Using the Watch App - Workouts
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Workout
Workouts allow you to capture all those exercise sessions, with a huge amount of key features like customised metrics, heart rate zone alerts, music player and even sending your live workout view to your iPhone while you train
Ensure you also review the iPhone Workouts section to get the most out of your Workouts
Starting a Workout
Tap Workouts from the menu and select Start when ready to see a list of workouts available, this list includes over 100+ outdoor and indoor activities to select from.
The workouts list will show your favourites at the top of the list so you can quickly get into your regular sessions. To add a new favourite, simply select the 'Fave' option and a yellow star will highlight it for next time
Another option for starting workouts for those who like shortcuts, simply touch and hold (force press) anywhere on the HeartWatch front main menu and a Workouts Quickstart option will appear. Tap Workout to go directly into the Workout menu. See below, its very handy!
Starting Splits & GPS
Some workouts such as running, walking and cycling will prompt you for splits and GPS at the start of a workout
Select your preferred auto split which will tell the Watch to provide a haptic vibration at that interval, for example, every 1km I get a vibration with the current speed for that split. Very handy for track runners or sprint work
To ensure accuracy, GPS will first lock your position so that you can be confident your GPS stats are correct from start to end. This may take anywhere from 1 to 20 secs depending on your surroundings. You can skip this step if not required
During a Workout
Now the fun starts. Your workout has commenced and you have some fantastic functionality in HeartWatch at your fingertips. The Workouts consist of 3 primary screens which are viewed by swiping the watch face left and right:
Main View - lets you see your key metrics like heart rate, distance and pace
Control View - allows you to set HR alerts, take notes, lock, live stream and end your workout
Music View - play your favourite music while you exercise without having to leave the HeartWatch app
Main View (Workouts)
The main view is your primary screen when working out. Tap the HR gauge or boxes to change metrics, there are a lot of options
For those looking to set countdown timers, maybe for gym sessions or timing rest intervals, tap the duration widget (on the bottom right) and you will see 2 countdown timers appear, tap these widgets to setup with your timer preference. When each countdown expires you will receive a haptic vibration.
You can activate either timer by spinning the crown upwards to start timer 1, or spinning downwards to start timer 2.
Control View (Workouts)
Swipe left to right from the Main view and you will open the Control view which has 5 great functions
Heart Rate Alerts
Alerts - this lets you set heart rate alerts when exercising. If Zonal is toggled on, you will receive haptic vibrations each time you enter a new HR zone. If Zonal is off, you can elect a minimum and maximum heart rate % (see below). Setting up HR alerts on the Watch means it is much easier than trying to update each time on your iPhone, as may like different zones for different activities. The zones setup will be remembered for your next session
Lock Button
Lock - various high intensity workouts or water based activities are better with a lock function, so users can apply a lock to any session now. Use the crown spin to unlock
Taking Notes
Notes - unique to HeartWatch is the ability to record a note during a workout. Tap the microphone button to open the notes view, which will stamp your HR and the note at that point and time in the workout (see below)
Live Stream Heart Rate From Watch to iPhone
Live Stream - great for those indoor cycling and rowing sessions, or even the ability to mirror your workout to a big screen, is the live stream option that will broadcast your session to your iPhone. So you can now have your key metrics seen direct from your iPhone, all with graphs, zones and duration. When tapped on your Watch, a prompt will appear on your iPhone to allow the live stream (see below)
End Workout
End - to finish a workout, swipe to the left to open the menu options, tap the big red rectangle button. Alternatively, you can press and hold firmly until you feel a bump anywhere on the workout screens. This will open options to Save, Resume, Discard or perform a 2 minute Recovery
Note - if performing an indoor cycle session you will see a distance input option on Save. This is great for recording your distance. If using GymKit, it will also link the distance from the native Apple workouts indoor cycle.
Recovery
Recovery - you can elect to start a 2 minute recovery and then it will automatically save the workout as normal. So you have the option to perform the recovery or just end/save the workout. Recovery is a great feature for monitoring pulse drop over a controlled time, a good indicator of fitness. Just be sure to sit or rest each time for an accurate measure.
Note your heart rate has to be slightly elevated to perform a 2min recovery reading, your watch will notify you if too low to record a measurement.
A recovery star rating will show, this is dependant on your gender and age. Refer to the Workouts section to discover more about the recovery ratings.
Following a Save or Recovery you will be prompted for an RPE which is a value from 0 to 10, which you can alter by using the side crown spin on your Watch. This is your Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE), used for measuring your internal training load. HeartWatch will estimate your RPE based on your workout intensity, but you can alter this using the crown spin on the Watch.
In a nut shell, with RPE you are describing how hard you felt the workout was. Some days you will be be feeling good, others not so, so this is great indicator used to measure your fitness and fatigue. Refer to Workouts for additional information on how Load is calculated. This Load measure can be monitored in the Dashboards
Music View (Workouts)
From the Main view, swipe right to left to open the Music player. If you have an account with an compatible music stream like Apple Music, you will be able to listen and control the volume and tracks all from the same app
Using the Apple Workouts App
Any workout recorded using the native Apple Workouts app will also show in HeartWatch, along with 3rd party apps that sync to Apple Health. Here is a great guide and infographic to all the workouts available on the Apple Watch using the Apple Workouts app.
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