Unlocking the Potential of Garmin Connect
16.05.2022
Reading time: 5 minutes
From wellness tracking to training tools – Garmin Connect is the hub for your health and fitness data.
Millions of users rely on Garmin Connect™ because it is the tool that collects, analyses and shares their health and fitness activities every day via their Garmin device. But Garmin Connect is much more than just an app. Dig a little deeper and you'll find dozens of useful features, whether you want to track your health stats, start training for a running or cycling race, or anything in between.
Want to know how to use Garmin Connect? Here are just a handful of useful and surprising features you can find. With just a few clicks on the website, you'll discover even more ways Connect can help you reach your health and fitness goals.
Get to know the My Day page
If you're a regular Garmin user, you're surely already familiar with the Garmin Connect app home page, “My Day”. This hub of health and performance stats contains all of today's (and the last 7 days') information on easy-to-understand cards. These cards can include activities tracked by your Garmin device – daily steps1, heart rate, stress level and much more, depending on your device's capabilities. Even better? You can customise the cards shown on the “My Day” screen, letting you focus on the data that matters most to you.
If you want more information about a specific metric, just tap the card to access daily details. Or, by tapping the “Reports” icon in the top corner of each My Day card, you can view charts to track your progress and analyse stats over a longer period.
View your activity details
One of the main reasons people rely on Garmin Connect is to see the details of their activities. Once you've recorded an activity on your Garmin device and synced it with Connect, you get a very detailed report of your activity, highlighting related performance metrics such as time, distance, laps, elevation, speed, heart rate and more. GPS-tracked activities include a map with a polyline showing your chosen metric along your route. The mobile app and website also offer reports on past activities so you can track your personal records, training history, total distance covered and more.
Track sleep and recovery
Research in recent years has shown how important sleep is for our health and wellbeing. Garmin is at the forefront of sleep technology with advanced metrics that show your sleep duration, quality over time and sleep stages, including REM1. In addition to tracking sleep duration and sleep stages, Garmin Connect gives you a nightly sleep score (with compatible devices) that rates the overall quality of your sleep and provides guidance. Garmin's exclusive Body Battery™ also shows how sleep affects your overall energy levels day to day, and sleep is factored into several of Garmin's advanced training metrics. With the Pulse Ox2 feature, you can even set some Garmin devices to monitor your blood oxygen level while you sleep.
Women's health tracking
Both Garmin smartwatches and Garmin Connect offer several women's health tracking features. Menstrual cycle tracking lets you log period dates, get predictions for upcoming periods, track symptoms and much more. In each phase of your cycle, you can learn something new about how hormonal changes may affect your training and nutrition. You can also track your pregnancy in Garmin Connect, get information, record baby movements, log blood sugar levels and use other helpful features. You'll find women's health tracking under “Health Stats” in the left-hand menu of the website.
Train hard
One area where Garmin Connect stands notably above the competition is its use as a training tool. Whatever your goal, Garmin Connect probably has a workout, training plan, pacing strategy or performance stat to help you achieve it. Just click “Training” in the website's left-hand menu or the “More” menu in the app to get started.
The list of training tools in Garmin Connect is long enough to justify its own article, but one highlight is Garmin Coach training plans, which let you choose a running coach and race distance, and then adapt workouts to your performance as you train. Other options include cycling training plans, PacePro™ pacing strategies for running, and advanced training metrics such as training status, training effect, lactate threshold and functional threshold power (FTP) that help you track your training progress.
Connect with friends
If you want to connect with other Garmin users, Garmin Connect meets your social needs too. On the “Connections” page of the app or website, you can search for connections via your phone contacts, Facebook® or Google™, and even invite them to join Garmin Connect. Once you're connected, you can invite them to take part in challenges, see their activities and much more.
Earn badges
There's nothing better than being rewarded for your achievements, and Garmin's many badges do just that. Garmin Connect gives you points and badges for your activities and training, from recording your first workout to reaching a 30-day goal and running a marathon. You can compare your badges and achievements with your connections and climb the leaderboard as you earn more points. You can also take part in badge challenges, which give you the chance to earn more badges and points every month.
And so much more
It may seem like a lot already, but we've only scratched the surface of what you can do with Garmin Connect and your device. Whether you use the app or the website, Garmin Connect also lets you create mapped courses to download to compatible devices, build custom workouts, manage music on your device and much more. Whatever your health, fitness and training goals, Garmin Connect is made for you.
2This is not a medical device and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or monitoring of any medical condition. See Garmin.com/ataccuracy. Pulse Ox is not available in all countries.
