From next week, Apple Fitness+ users will be able to enjoy a new Kickboxing workout type, a sleep theme for meditations and a Beyoncé Artist Spotlight along with new Time to Walk guests and three new trainers.
Artist Spotlight will launch new workouts featuring music by Beyoncé, including songs from her latest album, RENAISSANCE and Time to Walk will kick off its fifth season with new guests, including Golden Globe-nominated actor Jamie Lee Curtis, late-night talk show host Amber Ruffin, Olympic champion figure skater Nathan Chen, and German actor Nina Hoss. Fitness+ will also launch two new Collections — 6 Weeks to Restart Your Fitness and Level Up Your Core Training as well as three new trainers.
Kickboxing
Apple says Kickboxing workouts can help build full-body fitness and are a great way to build strength, stamina, coordination, and balance. Each workout will consist of a distinct round of moves followed by one final round, which will combine the moves users just learned into an all-out one-minute interval. No equipment is required, and workouts will be 10, 20, or 30 minutes long.
Kickboxing will be led by two Fitness+ trainers. Jamie-Ray Hartshorne, who trained in muay thai and professionally competed in Thailand. Additionally, Nez Dally will join the trainer team to lead Kickboxing workouts. Nez made history when she became the first woman to compete in Thailand wearing a hijab.
New Trainers
In addition to Dally, two more new trainers will join the Fitness+ trainer team in January: Brian Cochrane for HIIT and Jenn Lau for Strength. Cochrane, who hails from Scotland, grew up playing a variety of sports, making his HIIT training a versatile practice. As a former singer in an indie band, he continues to be inspired by the way music and movement come together.
Lau co-founded a gym in her hometown of Toronto and she is just as passionate about inclusivity as she is about helping people stay active. She brings tenacity and playfulness to every lift and lunge she teaches.
Sleep Meditation
Meditation on Fitness+ is designed to help users release tension and anxiety. A brand-new Meditation theme, Sleep, will be added to the Meditation library, joining the nine other themes, including Calm, Gratitude, Resilience, and Creativity. New sleep meditations will be added every week, and each practice can be done as part of a wind-down routine or while drifting off.
To help users get started with sleep meditations, a new program, Introduction to Meditations for Sleep, will launch. The program consists of four 20-minute meditations that conclude with five minutes of relaxing music. The meditations — which can be done in any order at any time, each using different techniques to help users slow down and rest — include “Quiet Your Mind,” “Relax Your Body,” “Appreciate Your Day,” and “Visualize Rest.”
Artist Spotlight with Beyoncé
The Artist Spotlight series — which dedicates an entire workout playlist to a single artist — expands with new workouts featuring music by Beyoncé, including songs from her latest album, RENAISSANCE, bringing her iconic music to the service. On Monday, January 9, seven new workouts featuring the singer’s music will be available across Cycling, Dance, HIIT, Pilates, Strength, Treadmill, and Yoga. The energy and themes in each workout are inspired by the album’s notion of rediscovering what makes individuals unique and powerful to help uplift users in the new year.
Fitness+ will also roll out two additional Artist Spotlight offerings: the Foo Fighters on Monday, January 16, and Bad Bunny on Monday, January 23.
Time to Walk
New episodes of Time to Walk are also coming. Season five has new guests including:
- Amber Ruffin, host of the late-night talk show The Amber Ruffin Show and co-author of the New York Times bestseller You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism.
- Jason Segel, the actor, producer, comedian, and screenwriter best known for his role as Marshall Eriksen in the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, who stars in the upcoming Apple Original comedy Shrinking.
- José Andrés, Spanish chef and founder of the World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters.
- Nina Hoss, one of Germany’s biggest stars of the stage and screen, known for her role in the critically acclaimed film Tár.
- Colman Domingo, the actor, writer, and director who gained acclaim and a Tony Award nomination for his performance as Mr. Bones in the Broadway musical The Scottsboro Boys and won an Emmy for his role in Euphoria.
- Nathan Chen, US figure skater, three-time world champion, and 2022 Olympic champion.
- Sheryl Lee Ralph, the actor and singer who most recently won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Abbott Elementary.
Pricing and Availability
- Apple Fitness+ is available as a subscription service for A$14.99 inc. GST per month or A$119.99 inc. GST 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.
- 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, iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation) or later, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation) or later, Apple TV HD, or Apple TV 4K (2nd generation). One month of Fitness+ is included for all other new subscribers.
- Fitness+ can be shared with up to five other family members for the same price, making it easy for users in the same household to enjoy the service.
- Apple Fitness+ requires iPhone 8 or later with iOS 16.1, 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.
- All Time to Walk and Time to Run episodes are available in the Fitness app on iPhone with a Fitness+ subscription. Users can also enjoy the episodes with just their Apple Watch paired with AirPods or other Bluetooth-enabled headphones.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.