How to Add a Workout to Apple Watch

Add an exercise to your Apple Watch even after you've finished your shower

by
Dave Johnson
Dave Johnson
Writer
Dave Johnson has been writing about tech since 1990. He's the author of over 2 dozen books and his writing has appeared in Wired, PCWorld, Business Insider, and many other publications.
our editorial process
Dave Johnson
Updated on December 08, 2020

What to Know

  • There's no way to add a workout on the Apple Watch itself, so you'll need to pull out your iPhone whenever you need to add a workout after the fact.
  • You can add a workout to your Apple Watch at any time from the Health app on your iPhone.
  • In the Workouts section, use the Add Data button to specify the workout type as well as how many calories you burned and when it happened.

How to Add a Workout Activity to Apple Watch

This article explains how to add a workout to your Apple Watch's activity log, which you may need to do if you weren't wearing your watch while you exercised, or your watch failed to automatically add the workout on its own. Here's how.

  1. Start the Health app on your phone. 

  2. At the bottom of the screen, tap Browse. 

  3. In the search box at the top of the screen, type "workout."

  4. In the search results, tap Workouts. 

  5. At the top right of the screen, tap Add Data. 

  6. Tap Activity Type and then choose the kind of activity you want to add from the menu at the bottom of the screen. 

  7. Next, tap Calories and enter your estimated calories that you burned, or you can leave this blank. 

  8. In the Starts and Ends rows, select the date and time for your workout. 

  9. When you're done, tap Add at the top of the screen. 

    Manually adding a workout to the iOS Health app.

The workout is now added to your Apple Watch's workout history. 

How to Add an Exercise to the Apple Watch While You're Exercising

Sometimes your Apple Watch doesn't automatically recognize a workout you're doing. If you get more than 3 or 4 minutes into a workout and discover that the watch hasn't started to track it automatically, you can add the workout yourself. You can also start the workout on your watch before you begin using this same technique.

  1. Press the digital crown on your Apple Watch.

  2. Find Workout and tap it.

  3. Scroll through the list of workouts until you find the one that matches the exercise you are doing, then tap it.

  4. After a brief countdown, the workout will start.

  5. You can end the workout in the usual way. When it's over, swipe the Workout app to the right and then tap End.

Was this page helpful?