The Apple Watch, like the majority of the best fitness trackers on the market, is an excellent tool for keeping track of your workouts. But what if you forget to hit the start button in the gym? If you’re as obsessed as most people are with keeping all of your workouts in one place and closing your rings, you’ll want to know how to manually add a workout to your Apple Watch.
But on the other hand, if you’ve ever forgotten to put your Apple Watch back on after a workout or recorded a run on your favorite running watch and want to sync it to your Apple Watch, don’t freak out. Apple has a backup to ensure that your sweaty session is still recorded. The steps below are the same whether you have an Apple Watch Series 8, an Apple Watch SE, or an Apple Watch Ultra.
How to Manually Add a Workout to an Apple Watch
After completing a workout, you must enter it in the Health app to add it to your Apple Watch. Skip to the next section if you want to know how to start a workout on Apple Watch! For the time being, here is how to manually record an Apple Watch workout:
- On your iPhone, launch the Health app.
- Choose the Browse tab.
- Select Activity.
- Select Workouts.
- In the top-right corner of the screen, tap Add Data.
- Tap Activity Type and then choose an activity from the menu at the bottom of your screen.
- Next, enter the number of calories and the distance traveled. Enter the number of calories next.
- Finally, specify the start and end times.
- When you’re finished, press the Add button.
How to Start a Workout on the Apple Watch
If you’re about to begin a workout and want it to count toward your Apple Watch Activity, you must track it in the Apple Watch Workout app first. But first, if you’ve been having problems with your Apple Watch not properly counting exercise minutes or another issue, you may want to troubleshoot that before proceeding. Here’s how to get started with an Apple Watch workout:
- On your Apple Watch, launch the Workout app.
- Browse the workout types to find the one you want. You have two options once you’ve found the workout you want to start.
- To track the workout without having to set a timer or other parameters, simply tap the workout, and it will begin automatically.
- Tap on the three dots to set your time, distance, or calories before starting your workout.
- Scroll through the menu to find options such as time, distance, and calories.
- Simply tap one of these parameters to begin a workout based on it.
- To change parameters such as distance or time, tap the pencil icon next to the option you want to change.
- From here, you can customize your workout, enable or disable alerts, and change how your workout appears on the Apple Watch. I’ll demonstrate how to change the Time setting.
- To make changes to that setting, scroll through the hour and minute options.
- When you’re finished customizing, tap Done.
Return to the Workout app home page on the Apple Watch and tap on a workout parameter to follow, or simply begin the workout by returning to the Outdoor Run Suggested view. After a brief countdown, your workout will begin.
Using Apple Fitness to Find Workout Data
Do you know how many calories you burned during your workout? Examine your previous workout data to find your answer and get a better idea of what to log. To do so, take the following steps:
- On your iPhone, launch the Fitness app.
- Tap Show More next to the Workouts heading.
- To view a list of exercise types and filter your data, select All Workouts in the top-right corner.
- Choose a session that is the same length and intensity as your workout.
- For your new entry, use the calorie information.
It’s one of the best places to get this information because it’s your own workout history. If no matching workouts are found, you can Google it or use one of your favorite fitness apps, such as MyFitnessPal or Lose It!, to get an estimate.
What to Do If Your Activity Ring Streak Is Broken
Your red calorie ring and green exercise ring will adjust when you manually enter data into Apple Health. Your stand ring, on the other hand, will not unless you log exercise for at least one minute every hour until you reach your goal. Is it worthwhile? Most likely not. Because the process would be time-consuming, it’s probably best to let it go and keep moving.
While these rings make your progress more gamified, they are only motivators. Yes, the visuals are great for tracking, but breaking your streak doesn’t mean you’ve lost anything, especially if you’re still active and forgot your watch or needed a break.
If you’re wondering what to do about your Apple Watch activity rings while on vacation or when you need a break from your streak, you can lower your goals by following these steps:
- On your watch, launch the Activity app.
- Scroll to the bottom of the first tab, which shows your three rings at the top, and tap Change Goals.
- Use the plus and minus symbols on either side of the number shown on-screen to change your Move Goal.
- Next, repeat your Fitness Goal and Stand Goal.
- You can now proceed by tapping Done.
Other Methods for Tracking Your Fitness Goals
There are plenty of other ways to track your fitness goals if you find the Apple Fitness and Health apps too overwhelming or lacking something you require.
- Make a note of them in your paper day planner.
- Make a note of them in your calendar app.
- Try out another app, such as Lose It! or MyFitnessPal.
- Make use of a simple notebook or a notes app.
There is no wrong way to keep track of your activities. Keeping track of workout types, length, intensity, and other relevant metrics and comparing them to your results will help you figure out what works and where to make changes. Activity rings and streaks are great motivators and add a bit of fun to your goals, but they aren’t required to achieve them.
Will manual workouts help you get your Apple rings?
If you’re as addicted to closing your rings as I am, there’s some good news for you: Manual workouts will be added to your Activity and Move rings. Follow the instructions above and wait a few moments for the rings to update.
Manual workouts do not contribute to the Stand ring because it is based on the motion sensor in the watch, and you will not have this data from your manual workout.
How do you get rid of a manual workout?
If you entered your manual workout incorrectly, simply go to your iPhone’s Fitness app and delete the manual workout from the workout summary. If you want to remove the workout and data from your ring’s progress, make sure to delete them both.
Can you add workouts to your Apple Watch after you’ve completed a workout?
If you forget to add a workout to your Apple Watch, you can do so manually. You’ll need to open the Health app on your iPhone for this.
How do I later add exercise to my Apple Watch?
Open the Health app on your iPhone and navigate to the Browse tab -> Activity -> Workouts. Then, after you’ve finished your workout, tap Add Data, enter your workout details, and press the Add button to manually add exercise to your Apple Watch.
How do I see my Apple Watch workouts on my iPhone?
Launch the Fitness app and select the Summary tab. To view your Apple Watch workouts on your iPhone, tap Show More and then All Workouts next to the Workouts section. You can tap a workout to see more information about it, such as time spent, active kilocalories, and so on.
If you’re not wearing your Apple Watch, how do you add a workout?
If you aren’t wearing your Apple Watch during your workout, you can manually enter the type of activity, calories burned, and other details in the Health app on your iPhone.
Will manual exercise help my fitness rings?
Yes, manually adding workouts to your Apple Watch will count toward your Move and Exercise goals. Your rings will automatically update to reflect your new workouts. It’s important to understand that your manual workouts will not count toward your Stand Goals on Apple Watch. That’s because this data is based on your watch’s motion sensor, and there’s no way to add it to your manual workout.
How does my Apple Watch keep track of my workouts?
An Apple Watch collects data from a variety of sources, including an acceleration sensor that tracks movement and speed, a GPS sensor that measures distance, and an optical heart rate sensor that measures overall exertion on the body. The gathered data is then used by iWatch to analyze calories burned during a workout and other important metrics.
Which workouts and activities are supported by an Apple Watch?
On an Apple Watch, you can track Walk, Run, Elliptical, Cycling, Rover, Stair Stepper, Hiking, HIIT, Yoga, Dance, Functional Strength Training, Cool Down, Tai Chi, Pilates, Swimming, Wheelchair, Multisport, Core Training, and other activities.
Related Articles
- How to Unpair Apple Watch Without Phone: Detailed Guide
- How to Follow All Instagram Friends on Threads, Simplified!!!
- How to Remove Apple Watch From Account: Detailed Guide
- How to Change Goals on Apple Watch: Detailed Guide
- How to Change Fitness Goals on iPhone
References
