In the autumn of 2019, a technology columnist who had long ignored a watch in his drawer began closing its exercise rings, one small pledge at a time. What started as a single restless challenge in a home workshop became a year-long habit, sustained less by willpower than by the quiet pleasure of a chime and a glowing circle. His account, offered as personal experience rather than medical counsel, suggests how modern tools can gently reshape old human struggles with consistency, even as the sweat itself remains unloved.
A Year of Closed Rings: How an Apple Watch Turned One Writer Into a Daily Exerciser
He didn't love the exercise. He loved the fireworks.
Mark
Why does a story about closing rings on a watch deserve a read?
Mimi
Because it's about how a habit actually got built. He didn't start with a grand plan. He set a one-day challenge on November 2, 2019, and extended it a week, then a month, then a year.
Mark
What was the hook?
Mimi
The notification. He says he missed it on the day his rings didn't close, and that's when he realized the little animation and tone were what kept him going.
Luke
Worth noting this is one man's account of himself. There's no outside measurement beyond what he reads off his elliptical.
Mark
He says stamina more than doubled and strength quintupled. How solid is that?
Luke
It's his own arithmetic from machine settings, going from two 15-minute sessions at resistance four to 20 minutes starting at 12. Resistance level numbers aren't a clinical measure, and he even calls level four arbitrary.
Mimi
He's honest about that tension, too. He says he doesn't feel any fitter, even as the numbers improved.
Mark
And the Stand ring he dropped?
Mimi
In April he stopped chasing it. Zoom meetings, a sleeping dog, a broken sleep schedule all got in the way, and it stressed him out.
Luke
Whether the watch caused the habit or simply suited a person already motivated, we can't tell from this. He also says his doctor thought the January illness probably wasn't coronavirus, so that's speculation, not a finding.
Le Pouls
- A single-day challenge on a new Apple Watch turns into a year-long vow that resists the pull of a gym-free home and a pandemic lockdown.
- A missed day unsettles him, revealing that the watch's chimes and fireworks, not his intentions, were what held the habit together.
- A severe winter cold tests the resolve, yet he forces himself through the rings because skipping them has become unthinkable.
- Stand-ring rules are quietly dropped in spring, as a Zoom alert, a sleeping dog, and a late wake-up prove too rigid to honor.
- Elliptical sessions climb from fifteen minutes at resistance four to twenty-two at resistance twenty-two, yet he still feels no easier in everyday life.
In the autumn of 2019, a technology columnist who had long ignored a watch in his drawer began closing its exercise rings, one small pledge at a time. What started as a single restless challenge in a home workshop became a year-long habit, sustained less by willpower than by the quiet pleasure of a chime and a glowing circle. His account, offered as personal experience rather than medical counsel, suggests how modern tools can gently reshape old human struggles with consistency, even as the sweat itself remains unloved.
On November 2, 2019, David Gewirtz pedaled a home elliptical for barely ten minutes, overwhelmed, with the resistance set low. He had challenged himself to close all three rings on his new Apple Watch Series 4, and by 11:30 that night he had squeezed in three short sessions and a bit of puttering in his workshop to close the last one. A year later, he reports having kept it up nearly every day, missing only two workouts.
The watch tracks three rings: exercise, movement, and stand. His older Series 2 had mostly sat in a drawer, and he had never closed the exercise or stand rings on it. The new watch was a chance to finally wear it all day, and he committed to that in earnest. The first week tested him, and after one day of skipping, he noticed that what he missed was not the exercise but the small celebration of the closing rings, the animation, the tone, and the fireworks when all three filled.
He committed to a month, then another. In January, he and his wife fell ill with a severe cold, and though he felt terrible, he still closed his rings. By then, not doing so seemed unthinkable, so he set his sights on a full year. In April he dropped the stand ring, which had become a source of stress when a Zoom alert, a sleeping dog, and an early-pandemic sleep schedule kept interfering.
