Garmin Challenges and Badges

yirara · May 7

I would guess that intensity level differs a lot across different exercises. As pretty much all my exercise is above the anaerobic threshold (my muscles don't have much oxidative abilities) and my HR is often all over the place but usually quite a lot higher I set a fairly high intensity minute goal to account for every possibility 🤣 Mostly, strength training doesn't count for vigorous though, and neither does walking unless it includes steep inclines.

spiriteagle99 · May 7

I've never had an issue with getting 150+ minutes of intensity. My Forerunner gives me moderate intensity minutes when I walk the dog, even though I never turn the watch on when I do it. Lots of start and stop so not really very intense except when going up hills. For the past year, I averaged 585 minutes of moderate intensity and 335 minutes of vigorous per week.

There is a big difference in my maximum HR depending on activity. With running, my HR gets up into the 170-180s when running hills. On my stationary bike, I almost never get above 120, even doing HIIT.

yirara · May 21

I got the first two badges: May Walking (30 miles) and Active May (20 activities). I had to stop running and strength training temporarily as I was feeling not well. Turned out I had a uti. Feeling better now, and am currently in Italy, and San Marino before that. Thus lots of walking :)

yirara · May 31

Didn't get too many badges this month because I was away on a short vacation twice and got sick on top. I have:

May Gaines: 4hrs strength training. Will do another session tonight
May Step Month
May Walking
Active May
And I only need 40 more km on the 3 month Walking Stage 2. Might get this with another trip coming up.

frankwbrown · May 31

I earned my last May badge yesterday: May Gains

Since I bailed on several cycling challenges I had planned to go for, I'm all done with May. Here's my final badges, in chronological order of the day the badge was earned:

Connect: Active May, May Swim Week, May Likes, May Photo Share, POC Cycling 100, May Steps Podium, May Warrior, May Walking, 2025 Walking Stage 2, May Time to Swim, May Step Month, May Gains
Connect+: Low Stress May, May Heart Walks, May Calorie Burn, Intense May, May Battery Booster, May Intense Cardio, May Meditations

frankwbrown · May 31

In addition to the usual monthly challenges, there are:

four new "Beat Yesterday" challenges:
- Beat Yesterday Pro Walk 2025 — 5 days out of 7 w/ each walk at least 5 minutes longer than the previous
- Beat Yesterday Pro Run 2025 — 5 days out of 7 w/ each run at least 5 minutes longer than the previous
- Beat Yesterday Expert Walk 2025 — 10 of 14 w/ each at least 5 minutes longer than previous
- Beat Yesterday Expert Run 2025 — 10 of 14 w/ each at least 5 minutes longer than previous
four single day challenges:
- June 3 - World Bicycle Day 2025, Record a cycling activity on World Bicycle Day, June 3, 2025
- June 4 - Global Running Day 2025, Record a running activity on Global Running Day, June 4, 2025
- June 5 - World Environment Day 2025, Record an activity on World Environment Day, June 5, 2025
- June 14 - Global Wellness Day 2025, Record an activity on Global Wellness Day, June 14, 2025
sixteen new Garmin Trails challenges — these are new and available but only on certain devices. They all relate to Garmin's new Trails feature.

Read about them all here: June challenges and badges

frankwbrown · May 31

About Garmin Trails:

Garmin now has support for trails/routes (Garmin Trails), similar to www.alltrails.com (excellent site).
This feature is only available on devices that support "courses". Additionally, it requires a subscription to either Garmin Connect+ or Outdoor Map+.

Sixteen new challenges all relate to this new Trails support. Although I have a Fenix 8, these challenges are not available. That's very disappointing.

There is one interesting new feature: The walking activity now supports entering a weight for a backpack/rucksack. This will allow the calculation of Vo2Max more accurate, as it takes into account the extra weight. I have a 16-pound weighted vest I sometimes wear on walks, so I can use this feature.

DaffyGirl88 · May 31

Got my May Step Month badge today, nothing like waiting until the last minute! 😂

p8m6bwghh9 · June 1

May Badges:

Let’s Get Physical

Active May

Saddle Up

Sleep Savant x7

Super Strength

May Gains

May Weekend Walking

Intense 150

May Walking

May Step Month

60-Day Goal Getter

10K a Day Challenge x5

frankwbrown · June 1

Here's my swim/walk/ride stats for May:

I wish it would give me a concise summary of other activities, like strength, yoga and tai chi.

AustinRuadhain · June 18

Hi there! I was excited to see that there's a discussion of Garmin badges. I find thrm fun and motivating.

I have earned a small stack of badges this month. I will bookmark this and check in to share and see ho0w others are doingl

yirara · June 18

I certainly completed the 150km walking in 3 months badge this month. Was on Greenland and walked a lot! Still injured with.. not sure a slipped rib or something like that thus not many badges this month.

frankwbrown · June 18

I'm making steady progress on this month's challenges (the ones I've joined, I mean). I won't be doing any of the running challenges nor most of the cycling challenges, but I did do the June Weekend 40K challenge this past Sunday.

