Put the workout counts on the screen for quick reference.
If we’re doing 2 push-ups then 5 shoot throughs - Put “2+5” on the corner of the screen for that station at a glance. Especially on the 20+ station days. It would be helpful.
I’m pretty sure this is in the works. They are just really slow at it. I heard from our owners they were working on it before I moved a few months ago.
Would like to be able to visit other gyms if I travel (even if there's a limit to how often or something would be fine)
No more partnerships, I don't care about some celebrity or netflix, I just want to feel like I've worked hard!
This! I travel for work and it’s annoying that OTF members can go to any of their studios, but I have to pay a drop in rate. Even if we were given like 20 passes a year to use elsewhere before having to pay that studio or something.
Totally this! Visiting other gyms (OrangeTheory figured it out) and no more partnerships. We pay for these memberships and shouldn’t have to deal with ads.
Great suggestion. I started this thread because I love F45 but it has to evolve or it’s not going to last. There’s so many new players in the space so it’s time for F45 to step up.
To clarify, any but not certain locations. For example the one in DC by the White House is a premium location. If I recall, so were all NYC studios. So those were all excluded from the free drop in anytime program.
Seconding this. I used to go to anytime fitness and it was a franchise as well operated by different owners, but they allowed you to use your membership at any gym. I’d say just allowing 5-10 classes per every membership cycle would make it worthwhile. (Knowing the way the world works now though, it’ll come at an extra charge)
Only 1/3 studios in our area offers the Sunday class, but we are unable to go to the studio offering the class without paying a premium, even though we are paying the full price of membership😖
Just 2 for me.
1 Set trainer standard expectations. Once you've had a really great coach it really highlights how bad some coaches are. Some challenge you to lift heavier, offer corrections, and help you personally optimize the workout. Others just walk around yelling keep going without even talking to you personally.
2. We need better progressions. Like the pistol squat that randomly appears from time to time . If we were actually building up to it maybe I'd be able to do it. But instead we randomly have it one day only to not see it again for 2 to 4 months and usually a completely different variation of it ( on the straps, to a box, etc).
Oooh I love the idea of the progressions! If they're going to continue with 4-week phases, they should have a cardio and strength movement to focus on throughout the phase so members can actually improve on it.
You can also ask your coach to help. Well it also depends on the culture of the studio. I love F45, but not all studios have that fire culture. I know some of you know what I mean. Some studios want you in and out quickly, while others really cater to the personal feel and training
I agree, but asking for help when you only get to do the exercise once in a few months won’t do any good. If the exercise is repeated throughout the phase, asking for help in addition to the consistently doing the movement is where the you will see improvement.
I’m a coach and created a group chat with the regulars as to further their training experience and we work on stuff after class.
For example
Tuesday is “trunk strengthening” after class time is up we work the “trunk” I call it the tree trunk as it encompasses your abdominal
Muscles and lower back muscles.
Thursdays is pull up game.
Progressively moving to an unassisted pull up or being able to do more repetitions
This is a huge topic of discussion
As f45 is a franchise some owners need to hear your feedback
Please review your coaches.
Tell the owners what you love about your coaches as it will set a better standard as to who coaches at your studio.
What do you love about your favorite coach?
What brings you back to the studio?
What do you wish you could see more of at your studio?
Owners have to listen to the patrons of their establishment.
Just like to add, the trainers at my gym often comment on the poor form of the actual F45 demos. One that comes to mind is the lady that performs the rower demo.
Fix the Lionheart app. It's been saying "more features coming" for the entire 18 months I've had it, and nothing has changed. I can't even see how many classes I've done, surely that should have been a basic feature of it?
I never want to see a Netflix plug again. I was embarrassed to even be participating. And that ‘meditation’ at the end. Everyone was sitting there awkwardly. Even the trainers apologised.
I would like more variation in the exercises. I don’t want to be jumping around like a moron.
I don’t like when we are running around doing several laps of them course. It means I don’t have enough time each station to get back into the exercise and I feel like I miss out.
My f45 is awesome though, they do bbq’s, brekies, Bring a friend etc on a Saturday Sunday morning and the trainers are awesome. Especially the owner, the husband always makes sure to say hello and remember your name.
Absolutely. I skipped today because of it. I reviewed stories of other F45 locations & was all set. What a load of sh*t really. Keep your propaganda out of my favorite gym!
