I first learned about Obe Fitness when my Instagram was being flooded with their fun, bright and catchy ads boasting over 100+ live classes and on-demand classes from barre, to dance cardio.
At that time, I chose to skip Obe Fitness because I was a dedicated Pure Barre fan and found my go-to workout. Plus, I already had ClassPass to give me my fix of gyms and weights. Being in an environment outside of my living room makes exercising very easy. To say, I hate home workouts.
But, the pandemic hit and my city went into lockdown. I still had my full-time job but my attitude towards online barre classes changed and I didn’t feel like it was worth paying $180/month anymore… so, I jumped onto the Obe Fitness free trial for the month to keep active at home.
Paired with 3lb dumbbells, 5lb dumbbells, bands, and a chair, I was ready to take on Obe. Their signature 28-minute classes are designed to be done at home with limited equipment, at most, just some pair of weights.
Initial thoughts?
28 minutes is no laughing matter! I was sweating like crazy in all my classes with my 5lb dumbbells and in some classes, I was genuinely sore with no heavy weights. Because they were only 28-minute classes and done at home, I was surprised to see myself committing to nearly 5x classes a week!
Sometimes, I’d be ambitious and do their 45-minute classes which are just as intense as the 28 minutes. However, the 45/50 minutes “level up” classes are limited in the month-to-month subscription and if you’re into the hour-long workouts, you’ll have to upgrade to their quarterly or yearly membership to unlock all their 45/50 minutes classes.
What I love about Obe are online communities and instructors. The Obe Facebook and Instagram channels are always popping, especially the Facebook group. You can find serious motivation on the Facebook group – some members joined Obe BEFORE the pandemic and shared the real results of constant 28-minute classes. The instructors are super active online as well and take feedback and suggestions into consideration.
Additionally, as someone who does NOT like to plan and think about workout moves, having an instructor on my screen makes working out easier. I just need to change into some workout gear, choose a video, and hit play. I like full-body workouts but it’s easier to filter classes that focus on the glutes, upper, or lower body.
I’ve taken many of their classes and here is what you can expect from some of the classes:
- Power and strength classes. These classes are pretty much the equivalent of lifting weights in the gym and Power Hour with Kat is my absolute FAVE! As someone with years of lifting weights, power and strength classes are the most similar and very challenging. The instructors are knowledgeable and fully demonstrate moves and techniques to ensure you’re doing them properly at home. I’ve found some of my favourite moves through these classes that I would’ve never known about.
- Vinyasa yoga classes are a great substitute for yogis. I’ve never been a yoga person until I tried a class with Alex and now I cannot wait until she teaches another vinyasa yoga class. I do find these yoga classes somewhat repetitive and beginner-friendly so intermediate yogis may not feel the challenge. They have athlete’s yoga but I haven’t tried it yet since I don’t feel I’m at that level yet. However, the latest yoga classes are being incorporated with newer poses for those more advanced.
- Cardio kickboxing is a great alternative for those who HATE cardio. Let me tell you – 28 minutes of cardio kickboxing would get you sore and sweaty AF. Not to mention you feel like a badass at the end of the class!
- Barre classes with Adam and Katherine are fun! I’ve tried some older barre classes with Dorian and was not a fan of them because I felt it was far from Pure Barre (which is what I was used to). I didn’t touch barre until Adam and Katherine started teaching barre and barre cardio that I got back into it. Their classes are much more “traditional” and resemble what you’ll find in barre studios. I don’t have a portable barre and they also use a dining chair as their barre.
- Pilates with Marcia is hilarious and sassy! I’ve never done pilates before Obe so I have no real comparison but many people say Marcia’s pilates classes are very similar to traditional mats pilates. I found these classes to be major ab burners and somewhat awkward to do in my condo gym but very fun to switch things up.
- Sculpt classes are a no-go for me unless they’re taught by Liz. Truth be told, I’ve never taken a sculpt class before but the handful I’ve tried with Obe didn’t do it for me. I found the moves to be ridiculous and without prior knowledge, I had a difficult time following the instructor every time. Some moves were just over the top or the class was too fast to follow and I had to pause several times just to ask myself “wtf?”. I eventually gave it a shot again with Liz and found her sculpt classes to be much more “normal” (aka no over-the-top moves) and at a good pace.
- Yoga Sculpt/Yoga Kickboxing. What a blend! I felt yoga sculpt had more sculpt than a yoga flow but I’m open to giving it a few more shots. Yoga kickboxing is fun! It’s an odd blend but I’m not complaining because it does blend 2 of my favourite classes.
- Don’t let the body-weights High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) classes fool you. They’re still challenging but a great way to fit cardio into your workout. I know a lot of people level up with some weights.
- Dance (and dance HIIT) classes are there if you really want to take them. I’ve taken a few in an attempt to improve my dancing, let loose, have fun and sweat a bit. Easy enough to follow and nail the dance routine in 28 minutes but I can’t help but feel slightly uncoordinated and silly doing the dances.
Overall,
when I combine Obe with my condo apartment gym, it’s the perfect home workout. Truthfully, I didn’t like Obe when I had to do it in my kitchen/living room in my previous place, so if I no longer had access to a condo or home gym, I would evaluate my membership with them.
I love the vast options of classes available that keep my workouts interesting and fun. Besides, the condensed 30-minute classes are challenging, there’s no real excuse to skip out no matter how busy your day is. I do like the hour-long classes but knowing I have the option for a shorter, condensed workout is nice as well. Best of all, the on-demand videos make it great for travelling because there are many bodyweight option classes too and you can download them for offline usage (only available on iOS systems at the time of writing). They also have pre-and-post natal classes. When I committed to 5x 30-minute classes, I noticed more physical changes than I did going to the gym for 3x 60-minute strength training.
Obe is USD $27 per month (cheaper if you upgrade to a quarterly or yearly plan). It’s affordable enough to give it a shot to see if Obe is something for you but with this many class options and fun instructors, I think you’ll find something for you on this platform.
Unfortunately, after two years of being an Obe member, I chose to cancel my membership because it was getting too expensive compared to other alternative on-demand workout platforms or the local gym/studios (for context, with the poor exchange rate, I’m looking at nearly $300 CAD/year for Obe!).
*This post is not affiliated with or sponsored by Obe Fitness, and all opinions expressed are by Eleventh Avenue.
