Step by step
Things that trip people up
- It's in Health, not Fitness. The Fitness app displays workouts; the Health app owns the data.
- Exercise minutes need a time range. If you only enter calories, Move goes up but Exercise doesn't.
- No sets or reps. Apple's manual entry is type, time, calories, distance. There is nowhere to record that you benched 185 for 5. If that's what you want to keep, you need a lifting app that writes to Health (next section).
- You can't do it on the Watch. Manual entry is iPhone only.
- Edit or delete: in Health, open Workouts, tap the entry, then Delete or edit from the same screen.
The faster way if you lift
Every set you log in GymAdapt is written to Apple Health automatically as a Strength Training workout with the real start and end time, so your rings close without a form. Your actual sets, reps and loads stay in GymAdapt's history with the video for each exercise; Health gets the summary. Strong and Hevy do the same thing. If you're adding lifting workouts to Health by hand more than once a week, that's the fix.
GymAdapt also pulls your body weight and body composition from Health the other direction, which it uses to set starting weights on bodyweight and loaded movements.
Questions people ask
How do I manually add a workout to Apple Fitness?
Open the Health app, tap Search, tap Activity, tap Workouts, tap Add. Enter the activity type, calories and start and end time, then tap Done. The Fitness app rings update.
Can I add a workout manually on Apple Watch?
No. Manual workout entry is only available in the Health app on iPhone.
Why didn't my Exercise ring update after adding a workout?
You need to enter a start and end time. Calories alone only credit the Move ring.
Can I record sets and reps in the Apple Fitness app?
No. Apple's manual entry only captures type, time, calories and distance. Use a lifting app that syncs to Health, such as GymAdapt, Strong or Hevy, to keep sets, reps and loads.
Stop filling in the form. Log the set, close the ring.
GymAdapt writes every finished workout to Apple Health with the real times, and keeps your sets, reps and video where you can use them.
Get GymAdapt on the App Store → $7.99 a month or $49.99 a year, with a 7-day free trial. iPhone only.