The short version: sign in at garmin.com, open Account → Data Management → Export Your Data, and click Request Data Export. Garmin emails you a link to a ZIP of your whole account. Your activities are inside it as the original files your watch recorded — FIT files for almost everyone.

Prefer to watch? We walk through it in this two-minute video.

Two ways to export, and when to use each

Garmin Connect gives you two different exports. They solve different problems.

One activity Everything
Where The activity page in Garmin Connect (web) Your Garmin account's Data Management page
What you get That one activity, straight away A ZIP of your entire account
Formats Original (FIT), TCX, GPX and others Each activity in the format it was uploaded in
Use it for Sharing or re-uploading a single session Backups, moving platforms, importing years of history

If you only need last Sunday's long run, export the single activity. If you want your full training history, request the full export — downloading hundreds of activities one at a time is not a plan.

Export everything: step by step

  1. Go to garmin.com and sign in to your Garmin account.
  2. Open your Account, then Data Management.
  3. Choose Export Your Data.
  4. Click Request Data Export.
  5. Wait for the email. Garmin sends a download link to the address on your account when the archive is ready.
  6. Download the ZIP promptly and keep a copy somewhere safe — the link does not stay live indefinitely.

A few things worth knowing before you click:

  • It is not instant. Garmin does not publish a turnaround time. Many exports arrive within a day or two; a long history can take longer, and Garmin's own window for data requests runs to 30 days. Request it before you need it.
  • One at a time. You cannot start a second export while one is still being prepared.
  • Check your spam folder. The email comes from Garmin and is easy to miss.

What is inside the ZIP

Unzip the download and search the folder for .fit — those files are your activities, one file each, exactly as your watch recorded them. If you find more ZIP files inside, unzip those too.

The archive is your whole Garmin account, not only your workouts, so you will also see wellness and summary files (sleep, stress, heart rate) as JSON. They are useful as a backup; the .fit files are what Fit PA imports.

Export a single activity

  1. Open Garmin Connect in a web browser and open the activity.
  2. Click the gear icon at the top right of the activity.
  3. Choose Export Original to get the FIT file exactly as your watch recorded it. Export to TCX and Export to GPX are there too.

Choose the original FIT file whenever you can. GPX keeps the route but drops most of what makes the data useful for training — power, cadence, running dynamics, laps and device information.

What you can do with your FIT files

  • Keep a backup you control. Your training history should not live in only one company's account.
  • Move to another platform without starting from zero.
  • Give your coach your full history. A new connection between Garmin and most apps only brings across recent activity — in Fit PA, a Garmin connection imports roughly the last 30 days. Everything older comes from this export.

Importing your history into Fit PA

  1. Unzip the export until you reach the .fit files (see above).
  2. In Fit PA, open Activities → Bulk Upload.
  3. Drag the .fit files in. You can upload up to 1,000 files at a time.

Your coach reads the whole history once it is in: training load, fitness trend, personal records and the volume you have actually been carrying — which is what your first plan is built from. New to Fit PA? Your first plan is free, no card needed.

Common questions

What is a FIT file? FIT is the file format Garmin devices record in. It holds the full second-by-second record of an activity — GPS, heart rate, power, cadence, laps and device details — in a compact binary file. It is the most complete version of your workout that exists.

Can I export my heart rate data from Garmin Connect? Yes. Heart rate recorded during an activity is inside that activity's FIT file. All-day heart rate, sleep and stress come in the full account export as wellness files.

How long does the Garmin data export take? Garmin does not commit to a time. A day or two is common; large accounts can take longer. You will get an email when it is ready.

Does exporting delete anything from Garmin Connect? No. An export is a copy. Your account and activities stay exactly as they are.

Can I download all my activities at once without requesting the export? Not from Garmin Connect itself — the activity list exports a summary spreadsheet, not the activity files. The full data export is the official way to get every original file.

The export email never arrived. What now? Check spam first, then confirm the email address on your Garmin account. If an export is still in progress you will not be able to request another until it completes.