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How to set LOWER active minutes goal?

Former Member
Former Member over 5 years ago

Have a chronic pain condition that limits activity and exertion, so the default "active minutes" goal set in the Connect Web app is too high for me.

However, when I try to edit the number below the setting of 150, I get an error message, telling me that the lowest acceptable value is 150.

Is there a workaround?  It's DE-motivating to have a goal set so high that it's out of reach.

C

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    Earning intensity minutes is quite personal thing, because it depends on your heart rate. So, we have several cases:

    1. If you lay on sofa - you will earn nothing. Resolution: start training or do more intensive job.

    2. If you are training and your heart rate is low during activity - either your activity was with low intensity or you are in good fitness condition and it may harder to earn intensity minutes. Resolution: 1) increase intensity of activity or 2) change intensity minutes from automatic to based on heart rate zones

    3. If you are training and your heart rate is medium-high during activity - you will easily earn intensity minutes and your intensity minutes goal should be increased instead of decreasing below 150.

    Also, please note:

    1. Intensity minutes goal is weekly, not daily.

    2. To earn intensity minutes your activity should last 10 minutes or longer.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I agree, this is a shortcoming of the dashboard.  In my past, 150 minutes would have been low, but now due to a change in health, 150 is unreachable.  Additionally, 10 straight minutes of activity can be excessive.  There should be no limit on duration of eligible activity, and no lower limit on the weekly goal minutes.  I guess the only workaround is to ignore the metric, because it's inappropriate for some people as designed.  Simply, the site fails to support those with a disability or health issue that prevents them from achieving the 150 minute target that might be appropriate for a healthy person.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to SBR Dude

    I'm sorry that your health has changed. And sorry, but I don't believe that you can't reach the minimum goal of 150 minutes (max 22 minutes per day) using the right settings. Because by tweaking the settings I can earn intensity minutes while drinking beer...

    You can try the following:

    1. Read here why 150 minutes is the minimum and also other useful information including how to change the calculation algorithm of intensity minutes and in which cases minutes can be earned too and which devices are supported.
    2. Change calculation algorithm of intensity minutes from Automatic to HR Zones as described on the page above.
    3. Validate and change your HR Zones if needed to proper values to reflect the reality.

    In case it does not help and/or you can't reach and overreach heart rate zone 1 for 22 minutes per day, then your motivation and personal goal should be to reach these requirements. Otherwise this metric is really not for you.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Digeridoo

    But I'm not interested in re-calibrating the intensity setting to correlate to a lower heart rate.  I'd like to track moderate intensity minutes and set a low minutes goal.  I don't care what WHO says the general goal should be, it's not pertinent in my case.  If I attempted 150 minutes of moderate exercise, my body could easily deliver it, but I'd end up causing myself terrible harm in the following weeks and months.  Rather, I'd like to set a nominal goal of around 10-15 minutes spread throughout the week.  Because the site doesn't accommodate my needs, a metric which could be helpful to me is rendered useless.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to SBR Dude

    It is silly that the lowest goal is 150. There is no technical reason for Garmin to set any limitation on the goal. Except for an upper limit and maybe also avoid 0 since that might cause issues in the system.

    I suggest that you talk to Garmin about it. 

    The formal way is to send them a suggestion here: https://www.garmin.com/forms/ideas/ 

    But in this case I would also contact support and see if they could escalate this request a bit faster: https://support.garmin.com/

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to SBR Dude

    Again, if you can't reach 22 intensity minutes per day today, but it is possible to increase the load gradually and reach the target within a year (for example), then just do it and make your main goal to reach these requirements.

    If you can't reach it neither today nor within this year or next, then you can try accept that fact that some metrics are not for you (like VOmax, since it requires activities longer 10 minutes) or:

    1. Tweak intensity minutes.
    2. Propose your idea to Garmin - www.garmin.com/.../.