I almost wish I had power meter pedals for my bike, but not really. I'm not an avid cyclist and don't really need those metrics. And they're expensive! It's just that I yearn to earn the Yin & Yang badge.

I want this badge only because I do tai chi and I like the concept of yin and yang. But the badge is not for martial arts, it's for achieving a 50/50 split of power between your left and right sides during cycling. I understand the idea of trying to achieve balance, but I wish they'd chosen a different symbol. I want it for philosophical reasons. But spending $600+ for power meter pedals just to earn this badge would be the epitome of… foolishness, if not worse.

(and who's to say that I could achieve that balance even with the pedals! 🤔 )

frankwbrown · June 27

Are you ready for another month of challenges?
July challenges have dropped, and they include a few new challenges (highlighted in bold) for biking and hiking. (Check out the hiking in Europe challenge). Here they are:

activity type	badge name	points	badge requirements
any	Active July	2	record 20 activities of at least 20 minutes each in July
cycling	2025 Cycling - Stage 3	2	record 675 kilometers (419.5 miles) of cycling activities from July 1 to September 30
cycling	Beat Yesterday Expert Ride 2025	1	record a cycling activity on five out of any seven consecutive days in July, increasing each ride by at least 10 minutes
cycling	Beat Yesterday Pro Ride 2025	2	record a cycling activity on 10 out of any 14 consecutive days in July, increasing each ride by at least 10 minutes
cycling	July Ride to 100	2	record 100 kilometers of cycling activities from July 6-12
cycling	July Ride to 200	2	record 200 kilometers of cycling activities from July 13-26
cycling	July Time to Ride	1	record 20 hours of cycling activities in July
cycling	July Weekend 40K	2	record a 40-kilometer cycling activity from July 23-25
hiking	Gregory Hiking Challenge	1	record four hiking activities of at least three miles each in July
hiking	USA Summer Hiking	4	record 50 hours of hiking activities in 8 weeks anywhere in the United States
hiking	DACH Summer Hiking	4	record 50 hours of hiking activities in 8 weeks anywhere in Germany, Austria or Switzerland (great summer vacation — don't I wish!)
running	2025 Running - Stage 3	2	record 300 kilometers (186.5 miles) of running activities from July 1 to September 30
running	July Rundown	1	record 50 miles of running activities in July
running	July Time to Run	1	record 10 hours of running activities in July
running	July Weekend 10K	2	record a 10-kilometer running activity from July 25-27
running	July Weekend 5K	1	record a 5-kilometer running activity from July 4-6
steps	July Step Month	2	record 300,000 steps in July
steps	July Steps Podium	2	finish in the top 3 of at least one weekly steps challenge from June 30 to August 3
strength	July Gains	1	record a total of 4 hours of strength activities in July
swimming	July Swim Week	1	record 1,000 meters of swimming activities from July 13-19
swimming	July Time to Swim	1	record 4 hours of swimming activities in July
walking	2025 Walking - Stage 3	1	record 91 miles (146.5 km) of walking activities from July 1 to September 30
walking	July Walking	2	record 30 miles of walking activities in July
walking	July Weekend Walking	1	record a 3-mile walking activity from July 11-13
yoga	July Warrior	2	record a total of 4 hours of yoga activities in July
social	July Likes	1	receive a total of 25 or more likes on activities, posts or comments in July
social	July Photo Share	1	add a photo to 3 or more activities that are visible to others in July
connect+	Intense July	2	reach your intensity minutes goal on two different weeks from June 30 to August 3
connect+	July Battery Booster	2	achieve a Body Battery level of 76 or higher for 7 days in July
connect+	July Calorie Burn	4	burn 8,000 active calories in July
connect+	July Epic Hikes	4	record 1,000 meters of total ascent during hiking activities in July
connect+	July Heart Walks	4	record at least 3 hours of walking in heart rate zones 2 or 3 in July
connect+	July Intense Cardio	4	record at least 3 hours of cardio activities in heart rate zone 3 in July
connect+	July Meditations	1	record meditation activities for 7 days in July
connect+	July Power Cycling	4	record at least 4 hours of cycling activities in power zone 3 in July
connect+	July Running Climbs	4	record 500 meters of total ascent during running activities in July
connect+	July Speed Walking	4	record at least 3 hours of walking with an average pace of 10:30 /km (16:50 /mi) or faster in July
connect+	Low Stress July	2	maintain a daily average stress level of 50 or lower for 7 days in July

I completed the last of my June challenges (June Steps) yesterday. I had wanted to complete a couple cycling challenges as well, but I gave up on those — too little progress.

I've joined 21 of the July challenges, 11 of the connect+ July challenges, and all three stage 3 challenges. 😂

DaffyGirl88 · June 28

@frankwbrown you're going to be busy next month!

Garmin Challenges and Badges

Replies

Categories