Apple Watch

Set up

1. Install CrossAdapt on the watch. It installs with the iPhone app; if it doesn't, open the Watch app on the iPhone and go to My Watch › Available Apps.
2. Sign in on the iPhone. The phone gives the watch its own key, so the watch can fetch the day and save your results itself, even when the phone is in your bag.
3. Open CrossAdapt on the watch and allow heart rate and workouts when it asks. Without them a workout still runs, but the result has no heart rate and isn't saved to Apple Health.
4. Set your maximum heart rate in Profile › Training › Max heart rate so the zones fit you.

The watch symbol at the top of the iPhone's Today shows whether the day has reached the watch. See What's on Today.

Start a workout

Whatever day the iPhone's Today is showing is the day on the watch. Your edits, scaling and choice of options go with it.

1. Open CrossAdapt on the watch. You'll see Today's session and its title. Tap Start.
2. The list of pieces shows how long the session runs. Tap the pieces you're doing to select them. Add the optional timed Warm-up if you want one.
3. Tap Start session. The preflight checks heart rate, GPS, connection and battery.
4. Tap Start · 3-2-1. A countdown, a tap on the wrist, and the clock is running.

No session

Nothing is planned for the day, or it hasn't arrived. Open Today on the iPhone, then tap Check again.

Watch key needed

Go to Profile › Account on the iPhone and tap Issue watch key now, then Check again.

New programming available

The coach changed the day after the watch got it. Load the new version before you start.

During a workout

A conditioning piece has three pages. Swipe between them.

Work

The clock, the round you're on, the current movement in big type, and the rep counter. Tap the movement card to move on to the next movement. Tap + or − to count reps (press and hold to move five), and Undo to take back the last tap.

Heart rate

Your heart rate, its zone, time in each zone, calories and elapsed time.

Controls

Stop, Pause and Lock screen. Lock screen turns on water lock, so sweat and chalk don't tap anything; turn the Digital Crown to unlock.

While paused you can Resume, End piece · save partial to keep what you've done, or press and hold Discard piece to throw it away.

The Digital Crown only scrolls. It never changes a number, so nothing changes under your wrist mid-set. The watch taps your wrist on the countdown, at go, at the end of rest, as each round turns over, and before and at the cap.

If you've done the workout before, a pacer shows whether you're ahead or behind last time.

Each kind of workout

For time

The clock counts up. Tap through the movements as you finish them. Near a cap you'll see “Cap in 1:00”, with End now · save partial if you want to stop. At the cap the watch asks how far you got.

AMRAP

The clock counts down. There's no rep counting: tap through movements, and the watch flashes each round you finish. At the end it asks for the reps into your last round.

EMOM and every X

A band shows the minute you're in and when the next one starts. Rounds “every 3:00” start on the clock. For max-reps EMOMs, the watch asks for your reps as each minute ends.

Tabata and intervals

A work and rest band shows the interval you're on. Count reps for each interval; Same as last shows your previous interval to beat.

Death by

Each minute adds a rep. Tap Missed when you can't finish the minute's reps, and that's your score.

Every-minute tax

A card tells you when the tax is due; tap Done when it is, and it takes you back to the work.

Lifting

Each set shows the target, the weight and the plates for each side. Adjust the load (a tap is the smallest plate pair, press and hold for a plate a side) and the reps, then Log set · rest. Use Missed or Partial for a set you didn't get. For a build to a heavy single, keep logging sets, then Done · finish lift. Swap movement changes the lift.

Rest

A countdown ring, your heart rate coming down, and what's next. +15s adds time; Skip ends the rest. If the next set starts on the clock, it says so.

Skills and quality work

A clock, effort and notes. Tap Complete skill when you're done.

Coach's text only

A piece the coach wrote in words with no confirmed structure still runs its clock (AMRAP, every 2:00, work and rest), and asks for the score the coach asked for at the end.

Runs and distance

For runs, rucks, walks and hikes, the watch measures the distance with GPS (or motion, when there's no GPS) and shows a bar filling up against the prescription. When you've covered the distance it moves you on by itself. On the last leg of a piece it waits for your tap (“Distance covered · tap to finish”) so your finish time is yours.

For a timed run scored in metres, the watch stops on the clock and asks how far you went, with what it measured filled in.

Finishing and the score

When a piece ends, Piece complete shows your score, how far your heart rate dropped in the first minute, and anything to correct: rounds and reps, the loads you used, effort and notes. Tap Save · rest to go on to the next piece, or Skip next piece. Between pieces the clock counts your rest; tap Start piece when you're ready.

At the end of the session, the summary shows average and maximum heart rate, calories, time in each zone and what you did. Choose Rx, Rx+ or Scaled (tap again to clear it), then Save & sync.

The watch saves the result to CrossAdapt directly and the workout to Apple Health. Open the phone and it's already in Today and History. A new PR shows on the watch before you leave the summary.

Lock Screen and Dynamic Island

While the watch runs a piece, the iPhone shows it as a Live Activity on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island: the piece, where you are in it (“Set 2 of 5”, “Rd 3 of 5”), the clock, your heart rate and any rest countdown.

You can control the workout from it without unlocking the phone:

• Pause and Resume.
• Next Movement in a metcon, or Set Done in a lift.
• In a lift, Reps and Weight − and +.

The watch stays in charge, and the phone follows it. If the Live Activity doesn't appear, check Settings › CrossAdapt › Live Activities on the iPhone.

If something goes wrong

Every tap is saved on the watch as you go. If the app closes, the watch restarts or the battery dies mid-piece, open CrossAdapt again and you'll see Unfinished workout:

Resume

Carry on from where it stopped, clock included.

Keep it

Stop here, and review and save what you'd logged.

Discard

Throw it away.

If the watch can't reach CrossAdapt when you save, the workout waits on the watch as Unsynced. Tap Retry sync once you're back online. Tapping Done on the summary without syncing keeps it in that queue; it isn't lost.