A flip of a switch. A moment for device pairing. Syncing complete. Moments later, before on the screen, stands a spiffy lineup of trainers clad in bright colours—all smiles as they open the floor to a workout. This is Fitness+, Apple’s recent health service that launched five years ago during the pandemic, and now in its biggest expansion yet, it is heading to Singapore, alongside other countries including Vietnam, Japan and Taiwan and more.
Guided exercise demonstrations aren’t a new concept. Circa to the 80s where Jane Fonda dominated the television screen whilst sheathed in a skintight lycra bodysuit. However, I soon learn that Fitness+—much like every Apple service—is more than just that. Over the years, since the conception of Apple Watch, Activity Rings and every groundbreaking health feature embedded within its devices, it’s evident that Apple’s in it for the long haul when it comes to health and fitness.
Which brings me here to Los Angeles. I’m standing in a huge production studio—more specifically Apple’s studio in Santa Monica, dedicated to Fitness+. As copious overhead lights and robotic cameras swerve above and state-of-the-art equipment ready their positions, the talent and trainer of today’s shoot, Anja, comes into view. She swiftly gets into frame, as the crew calls out ‘Action!’ and delivers her opening line with confidence, ease and most of all, an approachable quality that transmits through the cameras.
A fitness service that serves all
“Our mission behind Apple Fitness+ was to make it the most welcoming and inclusive fitness service in the world. It’s been at the heart of everything that we do,” remarks Jay Blahnik, VP of Fitness Technologies at Apple. And the service makes good on that promise, featuring 28 trainers of varying age groups that start from 20s to 70s as well as the inclusion of sign language during crucial points of each workout. The service is comprehensive in a way that it produces workouts as short as five minutes all the way up to 45 minutes, segmented in 12 workout types like strength, yoga and Pilates.
As with every Apple service, it’s tailored to adhere to an individual’s lifestyle, habits and interests. To do so, no stone was left unturned when it came to creating programs and workouts. From ‘ Yoga for Every Runner’, ‘Strength, Endurance, and Agility for Pickleball’ to a series of sessions to prepare for snow season and getting back to fitness after having a baby, there are the niche and the specialised to look forward to with new weekly drops from the service. A reminder that fitness is a spectrum and shouldn’t be boxed into isolating categories since different workout types can always work hand in hand to complement each other. The same inclusivity is applied to the trainers you see on screen, lead trainers that command strength and cycling classes can be found in the background of a Pilates workout—building familiarity and a sense of camaraderie as more sessions go by.
On that note, in every workout on Fitness+, there’s always a person acting as a modifier on the left—offering a low-impact or low-intensity method for anyone who’s new to working out or simply feels like slowing down for that particular day. Trainer at Fitness+ Brian Chochrane offers: “We know that fitness is all about meeting people where they’re at on any given day, so we include the modifier on every workout so that regardless of your fitness level, ability level, or maybe just the way that you feel that day, those are options for you in every single workout. So for example I’m the modifier in Pilates today and if one of those moves doesn’t work for me, we would change the complete move. We make sure it fits the modifier first because that’s the most important position in every workout for us.”
Personalisation is also another added bonus to the service. By selecting various filters that take stock of one’s weekly schedule, preferred trainers, favourite music genre, Fitness+ recommends plans that are tailored to suit your needs and wants. Or if you’re too lazy to do all of that, the app cleverly tracks your current user behaviour and recommends a plan just for you.
The conception of a workout on Fitness+
From an idea to the final completion of the edited clip, Fitness+ has a healthy system going for them, one that involves a team of trainers who plan out their own workouts and designs their own ‘digital package’—as to how the workout planned will be filmed in real-time—as well as in-house production team controlling the cameras and prompts from the control room. The team also operates very much like a community, often collaborating across specialties and designing workouts together based on music and striking a balance together as a whole.
“This studio produces more volume of 4k UHD content than any other studio in the world of its kind. There are lots of broadcast news that produce content at our pace, but they don’t do all of it in 4k UHD. So we shoot everything at the same production value as a theatrical release of a television show or movie, which has never been done before, and it allows us to get the most amazing production quality, even if it’s just a five minute core workout,” explains Blahnik as we watch Anja’s workout play out in real-time from the control room.
But with the amount of content that goes up on a weekly basis in this well-oiled machine, I’m curious how specialised workouts are conceived in the ever-evolving landscape of fitness. But as Blahnik answers, the team doesn’t do anything that isn’t rooted in science. “I think what we always look at is, how can we be of the culture and of the moment while still being rooted in really scientifically sound principles that we know are not going to change and are safe and effective for everyone?”
Yet another essential piece in the Apple ecosystem
After a quick trial run with the service, I realised, at last this is where it all comes together. Where Apple’s existing features play their own respective roles in this service. Whilst easily accessible just from an iPhone, if you experience Fitness+ alongside the Apple Watch and the AirPods Pro 3, you get to see your own biometrics right on the side of the screen during your workout. There’s also a Burn Bar onscreen that allows you to see how you’re doing against everyone who has done the same workout before you, encrypted with complete anonymity of course.
Some other main features like Timer, Activity Rings or Heart Rate will also appear more prominent on the screen in real time as and when the trainer mentions selected prompts during the workout. This layers on an interactive element to the entire experience.
Last but not least, Apple Music—the background force powering Fitness+. With the tech giant’s impressive music arsenal, it’s no surprise that each and every workout is backed up by a masterful blend of hits spanning different genres—from Hip-hop, Dance to Pop. So much so, that there are dedicated artist playlists like Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift for diehard fans to veer into within the service, with music as the driving motivator for keeping your body moving. It’s an app feature that will no doubt, be evolving and expanding—with the latest music genre K-pop set to launch next.
When trainers are just like the rest of us
The secret sauce to Fitness+, ultimately has to be the trainers who lead the programs. After all, a bad trainer can’t save a good workout. In the office, the A-team works together, plans their workouts according to one another’s feedback and stars alongside each other in their own episodes. They are recognisable by name and develop their own quips and slogans in their episode introductions. “I say mi gente, and in Spanish, it means my people,” beams trainer at Fitness+ Sam Sanchez. “I said “Hola mi gente” during Latin Heritage Month and it’s the first time I ever had the opportunity to do that. I got so many messages from that and I do it for every workout since—so that’s one of the slogans that means something to me.”
It’s easy to form a connection with any of the 28 trainers—going off their charisma that radiates on and off screen as well as a palpable love they have for what they do together as a team. This breaks the fourth wall of what the user watches online. Trainer at Fitness+ Kim Ngo remarks: “I think what’s great is we’re genuinely feeling what we are coaching. So when we are encouraging you, we are also encouraging ourselves. And when we’re saying this is tough, we mean it. It’s tough. I’m feeling it too. There’s no pretend work in there, and I think that’s what really brings the user on board. And we get messages all the time from our users saying, ‘how did you know that I was struggling at that point?’ Because yeah, I was too. This has built a great community across the world, and it’s going to be even bigger now, which we’re so excited for.”
Apple Fitness+ will be available in Singapore from 15 December.
Find Fitness+ on the iPhone.