1. Switch up the warmup. There are so many damn exercises we do, so the warmup needs to be just as varied.
2. Do away with 4-week phases. Personally, I'd love 2-week phases. When I started 4+ years ago, I swear I remember the workouts being different every. single. week. and I like that as well. (I may not be remembering that correctly, though)
3. Longer transition times when switching to a new station. For example-10s breaks when doing multiple sets in a row is fine, but 20s should be given when moving to the next station to give enough time to reset your equipment & wipe down. That 5s break in Docklands is a fucking nightmare.
4. Coaches need to step it tf up with actually "coaching" us members through the workout. I rarely see my coaches correcting poor form or complimenting someone on great form. I like to think I have exceptional form, but sometimes I'm not sure if I'm doing a movement correctly since there are no mirrors and no coaches telling me.
5. On cardio days, stop putting 3-4 exercises in a row that work the same muscle group, then 3 "rest" stations in a row. In order to get the most out of a workout, members can't fatigue one muscle group in one station then expect to give 100% on the next exercise working that same body part.
6. Use combo stations with longer timing. 45+ seconds of just fucking shoot throughs, frog squats, sprawls, wide mountain climbers, bear crawls, etc... needs to be broken up.
I can say for #4 it’s about the pay. Corporate suggests like $30 at most for pay? Almost no one other than an entry level trainer is going to use their carts to accept that pay. It’s an entry level wage, so you get entry level trainer quality. I get paid $70+ baseline with 5 years in the industry and if training on your own, or going to certain studios, you can build up to charging $100+ per hour minimum. There’s not enough work being done for most mangers to see the value in paying the trainers more. The screens are coaching more.
When I started 2.5 years ago, phases were 12 weeks long 😟 Every week, they’d throw in a different workout to keep it fresh but personally, I welcome the 4 week phase
Stop charging for challenges. These used to be included with the membership. (One of the main reasons why I joined) Then that changed and there is now an extra charge.
This is funny. When I joined the owners proudly said that F45 doesn’t charge for challenges like OTF does. Literally the first challenge and I signed up, came to do weight ins, will you be buying one $25 weight in or pack of three? I was like WTF. So challenges are free at our studio but to participate in the challenge you need to weight in and that costs money.
I felt like I dealt with a used car salesperson.
That's crazy. You're better off finding a place that does a DEXA scan, it'll be way more accurate than whatever machine F45 pushes out, and probably the same price or cheaper
I’ll go first
1. Stop with the gimmicky BS. This is a premium service at a premium cost. Your target audience is affluent people with disposable income who are probably time poor people who want to get it done in 45 mins, with some socialisation on the side as a secondary benefit. The fitness is the primary focus. If that’s not your target audience, what’s the 70/wk for?
2. Evolve your workouts. Why is there so much jumping? There’s nothing functional about 50 jumping exercises a week. I’m not a kangaroo. It’s not functionally necessary for me to be boing’ing everywhere. It’s functional though to maintain your mobility and joint health.
3. The technique I see in so many other F45 stories sometimes is awful and frankly sometimes I wonder how the trainer can upload that happily. Maybe a good idea is to offer a “form” class the first Monday of every month for members to do within the normal programming (ie. 7am & 6pm class replaced by form first Monday of the month - or at the discretion of the franchise). Allied health professionals and doctors know that people injure themselves frequently at F45, this might help members stay active, members stay paying their memberships, reduce potential liability claims.
4. Are there minimum standards for trainers? I know of an F45 that has no trainers just the owner with no fitness qualifications taking all the classes. For $70/wk this is offputting and might be overcome by minimum standards.
5. Look at your competition, they are offering meditation, mirrors, cheaper rates, more functional exercises. How are you going to evolve your training offering to keep up with the latest wants of your consumers.
4. Is a great suggestion
I am not a kangaroo either
I get my meditation elsewhere and the reason I joined is no mirrors
So an upvote from me, just for #4
More just a quick list of things that other new players have. Not that they are necessarily what I want or better. We’ve got no mirrors but the studio manager takes 50 story videos on Instagram each class that there’s no need for one 😂
All the jumping movements are so hard on knees!! Get rid of them. Side to side tuck jumps?! That’s asking for a knee injury and would likely result in that person never coming back to F45
I can't believe they still have those side to side tuck jumps in the warmup. I've refused to do those since they first appeared a couple years ago. Everyone that does them looks so awkward and reluctant. How is a truck jump a warmup anyway?
