Improve Your Workouts with iPad & Stage Manager

Your iPad can serve as a handy fitness accessory, despite not being intended for that purpose at all, at least in the same way something like Apple Watch was made. But thanks to Stage Manager, you can easily multitask on the iPad by having multiple apps open on screen at the same time. Now, if you choose apps for Stage Manager that help your workout or fitness routine, you’ve got a handy little console for exercising and working out, and it’s actually pretty great!

There’s really not much to this, but it begins with enabling Stage Manager on the iPad, and then launching the fitness or exercise apps you plan to use for your workout, and positioning them as you find appropriate for your needs.

For example, you could have YouTube with fitness videos open in one window of stage manager, a timer in another, and Apple’s Fitness+ videos in yet another (if you don’t mind paying the monthly fee for accessing Apple’s Fitness+ program).

Or, like my particular workout setup, I have one window for podcasts that I listen to while exercising (usually in Spotify or Overcast apps), another window for a timer where I can manually track laps (using the built-in Clock app), and yet another window for an interval timer app (I use a simple boxing timer / HIIT app for 3 minute bursts with 1 minute rests, repeating for 10-12 rounds).

Or, like a friend of mine who uses a similar setup but on their Mac, you could have a window open for videos/movies, another for a timer, and the Notes app open for tracking their details and progress. Like so many other things with technology, use the tech however it works best for you.

Stage Manager makes this easy on the iPad, but you could also use the exact same setup with a Mac, either with or without Stage Manager there.

There are no shortage of apps and resources on the web to get started with exercise, but if you’re curious here are some places to begin that may be helpful:

• Find free fitness videos on YouTube
• Overcast podcast app for iPad and iPhone
• Spotify (apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, web, etc)
• HIIT timer for iPhone/iPad
• Dr Peter Attia’s Drive podcast – fitness and health oriented, long-form discussions and deep-dives
• Huberman Lab podcast – fitness, health, and science oriented, long-form deep-dives in a lecture-type or interview format
• Lex Fridman podcast – general intellectual interest podcast, long-form discussion format
• JRE podcast – general interest, from humor to science, long-form discussion format
• Foundational Fitness Protocol from Huberman Lab

Those are just a handful of resources to get started, and those podcasts alone can offer a wealth of insight into health and fitness, and the human body in general.

Before setting this up on my iPad, I would use my iPhone for the same purpose, but be constantly flipping back and forth between podcasts, timer in Clock, and a HIIT interval tracker, but with Stage Manager I simply put all three of those apps on the screen at the same time, and I’m good to go.

Do you have any similar tricks or use cases for using an iPad (or Mac, or iPhone!) for fitness in a unique or interesting way, or any other particular niche scenario? Share with us in the comments!