Up next in 10
With New Years Resolutions of getting in shape just around the corner, you probably need something to keep you going to make a difference. Whether you're motivated by the gamified nature of the Apple Watch or by the competition with a friend, the Apple Watch can be the perfect companion to keep you on track and building your fitness.
Don't make excuses, don't fall behind. Start Closing Your Rings in 2020.
More from Cult of Mac @ https://www.cultofmac.com
Follow Ian!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ianfuchs
Instagram: https://instagram.com/enfoxxx
Follow Cult of Mac!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cultofmac
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cultofmac
Instagram: https://instagram.com/cultofmac/
#CloseYourRings #AppleWatch #CultOfMac
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
What's going on everybody
0:07
Ian here for Goathe of Mac. And I've been a pretty devout Apple Watch wearer since the original came out back in 2015
0:13
And when I see devout, I mean, I don't think a single day has gone by where I didn't have
0:16
my Apple Watch on my wrist. And in that time, I've kind of found that fitness tracking is the main reason to wear an Apple
0:23
watch for me. Your reasons may be different and that's fine, but fitness tracking is definitely a big part of it
0:29
And then nearly every single day since getting the Apple Watch, I've tried to close my activity rings
0:34
It's become a bit of an obsession. The challenge to myself was basically close all three rings every day
0:40
And for the last 1,100 plus days, I've done that. So like I said, it's a bit of an obsession
0:47
Now to maintain a streak like I have, takes some self-awareness and a little bit of focus
0:52
but it also takes setting your move goal kind of at that perfect level. If you make it too easy, you get bored, you don't stick with it
0:58
If you make it too hard, the chat. The challenge becomes something that you can't keep up with and you give up on it
1:03
Now since two-thirds of the activity goals are things that are pre-set for you, the 30 minutes
1:07
of exercise and the 12 stand hours, the trick is to set that third ring, the move ring
1:12
to something that's not too easy but also not too hard. Now ideally you want to set your move goal to be equal to the number of calories you'd burn
1:21
in a 30-minute exercise of your choice so that if you go out and you do your walk, your
1:26
run, your jog, your bike ride, your whatever it is, you're going to be able to be able to going to hit your move goal just by completing your exercise goal
1:33
And it a kind of thing that can really motivate you to stick with your fitness routine because all you have to do is make that 30 minutes a dedicated time to hit your calorie goal and your exercise goal closing two of your rings and then stand up a bunch during the day and you pretty well good
1:48
Finding the right balance of calorie goal is a little bit more challenging, but the watch
1:52
does have some pretty good baselines, like I said, and then each week it will also prompt
1:56
you to update your move goal. For me, for the last three-ish years, I've been setting my move
2:01
goal at five to 650 calories depending on the week and that's been pretty maintainable
2:07
but it's been way short of what the watch continues to push me to do. Instead of taking their
2:12
watch's suggestion of bumping up to 700 or 800 or 1,000 calories per day, I've kept my goal
2:19
fairly low and just ignored those suggestions because it's something that I know that I can
2:23
maintain and for me, maintaining a consistent activity level is way more important than ratcheting up
2:29
how hard I have to work each week until it becomes something that I literally can't do in a day
2:35
And we've covered it before on Cult of Mac. The watch gets really aggressive pretty quickly about turning up that calorie goal to something
2:41
that you really just can't do in a single day unless you're spending the entire day at the gym
2:47
Now, setting your move goal can be super helpful in your overall fitness journey
2:51
Some people need that extra little push, that extra something to get them going
2:55
And sometimes the easiest way to do that is to compete with somebody else. And in watchOS 5 and still in watchOS 6, Apple has added the ability to compete with your friends or family in the activity app or through the activity app on your Apple Watch
3:09
And this gives a human element to the competition meaning that you and a friend are competing to earn points based on your overall physical activity These 70 challenges are a great way to add some extra motivation And for me they the nudge to really do a little bit more than what my normal week would have in it
3:25
Just as something to compete with a friend and try to beat them out in a peer-peer-peer challenge
3:30
which can be really extra motivating. The activity challenges are based on a point system where you basically earn points for each exercise minute, stand hour
3:39
and percentage of your overall move goal completed. There's also a 600 point per day maximum
3:44
Now, if you're gonna compete with a friend, it is worth probably setting your move goals
3:47
to be the same or very similar because like I said, that percentage of your move goal thing
3:52
can really make a huge difference when you're competing. If your friend's calorie goal is 300 and yours is 500, you have to effectively do 40% more
4:00
work than them to get the exact same score. Now, regardless of whether you're competing against your friends or just competing against
4:06
yourself, once you've found that sweet spot on your move ring, it's kind of fun to get
4:11
a little bit more adventurous. And there are a couple ways you can go about doing that. First, you could just turn up your move goal to something a little more challenging
4:19
Now, I do this occasionally where I'll bump my calories up to 7, 800, maybe even 1,000
4:25
just to see what it's like. And most of the time, I find it more stressful than anything else
4:29
Because, again, I have that long streak. I want to maintain that long streak. So I'm more worried about losing that streak by cranking up my goal
4:36
So maybe I'm just being a little conservative, but I do find it a little more anxiety-inducing
4:41
than anything else. turn up that move goal. Now alternatively, you could try to hit those two and three hundred
4:48
percent challenges, meaning that instead of cranking up your move goal to a thousand from 500
4:54
instead keep it at 500 but strive for a thousand to get that 200 percent award or do a new exercise that really stretches out what you capable of or what you used to doing to explore different avenues of fitness to change things up instead of just
5:09
cranking up the overall calories. Now, if you're competing with a friend, that 200% thing is also still really useful because
5:15
that means you're going to bank an extra 100 points in your competition, which is really
5:19
going to help you get to that 600 points quicker. You can also bank extra points by doing extra exercise minutes
5:24
So for every additional minute, it's another three points. And you can get more points for more stand hours, though you're limited by the number of hours in the day
5:33
Now, ultimately, none of this means anything if you're not going to actually put the effort in
5:38
The key is to understand yourself. You need to know what motivates you, how to push yourself, what your limits are, what you have available for time
5:46
and how all of that kind of works together to allow you to use the tools built into your phone
5:51
built into your watch, built into the app store, to reach your. fitness goals. And if getting fit is something on your to-do list for 2020 or 2021 or whatever
5:59
year you're watching this in, it's one of those things where you have to be the one to put
6:04
in the effort to get to your goals. Let me know what you guys think in the comments down below
6:09
And while you're down there, also let me know what your move goal is set to if that's something
6:13
you're comfortable sharing. And let's maybe find a way we can all compete with one another
6:17
in 2020. Also be sure you're subscribed to the channel. Give the video a thumbs up if you enjoyed
6:22
And until next time, I mean for Cultive Mac. I'll see you next one
Fitness
Weight Loss
Consumer Electronics
Science
Fitness Equipment & Accessories
Fitness Instruction & Personal Training
Self-Help & Motivational