Custom naming workouts/walks

[tupipuffin]

Hi all,

So, first off, loving my Ionic after upgrading from a Jawbone which was initially bought for sleep tracking, but quickly left me wanting more, although at the time no other trackers seemed "right".  Having fun!

Anyway: having finally figured out how use GPS on walks, I'm curious if there is a way to add a custom name to something.  I can see how to switch what type of workout it was, and on the website how to change things that aren't GPS-based.  Is it not possible, or am I missing something?

My "walks" range from normal ones at a naturally fast speed, to birdwatching/photography trips that cover a lot of ground but sometimes see me stop and slow down a lot... to taking a group of llamas around a hilly park where the pace can be "slow" but effort is sometimes required to keep the animals anchored in a straight line and on-track, particularly if they see a tempting scratching post.  Although not critical, it would be nice to specify which subtype of walk it was.  Suggestions?

[Julia_G]

Hi, @tupipuffin, if you "track" an activity using your Ionic, you can rename any activitiy that you track using the "workout" exercise shortcut.  Using "workout" you will get a record of steps, calories, and active minutes, as well as a graph of your heartrate,  You can rename any activity tracked as "workout" to any activity you choose (for example, "Tuesday Birdwatching" or "Photograhy Stroll" or anything you like.

The limitations are:

-- The activity must be tracked using workout mode (if you track using "hike" or "walk" or any other built in activity you cannot rename; only "workout" is designed for renaming.

-- You will not get GPS using workout mode, so no map of your activity.

-- If you are using your app, you can ONLY rename activities that you have previously created on the web-based program.  You cannot create custom activities on the app, but once created you can USE them on the app.

I hope this helps (and makes sense).  Please post again if you need more information about this.  There is always someone here to help.

[tupipuffin]

Thank you for the response.  Drat, I really wanted to be able to use GPS -- among other reasons I imagine the maps would look kind of funny on the bird trips as a result of chasing them around (haha).  Oh well, guess I'll have to pick and choose.  It would be nice if Fitbit added a bit more flexibility in naming or categorizing things...

[Colinm39]

@Julia_GGreat post.... Thanks, and for those who read it I would be highlighting that You must create the naming in advance if you are relying on your phone to edit the name. We know you can rename a Workout on the PC because it prompts you to create a Custom Activity when you edit the workout.

You got my vote...because I'm about to embark on using Exercise Bands and tubes and I wanted to record the effort.. Well done

[Julia_G]

@Colinm39, I'm glad that helped, and thanks for your added emphasis concerning creating the name first on the web based dashboard.

[WavyDavey]

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@Colinm39 wrote:

@Julia_GGreat post.... Thanks, and for those who read it I would be highlighting that You must create the naming in advance if you are relying on your phone to edit the name. We know you can rename a Workout on the PC because it prompts you to create a Custom Activity when you edit the workout.

You got my vote...because I'm about to embark on using Exercise Bands and tubes and I wanted to record the effort.. Well done

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I'm not sure if it's just me, but I have to create the naming in advance even on Windows 10 app.

I edit a Weights workout (done in exercise mode) with the pencil icon.
A screen pops up with the activity and times, etc.

I select the Weights category that was tracked, and get a search box with some of the modes listed below. But I don't see anywhere to add a new activity name at that place.

Can you show me where it lets you create a new naming for the exercise within the Win10 app? Because it would save me the step of deciding the naming ahead of time.

Didn't mean to detract from the original answer. Just need clarification on this point.

[Colinm39]

@WavyDaveyI'm sure it's the same in every App... I use the Workout option, then sync, then edit it in the PC  Activity Log and change the name to the Activity I require.

From then on it's available in the App. I just edited a Workout in the App and it gave me all of the Custom Activity I needed from a previous edit on the PC.

Great feature because I'm now using Workout for Exercise Bands and Gardening.. Rather than get the auto detect exercises. On a test yesterday I got Running for weeding, pruning and walking.. Spring here.  When they had Sport, I used to get that in Auto detect, and in thinking about it, I was sweeping, pruning and mowing..  So I was probably assimilating Field Hockey..

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@WavyDavey wrote:

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@Colinm39 wrote:

@Julia_GGreat post.... Thanks, and for those who read it I would be highlighting that You must create the naming in advance if you are relying on your phone to edit the name. We know you can rename a Workout on the PC because it prompts you to create a Custom Activity when you edit the workout.

You got my vote...because I'm about to embark on using Exercise Bands and tubes and I wanted to record the effort.. Well done

---

I'm not sure if it's just me, but I have to create the naming in advance even on Windows 10 app.

I edit a Weights workout (done in exercise mode) with the pencil icon.
A screen pops up with the activity and times, etc.

