Garmin credits minutes when your effort stays above set intensity thresholds, with higher-effort time counting double, based on heart rate, steps, and your profile.
Intensity Minutes are Garmin’s weekly score for “time that counted.” It’s handy, but it can feel odd: a hard strength session earns less than you expected, or a brisk walk earns more than you thought it should. The score isn’t a mood meter. It’s a rules-based tally built from your heart rate (when available), your movement, and a few settings that quietly shift the thresholds.
Below is the plain-language breakdown: what Garmin measures, how moderate and vigorous time get tagged, why vigorous time counts double, and what to check when the totals look off.
What Intensity Minutes Mean On Garmin
Intensity Minutes track time spent in moderate-to-vigorous activity. The watch looks for sustained effort, then adds minutes to your daily and weekly totals. Many devices can award moderate minutes from step rate and motion, while vigorous credit often depends on heart rate data.
Garmin’s support page on the feature spells out the basics, including model differences like minimum-duration rules and doubled credit for higher intensity. How Are Intensity Minutes Earned?
How Garmin Determines Intensity Minutes On Your Watch
Garmin blends a few inputs, then applies two decisions: (1) does this minute count, and (2) is it moderate or vigorous?
Heart Rate Thresholds: The Primary Signal
When heart rate data is present, the device compares your current heart rate to intensity thresholds. Time at or above the moderate threshold earns moderate minutes. Time at or above the vigorous threshold earns vigorous minutes, which can count double toward your weekly total.
Heart Rate Zones: When Your Settings Drive The Cutoffs
Many watches can track Intensity Minutes based on your heart rate zones. In that mode, the moderate and vigorous cutoffs come from the zones you set in Garmin Connect or on the device. Garmin explains the zone-based method and where to change it on supported models. Earn intensity minutes using heart rate zones
Step Rate And Motion: A Moderate-Only Fallback
If the watch can’t see heart rate, it may still award moderate minutes from movement patterns and step rate. That’s why brisk walking can count even when the heart rate graph is missing. On many models, vigorous minutes won’t show up without heart rate data.
Your Profile Stats Affect The Math
Age, height, weight, and resting heart rate influence how the device interprets effort. Two people can sit at the same beats-per-minute and land in different zones because their baselines differ. If your profile is off, the watch can undercount or overcount intensity time.
Moderate Versus Vigorous: The Double-Minute Rule
Garmin splits effort into moderate and vigorous buckets, then totals them with a simple idea:
- Moderate: 1 credit minute per minute above the moderate threshold.
- Vigorous: 2 credit minutes per minute above the vigorous threshold.
So a 15-minute hard interval block can move your weekly bar more than 15 minutes of easier work.
The Minimum-Streak Rule: Why Short Bouts May Not Count
Some devices require a continuous streak (often ten minutes) above the moderate threshold before credit begins. Once you cross the streak, minutes can accrue as long as you stay above moderate. Some newer models can award Intensity Minutes in shorter bursts. If your watch shows a workout but logs zero Intensity Minutes, this rule is a prime suspect.
What Can Change Your Intensity Minutes Without A New Workout
Even when your training stays the same, the score can drift. These are common reasons.
Wrist Heart Rate Fit And Dropouts
Optical heart rate needs steady contact. A loose strap, the watch sitting on the wrist bone, cold skin, or heavy arm flex can cause dropouts. When heart rate readings get messy, the watch may fall back to movement-based logic and miss vigorous time.
Activity Types With Tricky Wrist Readings
Cycling (hands on bars), rowing (repetitive grip), and strength training (wrist flex) can reduce optical accuracy. If these sessions feel undercounted, a chest strap can provide cleaner heart rate data so vigorous minutes are credited correctly.
Zone Cutoffs That Don’t Match Your Body
If your vigorous cutoff is set too high, you’ll rack up mostly moderate minutes even in hard sessions. If it’s set too low, easy work earns doubled minutes and the score loses meaning. Start with device defaults, then adjust slowly after you’ve watched a few weeks of trends.
Where The Thresholds Come From
Garmin needs a line in the sand for “moderate” and another for “vigorous.” If you use zone-based tracking, those lines come straight from the zone boundaries you’ve set. If you don’t, many devices fall back to thresholds derived from your profile and resting heart rate trends. Either way, the watch is trying to answer one question: is your current effort clearly above your normal baseline?
That’s why setup matters more than most people expect. A wrong age can shift estimated max heart rate. A missed resting heart rate baseline can shift the gap between “easy” and “moderate.” If you’ve worn the watch only during workouts, the baseline can be rough. Wearing it during normal days and sleep gives it more steady data to work from.
