Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

'Apple Watch Connected' Program Will Offer Rewards for Working Out at Participating Gyms

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,536
37,861



Apple today announced the launch of a new Apple Watch Connected program that should benefit both gyms and gym-goers.

The program will reward gym-goers for using an Apple Watch to track their workouts, with incentives varying by gym. At participating Crunch Fitness locations, for example, members can earn up to $4 off the cost of their membership per week if they meet certain activity goals, according to CNBC.

orangetheory-fitness-apple-watch.jpg

In return, gyms could attract new customers who wear an Apple Watch and see increased loyalty from existing members.

It is free for gyms to join the Apple Watch Connected program, so long as they meet the requirements, including having iPhone and Apple Watch apps to track workouts, offering rewards and incentives, and accepting Apple Pay. Apple also encourages gyms to offer GymKit-enabled equipment for improved Apple Watch syncing.

Four gym chains are rolling out support for the program in the United States starting today, including Basecamp Fitness, Crunch Fitness, Orangetheory Fitness, and the YMCA, according to CNBC:
Basecamp will launch Apple Watch Connected to all of its clubs over the next year. YMCA will start with its greater Twin Cities locations this week followed by 22 additional YMCA branches in the coming weeks before expanding further. Crunch Fitness is launching Apple Watch Connected in two Manhattan gyms this week with more coming. Finally, Orange Theory will deploy it in all U.S. facilities in 2020, starting with two Manhattan locations on Thursday.
Click to expand...
Last month, Orangetheory Fitness announced that it would begin rolling out Apple Watch support to its gyms in the first quarter of 2020. The gym chain created a small accessory called the OTbeat Link that attaches to an Apple Watch band, allowing the Apple Watch to sync with the chain's heart rate monitoring system.

Article Link: 'Apple Watch Connected' Program Will Offer Rewards for Working Out at Participating Gyms
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/01/23/apple-watch-connected-gym-program/
I've gone to the local UTC 24 Hour Fitness here in La Jolla 5+ days per week for years, & have NEVER ONCE seen anyone wearing an Apple Watch there !

Lots with iPhones, almost everyone, but ZERO Apple Watches !
 
There could be a slippery slope there. I know of employers in my area that offer "discounts" to employees who wear Fitbit devices and share their data with the employer and their insurance company. I put "discounts" in quotes because the company dramatically raised the employees insurance cost at the same time they started offering the "discount" if you agreed to wear the Fitbit all the time. A lot of people perceived it as status quo if you wear the Fitbit and a penalty if you don't.

There was a federal court case filed a couple years ago about this type of behavior where a group of people claimed they were being coerced by their employer to wear tracking devices and the employer argued there was no coercion, just a "voluntary" program for those who wanted to participate. The case was taking forever due to multiple motions being filed by the company being sued. I need to find that case and see how it was decided.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Like
Reactions: Already in use, TheDemogordon, tunastink and 1 other person
Cosmosent said:
I've gone to the local UTC 24 Hour Fitness here in La Jolla 5+ days per week for years, & have NEVER ONCE seen anyone wearing an Apple Watch there !

Lots with iPhones, almost everyone, but ZERO Apple Watches !
Click to expand...
Really?

I'd say about 1 in 5 at my gym are wearing an Apple Watch (me included.)

Now, with that said, I don't expect my gym to participate in this before, say, 2030. At this point the newer treadmills don't have any connectivity at all and the older (yet sadly better) ones do offer connectivity, but with 30-pin dock connectors... no other cardio equipment has any type of connectivity.

I'm fine with that as I spend most of my time elsewhere in the gym, but I'd use those features if they were offered (on those occasions I drag my butt to do cardio.)
 
  • Like
Reactions: tooloud10
MisterSavage said:
I'm curious what the activity goals would be. Different people have such varying fitness levels and limitations.
Click to expand...

Very true!
Cyclists/runners/wheelchair racers are different from those that workout with weights (those in wheelchairs heavily respected here), vs cross-fitters etc.

This is a GREAT program and a good start. I'd like to see Apple work directly with equipment manufacturers that make gym equipment first before going to gyms: Hammer Strength, Peleton, Weider, etc etc. there are many machines and cycles which have degrees of fitness not quite tracked accurately that a swipe of the wrist on Apple Watch would get updated. We've seen this with QR Codes already.