I select the Weights category that was tracked, and get a search box with some of the modes listed below. But I don't see anywhere to add a new activity name at that place.

Can you show me where it lets you create a new naming for the exercise within the Win10 app? Because it would save me the step of deciding the naming ahead of time.

Didn't mean to detract from the original answer. Just need clarification on this point.

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[WavyDavey]

@Colinm39, there are lots of differences in the apps. For instance, if you select an activity in the android app, there's not even a pencil icon to edit anything. I've verified with a moderator that this difference exists between android and windows app, though no one is sure why this is.

Here are screenshots from me trying the process you outlined with the Windows 10 app.

1. Select pencil icon on exercise on activity list, which brings up Edit Exercise.

2. Select the Weights field, which brings up this edit window. You can either search or select one of the listed exercises below the search.

 

3. Adding a new activity here just ends up with no results.

What I am missing is the piece where you can add a new activity on these screens. For me, it only allows selection of an exercise that has already been named when editing. What am I doing wrong?

[Julia_G]

@WavyDavey, see my post above.  You cannot ADD a custom actvity in any of the apps. You can only do it in your web based dashboard (under activity logs).  However, once you have created your activity there, it will be available for you to USE (select) in your app.  I believe this is true for all the apps.

[SPGmd]

I can not figure out how to get "walks" as a workout option (only runs). How do I get walks in my list of exercises?

-spg

[SPGmd]

oops, never mind figured it out.

[Colinm39]

@SPGmdYou can only edit a Workout with a known name already in your Custom Activities in your PC Activity Log. 

When you try to edit Workout and enter walks (plural) and log it you will prompted for "Please enter an activity type"(Android.... That's the flag that suggests you edit the Workout via the PC Activty log and in your case, will be prompted to create "Walks" as a Custom Activity.

Then you will be able to edit Workouts in your phone Exercise Tile.

@Julia_G@WavyDavey  to add to our dialogue.

[PeteG-1]

Hopefully I'm not necro-posting, but I sure can't figure this out.

To be honest, I didn't even realize there was a (most full-featured, impressive) web-based dashboard, until I found this thread yesterday, I'd used app-based changes (PC, phone, tablet) until now.

I do wonder about the feature-parity issue, surely at some point it's going to be tough for them to keep a zillion branches of the primary code, but maybe I'm being too practical here...

Using this thread, I did manage to "create" a couple of custom exercises, but I can't actually do anything with them, such as importing them into my "list of 8", for example.

I'm mostly trying to create a non-GPS and GPS versions of cycling and walk/hiking, because if I go out for a 70mi ride, the GPS is almost impractical, in terms of battery, I'd be lucky to get 1-1.5 days, so I prefer to just track my HR for longer rides/treks (my Suunto feeds my Strava data anyway, and has a much bigger battery, I can log a weeks' worth of data, usually).

Perhaps I'm missing something?  

I created (i.e. renamed) a "Ride" activity to "Ride_NoGPS", and now can view it, on both the web-base or app-based views.

But, I can't add it (I removed one of my 8, so I'm at 7 exercises currently), it's simply not in my list of available exercises to select?

Yeah, I know I can simply turn off the GPS, but it's not always a great "method", say if the group is starting to pedal, and I'm "fiddling" with selecting the right mode, going to Settings->GPS-Off, and then back to start the activity, it's pretty clumsy.  I'd much rather just select a secondary, non-GPS mode, for each.

[Colinm39]

@PeteG-1Unfortunately Custom Activities never become part of our preset exercise activities and are those that we may use for Activities we cannot auto detect or use the Exercise feature.  The downside is that any stepping activity with a manual activity does not go towards any challenges etc.

The positive side is, that in my earlier post we use the Exercise mode "Workout" for any odd activity not covered, or an activity we need to track and know what it was afterwards.  It can't have GPS....... We then rename the Workout later to one of the Custom Activities.  That doesn't affect you challenges etc..but you will have an activity with a name that suits you.

I'm using the "Workout" for the mundane task of tracking missing steps while using a shopping trolley or pushing a wheelchair.. Works well, because I use that in tandem with my Fitbit One and Zip. . and don't lose steps after the multi Fitbit sync.

[PeteG-1]

Gotcha', that's more or less the conclusion I was drawing, even though I was hoping otherwise.

I was going off the post a couple of threads ago: "However, once you have created your activity there, it will be available for you to USE (select) in your app."

This sure made me think that I'd be able to use my "custom activity", once I'd done the "phoney create", through the rename process.  I think they were just trying to say that you could re-use it, when renaming things, post-workout?

Thanks though, for straightening it out, even though I can't close/customize (yet anyway).