Swiss health wearables specialist Garmin has added free health and fitness updates for its Forerunner GPS running smartwatches.

The updates provide athletes with sleep monitoring, additional animated on-screen workouts and more accurate VO2 max ratings to measure cardiovascular fitness when on runs.

The Forerunner 245, 245 Music, 745 and 945 GPS running smartwatches can access the features through a free software update. This will let wearers record VO2 max during a trail run activity – can be turned off if desired – and receive a more accurate VO2 max that accounts for difficult terrain or footing when using the run activity profile.

After a workout, an athlete can record how hard it was and how it felt. These subjective ratings are then uploaded to Garmin Connect as part of the activity. This is also available on the Forerunner 45 and 45S.

An improved intensity minutes feature lets users see how and when daily intensity minutes were earned.

Additional updates for the Forerunner 245 and 245 Music include the ability to receive on-device running daily workout suggestions based on training history, fitness level and recovery time.

Additional updates for the Forerunner 745 and 945 mean, right from the wrist, users can review sleep metrics including sleep stages and receive a sleep score and sleep insights based on the quality and quantity of the previous night’s sleep. They can also log time spent at aid stations while using the ultrarun activity with rest timer.

Easy-to-follow workouts, including cardio, strength, yoga and pilates, can be downloaded from the Garmin Connect app and synced directly to the watch. Users can also receive a more accurate estimate of the body’s fitness age using chronological age, activity, resting heart rate and BMI or body fat percentage.¹

Athletes can update their Forerunner by pairing the watch with the Garmin Connect app.