The watchOS 9 update hides several features for your Apple Watch that I didn’t even know existed that took my workout to another level

The Apple Watch has only been with us for eight years and has become an integral part of my sports routine. From reviewing the original Apple Watch (with a 10k run) to testing the latest Apple Watch Ultra Climb 1200 meters to the magical mountain of Montserratin Barcelona.

The value of wearing a computer on your wrist when you exercise It not only gives you information about the exercise, but also information about yourself. Knowing yourself means finding your limits and training to overcome them. For all these years, the Apple Watch has been that for me: a device that Beyond Technology, is a help and a reminder to keep going. Sometimes when I needed that nudge to get back to daily exercise.

However, it doesn’t matter how many years we’ve been using the Apple Watch. We’re always discovering something new, and Apple is constantly improving the operating system some features that may go unnoticed. While we wait for the little revolution that watchOS 10 could be at WWDC23 (you win!), let me give you some tricks to get the most out of the latest watchOS 9 news.

Sci-Fi features on the wrist

A few years ago it was unthinkable that a watch without additional accessories such as sensors or measuring tapes, could clarify some parameters of our exercises. With the latest watchOS 9 update, we have this pretty impressive news for its accuracy:

• vertical vibration: refers to the vertical displacement of your body with each step, measured in centimeters. When this oscillation is high, it may indicate that you are using a lot of energy to move up instead of forward. If it’s low, it could be a sign that you’re not generating enough energy with each step.
• Inseam: measures the distance you cover with each step when you run, in meters. A longer stride is generally associated with increased speed, but landing with your foot in front of your body may not be the most efficient form. A shorter stride length might be easier to maintain, but to increase speed you need to increase your cadence.
• Ground Contact Time (TCS): is the time each foot spends in contact with the ground during each step, measured in milliseconds. During this time, braking forces can slow you down. Keeping a short contact time allows you to spend energy more efficiently, which in turn improves your speed.
• Perfomance: It’s a measure of the intensity of the race and can give you an idea of ​​how much effort you’re putting into changing speed or incline. You can view running power as an individual metric or select a power training view to visualize your effort.

You can see and configure this information by clicking on the “three dots” located at the top right of a training session. there we press Training Views / Edit Views and we will be able to navigate through the different metrics screens. Any of these metrics can be moved, replaced with another, or added to a new one that does not appear in the original configuration by clicking the “pencil” button at the top right of each metric.

This type of data is interesting to know, for example, how we run and how we evolve by improving the TCS or vertical oscillation. External sensors were normally used for these measurements, but now we can have it all simply by putting on the Apple Watch at the wrist.

Pay attention to training views

During the exercise, it is important to choose what information to display. There are certain parameters that can be checked after the fact by the activity app itself, but if we want to correct or improve something, this is the case better to have it on screen while we train. These training views are fully configurable and we can choose between predefined screens, as interesting as these:

In the Training app, you can add a progress view of your activity rings during training by selecting “Include”. This feature is available for all workouts. To measure the altitude during your workout, the altimeter of the Apple Watch offers accurate readings that allow you to see your current altitude Real time.

Segments and split times help you monitor your progress as you exercise. Segments allow you to track different sections of your workout Partials help you control your tempo. Both metrics now have individual training views that can be easily viewed while training with the Digital Crown.

As I said before, its strength lies in the fact that we can configure each of these metrics that we see on the screen to our liking. For example, I prefer to show the metric “power” instead of “cadence”, which comes by default – to see if I’m running low or need to slow down a bit. Choose yours, but I encourage you to configure and customize these screens to make your Apple Watch and workouts more cohesive and complete.

Training Experiences: Go even further

Workout experiences are a more personal way to take advantage of every workout on Apple Watch, and it’s available now are more customizable than ever. To check them you just have to enter the “three dots” at the top right of each workout, where some of them will be suggested depending on how you use the Apple Watch.

For example, to improve your personal performance, you can use the track time trial feature This allows you to compare your times on the same track and “compete against yourself”. You can also create a custom workout that includes work and rest intervals, and add voice and haptic alerts to guide you through your run.

If you want to achieve a specific goal, you can choose the target pace workout and choose the target distance and time to finish. This way you get Speed ​​warnings during the race to help you reach your goal. Heart rate zones are also useful for monitoring the intensity of your workout and keeping it within your desired range.

If your training takes place on a running track, automatic running track detection uses data from Apple Maps and GPS to provide accurate information about distance, pace and the route map. You can also get lap alerts, complete custom workouts, and mark segments with great precision. Upon completion, you will receive an accurate map of your class in the iPhone Fitness app.

My advice: Set up Heart Zone alerts

Thanks to this customization, it is possible to activate something very useful in your training with the Apple Watch: the in-race alerts. This means we can set multiple values. I am among them all I recommend the Heart Rate Zones alerts. The way to do this is as follows:

• Training / Running (You can choose any sport) / “pencil” button in time (For example) / Click on “Alerts” and select “Heart rate”.

Here you can see the six zones in which this measurement is distributed, the colors indicate blue (looser) too red (more intense). Ideally we are in Zone 3 (in green color) for as much training as possible. These values ​​are calculated by the Apple Watch based on our physical condition Using the heart rate reserve method. These values ​​are automatically calculated on the first day of each month depending on your exercises on those days.

Once activated, the Apple Watch fully trains It will notify you when you are below or above the recommended zone by vibration and by voice, with Siri showing the exact dates. This is particularly useful because this is a parameter to monitor and with this alert we don’t even have to look at the clock to know if we should increase or decrease the intensity of our workout.

Of course, watchOS 9 supports many more settings, such as B. Creating custom workouts that allows us to further tailor the sport we practice to our tastes and needs. It never hurts to take care of yourself and enjoy working out with the Apple Watch, so start closing the rings and giving it your all – “summer of action” is already here!

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