He is honest that he does not enjoy exercise and that he is motivated mostly by the pride of saying he works out every day. He does not feel fitter in daily life, but his elliptical numbers have climbed from fifteen minutes at low resistance to twenty-minute sessions at much higher settings, with a recent jump to twenty-two. His wife and doctor remind him that he cannot know how he would feel without the habit. He credits the watch's feedback for keeping him going where a spreadsheet alone would not have. He plans to keep going and to report again next November.
On November 2, 2019, David Gewirtz got onto the elliptical machine in his home and barely lasted ten minutes. He was pedaling slowly, with the resistance set at level four, and he felt overwhelmed. He had given himself a single-day challenge: close all three rings on his new Apple Watch Series 4. A few hours later he did another ten minutes. Then he spent time in his workshop moving things around to push the movement ring along. Around 11:30 that night he did a final ten minutes and closed the exercise ring. A year later, the ZDNet columnist reports he has kept it up every day, with only two missed workouts.
The watch's Activity app uses three rings. Exercise requires 30 minutes of working out. Movement requires burning a set number of calories. Stand requires getting up at least once an hour for 12 hours. Gewirtz had owned a Series 2 for about four years, but it mostly sat in a drawer. He upgraded for the fall detection, ECG, and phone features, and promised himself he would wear the new one around the clock, removing it only for about an hour a day to charge. When he checked his old records, he found he had closed the movement ring just twice and had never closed the exercise or stand rings. He had been doing a few squats while waiting for his Keurig to brew, but not enough to register.
The first week was hard, he writes, and he did not think he would make it. After closing the rings for eight days, he skipped a full effort the next day, did a little exercise, and closed nothing. He felt vaguely uneasy. The following day he realized what was missing: the ring notifications. When a ring closes, the watch plays a short animation and tone, and closing all three triggers a small fireworks display. He liked the validation, and he liked being able to tell himself he exercised regularly. He used to lift weights two or three times a week, he says, but that stopped when he no longer worked across the street from a gym. The weight set he bought for the house later mostly took up space.
On November 13 he committed to a full month. By the end he was doing the elliptical twice a day, 15 minutes per session. In the last week he began lifting weights after cardio, mostly upper body, and he has continued that along with the squats. Then he went for a second month. In early January, he and his wife came down with a severe cold. They later wondered whether it was an early strain of the coronavirus, though their doctor thought that unlikely. He felt terrible for much of the month but still forced himself to close his rings. By then, he says, not closing them seemed unthinkable, and he decided to try for a year.
Around April he changed one rule. He stopped pushing to close the Stand ring while continuing to hold himself to Move and Exercise. The stand credit requires movement, not just standing, and it got in the way. During a Zoom meeting, the 50-minute alert fired, and he stood in front of his screen, but because he did not walk, it did not register. Another day, his pup fell asleep on his lap and he did not want to disturb him, so he ran out of stand hours. On a third day, his sleep schedule was off in the early pandemic weeks, and he woke too late to get 12 stands in. He found the ring stressful and too regimented, and says it often closed on its own anyway.
He is candid that he does not enjoy the exercise itself, and says anyone who promises you will love it is wrong, at least in his case. What he loves is the ego boost of saying he exercises every day. Subjectively, he does not feel in better shape; moving, lifting, and climbing seem as much work as before. The elliptical numbers tell a different story. He could not get past about 15 minutes per session at resistance four. Now he does full 20-minute sessions, starting at resistance 12 and rising to 18 or 20. Last week he went to 22 for the first time. By his math, stamina has more than doubled and strength while exercising has quintupled.
His wife and doctor have told him he cannot know how he would feel had he not done it, especially given the lockdown. He credits the watch's feedback, saying he is not sure he would have kept going with a spreadsheet or habit alone. The column opens with a disclaimer that it is not medical advice. Gewirtz plans to continue and to report back next November.
Citations marquantes
Anyone who says you'll love exercise once you start regularly is lying, at least in his experience; what he loves is the ego boost.— David Gewirtz, ZDNet
You may not feel a difference, but you don't know how you'd be feeling now if you hadn't done it.— Gewirtz's wife and doctor, as relayed by Gewirtz
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