Calling it art is a bit of nonsense. Apple's styling of the rooms in Fitness+ are on par with expectations. The spaces are not over-styled to distraction, but feel enough like the real thing despite being a recording room. Importantly they're not distracting or condescending. (Sounds odd, but being tone-deaf is easy in this industry.)
I think their biggest achievement is who they've brought on board to do the instruction - they're all very good as instructors and the breadth of the diversity (even including a pregnant woman) is helpful for encouraging people who might not think something like this is for them. The trainers also keep to a fixed fitness envelope meaning that people can buddy up with a trainer that fits their fitness level while also servicing a wide level of fitness experience.
There are some legit gripes I've read above, but these are more issues with the watch/technology rather than the Fitness+ service. For any exercise expecting rapid heart rate changes (including those outside of the fitness+ app) such HIIT or weight lifting - get a chest strap, they're cheap, pair directly with the watch and will give you a far better result, especially if focussing on calorie burn.
For Cycling cadence: the watch has never recorded it and that limitation extends to Fitness+. However the lack of cadence or bike resistance is not a deal breaker for performing a cycling workout, what is important: your heart rate.
I’m going to disagree on the lack of importance of cadence. When you are on a bike there are two ways to elevate your heart rate, you can spin quickly with little resistance or increase resistance while going slower. How the body reacts to those is different, one causes cardiovascular fatigue the other causes muscle fatigue. So saying cadence and resistance don’t matter is inaccurate because those things dictate how you get to the elevated heart rate.
I would really like for the workout app to work with a cadence sensor even if it is made by a third party. I’d be even more excited it if worked with power meters. That said, with Fitness+ I don’t find the lack of cadence to be a hindrance because you a visual and you can just match the leg turnover that you are seeing on the screen. So my desire to see cadence and power added to the watch are really more for my outdoor rides. I still have a garmin Watch I hold onto for those. I would love to have it down to one watch.
Calling it art is a bit of nonsense. Apple's styling of the rooms in Fitness+ are on par with expectations. The spaces are not over-styled to distraction, but feel enough like the real thing despite being a recording room. Importantly they're not distracting or condescending. (Sounds odd, but being tone-deaf is easy in this industry.)
I think their biggest achievement is who they've brought on board to do the instruction - they're all very good as instructors and the breadth of the diversity (even including a pregnant woman) is helpful for encouraging people who might not think something like this is for them. The trainers also keep to a fixed fitness envelope meaning that people can buddy up with a trainer that fits their fitness level while also servicing a wide level of fitness experience.
There are some legit gripes I've read above, but these are more issues with the watch/technology rather than the Fitness+ service. For any exercise expecting rapid heart rate changes (including those outside of the fitness+ app) such HIIT or weight lifting - get a chest strap, they're cheap, pair directly with the watch and will give you a far better result, especially if focussing on calorie burn.
For Cycling cadence: the watch has never recorded it and that limitation extends to Fitness+. However the lack of cadence or bike resistance is not a deal breaker for performing a cycling workout, what is important: your heart rate.
I’m going to disagree on the lack of importance of cadence. When you are on a bike there are two ways to elevate your heart rate, you can spin quickly with little resistance or increase resistance while going slower. How the body reacts to those is different, one causes cardiovascular fatigue the other causes muscle fatigue. So saying cadence and resistance don’t matter is inaccurate because those things dictate how you get to the elevated heart rate.
I would really like for the workout app to work with a cadence sensor even if it is made by a third party. I’d be even more excited it if worked with power meters. That said, with Fitness+ I don’t find the lack of cadence to be a hindrance because you a visual and you can just match the leg turnover that you are seeing on the screen. So my desire to see cadence and power added to the watch are really more for my outdoor rides. I still have a garmin Watch I hold onto for those. I would love to have it down to one watch.
So, what exactly would Apple Fitness+ do with cadence?
On their treadmill workouts they simply say to "speed up" or "return to base", etc... because the routines are generalized to a wide range of fitness levels.
At best, they could display your cadence on the screen along with time, heart beat, etc....
Comments
I would really like for the workout app to work with a cadence sensor even if it is made by a third party. I’d be even more excited it if worked with power meters. That said, with Fitness+ I don’t find the lack of cadence to be a hindrance because you a visual and you can just match the leg turnover that you are seeing on the screen. So my desire to see cadence and power added to the watch are really more for my outdoor rides. I still have a garmin Watch I hold onto for those. I would love to have it down to one watch.
So, what exactly would Apple Fitness+ do with cadence?