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walkitoutShort form, I'm increasingly tempted to just quit paying any attention to what the Watch has to say about what I am or am not doing, beyond step counting. I don't think the step counter is particularly inaccurate.
I have tightened the band on the Watch and the heart rate is now looking more or less reasonable during exercise. So that's good. What's _bad_ is how that seems to be interacting with the "Exercise" calculation. Previously, if I walked around the block, the "Exercise" calculation would give me credit for minutes equal to the duration of the walk, minus the first 1-3 minutes, and minus any time I stopped and chit chatted with neighbors, and another minute or so restarting after chit chat. Totes reasonable -- it's supposed to count equal to or great than a brisk walk. I don't walk that fast -- 3 mph, typical.
What is does on the treadmill when I have the Workout app turned on is a whole other matter. I'm not letting it drop below 3 mph (unless I've upped the incline, and I slow down on uphills in the Real World also), and I do minute and a half intervals at a jog. The intervals are reading BPM above 150. The active rest (3 mph with some incline, or 2.8 with more incline) never drops below 135 (average for the duration of the workout, according to the workout app, is 140 bpm, so while I am not watching it constantly, it's average at the end matches my glances).
And yet a 20 minute workout of this sort counts a grand total of _8_ minutes towards exercise.
I have no idea why it has decided that exercise with a more rapid step count and more total steps AND a measured heart rate in some sort of cardio zone (hey, I'm 46 -- averaging 140 bpm for the duration of the workout doesn't suck. It is at least a brisk walk) counts as _less_ exercise (in fact, less than _half_ the exercise_) as a slower, fewer steps, lower heart rate (unmeasured, albeit) walk around the block.
The "Exercise" component of the "Activity" monitor is a piece of shit. It will tell you something is exercise that really isn't -- and it will tell you something else isn't exercise, that is more likely to be so. Which is a pity. I'll take a look around and see if I can find any way to tweak the exercise calculation, but I'm not feeling optimistic (I suppose I could do the treadmill workout and _not tell_ the Watch that? As long as it didn't measure the heart rate -- hey, that might work).
ETA: It gave me credit for 7 out of 10 minutes of same-treadmill-same-behavior-minus-the-hills (because I am tired), with the heart rate meter turned off. PIECE OF SHIT Apple. I hope they fix this at some point. I actually kind of _like_ the heart rate thing, since I got it to sort of work, but I'm gonna have really mixed feelings every time I look at the Exercise App.
ETAYA: It is not just me!
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7015725
So, "Other" it is, until they fix it, I guess. Ridiculous. (FWIW, I don't hang onto the treadmill when I use it, so the stationary arm is not a possible explanation for what is going on here.)
I guess on the plus side, I got more of a workout indoors than I otherwise might have. Apparently frustration and anger and proving a point are highly motivating for me. My husband will read this at some point and go, "Ya think?"
I have tightened the band on the Watch and the heart rate is now looking more or less reasonable during exercise. So that's good. What's _bad_ is how that seems to be interacting with the "Exercise" calculation. Previously, if I walked around the block, the "Exercise" calculation would give me credit for minutes equal to the duration of the walk, minus the first 1-3 minutes, and minus any time I stopped and chit chatted with neighbors, and another minute or so restarting after chit chat. Totes reasonable -- it's supposed to count equal to or great than a brisk walk. I don't walk that fast -- 3 mph, typical.
What is does on the treadmill when I have the Workout app turned on is a whole other matter. I'm not letting it drop below 3 mph (unless I've upped the incline, and I slow down on uphills in the Real World also), and I do minute and a half intervals at a jog. The intervals are reading BPM above 150. The active rest (3 mph with some incline, or 2.8 with more incline) never drops below 135 (average for the duration of the workout, according to the workout app, is 140 bpm, so while I am not watching it constantly, it's average at the end matches my glances).
And yet a 20 minute workout of this sort counts a grand total of _8_ minutes towards exercise.
I have no idea why it has decided that exercise with a more rapid step count and more total steps AND a measured heart rate in some sort of cardio zone (hey, I'm 46 -- averaging 140 bpm for the duration of the workout doesn't suck. It is at least a brisk walk) counts as _less_ exercise (in fact, less than _half_ the exercise_) as a slower, fewer steps, lower heart rate (unmeasured, albeit) walk around the block.
The "Exercise" component of the "Activity" monitor is a piece of shit. It will tell you something is exercise that really isn't -- and it will tell you something else isn't exercise, that is more likely to be so. Which is a pity. I'll take a look around and see if I can find any way to tweak the exercise calculation, but I'm not feeling optimistic (I suppose I could do the treadmill workout and _not tell_ the Watch that? As long as it didn't measure the heart rate -- hey, that might work).
ETA: It gave me credit for 7 out of 10 minutes of same-treadmill-same-behavior-minus-the-hills (because I am tired), with the heart rate meter turned off. PIECE OF SHIT Apple. I hope they fix this at some point. I actually kind of _like_ the heart rate thing, since I got it to sort of work, but I'm gonna have really mixed feelings every time I look at the Exercise App.
ETAYA: It is not just me!
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7015725
So, "Other" it is, until they fix it, I guess. Ridiculous. (FWIW, I don't hang onto the treadmill when I use it, so the stationary arm is not a possible explanation for what is going on here.)
I guess on the plus side, I got more of a workout indoors than I otherwise might have. Apparently frustration and anger and proving a point are highly motivating for me. My husband will read this at some point and go, "Ya think?"
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Date: 2015-06-01 08:05 pm (UTC)Today's walk, workout app off --- no minutes of "exercise"
Date: 2015-06-02 01:31 pm (UTC)But it is either inconsistent or mysterious or just plain not doing anything like what I would expect with the "Exercise" calculation. I just went for the very _definition_ of a "brisk walk" around the block, right around 20 minutes, and got none of it counted towards the goal. (And this is extra special weird, because I've done this exact same walk and had it count towards the goal, before I started tinkering with the Workout app. No workout app on AND no count towards Exercise. Bizarre.)
ETA: I went into the Watch app on the phone and turned everything off associated with Activity, other than the Stand reminder, which almost never triggers, but when it does, I really should get up for a minute.
It's weird, every day since I got the Watch, I kept saying to R. how I couldn't believe anyone could roll out a product and just get it so perfectly right. Well, I guess I've found out otherwise.
ETAYA: What's especially bizarre is that I think it was the calibration process that broke things. Because everything started going weird after I started using Outdoor Walk for 20 minutes with the phone on me, which is supposed to be the "Calibration" process.
http://www.imore.com/having-trouble-tracking-exercise-your-apple-watch-heres-how-fix-it
My Watch was fine until I calibrated it, and then it broke?
Okay, so in the interest of not just being an ass about this, I'm rebooting the Watch, to see if that will fix things.
Further evidence that this is not just me:
http://www.mcelhearn.com/how-accurate-is-the-apple-watch-as-a-fitness-tracker/
I'm so happy the Web exists, because the behavior of this particular bug would probably cause me to go completely manic trying to make that Exercise ring fill, and then I really would have to get rid of the Watch.
Rebooting the Watch erased my "Exercise" minutes. I should say, "Minute".