When I rejoined the Apple Watch club last year – after 4 years without wearing a watch of any kind – my son warned me not to become “a slave to closing your daily fitness rings”. He knew that I can be a goal-oriented fanatic and closing one’s daily rings can be addictive.
How right he was …
I was off to the races soon after writing a post about evolving my daily activity measurement from simple “steps per day” to closing these three rings: 600 calories of movement, 30 minutes of brisk exercise, and 12x standing each day.
Related: Fire Fitness Goals Evolving (February 2020)
Overall, I make time for what I need to do to close the rings each day without too much trouble. (I don’t have a job after all!). Still, there are a few days that have been difficult … board meeting days, long travel days sitting in the car, or family holidays when the last thing you want to do is squeeze in a quick workout.
Injury or sickness might have brought a quick end to the ring madness, but thankfully I’ve stayed healthy this whole time. No flu, no COVID, and no softball/tennis injuries. I picked up the Apple Watch after my heart attack as a way to stay healthy, so I guess it’s working in that sense.
After completing the first 12 months, I’ve continued to close rings for another ~40 days as of yesterday. February & March – so far, so good.
How are you doing on your fitness goals since the pandemic started? Still working on any health-related New Year’s resolutions?
Image Credit: MrFireStation’s iPhone!
MrFireStation 
My goal is 70,000 steps a week. So far for the year I am 39,000 steps behind pace. Which I believe I can easily make up. The goal has motivated me to take an after dinner walk most nights which I’ve started to love.
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That’s a great goal, Laura – I love a good after dinner walk in the evening! Before the Apple Watch fitness rings, I used to focus purely on steps – 12K/day average. I still get in 10K/day or 70K/week, even though I don’t key on it anymore.
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After I discovered 10K-steps-a-day was totally made up (to provide a cool name in Japanese for the first electronic pedometer decades ago), I stopped counting. But the Three Rings are just plain fun too close. I’m 705 days — and counting!
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Wow! You’ve closed rings for almost 2 full years? That’s amazing.
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I’m definitely slacking off … closing all 3 rings about half the time. My move goal is set to 740cal. If I lower it to 600cal then maybe … .
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My wife said she lowered her ‘Move’ goal a few weeks ago after she had an injury. 740 is pretty high – it’s probably better to lower it and close your rings than have a goal that is a bit too high.
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I target between 7-8K steps a day. Much more practical and I don’t feel horrible when I have a day that yields only 3K steps. My only fitness goal for 2021 is to do push ups every day. I don’t do a tremendous amount, but try to get one or two sessions in with 30 reps a piece. I just added it to my reminders and every day my phone will tell me to “do pushups” and eventually I find the time to do so.
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Wow – 60 push ups a day certainly seems like a lot to me! My son and I had a push up challenge month when he moved home for COVID and I topped out at about 40 a day. 60 seems great!
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I’m like you, goal oriented. My problem is that I have a hernia that needs repair, not urgent but bothersome. I had the tear last May and due to Covid-19 no surgery. I have a dog that loves to walk and it is a rare day that I don’t have 12,000 to 14,000 steps. My challenge is going up and down stairs or steep slopes.
I close out rings about half the time but close out standing part of 12 hours per day always and calories 90% of the time. Exercise ring is the toughest due to my injury.
What is most bothersome is standing without moving say shopping at Target with wife, or multiple times getting in and out of her Honda CRZ which is low slung.
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Sorry to hear what a challenge slopes are for you. At least you are getting a lot of steps – that counts for something. I agree that the green exercise ring is often the toughest to close each day. At home, I have a hilly walking route around our nearby lake that gets the job done, but you are right that shopping gets you very little. We’ve been walking beaches in Florida and that doesn’t yield much exercise either – too flat.
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