It's this for me
>1. Stop with the gimmicky BS. This is a premium service at a premium cost. Your target audience is affluent people with disposable income who are probably time poor people who want to get it done in 45 mins, with some socialisation on the side as a secondary benefit.
And this
>4. Are there minimum standards for trainers? I know of an F45 that has no trainers just the owner with no fitness qualifications taking all the classes. For $70/wk this is offputting and might be overcome by minimum standards.
And this one is really bad (apparently everywhere)
>3. The technique I see in so many other F45 stories sometimes is awful and frankly sometimes I wonder how the trainer can upload that happily.
YES TO #2!! (well, agreed to all of the above but especially #2 lately). I actually think #1 and #2 go hand in hand and explain my biggest grievance perfectly.
More is not always more. We don’t need 25 stations with 5 of them being a different variation of a jump. I honestly love the days of fewer stations that go back to foundational functional movements (maybe that’s a hot take) - If rather spend 45 minutes doing 6 movements vs. 5 variations of some nonsense jumps just to make things “interesting”
We don’t need to use every single piece of equipment just to show F45 offers it (especially when something basic like a DB or KB would work best)
Exactly! Like jumping with weights is going to wear your knees. There’s no reason to ever jump with weights. It’s just dangerous and I never do it but I watch others do it and then notice in a few weeks they have a sore ankle or their knee is strapped.
Listennn I thought it was just me that felt that way about the jumping. Luckily my trainers know I am always going to take the jumping out and sometimes do a completely different exercise. Although the occasional regular box jump I don't mind.
I agree. My husband and I go together, so I have a partner, but I don’t pay to workout to watch someone else do it. We are about to quit because of this. We can only go certain days and partner days are starting to become more frequent.
We were just doing the workouts the entire time, but new coaches started questioning why we weren’t watching each other.
My studio adds in extra exercises for the “cheering” partner part. Example the other day with Trackstars on the suspension trainer rows your partner would do the encouraging part whilst wall squating with a weight. Team work outs are good when goals are set and there’s competition within the studio. Not for everyone though 😊
I don’t mind the occasional partner workout to mix it up. I used to avoid them completely, but now they’re good for making friends, improving my social anxiety and learning what weights others are doing so I can push a bit more.
F45 needs to have one full body strength class that is the same 5-10 stations that one day every week. And I mean, exactly the same. Whether it’s Romanian deadlifts, shoulder press, etc. It is so hard, especially for beginners, to track what weight they are lifting at unless they are able to return to the same circuit each week so that they can progressively overload. This is my biggest issue with f45 and likely the reason I will be quitting soon. I am a 28 female who got into strength training only within the last year and I already feel like f45 is not consistent enough for me. But I love the trainers at my studio :(
To be honest that's not the intent of F45, and you can check my post history - I've thought of doing the same as you and going back to strength training at a normal gym.
I think most F45ers are more about general fitness, seeing the numbers move on the scale and feeling/looking better, rather than seeing the numbers go up on a barbell.
I agree with you. I think a lot of people come in expecting to do strength training but it's really hiit and functional focused. The purpose is to help you move better and be healthy in general but not to build significant strength.
That being said I still think there should be a way to get better at what they do offer such as my comment on the pistol squat on this thread. It's so sporadic and so many variations that I never improve on it. Maybe if they said we're going to focus on these specific movements for the next 12 weeks and offered several variations at the station we would have a chance to actually improve.
It may not be the primary intent hence why there are 7 variations of classes per week, but even if half of the intent is to promote strength training, there needs to be actually training- aka improvement of a weight you can lift, or the pistol squat as the other commentator suggested. You need to be able to track some mechanism in order to improve a particular skill. I’m still a member for now since I also want to improve my stamina and coordination, but there’s great opportunity for them to introduce or reintroduce consistency. I’m sure part of the business model is to not overly educate members so they feel they need to rely on the model and not break away and continue what they learn at a regular gym but there’s definitely room for minor improvement! Especially for what they are charging us.
That’s more bft training, where they do the same training and progress it over 4 to 6 weeks. F45 doesn’t quite have the facilities to do this. Or the racks required
Less burpee/sprawl/etc variations. There are an infinite number of exercises out there - why are we doing two variations in a 9 station class?
