Google Health fixes an annoying Cardio Load gap for Garmin users

Google Health now counts workouts from Garmin, Apple Watch and other third-party wearables towards Cardio Load. The only catch is that heart-rate data has to sync across with the session.

Until now this was a real pain if you trained on a Garmin but lived in Google Health for everything else. The workout would show up fine, yet Cardio Load acted like it never happened. Google Health 5.09 fixes that.

Why Garmin users should care

Plenty of people split things up these days. Garmin does the serious training, while a Fitbit or Pixel Watch handles sleep, passive tracking and the Google side of things. I’ve written before about Fitbit Air working better alongside a Garmin than as a replacement for one.

The trouble was that a hard Garmin run did nothing for your Cardio Load. Pick the “wrong” watch for a session and your numbers looked lower than they should. People had been complaining about it for months. Google said it would pass the feedback on, and now it has actually done something about it.

Heart-rate data is required

There is one important condition. The imported workout needs heart-rate data, because Google uses that information when calculating how much Cardio Load to assign to the session.

For Garmin and Apple Watch workouts, that should not be a hurdle. Both normally record heart rate throughout exercise, although the relevant data still needs to make it through the sync into Google Health.

Google is not importing Garmin’s own Training Load score or Apple’s training metrics. It is taking the workout information it receives and using that data to calculate its own Cardio Load figure.

Which means Garmin’s Training Readiness, recovery metrics and deeper training analysis do not suddenly become Google Health metrics just because the workout has synced across. I saw that difference first-hand when I ran a 5K with Fitbit Air against Garmin. The basic heart-rate and distance figures were very close, but Garmin still provided far more depth once the workout was finished.

What actually syncs

Garmin data gets in via Health Connect on Android or Apple Health on iPhone. That covers workout summaries, heart rate, steps, distance, floors and calories. Garmin’s HRV, VO2 max and detailed lap data still don’t come through.

Apple Watch shares a bit more, including routes, VO2 max and some overnight vitals. For Cardio Load none of that really matters though. If the workout carries heart-rate data, Google can use it.

One odd detail

Google’s support page still says Cardio Load only uses first-party data, which flatly contradicts the 5.09 release notes. The update only started rolling out on September 25, so the help page just hasn’t caught up yet.

Small change, big win if you mix brands. You can train with whatever watch you like and still keep Cardio Load honest.