Apple just remember WHOM started the BIG Boom of fitness in this world ... Arnold ... he'll always be BACK!

xander49x said:
That is a great idea, now all gym's should join the program :)
Click to expand...

If there is a cost of any kind we'll see some resistance. If there is a mandatory set of hardware expect to see this get minimal traction. If there is a regional restriction (USA only) as Apple, a GLOBAL company, tends to do so damn often expect to see this program fail to shine.

it's a good effort and traction. Next WWDC I'd like to see Apple's suggestion and work on Nutrition. Do this in-house as there are a LOT of top brass that could benefit from fitness over the last 30yrs of their lives! Nobody escapes death ... but many of us can delay it a long time and live fruitfully into our last years/days.


Babu Life said:
weight lifting all it does is track your heart rate
Click to expand...

^ herein lies the issue I have. movement is tracked with apps like STRONG! and others. Also combine with MyFitnessPal for nutrition computation and tracking and it'll help significantly.

Next iOS and WatchOS or in 2021 I expect to see rings evolve ... more data tracking for health.
 
Cosmosent said:
I've gone to the local UTC 24 Hour Fitness here in La Jolla 5+ days per week for years, & have NEVER ONCE seen anyone wearing an Apple Watch there !

Lots with iPhones, almost everyone, but ZERO Apple Watches !
Click to expand...

I believe you with you living in LaJolla. However, I didn't realize Rolex made a fitness watch. 🤪🤪🤪
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: BvizioN and FlyBry
schneeland said:
Makes me wonder: how good is the Apple Watch at tracking weight lifting? I was under the impression that most tracked activities are currently cardio-related.
Click to expand...

There’s no specific metric for weightlifting for the Apple Watch. Mainly because it can’t measure specific repetitious sets/weight you’re using and/or at the rate of speed your lifting. Even if it could, the accuracy would probably be way off given how many little tendencies would affect the metric for a weightlifter, being there’s so many different variations of how somebody lifts weights and what/how they’re executing it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FightTheFuture
The insurance company I work for has a program that allows people to buy down their deductible by meeting certain walking goals. I think it’s great. Incentives for healthy activity is a good thing especially in a country where obesity and diabetes are so prevalent.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Like
Reactions: artfossil, matty.p, Alan Wynn and 1 other person
HVDynamo said:
It doesn't directly, but weight lifting is a High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) type workout, which there is a workout option for.
Click to expand...


Not generally. Weight lifting is not usually done as a HIIT workout. HIIT involves cardio intensive workouts and targets body systems different from resistance training. You can try and fashion weights into a vigorous cardio routine by rapid movement, reduced rest between sets, etc., but that's not going to be ideal for either cardio or strength development on a regular basis.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FightTheFuture
Cosmosent said:
I've gone to the local UTC 24 Hour Fitness here in La Jolla 5+ days per week for years, & have NEVER ONCE seen anyone wearing an Apple Watch there !

Lots with iPhones, almost everyone, but ZERO Apple Watches !
Click to expand...

I'm pretty shocked to hear that. I see them frequently.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bbeagle
xander49x said:
That is a great idea, now all gym's should join the program :)
Click to expand...
Yeah, except requiring gyms to accept apple pay and have apps that track workouts with iPhones are pretty significant for requirements for most gyms, so I wouldn't expect to see many offering this any time soon other than a few big name brands. Especially since people who aren't going to the gym probably still won't for a few dollars back, and the people who are going anyway will get the discounts and cost the gym a lot in the long run, more than the amount of customers it attracts just for that purpose. Though I would join a gym over another if they offered apple pay and synced with apple health better in their apps over a gym that doesn't so I could see those things enticing people more than the few dollars off per month.
 
Sadly I have to rip OrangeTheory on this topic. Instead of saving money it costs more. The device is overpriced. You don't have to buy it if you swtich to a new membership that costs more to make the device "free". The stuff we know so far is the new membership will have perks but none of them are savings they are all little silly perks while you pay more every month.

I'll be sticking to my current rate and buying the Link outright. My chest monitor is finally starting to fail on me so I need it to hang on until the end of February.
 
HVDynamo said:
It doesn't directly, but weight lifting is a High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) type workout, which there is a workout option for.
Click to expand...
Regular weight lifting is not HIIT. The confusion may come from so many places calling routines HIIT, from very long cardio worksout to even regular strength training which are not HIIT.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back