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Old 07-12-19, 03:25 PM  
hotncmom
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
My honest reviews of LEKFit, Pvolve, Dancebody, Modelfit, and Obe

2019 has been the year of streaming for me. I've subscribed to several different streaming platforms this year and they are all somewhat similar, so I've been making notes. What follows is my no-holds-barred (mostly) unfiltered notes on the good and bad of several different (but similar) workout styles.

The reason I started taking notes was because I would get enamored with a workout based on clips and join the platform only to find myself frustrated or bored after a few weeks, and then quit, only to find myself rejoining a couple of months later. It was like I developed amnesia about why I quit in the first place. So I started taking notes for myself to remind myself why I may not want to join (again) a few months in the future.

Maybe this will help some of you who have been curious about these workout platforms or maybe just give you a laugh. YMMV and of course my opinions are my own and I'm not going to apologize for not liking an instructor or method. Don't worry, though, there was a lot I did like!


LEKFit

Keep wanting to like this. In practice, it's exasperating. Can't understand why these Instagram-famous fitness instructors think they don't have to cue. Form pointers are nonsensical, consisting of "Check it, check it, check it" which is short for "check it out" tells you to look at what she's doing. Lots of "Hup" when she changes something up but no verbal instruction. Light weights used as "warm up" with lots of quick changes and no cuing. Very hard to keep up. Any questioning about her (lack of) cues or mild criticism of her method is not looked upon favorably in the FB group. Her fans are quick to jump in and defend her and silence dissent and assure everyone that she knows what she's doing and if you're having trouble keeping up it's definitely your problem (not simply a lack of proper instruction). Exercises are 50% good and 50% weird. Sometimes feels like she's making it up as she goes along, especially arm weights. Moves I don't like seem to be regular parts of the workout: Rolling from side to belly with a leg kick out, and plank walk-outs. Not enough plank work is included to feel really worked in the upper body. Basic sequence is walk out, hold, drop to elbow and turn to side plank, turn to other side, back to center, walk to feet. Her earlier workouts may have more plank variations, but unfortunately she is moving to a model where older archive workouts are no longer included on the platform, so I'll never find out. Floor work for legs is pretty good, and standing legs are included but not enough reps to feel burn.

Good use of equipment: ankle weights predominant with gliders sometimes used. Light weights and occasionally bands for upper body. Choreography and sequencing is interesting.

LEK has an inspiring body but she acts like she knows it. Too much of a "cool girl vibe" and you get the sense that she's preening in front of the mirror during the workout. Verbal tics (two sounds like "chew") could be overlooked if she bothered to actually instruct instead of saying "Hup" and "Check it" and counting.

Same results could be achieved with other workouts - but they may not have the same vibe. Music choices are not my taste.

Dancebody

The main issue is these are live classes and hard to hear and see. Dances looked fun but were mostly high impact with complex (for me) choreography. If I had more time to learn the dances could be fun. I stuck with the Sculpt classes.

Minimal instruction (or can't hear it) during Sculpt, mostly follow-along. Which would be OK if you could see the angles, but you can't always. Workouts include light weights but there's a lot of quick changes. Bands are also used for upper body but it's really hard to get the tension right so it can make for a frustrating segment.

Katia Price also has an inspiring body and her personality is warm and encouraging. The Sculpt choreography is interesting and fun. Would really enjoy these workouts more if they were easier to follow.

At $29/month, DanceBody is a little more expensive than most other platforms. I also had issues with the workouts buffering and freezing during playback. This actually cemented my decision to quit, because I have limited time to workout and I was spending way too much time trying to get the videos to reload. I feel that this was definitely a DanceBody issue, because it hasn't been a problem with any of the other platforms I've used.

There are several DanceBody workouts or workouts with Katia Price on Youtube. These have the essence of the workout method. You would need to put several together to make a full workout, but they seem to do the trick when I'm in the mood. Plus, the Youtube workouts are easier to follow than the full class videos.

P.Volve

OMG this guy is soooo boring! The workouts are pretty boring too. I really wanted to like this, but the exercises are taught in a 1-1 personal trainer format and they are slow and controlled. Not enough reps to feel the burn and couldn't quite tell if you were doing it right. A lot of people on the FB group are pleased with results but most of them seem to be on strict diets so is it really the workouts? There's definitely a vibe around food restriction and the body type that seems to be admired, but I'll just stop there because I don't want to stir anything up. I will say that when discussing results, there is a lot of unsolicited advice given about restricting food intake.

Again, there's kind of a cult following (like with LEKFit) on the FB Group. This guy was a Physical Therapist!! He knows everything!! Don't question him!! If you're not getting results, it must be your form!! Or you're eating too much!!

P-Ball is pretty cool but the P.volve exercises are so boring and basic. I thought about strapping it on and doing some BBL type moves (side lunge, squat). Or using during a barre segment with a ball. Or just making up my own stuff - it's probably just as good.

The P-Band is also pretty cool. I want to experiment with it to see if I can come up with arm workouts that are more fun than his.

The Summer Sprint workouts were more interesting and had different instructors. So I liked those much better than the P. (yes, that's what he calls himself or they call him) instructed workouts.

ModelFit

This is probably my favorite out of the bunch so far. There's actual instruction! Standing legs and floorwork! Upper body weights and unweighted arms! And the instructors are warm and charming. Plus: lots of equipment options. Love the lower body segments with ankle weights and bands.

Most segments are short so you need to put together several to make a full workout. There are some full-length classes and it looks like they are adding more. The platform does give you a weekly "program" that is a playlist of workouts for each day of the week to follow.

I still feel like I need more plank and pushups but this platform is a really good resource for add-on arms and floor work when not included in other workouts. At $10/mo, it's reasonable for me to keep the subscription for just that purpose.

Obe Fitness (pronounced like Obey)

I think I may have hit the sweet spot here. There's a huge library of workouts with various instructors (actually almost too much to choose from, but I understand that they are updating their platform in the very near future and it will include more robust search and sort features to narrow down the choices.)

Most of the workouts are 30 minutes and they are definitely efficient and intense and waste no time. The exercise style is very similar to LEKFit and DanceBody so it's a style I really enjoy. And there are enough plank variations included in each Sculpt workout to make me happy. Plus, the instructors actually cue. Since they're alone in a room instructing you have no difficulty seeing them. And the workouts are filmed as they're being broadcast live so there's a personal feel to them when the instructor calls out encouragement to people who are on the other end. The music is pretty good too. I'm sure that over time as I try different ones I'll find I like some instructors better than others, but for right now I'm following about 3 and that's plenty of options. Like I said, there are so many choices it can feel overwhelming. But I would rather have too many choices than not enough.

The only thing is that neon box-like room they film in. These workouts would be much nicer if filmed in an open light-filled studio instead. But so far, that's my only criticism. And once I get into the workout, I'm not paying a lot of attention to the neon box because I'm experiencing the burn!

OK, so that's been my last 6 months of hopping from one streaming platform to another (and sometimes back again). I think I'm going to go back to Barre 3 (I purchased a year's subscription last year during Black Friday) and do Obe or ModelFit on alternate days.
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dancebody, lekfit, modelfit, obe fitness, p.volve, pvolve, streaming reviews, streaming services, streaming workouts

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