I revisited the strength workouts for the first time in a years and these are the major issues I found:
1. Scale from benchmark is USELESS as currently implemented because it spits out weight you can't load on a barbell. For example, nobody can realistically load 212.4 pounds on a barbell because the smallest plate found in most gyms is 2.5lbs. You should the calculate the scaled weight making sure it can be set on the bar using 45,25,10,5, and 2.5lbs plates (or whatever the kg people use). For bonus points, provide a configuration option that allows you to set which plates you have available, as some people have 35 and 55 lbs plates, as well as change plates.
2. Give us a simple text field to enter in weight and reps. Having 4 columns that we have to scroll through to make a number is super tedious and bad very bad UX.
3. Provide a dedicated lbs/kgs setting to cover the units used in strength workouts. Right now, the main metric/statute setting for the Garmin Connect app governs the unit of weight in strength workouts but all of Canada likely uses metric for tracking distance, but lbs for weight. For me, it's probably easier to convert over to miles for distance rather than lbs for strength but I shouldn't have to choose one compromise or the other.
As a general note, I really wish Garmin would put more effort into getting Strength training right. Strength training is a huge part of fitness, even for those mostly in endurance sport. I basically still need to keep an Apple Watch for this purpose. I suspect many other people feel do the same.
This is a "build it and they will come" situation and could be another advantage for Garmin if they would take the time to implement it correctly. You've had years to address the lousy strength functionality and you're spending your time in the wrong place. Most of us don't need body heat maps, or automatic exercise detection, or even automatic rep counting, which isn't flawless. Get the main thing right before worrying about these extras. Make it easy to create and track your strength workouts.
The apps available on Apple Watch are way better but all require subscriptions. If you want a good strength app to compare to, look at Strong on the Apple Watch and the app used to configure the workouts. It's lightyears ahead of Garmin connect and is an example of strength done well.
