Report shares details (and impressive numbers) about Apple’s formidable exercise lab

Among one of the many research labs maintained by Apple, one is somewhat different from the traditional image you probably have of this type of space – in fact, with a little imagination, you could mistake it for a gym. Yes, a gym full of computers, wires everywhere and software engineers circulating everywhere, but still a gym.

THE apple exercise lab, which the company mainly uses to conduct extensive research that improves the functioning of the Apple Watch, is no secret to anyone – it has already been shown, including, in this video from ABC more than two years ago. However, no report had brought as many interesting details about the space as this one from Men’s Health, published today.

Who serves as a guide for the journalists of the magazine for the place is Jay Blahnik, director of health technology and fitness from Apple. At the time of the report, there are about 40 Apple employees – after all, the laboratory is exclusive to people working at the company – doing exercises on treadmills, bicycles and other devices, together with the 13 physiologists and 29 nurses / medical professionals gathered for data collection and analysis.

One of the aquatic mats maintained by the laboratory

Over the five years that the laboratory has been open, according to Blahnik, Apple “has collected more data related to physical activity and exercise than any other human initiative in history”: out of more than 10,000 unique participants who have passed through the laboratory, more than 33,000 sessions and 66,000 hours of data have been collected. Yeah, it’s not a joke.

What’s more, it would be a mistake to think that Apple’s lab brings only basic devices for measuring vital data during activities. Not really: employees practicing exercises are connected to highly specialized equipment, such as a mask that costs US $ 40 thousand (!) And analyzes the burning of calories, consumption and the maximum volume of oxygen in the body. One of the rooms is equipped with an aquatic mat (those pools that allow the person to swim without leaving the place) and also serves to test the water resistance of the Apple Watch; other spaces simulate extreme temperature conditions.

Blahnik also comments on the “social exercise” aspect brought by the Apple Watch, which encourages users to compare their performances with those of their friends; according to the director, the internal activity challenge was a total success that resulted in many employees becoming more active and health-conscious – and this result ends up also being reflected in the ordinary users of the watch.

Room that simulates extreme temperature in the Apple Watch lab

In addition to all the interesting parts included in the report, it is good to remember that Apple never gives a point without a knot: if it allowed a reporting team to enter one of its top secret labs to talk about any of its products, it is because it wants to generate a buzz for something. In other words, here we have basically another (almost) confirmation that we will see something related to the Apple Watch on the 12th.

It will be? ?