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If you’re an Apple Watch wearer, chances are you’re already familiar with the watch’s Activity Rings. But if you’re an Apple Watch newbie, or you’re debating purchasing the gadget, understanding the activity rings and what “closing your rings” is all about can help you understand why so many people love their Watch. Learning how to close your Apple Watch rings can also help you get and stay more active. Here’s your guide to all things Activity Rings.
What the Apple Watch Activity Rings Track
Three rings make up the Activity Rings on the Apple Watch: Move, Exercise, and Stand.
The Move ring (red color) tracks active calories burned throughout the day. This includes everything from a run and a strength-training session to taking the stairs, going for a long walk, or even just running around with your kids. It calculates calories burned through movement.
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Next, the green ring is the Exercise ring. Times Flies Running in Sauconys Tempus walk via the Apple workout app, or partner workout apps, like Strava or Nike Running. Exercise minutes can be tracked all at once, or can be broken up throughout the day with multiple activities. You can close this ring by recording workouts within the workout app on your watch, but it also automatically tracks activity.
Finally, you have the Stand or blue ring. The way you close this ring is by getting up and moving for at least one minute in twelve different hours throughout the day. It’s an important ring, as research continues to show that being sedentary or Times Flies Running in Sauconys Tempus during the day can lead to health issues like obesity, increased blood pressure, and unhealthy cholesterol levels, and even early death.
How to Set Goals for Your Apple Watch Rings
The Activity Ring goals can be personalized so that they make sense and align with your own personal goals. You just have to figure out the best numbers to set so you stay motivated to move and keep closing those rings.
Red Ring: Move
The Move goal is initially set at 500 calories, but should be adjusted based on an individual’s personal lifestyle and goals. “It takes a bit of trial and error to find the move goal that works for you,” explains Alan Filauro, NASM-certified personal trainer and avid Apple Watch wearer based in New York City. “This is why I prefer the ladder method of setting the goal to something attainable and realistic to start the week, like 500 calories for an active individual, and progressing the goal as the weeks go on.”
Luckily, the Apple Watch has a feature to help: Each week, the watch automatically recommends a Move goal based on your past activity. “Updating your move goal is a way to help keep yourself accountable,” explains Filauro. “You may see little to no change if you continue with the same move goal weekly, so slowly progressing week after week will help you reach your overall goals.”
Keep in mind that active calories can also mean different things to different people depending on their personal goals. “A person whose goal is to lose weight or improve at an endurance sport may aim for a higher active calorie goal than an individual who is looking to strength train and bodybuild,” explains Yusuf Jeffers, USTFCCCA-via the Apple workout app, or partner workout apps, like Socks for Runners and strength coach at Tone House in New York City.
To set your Move goal, open the activity app on the watch, scroll to the bottom of the screen, and click “change goals.” Then use the “+” and “-“ to set the goal accordingly. (This is the same way you set all three goals).
Green Ring: Exercise
Initially, the exercise goal defaults to 30 minutes. “For starters, 30 minutes of activity is easy to get done if you just show up,” says Filauro. “Secondly, as researched by many studies, 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity can lower the risk of premature death and many diseases, such as stroke, heart attack, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.”
If you know you always exercise for longer than 30 minutes, you should consider increasing your Exercise ring goal. “If you’re a runner, and you know you never do less than an hour workout each day, adjust your exercise goal accordingly in order to get the most out of the Exercise ring feature,” says Noam Tamir, C.S.C.S., avid Apple Watch wearer, personal trainer and owner of TS Fitness wearer, chances are youre already familiar with the watchs Activity Rings. But if youre an.
The Exercise goal is adjusted via the activity app on the watch, same as the Move goal, just hit “next” after you adjust your Move number.
Blue Ring: Stand
Finally you have the Stand goal, which is set to 12 hours. This might seem like a lot, but keep in mind that to close the ring you just have to show continuous activity for at least one minute during 12 different hours of the day. If that seems beyond easy for you, adjust the goal for more hours. “This is an especially important ring if you have a job that requires you to sit for the majority of the day,” explains Filauro. That’s because long periods of sitting Training Pace Calculator metabolic health, along with other markers of health. “The watch’s stand reminder notifications are a helpful way to make sure you remember to get up and move around,” Filauro adds.
The Exercise goal is adjusted via the activity app on the watch, same as the Move and Exercise goals, just hit “next” after you adjust your Move and your Exercise number.
