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2020 has been the year that we realized that we don’t need to leave our house to do anything. Well, you know, other than stay sane. Some of us decided when everything shut down to make commitments to our health. I was one of those people. Initially, I relied on my own fitness knowledge and experience to get me through but even the biggest fitness junkies run out of aerobics idea eventually. So after I had achieved a moderate level of fitness I decided that I needed a little something extra. I downloaded a couple of fitness apps that I’d seen some of my favorite instagrammers rave about. I tried Obé Fitness, Open Fit, and then I got as part of my smart treadmill purchase, iFit. I’m going to give you a break down of what I think of each and who would benefit from each the most.

obé fitness

Monthly $27 (7-day Free Trial)

You’ve probably seen their ads all over social media with their pretty pink and blue hues inside their trainer box. If you’ve quickly taken a look at their website and seen the price tag for the subscription you might have balked and thought to yourself ‘I could just find that kind of stuff on youtube’. I thought the very same thing and tried to source all my barre workouts from Youtube and quickly realized that as a Mom now, that was also back to working, I just didn’t have time to do all that.

PROS

• Great aerobics based classes, including dance cardio, dance hiit, and cardio boxing.
• New live classes everyday.
• Always adding new classes to On-Demand.
• Bubbly trainers.
• Great Barre, Pilates, & Yoga Classes.
• Robust Facebook community.

CONS

• Very bubbly – lots of use of pastel colors and peppy pop songs.
• Geared toward a feminine crowd.
• No personal trainer feedback.
• App only available on iOS.
• Strength classes do not use weight over 15lbs (though you could use heavier weights if you wish).

I use Obé mostly for the barre classes, which I do about two per week currently. I also like the cardio dance classes for the days that I can’t get on the treadmill because Rigel refused to nap or I couldn’t get in an early morning run. And I tend to do a yoga class every Saturday. This app is probably best suited for women who enjoy cardio and aren’t looking to make massive strength gains. It’s probably not going to be an app that a man would gravitate toward though it could honestly kick your non-cardio doing husband’s butt. They also have prenatal classes on-demand, as well as classes geared toward kids.

open fit

Monthly $13 (billed every 3 months at $39)

This was actually the first app that I downloaded when I realized I was kind tired of figuring out my workout programming (probably because I was trying to keep a human being alive). At the time of this writing they’re only offering a 14-day free trial contingent on paying for the yearly subscription which is $96 if you decide to keep the app. Otherwise you can pay for three months at a time if you’re unsure if you want to commit.

PROS

• Live feedback from trainers during “live” classes (trainers can watch you while you workout if you enable your camera)
• Trainer follow-up after live workouts.
• Community chat during live workouts.
• Effective circuit workouts for when you’re short on time with easy to follow moves.
• Barre Blend is a great group of workouts for beginners to Barre.
• Easy to follow exercise combinations.
• More gender neutral feel to programming.
• Nutrition programming and guidance.

CONS

• “Live” workouts are not new live workouts, they’re pre-recorded workouts with a trainer observing you live while you do the workout to offer feedback.
• Don’t add as many new workouts to on-demand as other apps.
• Do not have traditional aerobics style classes for cardio.
• Nutrition programming may not be great for those that get anxiety from calorie counting.

I think that Open Fit is a great deal for the cost considering that you can get individual feedback from trainers (if that’s something that you feel you need because you’re a beginner or you thrive on positive reinforcement). I never felt like I could use the camera because I usually had to run to grab something from Rigel. I also didn’t feel like I needed a ton of guidance. However, I did really like their 600 secs workouts for when I needed to add in a quick circuit and the Barre classes were a great place for me to start postpartum. This is also a good app if you want to share it with your husband as it has tons of exercises (like 600 secs) that they wouldn’t object to doing outright.

iFit

Monthly $15 (Family plan $33)

iFit was kind of a requirement to use the full functionality of my Pro-Form treadmill. It’s an app designed mostly to work with compatible fitness equipment like treadmills, bikes, ellipticals, and rowers that offers interactive, trainer-led workouts.

PROS

• More use of heavy weight for strength training classes.
• Functional HIIT classes.
• Yoga recovery workouts.
• Trainer guided workouts in beautiful locations.
• Takes compatible fitness equipment to the next level with an immersive experience.

CONS

• Designed mostly for compatible equipment.
• Not a ton of low-impact, no equipment exercise classes.
• No smart tv app.

I’ve run on a treadmill (in my own kind of asthma way) for 10 years and I got to say this is the most motivating and rewarding way to run that I have ever found. If you’re considering getting a bike or treadmill definitely think about if it’s compatible with iFit or a program like it. While it’s not straight forward to get this working on something other than your phone for the non-treadmill exercises, it has great workouts that any guy would get a serious pump from, so it definitely offers something for those super fit husbands out there. Or my super fit ladies who want to kick butt after a hard run.

What I Kept

Well I had to keep iFit; it’s prepaid for a year and honestly makes the treadmill so much fun! And I kept Obé because it has the cardio workouts I enjoy doing on the days I can’t get on the treadmill, plus it has excellent barre classes and yoga classes that I really enjoy. I didn’t renew Open Fit because I just didn’t feel like the nutrition portion of the app was helpful to me and wanted more variety in the workouts. The lack of good aerobics based classes also wasn’t great for the kind of programming I’m currently doing for my current goals.

Remember

There’s lots of different ways to get fit and what you choose to do can vary depending on your own individual goals. Don’t let any influencers convince you that there’s only one way to get fit. Not even me. I don’t have any influence, just a blog, and a few postpartum pounds lost.

Let me know in the comments what programs or apps you all are enjoying right now for your workouts and how they’re helping you reach your fitness goals.

We can do this!