How to Get Started With Apple Fitness+

Apple is all about the three S’s these days: subscriptions, services, and saturation (for its new iMacs, at least). And while you can hardly blame the company for wanting to diversify its revenue, it can sometimes feel like there’s just a lot to buy from Apple — with a recurring monthly payment, that is. However, you should never feel bad about paying for your health, which puts Apple’s Fitness+ squarely into the “consider it” column.

The downside? You’ll get the most out of Fitness+ when you’re sweating and straining while also wearing an Apple Watch. In fact, you need one attached to your Apple ID to even sign up for Fitness+. (You can do workouts without wearing one, but you’ll lose the ability to view your health metrics directly on whatever screen it is you’re using for Fitness+.)

This is one of the best built-in integrations for Fitness+, but it means more money flowing to Cupertino if you don’t already have Apple’s smartwatch. Thankfully, you can usually find some great deals on older Apple Watches; you don’t need the latest and greatest device to work out.

Other than that, signing up for a $14.99/mo (or $119.99/year) Fitness+ plan via the regular Fitness app on your device is simple. You’ll even get a month free to try it out, or three months if you’ve recently purchased an Apple Watch (which lessens the financial burden of a new Apple Watch purchase ever-so-slightly, assuming you were going to sign up anyway). You can share the service with up to five family members to expand everyone’s access to health metrics or split the cost.

As for what you can do in Fitness+, well, Apple’s service offers enough workouts to cater to just about anyone:

“Mindful Cooldown” sounds absolutely great to me, though I suppose I won’t burn off any of my pandemic weight with such a relaxing routine. Thankfully, you can filter by class type, music type, and/or instructor within the Apple Fitness app — the latter option being especially useful if you find someone you really click with. (For me, that’s someone who won’t try to make me do squats. I hate squats.)