Apple Fitness+ Announces New Workouts, Sound Meditation Theme, More

Apple has announced that starting January 8 it's Fitness+ service will offer a new sound meditation theme, new workouts, new Time to Walk guests, and more.

Apple Fitness+ is introducing new ways for users to stay active and mindful in the new year. Starting Monday, January 8, the service will introduce a brand-new sound meditation theme, as well as a new workout program titled Strength, Core, and Yoga for Golfers, featuring record-breaking athlete Rose Zhang, known as one of golf's rising stars. The Artist Spotlight series will launch new workouts celebrating the countdown to the Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show featuring USHER. Time to Walk will introduce new guests, including Al Roker, Trixie Mattel, Lilly Singh, Common, and Colman Domingo. For the first time ever, select Time to Walk episodes will be available on Apple Podcasts for anyone to enjoy in the 21 countries where the service is available, even without a Fitness+ subscription.

"Starting the new year can mean kicking off a fitness and wellbeing journey, restarting after a long break, or looking to take it up a level with a new challenge," said Jay Blahnik, Apple's vice president of Fitness Technologies. "From sound meditations to help you relax, to building strength for an improved golf swing, or turning up the volume on your workouts, Fitness+ has something for everyone to help them stay active and support their wellbeing in the new year."




Sound Meditations for Relaxation
Fitness+ offers 10 meditation themes, including Calm, Gratitude, Sleep, Resilience, and Creativity. Fitness+ is introducing a brand-new meditation theme called Sound, offering users a new way to feel relaxed and restored. Each meditation provides light guidance from a Fitness+ trainer while allowing ample space for users to be present, with a variety of soothing tones and rhythms — such as the tranquil sounds of singing bowls and the deep pitch of gongs — all arranged to create a sense of ease.

Seven new Sound meditations will be available in five-, 10-, and 20-minute increments, with new meditations dropping every week.




Strength, Core, and Yoga for Golfers
Building strength, stability, and mobility is important for golfers of all levels to help them swing with ease and drive the ball with power. Fitness+ introduces a new workout program, Strength, Core, and Yoga for Golfers, featuring and designed with professional golfer Rose Zhang and led by Fitness+ Strength and Core trainer Kyle Ardill. Inspired by Zhang's training on and off the course, this program features a mix of four workouts across Strength, Core, and Yoga, designed to improve strength, balance, flexibility, and mobility.

"To play at my best, the training that I do off the course is so important. Incorporating strength, core, and mobility workouts helps make sure my body and mind are ready," said Zhang. "Whether people are new to the sport or want to advance their skills, I'm excited that the workouts in this program on Fitness+ will help users feel more confident in their swing and have fun on the course."



Turn Up the Volume
Music is an essential element of every Fitness+ workout, motivating users from start to finish with today's top artists, including a deep integration with Apple Music.

The Artist Spotlight series — which dedicates an entire workout playlist to a single artist — will launch its biggest series yet to celebrate the countdown to the Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show featuring USHER, with music by iconic halftime performers each week leading up to the big game:
● Starting Monday, January 8, 10 new workouts with music by Rihanna, last year's Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show headliner, will be available for the first time in any fitness service.
● Starting Monday, January 15, new workouts with music by Britney Spears will be available.
● Starting Monday, January 22, new workouts with music by U2 will be available.
● Starting Monday, February 5, the Artist Spotlight workouts will feature music by this year's Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show headliner, USHER.



Time to Walk
Time to Walk — an award-winning audio experience on iPhone and Apple Watch, designed to help people walk more often — features some of the world's most interesting and influential people sharing stories, photos, and music with Fitness+ users.



New episodes of Time to Walk will begin with Al Roker, longtime weather anchor and segment cohost for the TODAY show. On this walk, Roker shares what he learned from his mentor that inspired him to pay it forward as a mentor himself. He also talks about the pivotal conversation he had with his father that prompted him to seek out a lifestyle change.

Guests in the coming weeks will include:
● Trixie Mattel, also known as Brian Firkus, a global cultural phenomenon who won the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, a Billboard-charting musician, an award-winning podcaster, and a cosmetics entrepreneur.
● Lilly Singh, a Canadian author and actor who rose to fame as a content creator covering everything from mental health to comedy skits on YouTube and has nearly 40 million social media followers.
● Common, a rapper, actor, and activist who became one of the more prominent voices in hip-hop's new millennium renaissance.
● Colman Domingo, an actor, writer, and director who won an Emmy for his role in the hit TV series Euphoria and critical acclaim for his work in Rustin.



Additionally, for the first time, select Time to Walk episodes will be available for listeners on Apple Podcasts. Fitness+ subscribers can access 50 episodes at launch on Apple Podcasts with the guest's audio, as well as follow the show for free, automatically download it for offline listening, and be notified of new episodes. Users can continue to access photos and songs chosen by the guest through the experience on Fitness+. Anyone without a Fitness+ subscription can access 10 free audio episodes on Apple Podcasts, including episodes with previous guests such as Prince William, Al Roker, Patti LaBelle, Jason Segal, Becky G, Simu Liu, Malala Yousafzai, Camila Cabello, Dolly Parton, and Shawn Mendes. Users can listen through the Apple Podcasts app with an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch with AirPods.



Ring in the New Year
Apple Watch users can earn a new limited-edition award, Ring in the New Year, when they close all three Activity rings for seven days in a row any time in January.



More Ways to Get Started with Fitness+
Fitness+ now offers more ways than ever to sign up for the service at no additional cost.

For the first time, Anytime Fitness memberships now include access to a free Fitness+ subscription. Anytime Fitness is the world's largest fitness club brand delivering personalized and affordable health and wellness training, coaching, nutrition, and recovery guidance to their members. Prospective members who try Anytime Fitness for free can get up to three months of Fitness+ for no cost. Additionally, Fitness+ users who join Anytime Fitness and sign up for a qualifying 12 months+ membership get their first 30 days at no charge. The personalized plans designed by Anytime Fitness coaches in the Anytime Fitness iOS app will include an integration of Apple Fitness+ workout content for coaches to recommend to their clients.

Pricing and Availability
● Time to Walk on Apple Podcasts will only be available in the 21 countries where Fitness+ is available.
● Apple Fitness+ is available as a subscription service for $9.99 (U.S.) per month or $79.99 (U.S.) per year, and can be shared with up to five other family members.
● Fitness+ is included in the Apple One Premier plan, which, where available, also gives customers access to Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, and iCloud+ with 2TB of storage, and can be shared with up to five other family members.
● Fitness+ is available in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Indonesia,Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, the UAE, the U.K., and the U.S.
● Three months of Apple Fitness+ are included for customers who purchase Apple Watch Series 4 or later, iPhone 11 or later, iPad (9th generation) or later, iPad Air (5th generation) or later, iPad mini (6th generation) or later, 11-inch iPad Pro (3rd generation) or later, 12.9-inch iPad Pro (5th generation) or later, Apple TV HD, or Apple TV 4K (2nd generation). One month of Fitness+ is included for all other new subscribers.
● Apple Fitness+ requires iPhone 8 or later with iOS 16.1 or later, or Apple Watch Series 3 or later with watchOS 7.2 or later paired with iPhone 6s or later with iOS 14.3 or later.
● To get the newest features, users must make sure their devices are running the latest software version.