Apple Fitness+, Hitchcock, & butt-hardening storytelling
Anja have mercy
I want to say this first:
Coach Anja.
You jumping maniac.
You make me regret my choices.
Your sections leave me on the verge of barfing.
I love it. Thank you.
So how does a workout app use stories?
Let me tell you about Alfred Hitchcock.
Jumping timeline movies like Pulp Fiction, Memento, or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind have a lot to thank to this man.
Before Hitchcock:
A woman wakes up, showers, eats breakfast, does 100 push-ups, showers, leaves her house, faces the patriarchy, takes the bus, enters a corporate building, and sits down to work.
Hitchcock:
A woman’s hand turns off the alarm clock; then, the same hand is using a calculator on a working desk.
He was big on the Kuleshov effect. But that’s another post. Stay tuned.
The beauty of Apple Fitness+ is that they use the same workouts they upload every week and repack them into “programs”.
That’s how they got me.
I wasn’t there to exercise.
I was there to:
If the Apple Fitness programs were movies, the workouts would be the acts.
ACT 1: Strength, 10 min, Kyle.
ACT 2: Core, 10 min, Amir.
ACT 3: Yoga, 10 min, Jessica.
Shout out to Jessica’s excellent taste in Rap.
Downward Dog with Wu-Tang Clan, NAS, and Souls of Mischief?
Namaste forever!🤯❤️
To my point: the workouts are there already.
They upload new ones weekly and group them into fitness narratives to tell a story and take you into it.
What a great way to expand their POV:
“Staying fit doesn't have to be a drag”
They break down the huge enterprise of fitness into something approachable.
They've tricked this chair-friendly middle age dude with narratives like:
"Travel-friendly workouts"
"Strong and calm combos for busy days"
“Totally 80’s cycling”
Hitchcock used to put scenes together and make them talk.
Apple puts workouts together and make them talk.
The result?
Movies like Psycho, Rear Window, The Birds.
And workouts such as “Improve Your Balance and Strenght”
At this point, this looks like an infomercial for Apple. No sponsorship is involved, unfortunately.
Dear Mr. Tim Apple: If you’re reading this, a new iPhone will make this monkey dance, sing, or twerk.
So go out there and bake your bricks one by one.
If you think your POV, ideology, epic novel, or Youtube channel are too dense or large, break them down into smaller workouts and group them in a way that makes sense.
The results will surprise you.
That’s it for today, you pretty heads.
See you on the next one!
Matias.
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