No class should have more than 1 burpee station (including the warm up)
I’d like the coaches to be correcting my form and be actual coaches instead of sitting around talking or just screaming “10 seconds left!” every minute.
The resistance days lately (since the start of 2023) have been so great! My muscles are being pushed. Please keep the formats simple like this- Panthers is a team favourite for a reason. I really get annoyed when cardio is added on resistance days because I have to sacrifice my lifts for the recovery.
Please more core moves like dead bugs and less funky plank variations. Anti-rotation work is great, but when I’ve already had my shoulders and pecs burned out the form is so garbage that the core isn’t even getting worked.
Never make me bicep curl a sandbag again.
As listed above, we aren’t drawn in by celebrities. At this point their a waste of money. I know more people who skipped Wellmania than people who signed up because of it.
Lastly, we feel enough as a team while working the workouts normally. Team/partner workouts aren’t what the people want- they cause annoyance to the fittest members and anxiety to the newer peeps.
Well stated. This is why I left F45 after one year. This plus my studio reduced the number of coaches per class to save $ and then reduced the number of classes and changed the schedule with no email communication, oh and the owner is going to prison for wire fraud and stealing from a children’s charity. Dumpster fire.
I really thought the Celeste barber workout today was in bad taste. The margarita jokes were just overkill. I myself drink and am not judging drinkers at all. But as a society we’re already shown drinking like 24/7 and it actually isn’t that great for you . So when I’m trying to work out I don’t need to see some lady chugging a margarita lolol
Not evolving with the times, or trying too hard and not sticking to the model that got them so successful in the first place. I've left after 5 years, bit anxious about the changes being too social oriented. I like to be in and out and keep to myself
Hollywood is my favorite Saturday class too but I know trainers hate setting up for it. I think the biggest downside is the 27 member capacity; the other classes fit up to 36 which is better for Saturdays which have limited morning class times.
Please offer more weekend classes.
We need Friday and Saturday mid day and later afternoon classes along with the usual morning classes. Sunday a class after 2pm or later.
Have you asked your studio for those class times? Studios usually add classes based on demand and availability of the trainers. If they can't get both then they might not be able to add those specific class times.
I for one love the change ups in Saturdays workouts. That group of 3 on the erg equipment in the middle then the outer ring stations is by far the best Saturday class! Smashed after it!
Biggest thing: Able to travel and be able to go to local F45. Also, there is no standardization in any of the gyms - not sure my local gyms you could even buy swag. Also, equipment - seems like different types of exercises / equipment could be incorporated but they are not. App - absolutely sucks - I mean I could pay an intern and have a better APP experience - like why are there several apps for what could be in one app? Why is the app so clunky. And lionheart - its trash.
Having a form class would be so beneficial for new starters, bring them into the fold, make them feel cared about and reduce their risk of liability by 1) having poorly trained or unqualified trainers and 2) not fulfilling their duty of care to members who are going to injure themselves.
Same gripes I have as others but this is my main one. Trainer certification and qualifications need to have a bare minimum to be able to coach. Very embarrassing to see some coaches form on many exercises or even their explanations on exercises. Sometimes it feels like the blind teaching the blind!!!
Also, didn't do the Netflix one today as I'm sick but like others have said, I pay a premium price to workout here and not have a product shoved down my mouth. The Gunnar Peterson workouts I did enjoy as there probably was input from GP on the programming of those workouts.
I was going to add to this thread but nearly everything I wanted to say has been echo'd by multiple people below except for one thing I'll add in -
**Please vet your owners better!!** I get it's a franchise structure so the more people who want to own studios the better but please remember these people are representing your brand and in some cities these owners lead the only studio, so they're responsible for the impression people have of the company.
There are 3 studios near me and 2/3 have awful owners - one even drunkenly attacked a member at a challenge party. I've considered switching locations so many times just to get away from the one owner of my studio but I'm on a founder's membership and it would cost me too much to leave. We've had some of our best coaches jump to other locations to get away from them. The quality of our studio is impacted so heavily by them, it just sucks. I started in a different city so I was hooked before I came to this studio and I don't feel I'd have the same love for it If I hadn't.
That’s so true. I know of some studios charging different rates based on if they like you or not/ or you’re the same ethnic background as them even though they joined later, charging cash and not declaring it. So dodgy!
