How to reach all your exercise goals every single day
by Volker Weber
I've told you before that my way to success is to set a realistic goal and reach it every single day. Apple Watch has two preset goals: 30 minutes of exercise and 12 hours of getting up once an hour. The third goal is adjustable and I have set it to 600 cal. This may be different for you, depending on your age, height and weight.
The standing goal is very easy to reach. You just have to pay attention to the watch alerts. It will tell you 10 minutes before the hour to get up. If you don't make any effort at all, your performance will look like something in the first picture. Your move progress (red) will be chasing your exercise (green) which will be chasing your stand up (blue) progress. When this happens, you are setting yourself up for failure. You will reach the blue target, but not the other two. If the red ring moves faster than the green one, then you are not exercising at all or your calorie setting is way too low.
If I see this pattern, I skip lunch and go for a walk instead. Exercise will go up very quickly, and move will follow. I don't really watch the exercise ring. That will close automatically. What I do watch is the move ring. This red ring has to lead the blue ring. So I do not stop walking until I passed the blue ring.
All of these screenshots were taken at lunchtime. It took an hour and 15 minutes to get from the first to the last.
Comments
May I ask how you plan your exercise around travel days? I recently did a trip in Asia (from Sydney) that almost ruined my move streak but a long walk at Changi airport saved me with 15 min margin. Long flights over multiple time zones can make your goals hard to reach. Have yet to do a flight over the Pacific since I got my Apple Watch and that will definitely be a challenge with 14+ hour flights and -19 hour TZ-change.
Yes, of course you may ask. I have been flying across the Atlantic half a dozen times. Two of the flights were across nine times zones, the rest were six times zones. I do not sleep much on travel days, so I did not run into any problems. Going west makes for very long days. Reaching my goals on these days is actually quite easy. I start with a morning exercise before I leave, so my move and exercise goals are already in.
When going west, I usually do 200%. I try to sit on aisle seats, and I religiously get up once an hour. Going east, it is more difficult to reach the stand goal, but not the other two. I can make the exercise and move goals in about two hours. And I switch time zones in flight after reaching my stand goal.
