I am also having this trouble. The garmin watch is designed for triathletes but yet its pointless if it doesn't take into account my indoor rides. I purposefully rode with zwift to affect my training status and then it didn't even count it. My bike has a speed and cadence sensor plus I wore a heart rate monitor. All this information is there but it still won't work. This is very frustrating because this is the main reason I bought the watch!
What can I do to make my indoor rides with Zwift work towards my training status?
I am also having this trouble. The garmin watch is designed for triathletes but yet its pointless if it doesn't take into account my indoor rides. I purposefully rode with zwift to affect my training status and then it didn't even count it. My bike has a speed and cadence sensor plus I wore a heart rate monitor. All this information is there but it still won't work. This is very frustrating because this is the main reason I bought the watch!
What can I do to make my indoor rides with Zwift work towards my training status?
Can I still use Zwift?
Yes, but instead of importing the activity from Zwift, it has to come from the watch.
Do I need to add something to my bike?
I don't think so. HR data should be enough. I'm not sure if a power meter is required for TS.
This is a cray ommission by Garmin, very annoying, a bit like the Apple approach to not allowing integration.
I bought a Garmin Venu to monitor body battery and fitness, however becuase I don't use a Garmin bike computer, and I zwift a lot, then non of my ~15 hours per week training are actually considered by Garmin connect for battery, recover, FTP, VO2, etc..... you can import/link the platforms but Connect ingores the imported data which includes all the info Garmin need to use it (time, duration, power, HR, etc, etc).
This is a cray ommission by Garmin
It is not an omission, it is the matter of design and licensing. Garmin uses FirstBeat technology for calculating VO₂Max, Training Status, Body Battery, etc., and it is being done directly on the device, and not by the Garmin Connect app, or on the server. Hence, when the activity is not recorded by the Garmin device, it cannot be included in the results. Both beause physically it is being done only on the devce, and also because only the device has the license from FirstBeat to do so. Garmin has no right using FirstBeat algorithms on data coming from 3rd parties.
As tmk2 wrote, you have to use your Garmin device, regardless if you do the workout on Zwift, or not.