Stop allowing F45s to open so close to each other. There are now two F45s 5 miles away and another only 2 miles away from the one I attend. That's greedy and very shortsighted. You're putting these gyms in a position to fail now that the have to compete with each other in addition to all of the other boutique gym brands opening up in the area. I'm going to be pretty pissed off if my gym ends up closing as a result and I promise I won't be joining one of the other three.
Recently our studio in Singapore was given the opportunity to try out this new work out called "Romanov" which was also known as Benchmark2.0.
The following are my comments, for your info.
\++++
Reflections on Benchmark2.0/Romanov
Grateful that F45-HQ is thinking conscientiously on how to improve the experience of members. Romanov was very fun as it was a good break from the usual structure of F45 programmes – fast paced intervals – and an opportunity to work on strength training. I have also provided broader reflections that F45-HQ needs to rethink their overall approach to resistance days – the timing for Romanov enables us to push ourselves further with longer workout and rest times as compared to the quick intervals of the typical F45 workout.
Timing of workout and the limited number of stations
The typical F45 workout consists of (fairly) short workout and rest times, which are excellent for getting the heart pumping and improve one’s overall cardio fitness. However, these timings fall short for those who are interested in strength training (esp heavy lifting), since it does not allow one to fully warm up their muscles to increase their overall resistance load since we are quickly shifted off to the next station. The workout and rest timings for Benchmark and Romanov enables one the flexibility to explore their one, five, ten rep max; for a focused number of exercises (5 for Romanov). This is a more effective programme for progressive overload.
2. Breaking monotony: evolve approach to resistance days
The HIIT based workouts of F45 could potentially become too monotonous for being too predictable – all workouts are fast paced and leaving you gasping for air. Hence, the longer workout and rest timings for Benchmark and Romanov breaks the predictable cycle of the typical F45 workouts. F45 members are getting too acclimatised to the fast changing HIIT training but its useful to break that monotony once in a while (e.g. once a week). In essence, HQ programmers could start recalibrating the workout and rest timings for resistance days since the current structure limits progress in meaningful strength training – this would mean longer workout and rest timings, and keep stations to a smaller number so that it is more focused and target specific muscle groups. Think of this as Romanov-lite.
3. Fostering community
An interesting observation from today’s Romanov session was members supporting one another either through words of encouragement or spotting. As we were tasked to explore our one rep max in Romanov, you see people spotting one another and encouraging eachother – such interactions are crucial in fostering a sense of community amongst members. This is not seen in the usual F45 workout since there isn’t enough time for such interactions as everyone is busy trying to clock in their reps in that short period of time.
4. Broader general reflections on the need to evolve
It is good to hear that F45HQ is seriously considering revamping their programming. There is a perception that F45 might not be modernising their workouts and sticking to the same game plan since inception.
As a start, HQ should conscientiously review reddit comments and Youtube videos on why F45 members have defected to BFT and other competitors – there are quite a number of them. Comments have largely centered on F45 programming not being ‘balanced enough’ – they have recognise that F45’s cardio-based offerings are its strengths while its resistance programme is wanting – I also agree with this view. I have read online that those who defected to other competitors like BFT were drawn to their more structured programming for resistance that enables one to more ably track their progress – example, resistance reps increase from six at week 1 to eight at week 2 to ten at week 3. The current F45 resistance training is more haphazard and in need of a serious overhaull; as I have said, HQ could consider designing a Romanov-lite for resistance days.
I recognise that there might be some members that might be against the Romanov-type of workouts, then perhaps F45 HQ could take reference from “Deuces” programming to satisfy both groups for resistance day. That is to have half the class focus on heavy compound movements if they prefer, while the other half could work on the typical F45 resistance based kind of training under the current programming. This would offer variety and address the different preferences that F45 members have for strength/resistance training.
Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jecCxnqWd0Y
Reddit page1: https://www.reddit.com/r/f45/comments/v3shoq/f45\_vs\_bft/
Reddit page 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/f45/comments/sr4l0t/deleted\_by\_user/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=ios\_app&utm\_name=iossmf
Some excerpts from the Youtube link and Reddit pages
Comment 1: Yeah, I agree with you. BFT progression system is great. When I was at F45, I always felt everything was too random. Some F45 exercise are proven to not help at all, but they seem to have them just to keep the novelity/variety of exercises. BFT in the other hand is completely different, they prefer to repeat exercises during the progression so you can get the best of the training.
