Can I disable hand detection for fitness app only?

Hey there!

I am currently using the Watch SE2 + iPhone 13 Mini setup.

Part of the reason I purchased my watch was to use it for my activity tracking and it works just fine. There is but an issue I have and perhaps there is a better solution than the one I'm using.

So I am a semi-pro volleyball player, training ca. 6 times a week. While the watch offers a perfect solution for gym/weightlifting training, it is not usable on the court (not only having anything on your wrists is out of the question but even moving it to your upper arm exposes it to damage in case of falls, which are not that rare).

Me and my teammates got ourselves those heart monitors you can put on your upper arm, they work just fine, and I can easily connect them to apps like Strava.

However - and here comes the question:

I'd very much prefer to use Apple's fitness app instead of any third-party one. I like having all my workouts in the same place. In the fitness app (I'm talking about the Watch's fitness app) there is even a specific volleyball workout. So I figured out that when I connect my sensor to my watch, it measures HR even if I hold my watch in my hand.

Optimally I would like to start my workout on my watch, leave it on the bench and use the HR monitor on my upper arm. However, every time I put my watch on the bench, it auto-pauses the training due to wrist detection.

So, I see two potential solutions:

• is it possible to initiate a workout directly from the fitness app on my phone, rather than on my watch (please bear in mind that Fitness+ is not available in my country)?
• if not, is it possible to turn off this auto-pause function on the watch (one that pauses every time I take it off my wrist)?

The best solution I figured out myself is to turn off wrist detection globally before every workout, and turn it on afterwards, but that's hardly a comfortable one.

I'll be extremely thankful for any tips!

All the best,

Piotr