Is there a way to set a stride length in the elliptical portion of workout for apple watch? My walking stride length that is calibrated on the apple watch is much shorter than my stride length on an elliptical.

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Level 1

9 points

Is there a way to set a stride length in the elliptical portion of workout for apple watch? My walking stride length that is calibrated on the apple watch is much shorter than my stride length on an elliptical.

Is there a way to set the stride length for ellipticals on the apple watch? I calibrated my apple watch to the way I walk outside, and I take much shorter strides walking outside than I do on my elliptical, which has a set stride length. I can't calibrate my watch to the longer stride length as I can't run outside taking those kinds of steps... it's getting fairly irritating to run more than 5 miles on my elliptical and have my watch say I've run 2.5 miles. And of course my calories are seriously low since it thinks I'm going such a short distance.

Apple Watch

Posted on Sep 5, 2015 2:48 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 6, 2015 4:29 AM in response to Cbshoe85

You are trying to compare Apples to oranges. Elliptical exercise distance or steps do not correlate directly to walking or running. When you say "....run more than 5 miles on my elliptical..." where are you getting this info? I'm guessing from the machine itself. It is just a motivation measurement to give you a relative idea of the amount of effort you have exerted and is NOT a direct reflection of the distance you would have covered if walking. Your elliptical is also adding in arm pull effort that is making the 'distance' higher.

Also you should have the Workout App set too Elliptical and not Indoor Running.

I'm a runnier and any runner has the similar 'problem' in that total number steps taken is much lower than if walking. So I have a total number of steps 'penalty' just like you are perceiving a distance 'penalty'.

Calories burned is the only metric that really counts and that can be directly correlated for different types of cardio exercises.

If you really want accurate milage along with cardio then you would need to run.

As for calories keep in mind Apple only counts Active calories while almost all other equipment adds in BMR calories too. Apple also has more metrics to calculate caloric burn and is likely more accurate than your machine.

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Answer 2

Cbshoe85 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 6, 2015 7:43 AM in response to William Julien2

Thanks for the reply. I am running using the elliptical portion of the workout app. My problem is not so much that the watch isn't reflecting my distance. It's that it doesn't seem to be measuring my calories right. Until a few weeks ago I had an elliptical that had a shorter stride length. I ran much faster on it so my wrist moved faster and I got what I assume was a pretty accurate caloric read. Now I have a much better elliptical with a longer stride length. I have to go slower on it since the stride is longer. If I walk outside for 40 minutes with my heart rate around 125-130 bpm, I get just as many calories burned as if I'd run on my elliptical for 40 minutes with my heartrate at 155-160 bpm. That's crap, basically. And it's driving me nuts. I have a torn meniscus and can't run outside right now so my only calibration is through walking. It just ses completely inaccurate for my purposes. I use ifit on my elliptical, which measures my heartrate, the steps taken and how long they were and how much resistance or incline I'm using. I'll end up burning 600 calories through ifit as opposed to 350 active calories and 100 resting calories on my apple watch. It doesn't make sense.

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Answer 3

G3gator

Level 3

596 points

Sep 6, 2015 9:22 AM in response to Cbshoe85

Has iFit been independently tested for accuracy?

The only comparisons I have are what the elliptical machines themselves say and the Apple Watch typically reads lower. But, I have no basis for determining which is correct.

George

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Answer 4

Cbshoe85 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 6, 2015 10:16 AM in response to G3gator

Ifit runs thrs through my elliptical so I would assume it's accurate as to what I'm doing on the elliptical. My irritation stems from the fact that I burn as many calories walking outside as I do running on an elliptical. I know that's not true because I most definitely lose weight faster running rather than walking. But the answer appears to be that the apple watch doesn't meaure distance correctly for ellipticals and it's calories are far lower than any other equipment I've ever used when it comes to ellipticals. So I bought an $800 watch that isn't really doing what I wanted it to do when it pertains to ellipticals. I burn more calories bouncing my toddler and walking through the grocery store rather than running up a 20 inch incline on my elliptical. Sigh.

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