New on-demand fitness workouts: There’s no excuse for missing a sweat
Boutique fitness studios seem to be sprouting up everywhere, but people may still have trouble getting to one. In tandem with the boom in trendy bricks-and-mortar places to work out, fitness pros are bringing the classes to you, creating live-streaming and on-demand workouts that can be accessed while traveling, during a quiet moment at the office, or in a corner of your living room. Some are put out by well-known fitness brands, others feature a composite of classes and trainers.
All are designed to make sure that when it comes to exercising, there’s no excuse for not showing up. Here are a few of our favorites:
LEKfit, the Hancock Park-based fitness studio (Emmy Rossum and Busy Philipps are devotees) this month launched its “Jetset” series, offering subscribers “a series of full-body workouts that can be done anytime, anywhere, and with no equipment needed,” said founder Lauren Kleban.
The Jetset workouts range from 10 to 30 minutes in length, and join the studio’s existing on-demand subscription platform, which also adds two new 50-minute full-body workout classes a week. The studio’s in-person classes typically cost $30 to $35 each.
Kleban said the platform was a natural evolution after she was asked to do Skype and FaceTime workouts for people who couldn’t make it in. Also currently available for free: a six-minute workout on Instagram Live every Tuesday.
“People want that in-studio experience even if they can’t get to a class,” she said. “When we get busy, one of the first things we stop prioritizing is working out. We’ve taken steps to make sure our workouts are conducive to being done in a small apartment or hotel room.” Some 300 videos can be accessed on various devices.
Info: First week is free, thereafter $19.99 monthly. lekfit.com
In developing her wellness app, Sanity + Self’s co-founder and chief executive, Meng Li, used research that showed that the average mother had 17 minutes a day to herself.
The app, which launched at the end of June, is directed largely toward women and offers content encompassing meditation, fitness and personal growth. Examples include a “Feel Fabulous 5K” that helps women prepare for a race, 15-minute HIIT workouts, visualizations to bring on better sleep and useful prompts in time management.
“You can always have it on hand as a reminder to meditate, stretch, get up and move,” said Li. “We wanted to make it easier for overwhelmed women to take care of themselves, combining everything they need for mind and body into one app.”
Info: Free to download. Premium content is $10 a month. sanityandself.com
CorePower Yoga in late July launched an app to bring its brand of fitness to people who have trouble making it into a class, as well as those exploring yoga for the first time, said company executive Tess Roering.
“We want people to be able to do yoga on their own time and in their own place,” she said. The on-demand content — currently at 70 different videos — is in keeping with the style of the classes at the 186 CorePower studios around the country, which Roering describes as “a mix of a really intense physical workout and the mindfulness of yoga.” The app offers 20 to 60 minute classes. There are also focused offerings, such as drills to get into handstands, or advice on how to modify poses for pregnancy.
Info: First week is free, thereafter $19.99 a month. corepoweryoga.com
And launching in October is Neo U, a fitness app designed to bring the workouts of popular trainers from Miami, New York and Los Angeles to a mass audience.
“There are thousands of great trainers who don’t have a way to get their workouts to consumers,” said co-founder Nathan Forster. The videos on the app, which will launch on Oct. 15, are being shot at Neo U’s 20,000-square-foot studio in New York, which serves as a regular gym. Classes will also be streamed through the app. Forster said Neo U would launch with 50 hours of content spanning about 15 fitness formats, from cardio to boxing to yoga, and running from 15 to 60 minutes.
“We cover all the major bases,” he said, adding that customers can find on-demand videos to match fitness equipment they have on hand.
Info: $34.99 a month or a 24-hour pass for $5. neoufitness.com
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