What have you Streamed & how would you Rate it?

[Mopsy]

The only paid subscriptions I have are Essentrics and Qi Gong for Vitality (oddly enough, both Canadian ) I'd give them both a 5 because otherwise I wouldn't keep them.

Not to derail the discussion, but I'm surprised to see the comments about the newer instructors. My concern is despite all the content, they might be running out of ideas. When I really want to challenge myself, I use the older dvd workouts. Some of the exclusive "cardio" workouts are challenging, also. But there's plenty to choose from and I use it almost every day.

[Izzy]

Originally Posted by JackieB

Side note: if you find an instructor you really like and want more of them, see if they offer Zoom classes. I have several instructors I take classes from on the side, and i also offer my own Zoom Essentrics classes.

I attest, I do Jackie's Zoom classes as well. They are very good classes and she offers a variety of days/evenings and times.

[JackieB]

[QUOTE=Mopsy;2946847
Not to derail the discussion, but I'm surprised to see the comments about the newer instructors. My concern is despite all the content, they might be running out of ideas. [/QUOTE]

That could be. I also think that the focus is on beginner or new subscribers, so the workouts tend to be very basic, regardless of if it's a newer or veteran instructor.

A couple instructors have also moved on and left Essentrics.

[Pat58]

Oh, I forgot another one - Holden Qigong live classes.

I'd have to rate it a 5 for Lee Holden lovers. It was wonderful to experience Lee live. He taught moves that aren't in his DVDs, sadly. But the cost, whew. And devoting an hour to qigong was cramping my whole workout routine.

[Leonana]

I’ve streamed only one, Ellen’s workouts. I’d say 3/5. I appreciate how affordable it is, but I don’t click with her workouts.

[Izzy]

Originally Posted by JackieB

That could be. I also think that the focus is to beginner or new subscribers, so the workouts tend to be very basic, regardless of if it's a newer or veteran instructor.

A couple instructors have also moved on and left Essentrics.

I agree, a lot of new material is geared towards beginners or folks who are new to Essentrics. I understand but they need to be careful with this strategy. Older members will leave if they don’t make the new material balance between levels. Retail tends to do this, offer incentives to new customers and the loyal and faithful feel neglected and take their business elsewhere.

[TracyQ]

I’m currently streaming two.

Peloton—5/5 I absolutely love the cycling workouts and the music can’t be beat. I also use some of the stretching videos. I don’t care for their other offerings (core and cardio).

Inner Dimensions—5/5 I purchased a year subscription during a recent sale. I always loved Travis’ Ultimate Yogi and his You Tube offerings. Inner Dimensions has a ton of variety.

I’ve subscribed to the following in the past:

Cathe Live—5/5

Pilates by Lisa—5/5

Pilates Anytime—4/5

Studio Sweat on Demand—3/5

[wendug]

Has anyone had issues with the quality of streaming? I did a trial of Les Mills streaming at the beginning of the pandemic and it was not good. Constantly freezing and buffering on me so much that I wasn't really able to try a lot of the workouts. And I don't have that problem when doing YT workouts so it was definitely their site. That experience has me sticking with my dvd's (lord knows I have enough workout DVD's to keep me busy), but I have thought about paying for some streaming sites.

[geojill]

Virtual Active Roam 4/5. I love it, have used it more than most other workout options (I listen to Pandora while jogging on my rebounder), but I wish that they would have released less bike routes and more hike or run routes this year. I will renew in January.

Yoga with Kassandra 4/5. I actually mostly do just her morning yoga movement, but it has really kept me consistent with yoga and I have great results with strength and flexibility. It’s available on YouTube but I use it about 5x/week so justifies my spending the $ to support Kassandra. I just changed from a month to month subscription to an annual subscription.

Essentrics 3/5. It’s a good app. I really want to like it but can’t stay consistent. I just jive better with yoga.

[cyana]

Holden Qi Gong - 5/5 - I love qi gong because it makes me feel good mentally and physically. As Pat noted, it is pricey, but I no longer go to my local yoga studio (where I previously had a monthly membership), so I apply those funds toward streaming. You get subscriber discounts on workshops. Lee isn't having in-person classes at this time (due to COVID), but is doing 3 live Zoom classes/week and it is fun to do a live class with students from all over the world. While he's doing the live classes, Lee takes questions from students for around 20 minutes before class starts.

Movement for Modern Life - 4.5/5 - UK-based yoga streaming service. I have the 50% off for life, so this is a great value and I've discovered many excellent UK instructors that I wouldn't have otherwise. I hope they keep working on the search functions and filters, as I can definitely succumb to analysis paralysis trying to select a practice because there's so much on the site (that's the 4.5 stars versus 5). They add 3 classes/week, which is nice and Kat has been offering some very reasonably priced workshops with a subscriber discount.

Essentrics TV - 4/5 - Reasonably priced with excellent content. I gave it 4 stars, as I sometimes feel like I'm going around in circles trying to locate certain classes on the site and end up wasting a portion of my available work-out time. I have some hip issues, so the slower-paced classes work for me, but I understand the other opinions on this. Essentrics risks losing the intermediate and advanced exercisers if everything is geared to entry level, injured and/or wonky body part students. I need to do a better job of exploring the ETV Exclusive material.

Probably 2 - 3 years ago:
Bellicon Home - 3/5 - I loved this service when I first signed up and subscribed for several years. I liked Fayth, as she gave me a good foundation for using my Bellicon. I also liked Remy (Netherlands) and several of the German Bellicon instructors even though I don't speak German (although I was leaning to count in German, LOL!) - especially Daniel, Nadine and Jana. It just wasn't the same for me after Fayth got pregnant and had a baby and wasn't doing new videos, so I didn't renew, as there were several newer instructors that just didn't do anything for me.

I was slow to embrace streaming and now can't imagine not having streaming options.