New Garmin Training Features (2026): Nutrition Tracking, Lifestyle Logging, and More

I’ve been reviewing Garmin watches for well over a decade now, and the company has never made that big a deal about software updates. Now we get an update every few months. What's changed in the past few years? The competition has.

For a long time, Garmin needed only to keep an eye on what a few other fitness trackers were up to. Now it has Apple, Samsung, and a whole host of other smartwatch brands offering premium outdoor features like satellite communications and more.

It’s no longer enough to be great at capturing accurate GPS running and cycling routes or filling your watch screen with detailed maps. Garmin decided it was time to step up its update game. The likes of the Apple Watch Ultra-esque Venu X1 ($700), Fenix 8 Pro ($1,889), and Forerunner 970 ($750) were among the watches to receive a pretty significant software boost.

I’ve been spending a few weeks getting to know those new features to see if Garmin has added value to some of its best watches.

Nutrition Tracking

Garmin introduced nutrition tracking to its Connect platform at the start of the year, though unfortunately it's behind the paywalled Connect+ subscription. That means you can now log your food, as well as see a breakdown of macronutrients both on and off compatible Garmin watches. Nutrition tracking is a complex feature, and Garmin’s approach to it proves there’s still some work to be done.

Food logging can be done in a few ways. You can search for items in a provided database, scan barcodes from packaging, or use your camera and AI-based analysis to determine what you’re about to eat.

I tested this feature during a holiday and experienced some of the inconsistencies with the food identification. For simpler items like eggs, fruit, and cheese, the camera-based logging worked well. As soon as meals became more complex, lighting to take photos wasn’t bright enough, or the AI analysis had limitations seeing what was exactly in a salad. It started to become more frustrating. This logged data should also feed into Garmin’s Active intelligence feature to offer insights and make recommendations based on your intake and even timing of meals. However, my personalized insights remained focused on telling me about my training and sleep trends.

The information is at least nicely presented on the watch. You have the added ability to log food there as well, with most recent items displayed to make that easier to do. But trying to type on the watch keyboard wasn’t a great experience. It’s an OK start for a feature that has some familiar shortcomings, but it doesn't make that Connect+ subscription any more appealing.

Rating: 6/10

Garmin Fitness Coach

After leading with running and then adding cycling and strength training plans, Garmin now includes a general fitness training plan to its free Coach training platform. Like other Coach plans, you pick the days you want to work out and decide whether those workouts include gym equipment or just bodyweight movements

I opted for a bodyweight-based plan and picked the duration of the plan. Once created, the app syncs the plan over to the watch. Workouts included familiar exercises like mountain climbers or hip raises. If you don’t know what a mountain climber is, Garmin provides animations to demonstrate what it is and how to correctly perform the movement.

Coach has quickly become one of the biggest strengths of Garmin’s Connect ecosystem. Adding a more general fitness element now means that more people can put the adaptable and personalized training plans to good use.

Rating: 8/10

Gear Tracking

This is a feature for those that want a better idea of when it might be time to retire a pair of running shoes or even keep track of how much time you’ve spent on your surfboard. Strava has gear tracking, but Garmin takes things further by letting you track equipment that covers everything from bikes to rackets. It even lets you keep track of multiple pieces of kit you regularly use together.

You can add items to your gear library from the Connect app, and you have the option to attach imagery. Before you start a workout on the watch, you can make sure the gear you’re in or on is assigned before you get moving. There’s also an opportunity to add gear post-workout.

I test a lot of running shoes, so this is one I found very handy to keep track of my mileage. If you have a big shoe rotation or switch between a few different bike setups, I think you’re going to appreciate how Garmin has enhanced its gear tracking support.

Rating: 8/10

Lifestyle Logging

I tested a lifestyle logging feature on Sony smartwatches many years ago, and I can’t say it was something that impressed me or that I wanted to use on a regular basis. Garmin now offers something similar, with the goal of helping users see the impact that different behaviors can have on aspects like stress and sleep.

You can pick from 40 behaviors or create custom ones. The preset ones cover factors like late meals, your morning caffeine intake, or spending time with your kids. You can log these from both the Connect app on your phone and on the watch. In Connect, you’ll see scores of your overnight stress and sleep scores to help draw connections between the data logged by your watch and your self-reported behaviors.

The logging aspect is nicely executed, but connecting the dots feels a bit more clunky. I can definitely see the value of seeing the impact that an increased coffee intake or late meals can have on your general wellbeing, but I just don't always remember to log at the end of the day. It needs to be more seamlessly integrated than it is right now.

Rating: 6/10

Sleep Alignment

Sleep alignment was first introduced on the Garmin Venu 4 last year and now lands on some of Garmin’s most premium smartwatches. Essentially, it’s a new piece of information about sleep that aims to help you pick the right time to go to sleep in accordance with your natural circadian rhythm (otherwise known as your body’s biological clock).

Before you can see whether your sleep is well aligned, you need to log a minimum of three weeks of sleep data. After that, you can head to the sleep section of the Connect app or tap the Sleep widget on the watch to see how well things are lined up.

Like any sleep insight, it’s massively reliant on reliable sleep tracking, which hasn’t always been a strength for Garmin. Things have improved greatly on the accuracy front in recent years. I could see clearly when sleep lined up, or when the late nights of working or jet lag meant sleep wasn’t matching up well with that internal rhythm. The presentation on the watch makes this feature quite useful to make sure you’re getting enough rest to feel energized to take on the day.

Rating: 8/10

WhatsApp Lands

You can now get WhatsApp on your Garmin. You could do this before, though only through seeing notifications pop up onscreen. Now there’s a dedicated Garmin watch app to view your most recent conversations and groups.

Unlike receiving a notification about a WhatsApp message, the dedicated app lives inside of Garmin’s main menu screen. You can reply to messages, either through preset responses or awkwardly attempting to type one out on the built-in keyboard. It’ll also buzz you when a WhatsApp call is coming through.

However, it doesn't pull through images and doesn’t work with the LTE versions of Garmin’s Fenix line. It's sort of useful if you’ve been desperate for stronger WhatsApp and Garmin integration. It could be a lot better.

Rating: 6/10

Sports Scores Glance

I like sports, and I follow a lot of different sports and leagues. Having a way to get reminders of upcoming matches or recent results, without looking at a phone screen, is a nice thing to be able to do. You’re also not restricted by the number of sports or clubs you can add to your favorites either. The NBA, Premier League, and even other top-flight football leagues are among the competitions covered here. You will still need your phone to keep things up to date, but if you’re a sports fan, this is a worthy extra to add to your Glances stream.

Rating: 7/10

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