways to find out if you're exercising:

- Your heart rate is up

- There's a stepping kind of movement in your wrist

- GPS

Yes, I did my walk as "other" today, and it gave me "full credit".  Whether it's totally overestimating my calorie burn is a different story.

But I completely agree that the Move goal is more important. (I'm just being a bit obsessive and want to fill ALL my rings)

Yeah, I've tried pushing it with one hand, and that does seem to record better- it's just hard to push my chunky monkey up hills etc with only my right hand.

But I have found that if I call it an "other" workout instead of a walk, it does seem to record.

Thank goodness for this support blog. I am going balmy. Using the treadmill for 70 mins seeing my heartbeat going to 120 most of the time. Then it says one minute of exercise or two minutes and no more. I walk at 6 km an hour which is brisk. I put 6 on elevation but nufink!! It is depressing. Also having had a heart problem and being 67 my max heart rate is 153 and 70% of that is 107 so really anything over 107 is exercising my heart and 120 is 80% of the maximum my heart should be doing.

IN my case Apple could be encouraging dangerous exercise if expecting anything more than 137 to register. My recent controlled cardio test was stopped at 142.

I think the rest of us need an exercise rate medically determined which is part of the Apple control settings. By the way I am now going to try telling the watch I am running outside whilst on the treadmill and see if that does make a difference. Re the arm-swinging that does go against treadmill instructions which say always hold on.

It seems to be solved. In Workout  instead of using INDOOR WALK I used OTHER and every minute of walking over about 107 - my 70% of maximum heart beat for my age was entered. I got a tick of 30 minutes of exercise and felt good about what I had done.  So it's Other from now on - hope this helps others!!

NIck101 tells me that Exercise is only recorded as part of a Workout, so for tennis I need to to do an 'Other' Workout. He stress the need to do the calibration exercise with your watch.

I was wondering the same thing.  The watch "congratulated" me the other day for a "personal best" of 9 minutes of exercise!  I am going to try using "other" instead of "outdoor walk" and see if it works for me too.

最後更新：2017-09-17 00:53:22

  上一篇： In the UK EE cellular only, why?

  下一篇： streaming music to bluetooth speaker