How to Work Out with Garmin

Overwhelmed at the thought of figuring out your next workout? Let Garmin do the work for you with workout options available right on your compatible smartwatch.

Even the most dedicated athlete will inevitably get stuck in a rut when trying to choose their next workout. And let’s be honest — we’ve all skipped one simply because we weren’t sure what to actually do. But if you’ve got a Garmin smartwatch on your wrist, there are truly no excuses. With that one purchase, whether you knew it or not, you received access to a wealth of workout options. All it takes is a flick of the wrist and a few taps on your compatible phone screen.

Workouts on the Garmin Connect™ App

When you purchase your Garmin smartwatch, you’ll be prompted to download the Garmin Connect app. (If you didn’t, no worries — you can do that here right now.) You can use this app for a one-stop shop to see all your body’s metrics, including your heart rate¹, Body Battery™ energy monitoring, stress score, steps taken, calories burned and even a sleep score that grades how well you slept the night before (assuming, of course, you wore your watch when you slept). But you can also use the app for so much more, including a wide array of pre-built workouts.

Simply tap the “More” icon at the bottom right-hand corner of your home screen in the Garmin Connect app and then select “Training & Planning” from the menu that pops up. Here you’ll have the option to click “Workouts,” which will take you to a screen that prompts you to choose whether you’d like to find a workout or create a workout. If you’re not feeling particularly creative, select “Find a Workout” and scroll through your many choices to start sweating. You can filter the selections by activity type, difficulty, muscle groups, goals and duration to choose the set of exercises that best fits your current mood.

Let’s say, for example, that you’ve just finished your lunch at the office and are struggling to stay awake for your late-afternoon meetings. If you’ve got 40 minutes to spare, you might consider the Mid-day Energy Boost — an intermediate, 40-minute yoga workout designed to wake you up. By selecting the workout, you can scroll down to see an overview of all the individual exercises that comprise it, starting with a mountain pose and ending with an easy seated pose and a one-minute prayer mudra.

Save the workout to bookmark it within the Garmin Connect app. You can then either complete it using your phone, or you can send it directly to your compatible device. Once your watch syncs with the app (just go back to the home screen in your app to check your device and ensure it’s synced), you can open the Sports App list on your watch and select the type of workout you downloaded (in this case, yoga) and select your downloaded workout. When you indicate that you’re ready, your watch will prompt you which exercise you should be doing and for how long. An animation on the screen of your compatible smartwatch will even demonstrate how to do the pose — so no worries if you aren’t sure what a prayer mudra is.

Feeling ready to take on all your afternoon meetings? If you loved the workout, you can leave it on your watch for easy access next time. If you weren’t a fan, you can delete it so that your favorites are easier to find when you want them.  

Creating Your Own Workout on the Garmin Connect App

Remember when you were faced with the option to either find a workout or create a workout? The above section focused on the premade workouts already waiting for you, but if you’re more interested in crafting your own, we’ve got a solution for you too. Under the “Create a Workout” option, you’ll have a choice of different types of activities to get you started. You can craft a swimming workout in the pool, a HIIT workout, a bike workout and more.

If you want to create a strength workout, for example, select “Pilates” and then choose from more than 1,600 exercises to create your warmup, workout and cooldown. You can add notes and save and download the workout just as you would have if it were a premade option.

Workout Widgets on Your Watch

You can use your Garmin smartwatch with any exercise you’re doing, not just the workouts you’ve downloaded and saved to your device. Perhaps you’re planning to hit the elliptical later or golf with some friends. By choosing the respective built-in activity type on your watch, you can track that workout and receive a detailed report of your body’s performance throughout the activity.

Don’t see your favorite activity types already loaded on your watch? No problem — not everyone likes the same sports. If, for example, you know you’ll never darken the door of a room with a stair-stepper but you plan to go bouldering and cross-country skiing often, you can add those preferred activities directly from your watch or within the Garmin Connect app.

Workouts for Wheelchair Users

If you are a full-time wheelchair user,  the new Garmin Venu® 3 comes preloaded with 31 workouts created by Adapt to Perform that also include animations for easy-to-understand instructions for completing each exercise. These can be found in the HIIT, cardio, strength, yoga and Pilates categories, as well as separate handcycling and push workouts (without animations).

Ready to start sweating? Click here to purchase your compatible Garmin smartwatch or here to download the Garmin Connect app.

¹See Garmin.com/ataccuracy