Apple Knitting

Apple Watch Connected gym partnership aims to turn activity into rewards

Apple's new plan for gyms and Watch involves support for an activity-based rewards program.

Apple

The missing links between wearing a fitness watch and, well, actually staying fit are many. The phantom gym membership that I stay connected to, paying every month without going, is a testament to that.

Apple's newest gym partnership, announced Thursday, is aiming to knit the gym experience and the Apple Watch experience more closely together by connecting your Watch's activity data to gym reward programs. The "Apple Watch Connected" program is an extension of the GymKit technology that pairs Apple Watches to gym equipment, and the first partners -- Orangetheory, Crunch, YMCA (starting with Twin Cities YMCA gyms) and the boutique Basecamp Fitness -- are going to include different takes on earned rewards with Apple Watch activity.

Apple has already announced partnerships with gyms previously -- Orangetheory already has an Apple Watch-compatible fitness accessory; and GymKit, launched in 2017, started the deeper-knit connection to Apple Watches by using cardio machines as giant extended fitness trackers.

In a meeting in New York, Apple's Senior Director of Fitness for Health, Jay Blahnik, suggested ways it will work. Your efforts could trigger philanthropic donations -- the YMCA will use earned credits as a goal to build a kid's swimming program; gym discounts -- Crunch is going to offer $3 off memberships if Apple Watch owners complete weekly activity challenges; or you could earn back an Apple Watch -- Basecamp will give members a Series 5 Apple Watch and allow long-term members to pay it off by completing fitness goals.

The Apple Watch Connected program is starting with small numbers of gyms, but expanding over the year. Expansion may not happen overnight: GymKit adoption in gym equipment has been gradual, as gyms have replaced equipment over time. Crunch Fitness Signature Clubs CEO Keith Worts says that in its Manhattan, NY Financial District Crunch gym, where Apple Watch Connected is launching, GymKit is only installed on 30 to 40% of machines, but all new gym equipment going forward will be GymKit-enabled. Crunch plans to expand Apple Watch Connected support to the company's Signature Club US locations by the end of the year.

I peeked at an early demo in action at the FiDi Crunch Signature Club gym, and really, it's like an extension of existing Apple Watch features like GymKit and Apple Pay (and Wallet for membership cards), along with a promise of app support on-watch for partners in the program. CrunchTime Active Rewards app is the gym's new cardio rewards program app. Weekly reward goals are calculated based on algorithms working off height and weight data, and Worts promises the goals will be easy, but will progress with just enough challenge. Making a week means a $3 discount to the monthly bill.

One unanswered question is how gyms will handle access to customer fitness data. Crunch's Worts promises responsible privacy measures will be used (as you'd expect he would say), but Apple appears to be leaving the data transaction between gyms and customers. I have no idea, yet, what it will mean for my gym to know more about my daily activity habits, or how that info will be used to communicate with me down the road. Or, how that data will be protected.

What interests me, though, is the idea of a program that tracks and encourages me to get back to my gym more, and can relate my activity patterns to a coaching/training regimen. Apple Watch Connected isn't quite that yet, but maybe it's a start.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

Morton Grove teacher nominated for Golden Apple award

A fail-safe system exists at Golf Middle School in Morton Grove to prevent Kevin Atwood from getting big-headed over his status as a Golden Apple Excellence in Teaching award finalist.

“I don’t think the kids care about the Golden Apple -- they just care about what they’re doing today,” said Atwood, a 27-year veteran physical education and health teacher at the school, in Morton Grove’s Golf School District 67.

But those students’ attitudes are an important reason Atwood is one of 30 finalists for the Golden Apple, perhaps the state of Illinois’ most prestigious teaching award. Atwood survived the winnowing-down process from a record-setting 732 nominations out of 64 counties.

Kevin Atwood, a health and physical education teacher at Golf Middle School in Morton Grove's Golf School District 67, has been nominated for a Golden Apple Teaching Award of Excellence. - Original Credit: (HANDOUT)

Award finalists will be honored on Feb. 22 at the Golden Apple Celebration of Excellence in Teaching & Leadership at the Q Center in St. Charles. Event details and tickets are available at www.goldenapple.org/celebration.

To be recognized for quality and creativity in teaching, Des Plaines resident Atwood has had to change with the times. No longer is PE seemingly rote courses of dodgeball, compelling the clumsy and klutzy to mimic the Olympics on rings and the pommel horse, and nude swimming for boys in high school. With all its embedded negative aspects, PE was a course many students tried to avoid.

In the past three years, Atwood has conducted classes with themes of “mindfulness and meditation.” The goal is to control breathing and relax in stressful situations. In the mornings three days a week, eighth graders practice the techniques in a WIN class – “What I Need.”

Some of Atwood’s students are too relaxed, though.

“Some of the teen-age boys don’t sleep much at night on their phones, so they might fall asleep in class,” he laughed.

