Last week two new Apple Fitness+ patents were published by the U.S. Patent Office and today we're learning that Apple is releasing new workouts targeting women, and more specifically, postpartum exercises.

CNET reported late last night that "Getting a workout in after having a baby can be complicated by many factors including, well, the baby. Apple wants to meet parents where they are in the postpartum period with Get Back to Fitness After Having a Baby, a new workout program on Apple Fitness Plus.

This subscription service that pairs with the Apple Watch already includes workouts designed for pregnancy as part of a broader library of exercises. The program's new postpartum workouts will include strength and core exercises, including some that target the pelvic floor. The pelvic floor is a group of muscles supporting the organs in the pelvis that relax during the birthing process and may need to be restrengthened.

While you should still check in with your health care provider to see what level of activity is safe for you after pregnancy, the Fitness Plus workouts are intended both for people who had a C-section and those who had a vaginal delivery. They'll also include modifications based on how active you were during your pregnancy, or how mildly or intensely you'd like to start exercising again. What's more, the workouts are all 10 minutes long, which may help you find time for them." For more read the full CNET report.

2 New Apple Watch / Apple Fitness+ Patents

Last Thursday, the U.S. Patent Office published a pair of new Apple Fitness+ Patents that relate to Apple Watch.

Apple's first patent is titled "Estimating Caloric Expenditure using Heart Rate Model Specific to Motion Class."

Apple's patent covers estimating caloric expenditure using a heart rate model specific to a motion class. In an embodiment, a method comprises: obtaining acceleration and rotation rate from motion sensors of a wearable device; determining a vertical component of inertial acceleration and a vertical component of rotational acceleration from the acceleration and rotation rate, respectively; determining a magnitude of the rotation rate; determining a correlation between the inertial vertical acceleration component and rotational acceleration; determining a percentage of motion outside a dominant plane of motion; predicting a motion class based on a motion classification model that takes as input the motions, correlation and percentage; determining a likelihood the user is walking; in accordance with determining that the user is likely not walking, configuring a heart rate model based on the predicted motion class; and estimating, using the configured heart rate model, a caloric expenditure of the user.

Apple's patent FIG. 1A below illustrates a compound exercise where the participant is lifting dumbbells while performing side squats wearing an Apple Watch that is measuring 3D motion.

Apple's patent FIG. 3 above is a block diagram of a system for determining caloric expenditure using a HR rate model specific to motion class. For more details, review Apple's patent application 20220096006.

Apple's second related patent is Titled "Estimating Caloric Expenditure Based on Center of Mass Motion and Heart Rate."

Apple's patent covers estimating caloric expenditure based on center of mass motion and heart rate. In an embodiment, a method comprises: obtaining acceleration and rotation rate of a wearable device worn on a limb of a user; transforming the acceleration and rotation rate into an inertial frame; determining a vertical component of acceleration, rotation rate magnitude and vertical component of rotational acceleration due to limb rotation; determining a work rate (WR) based caloric expenditure based on the vertical component of acceleration, rotation rate magnitude and a correlation coefficient that measures a correlation between the vertical component of acceleration and the vertical component of rotational acceleration; obtaining heart rate (HR) data from a heart rate sensor of the wearable device; determining an HR based caloric expenditure based on the HR data; and fusing, the WR based caloric expenditure with the HR based caloric expenditure to get a fused caloric expenditure. For more details, review Apple's patent application 20220095957.