Review: Apple Fitness+

A friend once told me injuries were the tattoos of having lived an interesting life. I think about that—a lot. Over the last 30 years, I’ve sustained a number of significant injuries that make it difficult to exercise with moxie. But boy howdy, do I have some stories.

My skull’s been fractured. There’s nothing but scar tissue holding the ligaments in my right ankle together. Both of my rotator cuffs have been torn. I’ve broken nine ribs. I shattered my left hand. I spent years trying to drink and eat myself to death (thanks PTSD!), for which my reward was a stent in my heart. I have heart disease and a job that keeps me sitting for most of the day. I take a cocktail of pills, multiple times a day, to help my heart pump properly, keep me calm, and, when the barometric pressure drops, hurt a little bit less.

Today, I’m 47 years old, five feet, seven inches tall, and on the morning I wrote this piece, I weighed 244 pounds—that’s a lot of heft for a short fella like me to be carrying around. I walk as far and, as often as I can, but time, melted cheese, and old injuries make losing weight difficult.

Working out at home on my own is fine, or it would be if I had any idea of what I was doing. But ultimately the pain keeps me from pushing forward, demoralizing me to the point of skipping physical training for weeks. Once I start again, I get hurt, again—it's a cycle that scares me, one that's shortening my life.

So, I decided to try Apple Fitness+ (available at Apple Fitness+) to see if it could help someone like me with physical limitations.

What is Apple Fitness+?

If you're unfamiliar with Fitness+, it's Apple's workout and wellness service that offers users guided workouts, yoga, and meditation videos to help them stay moving and mindful.

Found within the Fitness app on iPhones and iPads, and Apple TVs, it’s easy to filter the vast Fitness+ content library to find the workout you're looking for, whether you want to strengthen your core, improve your cardiovascular health, increase your flexibility or wind down at the end of a stressful day.

If you own an Apple Watch, you'll get even more out of Apple Fitness+. As you follow the workouts on your mobile device or Apple TV, you'll see your workout stats such as heart rate and how close you are to closing your moment, exercise, and standing fitness rings: It's data designed to encourage you to push a little further, walk a little longer, or maybe fit in an extra ten minutes of yoga during your lunch break. When you purchase a new Apple Watch, it comes with a free, limited-time Fitness+ subscription for you to take getting healthy, the Apple way, for a spin.

Why Am I Telling You All Of This?

Because mental and physical fitness is hard.

It's my hope, that by sharing my journey with you, I'll be compelled to complete what I set out to do. To that end, over the next six months, I'll be providing regular updates on my fitness progress and setbacks. I'll talk about what I like about Fitness+ (available at Apple Fitness+) and, if I find stuff that sucks, fill you in on that as well. Apple's allowed me to hold on to the Apple Watch Ultra that I reviewed, for the duration of the project. They've also loaned me an Apple TV 4k, so I can watch healthy people attempt to teach me things, in the highest resolution possible.

I don't have a weight goal in mind. I'm not fixated on being the calm center of my universe. I simply want to work towards better health, find enjoyable ways to manage my stress between visits to my therapist and doctors and, if I'm very lucky, live a slightly longer life.

I want that for everyone. Let’s get started.