How The Watch Decides When A Minute Starts And Stops
Intensity Minutes aren’t tagged from a single spike. The watch watches for effort that holds. When your heart rate drifts above the moderate line and stays there, the counter runs. When it drops below for long enough, the counter pauses. With a streak-based model, those pauses can reset the streak and block credit until you rebuild a continuous stretch.
This is also why stop-and-go sessions can disappoint. If you lift heavy for 30 seconds, rest for 90 seconds, then repeat, your heart rate can rise and fall around the threshold. The workout can feel hard while the watch sees short fragments of intensity, not a sustained block.
Intensity Minutes Factors And What You Can Control
| Factor Garmin Uses | What It Changes | What You Can Do |
|---|---|---|
| Heart rate above moderate threshold | Starts counting moderate minutes | Wear the watch snugly; clean the sensor; check the HR graph for gaps |
| Heart rate above vigorous threshold | Counts minutes at 2× rate | Review your vigorous cutoff; confirm it matches your training |
| Step rate and motion patterns | Fallback moderate minutes when HR is missing | Use heart rate tracking for accurate vigorous credit |
| Minimum streak rule (model dependent) | Blocks short bouts from counting | Hold a continuous 10+ minute block above moderate when needed |
| User profile (age, height, weight) | Shifts thresholds | Update your profile after weight changes or long breaks |
| Resting heart rate estimate | Changes perceived intensity at the margins | Wear the watch overnight to improve baseline data |
| Activity mode vs all-day tracking | Sensor sampling and filtering differ | Start a workout activity for sessions, not only step tracking |
| External heart rate strap | Improves HR accuracy in some sports | Use one for cycling, rowing, strength circuits, or cold-weather runs |
How To Audit Your Minutes In Garmin Connect
When the totals feel off, audit one day before changing settings. You want to see what the watch thought your body was doing.
Check The Moderate And Vigorous Split
Open the Intensity Minutes detail for the day. A lopsided split is useful. All moderate and no vigorous often points to a vigorous cutoff that’s too high, or heart rate data that dropped out during the hardest parts.
Match The Timeline To The Heart Rate Graph
Open the activity and compare the minutes timeline with the heart rate chart. If the heart rate line looks flat, jagged, or full of gaps, the device may be counting from movement instead of heart rate, which can reduce vigorous credit.
Confirm The Tracking Method You’re Using
If your watch supports zone-based Intensity Minutes, confirm that the setting is on (or off) as you intended. Then confirm your zones are current. A single stale zone setup can make each week feel “wrong.”
Common Problems And Fast Fixes
| What You See | What Usually Causes It | What To Try Next |
|---|---|---|
| Workout recorded, zero Intensity Minutes | Minimum streak rule not met | Hold a continuous 10+ minute block above moderate; review model requirements |
| Vigorous stays at zero | Vigorous cutoff too high or HR dropouts | Review zones; tighten strap; try a chest strap for hard sessions |
| Easy walks earn lots of minutes | Thresholds too low for your profile | Update profile stats; review zone method setting |
| Cycling shows fewer minutes than effort | Wrist HR struggles on handlebars | Wear watch higher on the arm; use a strap; record a cycling activity |
| Strength work feels hard, minutes stay low | HR lags during sets; wrist flex affects readings | Use a strap; add a short finisher that keeps HR up |
| Minutes differ between two Garmin models | Different rules and sensors by generation | Compare settings and zones; judge trends over a few weeks |
A Quick Setup Checklist Before You Trust The Score
Run this list once, then revisit it after a big training change, a new watch, or a new strap.
- Profile stats match reality: age, height, weight.
- Resting heart rate is being tracked (overnight wear helps).
- Heart rate zones are current, and the watch is using the method you expect.
- The watch sits snugly, above the wrist bone, and the sensor stays clean.
- Workouts are recorded in an activity mode when you want accurate heart rate sampling.
- For cycling or strength, use an external strap if wrist heart rate looks noisy.
What This Means For Your Weekly Goal
Garmin determines Intensity Minutes by watching for sustained time above moderate and vigorous thresholds, then awarding 1× or 2× credit. When the score looks off, the fix usually isn’t “work harder.” It’s making sure the watch can read your heart rate, your zones are sane, and your device’s minimum-duration rule matches how you train.
References & Sources
- Garmin.“How Are Intensity Minutes Earned?”Explains how intensity minutes accrue, including model requirements and doubled credit for vigorous effort.
- Garmin.“Can I Earn Intensity Minutes Based on My Heart Rate Zones?”Describes zone-based tracking and how moderate and vigorous thresholds can be set.