If your New Year’s resolutions included some kind of vow to get fitter and healthier in 2026, then the latest update to Apple Fitness Plus will be of interest.
Apple’s premium subscription service has just introduced four new training programs, all of which are designed to help you start or upgrade your workout routine. The programs are three or four weeks long and involve two to three guided workouts a week.
If you are signed up to Apple Fitness Plus already, they’re worth giving a try, and if not, then this might be a good time to cash in the one-month free trial available for the service.
Don’t call it a comeback
The new ‘Make your Fitness Comeback’ program is aimed at people trying to return to fitness, and eases you into regular training gradually so you don’t burn out all your motivation or get injured by pushing too hard, too quickly.
It’s a four-week plan, and involves doing three 10-minute workouts a week — one strength session, one HIIT session and one yoga session.
The program gently ramps up over the course of the four weeks, so you should finish in a place where you’re used to training regularly and ready to take on some more challenging sessions.
Get into yoga or learn the basics of strength training
I’ve been doing yoga sessions regularly using Apple Fitness Plus for a few years, and they’re my favorite part of the service. The new ‘Build a Yoga Habit in 4 Weeks’ is designed to make yoga a staple of your routine, doing two 10-minute flows a week.
This should be an easy one to fit in around your other training and hopefully build some flexibility and confidence with yoga, which means you can try longer sessions afterward.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking to build confidence for strength workouts, then ‘The Strength Basics in 3 Weeks’ program will be more suitable.
This launches on 12 January and teaches you the fundamentals of strength training and the techniques you’ll need for classic exercises. The program involves doing three workouts a week, with each one focusing on a different part of the body.
Combine HIIT with strength for intense sessions
While the first three programs are mostly aimed at beginners or those returning to fitness after a break, the last one is designed for people who are already training regularly and want to push on with more intense sessions.
It’s called ‘Back-to-Back Strength and HIIT’ and involves three 20-minute workouts a week for three weeks.
In these sessions, you’ll do 10 minutes of classic strength training followed by 10 minutes of HIIT, boosting both your cardiovascular fitness and strength.
The benefits of a guided training plan
Whether you opt to try out an Apple Fitness Plus plan, use another app, or hire a coach or personal trainer, I think some kind of guided training program is a great way to start a fitness kick.
This will help you start training at the right intensity level for you, so you see fast progress but don’t overdo it — constant muscle soreness, burnout and injuries are all quick ways to kill your new fitness kick.
If you’re more into cardio than strength work, you can get guided training plans from apps like Runna or free plans via your sports watch if you have one — Garmin, Polar, Suunto and Coros all offer free training plans tailored to your fitness level and aims.
Having a plan also makes you feel a bit more accountable to something, which helps with motivation, and it’s also smart to enter a gym with a clear idea of what you’re going to do each time — I’ve spent many "workouts" drifting from machine to machine without actually doing much, but if I have a plan, I get straight to it.
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