If you have an Apple Watch, get excited because you now have access to studio-style workouts on your iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV through Apple Fitness+ [1]. Just open the Apple Fitness app on your iPhone, and you'll notice a third new icon on the bottom of the screen called Fitness+. When you tap on the icon, a huge world of workouts will be available including HIIT, strength, dance, yoga, core, and even workouts for the treadmill, indoor bike, and rowing machine. The coolest feature is that the metrics on your Apple Watch appear on the screen as you work out! Apple sent me a watch and a year subscription to test out, and here's what I thought.
What I Love About Apple Fitness+: Variety of Workouts
Right now I'm into strength training, rowing, and yoga, but I love that Apple Fitness+ has such a variety of different types of workouts. It helped me branch away from my usual workout routine, and trying something new helped spark my motivation to work out more.
I've tried dance, core, HIIT, and loved them, and also loved the mindful cooldowns. The different workouts appeal to me based on my mood, so I can choose yoga if I'm feeling mellow or sore, or choose rowing or strength when I want to push hard. When you choose a workout, there's a preview video so you can get a taste of what the workout will be like.
My eight-year-old son has even gotten into it and loves holding the remote and choosing the workouts he wants to try — strength are his fave and it's fun being able to do it together.
What I Love About Apple Fitness+: Wide Range of Workout Durations
One feature I use the most is being able to choose workouts based on time. Since I'm a working mom, it's great to be able to easily choose a workout based on how much time I have. I like to combine a 30-minute rowing workout with a 20-minute strength workout and finish with a 10-minute yoga flow.
Another thing I love about this feature is that if I'm not really into exercising, I can just choose a 10-minute workout, and after I'm done, I'm usually inspired to keep going and do another one. Those 10-minute workouts add up! But sometimes I only have 10 minutes to spare, and this makes it easy to find a quick workout.
What I Love About Apple Fitness+: Upbeat, Inspiring Trainers
I've tried workouts from at least eight different Apple Fitness+ trainers, and every single one of them has been welcoming, inspiring, down-to-earth, and encourageing. If you find a favourite instructor, a helpful feature is that you can sort workouts by trainers. I love the representation of age, gender, race, and ethnicity, because often with other workout programs, there are only 20-year-old white women.
What I Love About Apple Fitness+: New Workouts Every Week
There are hundreds of pre-recorded workouts you can choose from, and new workouts are added every week, so I could never get bored doing the same workouts! But I love that I still have access to older favourite workouts. It's a great mix!
What I Love About Apple Fitness+: The Community Feel
Before trying Apple Fitness+, I used to enjoy rowing alone while watching YouTube videos, but I love that rowing workouts are available. Seeing the other five people on the screen all pushing to keep the same pace really drives me to want to push, too. It feels like we're all rowing on the same river! With that group motivation, I was able to row more meters during a 30-minute workout than I ever rowed alone.
I also love that the trainers take each other's classes, so you can see friendly faces doing the workout along with you offering that community feel I love from group fitness classes.
What I Love About Apple Fitness+: I Can Work Out Anywhere
With Apple Fitness+ available on my iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV, I can use it anywhere I go, and that ease of use makes it more likely to happen. Right now, I love using it on the Apple TV in my basement, because the bigger screen makes it feel more exciting. And if my kids hear the music, it inspires them to want to join in.
But sometimes I want to be alone and quiet, like when I'm doing a yoga flow, so I'll bring my iPad into my home gym area. And although I love the music and the trainer's encourageing words, sometimes I use my iPhone and mute the sound, and just lean it next to my computer so I can follow along while rowing, but listen to a YouTube video instead. I love all the viewing options!
What I Love About Apple Fitness+: The Music
Apple Fitness+ allows you to choose the genre of music you love most, like Latin groove, hip-hop/R&B, and rock, or my personal faves, upbeat anthems and throwback hits. I like that I can choose workouts based on the music I find most inspiring, but I also liked working out to music I don't typically listen to. It opens up my ear palette, and the newness of the beats adds a different element of inspiration.
What I Love About Apple Fitness+: It's Connected to My Apple Watch
I've been wearing my Apple Watch every day for the past year, and I appreciate that it motivates me to stay active in a healthy (and not obsessive) way. I'm thankful for the gentle reminders to stand up (otherwise I may be sitting for hours straight without realising it!), and the daily exercise and move goals really does inspire me.
Using Apple Fitness+ makes it easy to automatically track workouts on my watch, and it's so helpful to see my stats on the screen while I'm working out. I love this integration! You have to see for yourself, and with the first month free, it's totally worth trying out!