Future Fit Review | Engadget

That’s why I was first drawn to Future. After registering, I was asked to choose a personal trainer. The app offers a range of choices with a short bio for each person. I chose Ashley mainly because she and I share an alma mater. Shortly after, she contacted me through the app and we set up a FaceTime video call to review the plan. Then, during the video call, I outlined my goals along with a list of various injuries that might make some exercises more difficult than others. For her part, she wanted to know what type of equipment I had at home so that she could send me the right workouts. I told her I had dumbbells, a yoga mat, a foam roller, and a Peloton bike, and she said that was perfectly fine to begin with.

An interesting benefit of the Future service is that each member is offered an Apple Watch Series 3 on loan for the duration of their membership. You deposit a deposit of $ 200, which you then get back if you decide to cancel. Alternatively, you can pay the difference between the deposit and the retail price of the watch to purchase it directly.

The reason Future offers the Apple Watch is because it’s the primary way that Future trainers know if you’re training and how well. I already had an Apple Watch Series 5, so I chose not to participate in the offer.

To come up

After the call, Ashley started sending me workout routines through the app. A typical workout would include a brief warm-up followed by several minutes of exercise, then stretches or foam rollers. Each routine is accompanied by a video instruction as well as a pre-recorded voice guide. Every now and then, Ashley would add verbal encouragement or some advice on how to keep in good shape. After every workout, Ashley can see my heart rate levels (thanks, Apple Watch), and I have the option to leave her feedback on how I think it went.

It was a bit difficult at first. I couldn’t do some of the workouts she had assigned (the jumps were a bit difficult due to plantar fasciitis, for example) and the routines sometimes lasted close to an hour, which was a bit too much for me. After some discussion, she agreed to shorten the routines to around 30 minutes, but to have more throughout the week (so instead of three times a week, it would be four). She also tweaked the workouts to better suit my needs, such as knee push-ups instead of the regular workouts, and a general emphasis on low impact workouts which are much better for the aforementioned plantar fasciitis.

On top of that, Ashley was constantly texting me, either to remind me of my workouts or to ask me why I had skipped on a particular day. There were days when, despite feeling exhausted, I still snuck into a workout because I didn’t want Ashley to blame me the next morning.