Lesser Known Apple Watch Workouts

*You might be doing a lot more than your Apple Watch is giving you credit for…*

I have been wearing my Apple Watch for years to track my steps and workouts. As a result, I have logged millions of steps and hundreds of cycling & strength training exercises to date. And for those types of activities, the Apple Watch shines. It has dozens of workout options ranging from outdoor runs and traditional strength training to archery, fitness gaming, and tai chi.

But what was missing were workouts that captured the true milieu of what happens during a life, tasks that we humbly perform each day that don't get the credit for helping us close our rings that they deserve.

The project started in early August and became a running collection of posts titled "Lesser known Apple Watch Workouts." This post is a collection of the first (but not the last) series of lesser-known Apple Watch workouts. Enjoy.

Outrunning a Swarm of Bees

Now you might be thinking that this sounds an awful lot like a typical outdoor run, but what separates this workout from your basic run is panic. Panic that has you stumbling and confused about which way to escape, because remember, there's a swarm of bees after you! And it's that panic which puts that extra bit of shine on those rings.

Cable Management

Part core, part endurance, part upper body, part lower body. Is there anything a round of cable management doesn't strengthen? And not only does it test the body, but it also tests the mind. After all, you're putting yourself and your body into places and positions nobody should ever be in. It's basically the land equivalent of cave diving.

Walking the Dog

Again you might be thinking that this could be measured by your basic 'Outdoor Walk' workout, but again, you'd be wrong. Walking the dog is a workout ripe with stops to smell, pee, poop, greet other creatures, maybe bark at a couple of them, and be pet by passersby. It might even involve a bit of choreography when the two of you inevitably get wrapped around a tree.

Carrying all the Groceries in a Single Trip

Do it once, or do it wrong: The motto of those of us (present company included) who insist that the only proper way to carry in groceries is by attaching three bags to each finger and painfully lugging it home. Tendons will be tested; remember to stretch and lift with the legs.

Building IKEA Furniture

Like running a marathon, building IKEA furniture is as much physical as it is a mental test of endurance and mental fortitude. Hours spent hammering in wooden pegs, spatial reasoning, folded into awkward spaces and blistering your palms through the endless twisting of an Allen key. Also, a solid stress test of your relationship status, as building with a loved one is almost certain to lead to a fight, or two.

Dodgeball

Flexibility, speed, and dexterity are the essential qualities of the elite dodgeball athlete. Keep your head on a swivel else you risk having a ball beam off your cranium.

Preordering the iPhone 14

The difference in performance between the top and bottom athletes can sometimes be measured in milliseconds. This also applies to those who get a launch day delivery and those who are left waiting until mid-October. Elite iPhone orderers know to check their credit cards, save their purchase in advance, double-check their address, and disable all other WiFi devices in the days leading up to a preorder day to make sure they get in and check out before the bottleneck of orders leads to timeouts, crashes, and chaos. To the victor go the spoils.

Waiting for iPhone Delivery

Maybe some of you take your iPhone delivery in stride... good for you. But some of us have developed UPS-ear, the ability to discern the sound signature of a UPS truck from miles away. And this is important because UPS drivers are perhaps the most skittish creatures on earth and will bolt from your doorstep the moment they press the doorbell, the only evidence of their brief presence being the exception slip stuck to your door. Be quick or be disappointed.

I have been working on some more workouts and will begin posting them throughout the autumn. Stay tuned; I hope you have enjoyed them as much as I have!

Lesser Known Apple Watch Workouts I