A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and when it comes to achieving your big-picture fitness and performance goals, what you do today matters. Daily Suggested Workouts on select Garmin GPS watches and cycling computers combines the latest sports science with fitness, activity, and lifestyle data captured by your device to answer this important question: What should I do today?
The Purpose of Daily Suggested Workouts
The broad goal of these suggested workouts is to help you improve your fitness level (VO2 max), which translates into aerobic performance capacity. Furthermore, regularly performing suggested workouts will help you achieve an optimal training load with varied efforts ideally balanced for your development.
Each workout suggested is designed to provide an appropriate level of challenge while satisfying a specific need or improving a particular aspect of performance. Depending on the capabilities of your Garmin device, some or all of the following factors will be considered when generating your suggested workout:
- Current training load
- Load focus (anaerobic vs. aerobic)
- Recovery time
- Sleep data
- The profile of recently performed workouts
Types of Workouts You’ll Receive
Your Garmin device will suggest different types of workouts based on your current needs:
Base Building & Recovery Workouts
Some days your suggested workout will focus on building your endurance base or facilitating recovery. These sessions typically involve longer durations at lower intensities, helping you build aerobic capacity while allowing your body to recover from more intense efforts.
Performance Capacity Workouts
Other days will focus on developing maximum aerobic performance capacity, including your ability to:
- Tolerate high-intensity efforts
- Perform and repeat dynamic intervals
- Improve speed and power
Real-Time Guidance
The suggested workouts take advantage of Garmin’s longstanding on-device workout capabilities that give real-time guidance, telling you when to step up the intensity and when to take your foot off the gas. This can be especially helpful during lower-intensity activities where it can be easy to overshoot your mark.
The Science Behind the Suggestions
Like any good workout program, consistency and variety are vital to your success. These elements are built into the workout suggestion system. Performing suggested workouts regularly will help you stay on track and keep improving.
On some devices, over time you’ll notice a mixture of:
- Lighter training weeks
- Harder training weeks
- Moderate intensity weeks in between
These patterns conform to well-established training periodization methods employed by top sports scientists and exercise physiologists. This periodization helps prevent plateaus, reduces injury risk, and optimizes long-term improvement.
Integration with Training Plans
If you are following a dedicated training plan with scheduled workouts aimed at a specific event, one downloaded from Garmin Connect™ app (either a Garmin plan or one you have created) or one downloaded from a third party, these training plan workouts will take priority over the daily suggested workouts.
You will still be able to locate the suggested workout in the Workouts menu, but your training plan workouts will take priority in the prompts given on your watch. This ensures that your event-specific training isn’t disrupted while still giving you access to the algorithm’s recommendations.
Making the Most of Daily Suggested Workouts
To get maximum benefit from this feature:
- Consistency is Key - Try to complete suggested workouts regularly to build momentum
- Trust the Process - Some easier days are strategic, not a lack of progress
- Complete the Full Workout - Follow the suggested workout entirely for best results
- Provide Feedback - Rate workouts after completion to improve future suggestions
- Sync Regularly - Keep your device connected to ensure recommendations are based on the latest data
Compatible Garmin Devices
Daily Suggested Workouts are available on many mid-range and premium Garmin devices, including:
- Forerunner Series (245, 255, 265, 745, 945, 955, 965, 570, 970)
- Fenix Series (6, 7, 8)
- Epix Series
- Edge cycling computers (select models with training capabilities)
- Venu 2 series (with some limitations compared to specialized sports watches)
Advanced implementation with detailed workout analysis is available on higher-end models in the Forerunner, Fenix, and Epix lines.
How Daily Suggested Workouts Differ from Other Training Features
Garmin offers several training guidance features that complement each other:
- Training Status: Shows if you’re training productively, maintaining, or overreaching
- Recovery Time: Indicates how long to rest before your next hard workout
- Training Load: Measures the volume and intensity of your recent training
- Daily Suggested Workouts: Provides the specific activity to do today
Daily Suggested Workouts is the most actionable of these features, giving you concrete direction rather than just feedback on past efforts.
Limitations to Consider
While Daily Suggested Workouts is powerful, it has some limitations:
- It primarily focuses on running and cycling (depending on device)
- It doesn’t account for strength training in its overall recommendations
- The algorithm requires several weeks of consistent activity to fully personalize
- It doesn’t adapt for non-training life stress (work, family, etc.)
Nevertheless, for most athletes, it provides excellent guidance that would typically require a personal coach to develop.
Is It Like Having a Personal Coach?
Daily Suggested Workouts offers many benefits similar to having a coach, including:
- Workout variety to prevent plateaus
- Progressive overload that scales with your fitness
- Recovery days when your body needs them
- Periodization across weekly and monthly cycles
However, it lacks the human touch of understanding your emotional state, technique correction, and accountability that comes with a personal coach. Think of it as an excellent supplement to coaching or a solid foundation for self-coached athletes.
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Following your Daily Suggested Workouts? Document your training journey with GameraSnap! Set up your phone to capture your form during interval sessions, record your progress over time, or simply celebrate completing challenging workouts. With GameraSnap, you can easily trigger your camera from your Garmin watch at just the right moment—whether you’re doing sprints, hill repeats, or long endurance sessions.
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