Q: Why is my Garmin rep count wrong during strength training?

Garmin’s strength training auto rep detection uses wrist accelerometer data to count repetitions. It is most accurate on exercises with a very clear wrist movement signature, such as dumbbell curls, and least accurate on movements with subtle wrist action, such as back squats, deadlifts, or any exercise where the watch arm is pressed against the body. The algorithm is not user-adjustable. The community workaround is to use the watch only for set timing and rest intervals, and to log reps and weights in a dedicated strength tracking application.

Question 1

Why is my Garmin rep count wrong during strength training?

Accepted Answer

Garmin&#8217;s strength training auto rep detection uses wrist accelerometer data to count repetitions. It is most accurate on exercises with a very clear wrist movement signature, such as dumbbell curls, and least accurate on movements with subtle wrist action, such as back squats, deadlifts, or any exercise where the watch arm is pressed against the body. The algorithm is not user-adjustable. The community workaround is to use the watch only for set timing and rest intervals, and to log reps and weights in a dedicated strength tracking application.

Question 2

Why does Garmin overwrite my weights with 'Body' when I edit a strength session?

Accepted Answer

When a strength session is edited in Garmin Connect after the fact, the app re-evaluates exercise identification. If it reclassifies a weighted exercise as a bodyweight movement, it overwrites the manually entered load with Body. This happens because the exercise detection algorithm misidentified the movement during the recording. The weight data loss follows from the detection fault, not from an editing bug in isolation. Avoiding post-session edits to sets where the exercise was misidentified is the only way to preserve manually entered weights.

Question 3

Is Garmin Connect Plus strength tracking reliable enough to replace a dedicated app?

Accepted Answer

Based on current community evidence, no. Auto rep detection is unreliable across most compound movements, there is no progressive overload memory, Training Load undervalues strength sessions relative to cardiovascular training, and structured strength workouts do not record rep data against the completed activity without manual editing. The feature set Connect+ is marketing, including Live Activity and the forthcoming Muscle Battery metric, is built on auto-detection the community does not trust for accurate data.

Question 4

Why is my Garmin pool distance much higher than what I actually swam?

Accepted Answer

The most common cause is the watch incorrectly detecting wall turns mid-length and adding phantom laps. The turn detection algorithm uses the wrist accelerometer and is sensitive to disruptions in the normal push-off and stroke pattern, including pace changes mid-length, a slow push-off, or a long passive glide before the first arm pull. The result is over-counting rather than under-counting in most cases. Technique adjustments at the wall, particularly a firm push-off and beginning the first stroke with the watch arm, reduce false turn detections.

Question 5

How do I stop Garmin adding extra laps in the pool?

Accepted Answer

Push firmly off the wall, begin a one to two second kick-driven glide, and take the first arm stroke with the watch arm. Keep pace consistent within each length. Use the lap button rather than the pause button to mark interval rest periods. Verify the pool length setting in the watch matches the actual pool before the session, as a mismatch carried over from a different venue produces systematic distance errors.

Question 6

Why is my Garmin pool SWOLF score wrong?

Accepted Answer

SWOLF is calculated as the sum of the time in seconds and the stroke count for each length. When the watch miscounts strokes or misidentifies set boundaries, the stroke count component of SWOLF is wrong and the score does not reflect actual efficiency. Fixing the phantom lap issue by adjusting wall technique reduces the stroke count errors and produces more accurate SWOLF readings.

Question 7

Why is Garmin Live Track showing LiveTrack Failed?

Accepted Answer

The most common cause is a Garmin Connect update that changed how emergency contacts are stored. Contacts saved under the old system no longer work with the new cloud-based contact management. The fix is to remove all contacts from the Live Track settings in Garmin Connect, disable Live Track, save, re-enable it, and add contacts again. This clears the stale reference and resolves the failed start error in most cases.

Question 8

Why did my Garmin Live Track link stop working during a race or ultra?

Accepted Answer

Live Track sharing links have a 24-hour default expiry. For events that run past the expiry window, or for links shared in advance before the race day, the link becomes inactive before the activity ends. Enable the Extend Live Track option in the Live Track settings in Garmin Connect before generating and sharing the link. This extends the default expiry and should be enabled for any race use.

Question 9

Why does my Garmin Live Track show location unavailable even though the link works?

Accepted Answer

This is a Garmin Connect app cache issue on the device the follower is using, not a fault with the watch or the link itself. Clearing the Garmin Connect app cache on the follower&#8217;s phone resolves it in most cases. The notification email sent by Garmin at the start of a Live Track session also frequently lands in the spam or junk folder on Gmail and Outlook, so checking there before concluding that tracking never started is the first step.

Question 10

What triggers Garmin incident detection?

Accepted Answer

Garmin incident detection looks for a sudden high-G deceleration followed by a period of minimal movement. Genuine crashes satisfy this, but so do an abrupt stop at a traffic light, a fast sprint finish that ends suddenly, patting a dog immediately after stopping a run, or riding over rough terrain and stopping quickly. The algorithm has no sensitivity adjustment and cannot distinguish between these scenarios. The only user control is enabling or disabling the feature per activity profile.

Question 11

How do I stop Garmin incident detection sending false alerts?

Accepted Answer

The most effective approach is to disable incident detection for activity profiles where false triggers are common, particularly urban cycling, MTB riding, and any route with frequent stop-start patterns, while retaining it for isolated trail running or road cycling. When a false trigger fires, a 15 to 30 second cancellation window appears on the watch screen. Responding within this window stops the emergency message from sending. If the message has already been sent, an I&#8217;m Okay status update can be sent to all contacts from the controls widget by swiping down from the watch face and selecting Incident Detected.

Question 12

How do I turn off Garmin crash detection for cycling?

Accepted Answer

Open the activity settings for the relevant cycling profile on the watch. Navigate to Safety and Tracking, then Incident Detection, and set it to Off for that profile. This disables incident detection for cycling activities only while leaving it active for running or other profiles where it is retained. The Edge cycling computers have the same per-profile control under the same settings path.

Question 13

Why is my Garmin open water swim distance wrong or too long?

Accepted Answer

Open water GPS distance errors on Garmin watches are caused by the sparse GPS sampling rate in water. The watch can only receive a GPS fix when the watch arm is above the surface during the stroke recovery, giving one position sample per stroke cycle at best. On a triangular or L-shaped triathlon course this sparse sampling means turns are missed and the track cuts corners, under-counting actual distance by 5 to 15 percent. GPS drift before the start can add phantom distance. Both issues are reduced by enabling one-second recording and All Systems plus multiband GNSS in the open water swimming activity settings.

Question 14

What GPS settings should I use for open water swimming on Garmin?

Accepted Answer

Set recording interval to one second rather than smart recording, which takes fewer samples and amplifies the sparse GPS problem in open water. Set GNSS to All Systems with multiband enabled if the device supports it. The Fenix 8, Forerunner 965, and Epix Gen 2 all support multiband and produce noticeably more accurate open water tracks than single-band models at the same settings. Wait for a solid GPS lock, confirmed by a filled signal indicator, before starting the activity and entering the water.

Question 15

Why does my Garmin GPS drift and add distance before I start swimming in open water?

Accepted Answer

Open water swimming mode does not use auto-pause in the same way that running mode does, because the watch cannot reliably distinguish between a stationary swimmer treading water and very slow movement. GPS noise that running mode would filter out when pace drops below a minimum threshold accumulates as distance in open water mode while the athlete stands at the start. Waiting for a solid GPS lock before starting the activity and entering the water immediately after starting, rather than standing in the water while the activity runs, reduces pre-swim distance accumulation.

Tag: Open Water Swimming

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