Yes.

I received my watch as a Christmas gift. I don’t think it was purchased as fitness tracker; more likely it was offered as a tech gadget. But it’s become a real fitness motivator for me.

I’m 55, overweight (okay, in the obese range), and I have spinal arthritis with nerve root compression. I’m also extremely competitive (character flaw, I’m sure) and goal-oriented.

On January 1st, I tried the Outdoor Walk workout. My pace was such that the watch logged only 13 minutes of a 32 minute walk.

Until last week, my primary workout has been commuting by ebike. The watch’s Stand ring prompted me to start going for a walk in the afternoon a few times a week. I also started walking on the weekends so I could close my rings but I used the Other workout so my exercise would be credited and calories would be calculated from my heart rate.

Last week, I started working from home so swapped out my bike rides for walks, one midmorning and one after work. I now use the Outdoor Walk workout and get credited for all minutes. Today’s walk (slightly longer route than January 1st) took me just over 26 minutes. Average pace went from 13-something minutes per km to 10’15” per km. My VO2 max was 32 in January (2 years of ebike commuting was not for nothing!); today it’s 35.

It’s still painful to workout but it’s definitely not as bad as it was. Another bonus.