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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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Old 07-12-19, 05:14 PM  
upperwside
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: On Canada 💗
Thanks for your reviews!!

I've tried them all as well. Free trials are the best to find what you like and don't like. I've stuck with LEKfit, for some reason Laurens workouts mixed with Hamelin is the magic trick for my almost 47 year old body. It
took some time to get used to Laurens style, but after a year.. I've got her flow down. PVolve was the most boring and off thing I ever tried, and agree with the group weirdness!!
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Old 07-12-19, 05:20 PM  
momofcha
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Illinois
Quote:
Originally Posted by upperwside View Post
Thanks for your reviews!!

I've tried them all as well. Free trials are the best to find what you like and don't like. I've stuck with LEKfit, for some reason Laurens workouts mixed with Hamelin is the magic trick for my almost 47 year old body. It
took some time to get used to Laurens style, but after a year.. I've got her flow down. PVolve was the most boring and off thing I ever tried, and agree with the group weirdness!!
That’s awesome to hear and thank you hotncmom for your in-depth comparisons.

Upper west side - which Hdm workouts do you use most?

I subscribed in the past to lekfit, but it’s been awhile and I was ironically thinking of resubscribing but want to wait and see how her new format goes....
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"I'm just one workout away from a good mood." ~ Valerie Waters
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Old 07-12-19, 05:28 PM  
hotncmom
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by upperwside View Post
Thanks for your reviews!!

I've tried them all as well. Free trials are the best to find what you like and don't like. I've stuck with LEKfit, for some reason Laurens workouts mixed with Hamelin is the magic trick for my almost 47 year old body. It
took some time to get used to Laurens style, but after a year.. I've got her flow down. PVolve was the most boring and off thing I ever tried, and agree with the group weirdness!!
LEKFit was what I kept going back to, and really want to like, but Lauren rubs me the wrong way (or couldn't you tell ) and I just can't get over the lack of even basic cuing and form instruction. I just finished a Barre 3 workout and what a difference in quality of instruction! My impression is that most of the women in the group came over from TA so they are used to no cuing and are OK with it, and I also got the impression that they aren't too experienced with other methods and instructors at all. The last straw was this removal of the archives without explanation (at first) and Lauren acting indignant about people complaining about it. I had already decided not to renew, archives or not, for other reasons, but I understand why so many people were upset when their favorite workouts were removed and treated so dismissively when they shared their disappointment. One woman had gone to the trouble of creating a detailed spreadsheet of the older workouts for everyone as well, and I actually used this when I was looking for workouts that used ankle bands.

I think Obe is a really happy medium, it has the same format and types of exercises as LEKFit but the instructors are much easier for me to follow. And I feel like I'm getting a more efficient workout too. Too bad about the neon box, though! I read an article that said the founders wanted to have kind of an 80's vibe because they fondly remembered their moms working out (doesn't that make me feel old!).

I have a bunch of Hamelins I've never even done - maybe I'll pull in some of those on the weekend when I have more time.
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Old 07-12-19, 05:28 PM  
alisoncooks
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: TarHeel country
Quote:
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.
Interesting that this vidiot phenomenon applies to streaming as well as DVDs.
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Old 07-12-19, 08:54 PM  
daisyduke
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Thank you for your honest opinions!
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Old 07-13-19, 06:03 AM  
Texasgirl
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Thank you for the amazing reviews! I’ve been looking at these exact sites, trying to make a decision. I signed up for a free trial month of obé, but haven’t tried it yet. Which instructors do you like? I was looking for something like Lekfit sculpt but 30 mins, so hoping obé is it for me, but don’t know where to start because of the enormous library. Thanks!
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Old 07-13-19, 09:08 AM  
hotncmom
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by Texasgirl View Post
Thank you for the amazing reviews! I’ve been looking at these exact sites, trying to make a decision. I signed up for a free trial month of obé, but haven’t tried it yet. Which instructors do you like? I was looking for something like Lekfit sculpt but 30 mins, so hoping obé is it for me, but don’t know where to start because of the enormous library. Thanks!
Try Megan R., Emily D. or Madelaine O. I usually preview a few and choose one. You can click on Talent at the top and then the name of the trainer and all their workouts will come up.
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Old 07-13-19, 10:12 AM  
Texasgirl
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Quote:
Originally Posted by hotncmom View Post
Try Megan R., Emily D. or Madelaine O. I usually
preview a few and choose one. You can click on Talent at the top and then the name of the trainer and all their workouts will come up.
Thank you!
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Old 09-09-19, 12:29 PM  
Sand
 
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Texas!
This is so helpful! I had been seeing P.volve ads popping up on my social media feed for a while. I took the plunge and ordered the set from QVC in July. So far, I've only tried the Precision Sculpt DVD.

I have multiple autoimmune issues and have been dealing with a lot of fatigue so this type of workout is what my body needs currently! I joined the P.volve board on Facebook and noticed that a lot of posters there have complained that the original workouts are being removed from their library and being replaced by less effective workouts.

Recently, I've been seeing a lot of sponsored ads for DanceBody, ModelFit and just last night, Obe. So, it's nice to have options and figure out what else would work for me!
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