Calorie (move) goals and rest day strategies?

[imwjl]

How are those of you who do regular exercise and who will push it hard setting your daily goals?

Maybe it's my age and day job at a computer screen, but I always wonder how to best address the need to have rest and recovery days?

Doing big and hard MTB rides, trail building, other bike rides and weekend warrior stuff gives me a lot of double and triple move days so the watch coaxes me to have daily goals that are not letting muscles and tissue recover, or are hard to fit in with work and family.

At age 58 I really have to have some days off the bike or no running.

If I let the watch move me 500+ active calories it can be hard to rest sore tissue or reach the goals when taking it easy on sore body parts. I will get signs of over-exercise. Recovery for some strains and inflammation had me move the goal to 420-450 a few times but then doubling the goal seems as much like cheating as changing it in the first place.

No matter what I always keep at 60 min or more of somehow working the body.

I'd like to know your strategies and especially how you address recover with age. At 58 I just have to give one each of an ankle, knee and shoulder an occasional break. I have to be careful or I set off back problems.

The irony is if I don't do my activities with or without watch measuring it life is worse.

I'd like to know how others approach this.

 

[doogald]

I have decided to let the watch decide what my daily goal should be - I am curious to see how much it tries to push me - and I frankly don't care if I miss the goal on rest days/easy days. I just don't need the achievements on the watch to spur me on - i'm pretty self-motivated already. (I'm 56, run an average of 1:20 a day five or so days a week, and take an easy 45 minute day twice a week. Or a full rest once in a while if I need it. And, yeah, my knees would be wrecked if I did a heavy or even medium load every day.)

Honestly, the watch should actually account for that *FOR EVERYBODY*. Nobody should be doing a heavy exercise load 7 days a week. Even professional athletes take rest days and easy days. Maybe the achievements should be for exercise and move rings closing 5 days a week? (Or even 4 days?)

When I started, my move goal was 660 calories/day. I adjusted it down and kept it ay 600/day for the first seven months, which I could basically always reach, even on most easy days. I let it start doing its own thing starting in early September, and it jumped to 710 and 720 for a couple of weeks, then 780, then 850. I'm just back from a vacation when I just couldn't run all that much (I always take a rest week or two every year anyway), and after a couple of weeks of 850 and not making the goal at all (once, I think - we were out touring for up to 8/hours a day on our feet), that it went back to 760, then 680 this week. Until the vacation, I was clearing the goal 5 or 6 days a week. I'm starting over at 45 minutes a day this week and don't think I'll make the move goal at all this week.

 

[ksassy]

I have decided to let the watch decide what my daily goal should be - I am curious to see how much it tries to push me - and I frankly don't care if I miss the goal on rest days/easy days. I just don't need the achievements on the watch to spur me on - i'm pretty self-motivated already.

I do the same with my watch. I'm 44 almost 45 and a runner. I average 10-12 miles total daily 2x a day 5 days a week and rest on weekends. My runs are approximately 60-70 minutes long in the morning and 45-50 minutes long at night. I'm very disciplined so the watch is great for tracking fitness but I don't let it rule me so if I miss a move goal or don't close a ring I'm like whatever watch I'm in shape. Rest days are a must.

Btw I'm a stay-at-home mom so I have time on my hands while my kids are in school during the day or in bed at night or when I'm not parading around town with my playgroup aka other moms. Plus running helps me with stress especially with raising my kiddos!!

 

[doogald]

I suppose, if you really want to close rings every day, one solution is to just manually set the daily goal to something that you will reach on even your easy days/rest days.

 

[imwjl]

I suppose, if you really want to close rings every day, one solution is to just manually set the daily goal to something that you will reach on even your easy days/rest days.

Then it makes epic days seem like cheating.

 

[TripleOne]

During your rest day, simply start an outdoor or indoor walk workout, it’ll keep you moving and it’ll fill up your daily calorie goal as well.

 

[tcuprof]

IMaybe the achievements should be for exercise and move rings closing 5 days a week? (Or even 4 days?)

This would be a major improvement. I'd like to have different goals for different days. For days when I run and then do lifting, I'd like to set a higher goal. If all I have time for is as run, I'd set a lower goal. For days when I travel, then an even lower goal would be appropriate. As you've suggested, I suppose the move goal can be manually adjusted as often as one desires.