Ok so I have a good problem ;-). For years and years I have tracked my workouts in paper notebooks. Now a week after getting an Apple Watch, I went to log my rowing in my log book and I realized this is kind of silly. I would log distance, time, average/500m, etc in one place and my heart rate was in Apple Health.
How do others track their workout data so that you can see the relationship between workouts (strength, hiking, walking, rowing, …) and Apple Health data?
FWIW my rowing machine doesn’t speak to the phone yet.
I mainly use Nike Run club, Wahoo, and Argus with Health as the backend to sync data. Also, Elite HRV, Pillow and Cronometer which also use as a backend.
If you don’t want a cloud service and have a Mac, there’s always Rubitrack. This syncs with Apple Health as well, so can get all your data from your Apple Watch. My Garmin syncs with Apple Health and I use this to grab some of the statistics I won’t normally get by importing the direct .FIT files from runs and cycles from my Garmin watch.
If you’re interested in HRV, the excellent Trianing Today app is helpful - I find this to be about equal to the Garmin Body Battery feature. It’s developed by the author of The Apple Watch Triathlete.
Do you record directly in Strava or record in Apple’s workout App and upload to Strava afterwards?
I currently use Strava, mainly for their Safety Beacon, but am interested in the new live zone indication in watchOS 9’s Workout App.
(also Strava is notoriously bad at recording heart date rata when running for me; it’s often a flat line for most of a 5K; they got it right for the MTB rides though…)
I don’t have an Apple Watch but I’ll comment anyway because of my improved logging experience…
Six months ago I purchased a Coros Pace 2 watch for running and have been impressed with both the watch and the iOS app. The watch and app together feel easy, the data gets logged, and neither feels fiddly or hard to navigate. I’m also using Training Peaks (free version with purchased training plan) because I’m doing a half-marathon this Fall. With a simple setup the Coros app automatically feeds the right data into Training Peaks. I only really use Training Peaks to feed the workouts to my app and watch.
I guess the point I want to make is that logging workouts (running & swimming) feel much better now than in past years. It just happens. I can quickly glance at the relevant things when I want. But it’s been a few years since I’ve had a decent watch; it may just be that all the brands/ apps have improved from what I remember.
I’ve used ‘Strong’ for normal gym workouts for years. Very good app, links into Watch and the developer is super responsive. It’s constantly getting updates.
I use Strava as well to track running. Veloviewer is a good companion web app. It takes Strava data and generates a large range of customizable charts and tables. Great for motivating me to keep pace with my running from past years.
I use Strava and the Polar Apps (Polar Flow and Polar Beat) for running. I downloaded Strong yesterday and started using it. As advertised, it really is the most intuitive workout tracker I’ve ever seen for resistance training. I’d never heard of it before. Thanks @Ethan9482!
I used to use myfitnesspal, but migrated all the data to Apple Health. I abandoned it a couple of years ago after they made some changes that I did not like. I had so much data in that app, though, I wasn’t able to just cut it cold-turkey. I had to phase it out.
But your Apple watch “speaks” to the rowing machine.
There is an excercise presetting for a rowing machine on the Apple Watch.
And it might be a stupid question, but why do you want to use an extra app for the tracking?
Apple Health and Apple Training are doing the same things.
Rubitrack IMHO is the best out there to keep track of extensive training. I’d prefer cloud syncing, but it works quite well. Any alternatives with similar features (HR, Cadence, Speed, Distance, Map,…)?
@Ulli I was looking for a place to track things I track in paper log book.
Time, distance, strokes per minute and maybe split times. I don’t think any app I’ve heard of does that.
@All I tried FitList for a workout last week. I admit I was underwhelmed, very little more than a recording mechanism. Somehow I assumed it would integrate heart from the Apple Watch.
The Apple Watch is doing this without the need for a “fancy rowing machine”, it does it with any “stupid” one!
I bet, if you have a fancy machine, it could get more information out of it, depending from the machine.
OK, I missed the information, which machine he exactly is using.
I could use my Apple Watch with the waste majority of the training machines in my last fitness studio, because the Watch could connect with them.
But if his special rowing machine has a different standard, it would not be working to get the additional information directly from the rowing machine, that is right.
Anyway, he can get at least the standard values, and can add the two others manually, as he did in writing into his notebook in the past.
That’s why I asked if there’s anythign else out there. I am not aware of anything even close. But I am also not constantly checking out current products.