Instead of the old-school one-sized-fits-all PE class for students with a wide variety of physical conditioning and athletic prowess, Atwood’s students now wear heart monitors that register on an IPad. They can choose the level of activity to achieve an optimum heart rate and overall conditioning, whether going all out with distance running or just plain walking.

Atwood practices continuing education for himself, updating his knowledge of PE techniques by listening to college professors at conferences at Illinois State. But he never will claim he has nearly all the answers and gives full credit to colleagues.

“I’ve been together with my partner teacher, Chris Bojack, for 22 years,” Atwood said. “We’re applying for our third Blue Ribbon Award for our PE program.

“I think I’ve made an impression. We have a tight-knit staff.”

Atwood and colleagues apparently impressed their students, too. He said several have come back 10 years later to join the Golf faculty.

Atwood had to actively advocate for himself in the Golden Apple nominating process that was a surprise to him.

“After you’re nominated, you answer certain number of questions about your educational philosophies, and times that are difficult in teaching,” he said. “Along with that, they have to see a videotape of a lesson. They need three letters of recommendation: from a co-worker, an administrator and someone outside of the business. I was lucky enough to get those.”

If Atwood is fortunate to be one of the 10 Golden Apple winners, he’ll have no advance notice at all.The 2020 recipients will be notified in the spring with surprise visits at their schools.

Northwestern University, Golden Apple’s partner for more than 30 years, provides a spring sabbatical to award recipients at no cost. In addition, each award recipient receives a $5,000 cash award. They also become Fellows of the Golden Apple Academy of Educators, a community of educators who support current and future teachers and deepen the learning of students.

“In honoring and developing K-12 teachers, Northwestern University and the Golden Apple Foundation are committed to improving teaching, learning and the lives of students across the state of Illinois,” said Timothy Dohrer, director of the Master of Science in Education Program at Northwestern University’s School of Education & Social Policy.

Apparently, the type of service to others Golden Apple recognizes has been passed down to another generation in the Atwood family. His oldest daughter, 24, now works with residents suffering from dementia in a nursing home.

Big deal: Apple eyes large Santa Clara office building that mega realty firm Peery Arrillaga will develop

SANTA CLARA — Apple has widened its Silicon Valley expansion efforts through a new deal in Santa Clara that calls for the tech titan to lease a big — and yet-to-be-constructed — office building.

The technology company has struck a deal to lease a large office building on Stevens Creek Boulevard in Santa Clara that would sprout on the site of a now-bulldozed IHOP restaurant site, according to several sources with expert knowledge about the transaction.

The future office building will be built by legendary development firm Peery Arrillaga, which a few years ago leased an adjacent 187,000-square-foot office building at 5409 Stevens Creek Blvd. to Apple.

The 148,000-square-foot building that Apple has just leased is located at 5407 Stevens Creek. This week, the site was cleared away, fenced off, and accommodated some construction equipment.

Cupertino-based Apple calls the building that it now occupies Apple Stevens Creek Eight. Vehicles could be observed this week accessing an adjacent parking structure that connects to the existing building.

The two Santa Clara buildings that Apple has leased are just down the street from a prominent San Jose structure known as The Triangle Building at 5300 Stevens Creek Blvd., totaling 86,000 square feet, that also has been rented to Apple.

Interior construction work was underway this month at The Triangle Building. Apple logos were observed throughout the six-story San Jose office building.

The three office building sites are all one mile away, or less, and fewer than five minutes away by vehicle, from the Apple Park spaceship headquarters complex in Cupertino.

Apple could potentially employ 2,100 people in the three buildings, using commonly accepted employee and office space ratios as a yardstick.

“Apple is one of the top companies around, they are very strong, and they have a need to have employee groups near their headquarters,” said David Vanoncini, an executive vice president and managing director with Kidder Mathews, a commercial real estate firm.

The 5409 Stevens Creek offices could contain 935 workers, the future 5407 Stevens Creek site could accommodate 740, while The Triangle Building could house 430 employees.

“These are sites that make a lot of sense for Apple,” Vanoncini said.

Apple didn’t discuss its leasing activity in this area. Developers John Arrillaga and Richard Peery, as is their decades-long custom, couldn’t be reached for comment regarding the transactions.

The trio of buildings could effectively act as a loose-knit mini-campus for Apple. They are within a half-mile of each other. That would make  for a brisk walk along Stevens Creek or a three-minute car ride between the Santa Clara site and The Triangle Building just across the border in San Jose.

Still, some commercial property experts in this region note that the most dramatic expansions Apple has launched frequently transpire outside of the Bay Area.

“Apple has announced a major expansion of its operations in Austin, including an investment of $1 billion to build a new campus in North Austin,” the tech titan stated in a December 2018 post on its web site.

The post made no mention of Bay Area expansions.

“The company also announced plans to establish new sites in Seattle, San Diego, and Culver City.” Apple added in the post that it also intended to give birth to employment hubs elsewhere, such as in “Pittsburgh, New York, and Boulder, Colorado over the next three years.”