If you’ve never heard of F45 before, the best way to sum it up would be that it’s a 45min group training class. The classes are built around functional movements that are put together in a circuit/HIIT style of training. They’ve taken social media by storm – in some sort of way I’d say they’re a bit like crossfit, just a little less… obnoxious.
I had been intrigued by their classes for a while but there was never a studio close enough that I felt I could justify going to try it out… until recently! Two studios have popped up near me in the last 6 months so it makes it far easier to get there and give it a go – they also offer a 7 day free trial so you can get a feel for the classes before you commit to any kind of membership.
To sign up for the free trial, you have to go through their website and create an account. Then download their F45 training glofox app in order to pick the classes you want to attend. You get 7 credits to use, but they expire after 1 week, so you can either attend one class each day until the trial is over, or a couple of classes in a day if you want to use the credits up (which I wouldn’t recommend as the workouts on any given day are the exact same regardless of whether you go at 6:30am or 5:30pm).
I attended 4 classes out of the 7 that I could have, 1 “strength based” and 3 cardio days.
Day 1: “The Piston”
The first day we attended The Piston workout. The Piston workout “alternates resistance exercises between upper and lower body as well as push/pull movements tor balanced, full body strength session”.
There were 12 stations in this workout, all different exercises. 35 seconds of work and 25 seconds of rest. The circuit was repeated 3 times through.
I left this workout feeling just kinda “meh” about it if I’m honest. If you’re like me and have an established fitness routine, weight train regularly, and would consider yourself to be averagely strong – I would say this workout isn’t for you. The “split” between upper and lower felt more 30% lower, 70% upper – my legs didn’t tire at all.
My arms were a little shakey afterwards but nothing to write home about. I would say my arms are a little weaker than my legs and have a bit less stamina, so I think that could be part of the reason why I found it to be kind of useless on my legs. I had a little tightness in my biceps and chest the next day and a little through my core as well.
I wouldn’t pay for that workout – I would have gotten a far better strength training session in on my own.
Day 2: Empire
“Empire will have you sweating it out in team training style. Combo set cardio workout”. Sweaty is right. I was drenched after this one.
This workout had 6 stations split into 2 (so 12 stations total), there was an “a” and “b” at each station. Work time was 45 seconds and rest was 15 seconds. We completed all 12 exercises, had a minute break and then repeated 2 more times.
You know those workouts that just completely destroy your central nervous system? You just feel like you don’t have a brain left or the will to do anything afterwards? That was this workout for me. I don’t often get physically defeated after a workout either so that’s saying a lot.
I sat on the couch and ate the entire rest of the day. I was pooched – and I would say my cardiovascular fitness level is relatively high so I can’t imagine what this would do to a beginner.
Day 3: Athletica
After 2 days rest (unintentional, I got a migraine the one day and then my planned rest was the next because I worked the whole day), we went back for another sesh, this time, Athletica.
Athletica is another one of their cardio days. 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds rest. There were 9 stations in the room split into 3 “pods”. You had to do 4 “sets” of each exercise before moving onto the next exercise within the pod, and you had to rotate through all 3 exercises twice before moving onto the next pod. You only visited each pod once.
This one wasn’t that bad. It was still sweaty, but I would say less challenging than Empire by far. The short bursts of exercises meant you couldn’t really get fully into the exercises before you had to break, so even though you had less rest time, it still didn’t feel as bad.
Day 4: Varsity
Varsity was again, split into 12 stations, but this time the work/rest periods varied each of the 3 rounds through the stations. The first round we completed each exercise 3 times before moving onto the next one (work:rest times were shorter), second round was 45 seconds of work and 15 rest, the third round was 60 seconds to 30 seconds work:rest. It was a fun way to switch up a workout and challenge different systems.
It’s described as the “ultimate cardio test”. To be honest, I found Empire to be more challenging, however that could’ve been due to the exercises we were required to do, not the layout of the actual session. I did find that the Varsity class we attended had a lot of bouncing in it… but again, that could’ve been due to the particular exercises chosen for that session, and not necessarily how Varsity is every week.
Final thoughts
It was nice to switch up my workouts a little bit, but I wouldn’t ever pay for a membership to have this as my sole workout routine. The cardio classes are fun and challenging, and I think that I would maybe give a class a go every so often just to have the shit kicked out of me cardio-wise, but other than that, no.
I think if you’re new to fitness, you want to get in shape, and you’re looking for a way to do that, you should be wary of doing F45 right off the bat. I don’t say that because the classes are bad, I say it because they’re a little impersonal, and if you’ve never exercised before and have little knowledge on correct form, you could be at risk of hurting yourself.
The personal trainers there are very motivating and fab at keeping your spirits up, but there is very little 1-on-1 time for them to be able to teach you the moves, and little time during the sessions to get coaching from them. At the beginning of the class before the session starts, the trainers quickly go through each exercise, show you how to do it in about 7 seconds, and then move on giving you little time to figure out the exercises if you’ve never done them before. If you’re looking to start your fitness journey, and are willing to spend the money, I would recommend paying for a 1-on-1 personal trainer over F45, at least to begin with, so you can get your form sorted, and then move onto the F45 classes.
Memberships are expensive in my opinion, but if you’ve got the money, you’re crazy for classes, and at least have some sort of gym experience, I would say go for it.
If you’re like me who mostly strength trains at the gym, is relatively strong overall, and have a pretty solid workout routine of your own, I would say F45 probably isn’t for you other than the occasional class just to mix it up. Like I said, I enjoyed it, it was a good challenge, but I much prefer my weight lifting workouts over their classes. I found that by the end of the week I was really missing just being able to chuck some weights about in the gym.
Have you tried F45 before? What were your thoughts on it?
Until next time
xx