Apple Watch "Activity" and "Activity Rings" do not record proper time or calories

That's all setup correctly. Pretty lame that Apple's poor programming over-rode my workout. I wasn't still for even a second and my heart rate was up. It also tells me my VO2 max is 31 and "below average", if that were true even thinking about standing up should get me into a zone that qualifies as "exercise". How can I be both way below average in cardio vascular fitness and able to go for a jog up and down hills and not get a heart rate high enough to qualify as a "brisk walk".

That's all good and well for auto-detecting but if you are doing a workout and you're moving it should not over-ride and say it's not a workout.

"Every full minute of movement that equals or exceeds the intensity of a brisk walk will count towards your daily Exercise and Move goals. With Apple Watch Series 3 or later, your cardio fitness levels are used to determine what is brisk for you. For wheelchair users, this is measured in brisk pushes. Any activity below this level will only count towards your daily Move goal.

To make sure you earn Exercise credit during walks, allow the arm you're wearing your Apple Watch on to swing naturally. For example, while walking your pet, let the arm with your watch on swing freely and hold the lead in the hand on your other arm.

If you need both hands while walking, for example to push a pushchair, you can still earn Exercise credit with the Workout app. Open the app on your Apple Watch and tap Outdoor Walk. The Activity app relies on arm motion and an accelerometer to track movement, but the Workout app can use the accelerometer, the heart rate sensor and GPS."

As for walking or running outside for 20 minutes, I do that almost every single day and the watch now has more than a month of data for that.

Will try resetting the calibration data.

Note: For some reason the "move calories" in the activity ring in Apple Health and on the watch are correct, just the exercise minutes are not.