In the smartwatch space of 2025, competition is getting fiercer and consumers are more careful when choosing.
In the smartwatch space of 2025, competition is getting fiercer and consumers are more careful when choosing.
The wide variety of the best fitness trackers on the market means there is something for everyone. Whether you want to track workouts or general health metrics, sleep or running performance, there is always a device that is suitable for you.
Some fitness trackers may be particularly useful for specific areas
– for example, for sleep tracking, you can't beat unobtrusive wearable smartbands like Oura Ring (3rd generation) or Ultrahuman Ring AIR, and for running, there are many excellent Garmin watches to choose from.
- Garmin Coach
Garmin Coach offers training plans for three running race lengths: 5km, 10km and half marathon. So if you are looking for training plans for these events, you can head to Garmin Coach in the Garmin Connect app.
Garmin Coach will create dynamic training plans based on your own goals and performance to help achieve this goal.
Garmin Coach is a personalized adaptive workout plan that allows users to choose one of three coaches in the Garmin Connect app to help them complete their running journey.
Set up Garmin Coach in Connect App > More > Training & Planning > Training Plans. You can choose a running or cycling plan, set a race goal, and hire a virtual coach. Each coach has different qualities, running frequency, and training duration.
Once you complete these initial steps, you will see the Garmin Coach tab in the Connect App, which is the home of your training plan. Training plan workouts are available for viewing in advance and can be transferred to your own Garmin watch to complete. Or, if your phone is in range, they will automatically sync to your device.
- Suggested Workouts
Garmin's Suggested Workouts will provide daily suggested workouts based on activity level to create a balanced fitness profile.
While it can suggest supplementary workouts based on your training plan, the suggested workouts will not be consistent with your Garmin Coach training plan.
Garmin's Suggested Workouts will provide daily suggested workouts based on activity level to create a balanced fitness profile. For example, if you do a lot of 4-zone exercises, it may recommend some lower intensity exercises to train in the lower cardio zones to balance your training load.
Each time you exercise, Garmin will recommend a workout for you. Some will offer simple time and pace goals, but will also include interval training.
A neat touch is that you can set a Suggested Workout to provide a heart rate guided session so that you can complete the workout at your intensity. For many people, this will be more beneficial because it removes external factors that affect speed, such as weather or fatigue.
If you use the Race widget, the Suggested Workout will guide you towards that goal.
Supported Devices Vary
These two features are available across much of Garmin's product line, which means you may be able to use them. However, not every Garmin product offers them.
What Options Are Available
We'll explore this further in the section below, but Garmin Coach doesn't cover all running race distances.
While there are plans for 5K, 10K, and half marathon distances, marathon is not an option.
This forces you to follow the suggested workout path, and you can get suggestions no matter what your goal is.
Based on my experience using Suggested, setting up the Race Widget feature is essential to ensuring your workouts are aligned with your overall goals and truly personalized.
As a standalone feature, it's unlikely you'll see the same progress as with the targeted Garmin Coach plans, especially if you're focusing on endurance events like half marathons.
Which one is best for your training?
Suggested workouts are for experienced users who want to stay fit or mix up their workouts. It seems to be aimed at athletes who are used to structured workouts, as it offers little guidance on how to complete interval or structured workouts.
However, since Suggested workouts are only generated a week in advance and offer little motivation or guidance, it doesn't seem to be suitable for training for a specific race. And you'll most likely follow the full plan elsewhere.
Garmin Coach is a more complete training system that gives you a clear picture of your future training plans and offers more traditional training plans, but it seems to be aimed at beginner runners who need some guidance. Not to mention that the half marathon is the longest distance.