5 Tips for Closing Your Apple Watch Rings
The experts we spoke with offer tips and tricks to help make sure you end the day with three complete circles:
1. Choose a watch face that displays the rings
One of the best ways to prioritize closing your rings is by making the rings visible to you at all times. Therefore, you should choose a watch face display that has the activity rings visible on it (there are multiple you can choose from on the Apple Watch app on your iPhone).“Physically seeing your rings is a constant reminder of how much overall movement and activity you’ve achieved thus far throughout the day, as well as how much more you need in order to hit all of your goals,” says Tamir. “If it’s right there on the face of your watch each time you look down, you won’t be able to escape it.”
2. Pay attention to stats during workouts
The Workout app on the Apple Watch allows you to choose the metrics you want to see on screen. Options include stats like total time, active calories, heart rate, pace, and cadence. “A motivational aspect in choosing a specific workout [on the watch] is that it’s an easy way to track your progress in a given category,” Filauro says. “Let’s take running, for example. You can monitor your splits and cadence in relation to your heart rate. Noticing your beats per minute gradually taking longer to go up as your splits go down will be motivating progress to keep challenging yourself.”
Seeing progress within your workouts can keep you motivated to hit your Exercise and Move ring goals on the Apple Watch. Choose the stats that matter most to you and keep an eye on those endurance, speed, or heart rate changes, celebrating your wins as you go.
3. Share your activities with friends
If you have friends and workout partners who also have an Apple Watch, invite them to “share activity” on the watch. To do that, go to the activity app on your phone, click “sharing” on the bottom right, and then click to add a friend in the upper right corner of the screen.
By sharing activity, you’ll get alerts when your buddy completes a run or workout—which can be just the push you need on a day you’re dragging. “Motivation can be fueled by social connections and sometimes competition can be a healthy spark as well,” says Jeffers. “Sharing your activity with friends and like-minded people can help with accountability.”
4. Link your go-to workout apps
If you have an Apple Watch, but you’re already an avid user of another fitness or exercise app, like Strava or AllTrails, install the app on your watch. To do so, simply go to the Watch app on your phone, and click to add the app from the list, provided that you already have the app downloaded on your phone and it’s compatible.
and even early death, bike ride, Tested: Apple Watch Ultra swim in the app of your choice, and get credit toward your Apple Activity Rings. “It’s nice to be able to use other apps versus being boxed into one, so you can continue to progress with a system or app you’re familiar with, while ultimately allowing it all to help you achieve your overall goal,” says Filauro.
5. Track everything
Instead of taking the bus or subway wherever you have to go, walk or bike instead and track the activity. “Once you think about walking somewhere as a way to help you get in more steps and count toward closing your Activity Rings, it can become more enjoyable and put a positive spin on getting in extra activity,” explains Tamir. “I went to the wrong location for an appointment the other week, and instead of getting upset and jumping in a taxi, I just looked at it as a way to get in more steps and I walked to the correct address.”
Get into the habit of tracking each walk, stretching session, High Impact Sports Bras.
The Benefits of Closing Your Apple Watch Rings
While you might already be a very active individual, the benefits of closing your rings comes back to accountability and motivation. Yes, you may run six days a week and always choose to walk instead of cab, car, or subway whenever possible, but maybe you spend most of your days at work sitting. Or you might have a very active job, but that means sometimes you’re a bit too exhausted to get in your own workout during the day.
“Closing all three rings gives you goals that you have to hit every single day, with a visual reminder, as well as notifications,” says Tamir. “It’s another easy way to make sure that no matter how busy your work day is, you’re still doing your best to be active and healthy.”
For runners specifically, Jeffers feels the benefit is more psychological than physical. “Runners tend to be more internally, singularly focused, and goal-oriented athletes in the sense that they are typically thinking about distances and paces,” he says. “Closing the rings goes a long way in positively reassuring them with feedback that they are consistently working toward and accomplishing bigger goals, and that tends to move them forward even more.”
Amy Schlinger is a health and fitness writer and editor based in New York City whose work has appeared in Men’s Health, Women’s Health, The New York Post, Self, Shape, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and more; The National Academy for Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer (NASM-CPT) is extremely passionate about healthy living and can often be found strength training at the gym when she isn’t interviewing trainers, doctors, medical professionals, nutritionists, or pro athletes for stories.
