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Lance Ulanoff
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I’ve never had a fitness trainer and only set foot in a gym a few times in my early twenties and have not been back since. I don’t spin or sweat in hot yoga. My workouts are of my own design, heavily influenced by Jack LaLanne, and they’re roughly the same ones I’ve been doing for almost 25 years. So, you’ll forgive me if I have an aversion to Apple’s hyper-positive, intensely cheerful, clearly fit, and obviously talented Fitness+ instructors.
Even though Apple gave me a Fitness+ subscription to try (it normally costs $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year for use by up to five family members), I wasn’t sure I wanted to try it. Plus, my workout is mostly focused on strength and weights, and Apple’s exercise routines on the Apple Watch — what it recognizes as a workout — didn’t include pushups, curls, or pullups, all my own go-to fitness routines (it’s got me covered on the occasional powerwalk and cycling).
Before I could even give it a go, I had to update my iPhone to iOS 14.3 (a relatively significant update that seemed to reset more than a few connections and settings, including my AirPods Pro, which wouldn’t work until I rebooted the phone again) and make sure my Apple Watch was up to date with watchOS 7.2. It’s a beefy update that my wife’s Apple Watch 3 is struggling to ingest (there isn’t enough space). I’d like her to update, though, because she’s a perfect candidate for Apple Fitness+. For years, she’s been using YouTube video trainers to guide her through aerobic workouts.
With the updates in place, I watched the system’s 90-second welcome video. I recommend you do the same since it gives you a good feel for what the workouts will be like. Most of them look, by the way, like they’re shot at studios in Apple Park. I recognize the woodwork, big windows, and very Apple-campus feel.
Version iOS 14.3 renames “Apple Activity” (the tri-colored three-ring app icon) to “Fitness” and in the app adds, between “Activity” and “Sharing,” there’s a “Fitness+” tab.
The Fitness+ app layout is intuitive and relatively straightforward, which means you can do as I did and dive right in to…
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Debugger
Tech expert, journalist, social media commentator, amateur cartoonist and robotics fan.
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