Record a Workout with Oura

Ready to record your workout with Oura? Here's how:

Automatic Activity Detection

The easiest way to record a workout is through Automatic Activity Detection (AAD). Simply wear your Oura Ring during a workout, and its details will be shown in the app, including the type of activity, its duration, and intensity.

If you want to record route and distance details, make sure that location services are turned on before you begin your activity, and take your phone with you. Otherwise, you can leave your phone at home and the ring will still record your other activity details.

There is no action required on your part to start or stop tracking activities with AAD—simply confirm the detected activity when you're done. You can edit any detected activities, ensuring that the time, duration, and type are correct, or you can choose to dismiss an activity altogether.

Oura can automatically detect many common activity types. Activities must be at least 10 minutes long to be recorded by AAD. Some activities with low hand motion (such as yoga) may not be consistently detected. If you are having trouble recording your workout with AAD, there is an additional option in the Oura App to manually start and stop a workout recording (see below).

Record Workout Heart Rate

If your workout is not being picked up by AAD, you can manually record an activity instead by tapping the + menu in the bottom right of the Oura App's Today tab and selecting "Record workout HR" before beginning your activity.

Remember to stop your activity in the app when you’re done, otherwise the ring battery charge may be affected.

Manually Add an Activity

If the above options fail to record your workout, you can instead manually add an activity after you've completed it. Tap the + menu in the bottom right of the Oura App's Today tab and select "Add an activity," then select your activity type, duration, and intensity.

Activities can be manually added, edited, or deleted at any time on any day, including previous days.

Note that the calorie value associated with an AAD or "Record workout HR" session is calculated from the selected activity type, duration, and intensity (based on heart rate). If heart rate is not available during the session, the intensity defaults to "moderate" and the calorie value is calculated based on average calorie burn rates for that type of activity. Activity intensity cannot be edited for these types of workouts.

For manually added activities, the calorie value is calculated from the selected activity type, duration, and intensity (easy, moderate, or hard, as selected by the user). Manually added activities can be edited afterwards to adjust their intensity levels.

Using Other Wearables with Oura

If you use another wearable while you work out, you can import your activity data into the Oura App through one of our third-party integrations. Popular integrations include Apple Health, Health Connect by Android, and Strava.

If you already track your activities using another device, Oura can identify when the same activity has been detected and will present it only once to prevent double counting. Activities manually added in Oura take precedence, followed by activity imported via third-party devices, and then activity added through Oura's AAD.

Other wearables or apps may show different step estimates because they use different methods of categorizing steps. Many trackers set a different threshold for what counts as "activity" while others categorize all movements as steps.

We always recommend analyzing your data through one device instead of making comparisons between different devices, due to the variation in trackers, algorithms, manufacturing processes, materials, sensor types, etc. Analyzing data from a single source can help you identify patterns when compared against your baseline measurements from that device.