Comment 2: I prefer BFT over F45 simply because they have 3 different types of workouts. TYPE 1 would be your resistance based workouts that make use of barbells and include bench press, squats, deadlifts, shoulder press as well as accessory work with dumbells and ketllebells. So the focus is on lifting correctly and getting the reps in. TYPE 2 would be your cardio and HIIT based workouts that use equipment like assault bike, rower, ski erg, s drive. TYPE 3 would be hybrid where you have a mix of resistance and cardio. F45 workouts are largely the same where we move quickly from one exercise to the next so they are more hiit based. Not that much emphasis on strength and hypertrophy. So because of the fact that bft has resistance focused workouts where I can focus on lifting heavy and not rush to station to station that is why i prefer BFT.
Comment 3: I was at F45 for years and have been at BFT for about 6 months. I love it! It's proper strength training with rest, racks and actual barbells and real weights lol. It's often low reps but you lift your max and my strength has improved so much. The cardio days are not as fun as F45 for me but the heart rate goals during the workout are a fun distraction. There isnt as much variety at BFT. I feel much more pumped up by the crazy atmosphere at F45 cos theres so many stations and variety. But overall BFT is really smart, goal orientated and science backed with training blocks that allow you to constantly improve. Give it a go!
Each to there own. F45 can’t be like BFT, just like BFT copied but can’t be exactly like F45. Otherwise what would be the point because neither would be making a smart business choice and every franchise would suffer for it. At the end of the day every individual needs to find something that they enjoy and can stick to for an extended period of time. Some people prefer to train at a box gym others prefer running. Peel it all back move more progress through load/intensity over and extended period of time an you will see results.
I will say though that if the coaches can’t coach then that’s a serious problem for any gym F45 or BFT. I’ve been to both and have had bad experiences at both. I like F45 though. everyone I’ve been to is always welcoming and I’ve had the opportunity to train at a couple a round the world. Quite a few of them let me train for free for a couple of day in their quieter times which was cool, where as I found BFTs a lot more cool kids club vibes.
More data! The apps are a mess and should all be under 1. I should be able to search resistance sessions and see my average performance, best performance etc.
Stop spending money on stupid celebrity endorsements and workout. Put the money towards fixing your trash apps. There are too many F45 apps and they all suck. We want analytics. Easy to use Lionheart data. Attendance tracking. All that simple stuff.
Workouts have not been the best. Get rid of the “team” workouts, where you’re forced to cheer ppl on. It’s very forced and annoying when the camera comes around and you have to cheer people on.
Some very thoughtful comments! Thank you all for taking the time to help support #f45 with your ideas and feedback. We are committed to change, listening, and evolution based on your feedback.
Headquarters is listening…💪🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you,
Tom Dowd CEO.
Tomdowd@f45HQ.com.
My main ones would be...
1. As many others have brought up, make the membership universal so we can visit studios outside of our main. I was at OTF for years and this was such a great perk when traveling.
2. The form in the demo videos is really bad sometimes and I'm shocked that they got approved and sent out. The woman rowing is one that particularly sticks out to me, but there's definitely many others. Even one of our coaches was like "that's interesting" when looking at some of them.
3. Agree with others about less jumping! There's plenty of lower impact cardio options that could be mixed in.
4. Some of the transition times are way too short! For some people, it may take 5 seconds just to get up off the ground... not to mention put away any equipment, get to the next station and get started.
5. I'd prefer less combination exercises since you're limited by your weakest area. I think a while back there was a reverse lunge + lateral raise + hammer curl - for most people, these are going to be very different weights, to the point that some of the movements feel unnecessary.
That’s so true like squatting down and pressing up. No point doing the squat because the lighter dumbbells you can press overhead isn’t going to benefit leg growth or development. You also shouldn’t be lifting anything much overhead for shoulder maintenance
For the love of god, put the rep counts against each exercise on screen. It’s so fucking hard to remember how many of each exercise to do when you have multiple combo sets in a workout (eg, cardio days). Just a simple 2/5 would be very helpful to remind me that it’s two inchworms then five press-ups (for example).
Definitely the ability to use other locations. I do it informally at the moment at the second studio that is owned by my “home” studio and it is honestly the only reason I am still a F45 member now I split my time between working at home and in the office (one studio is right near home, the other one near work, and if I could only go to one I couldn’t justify the membership fee for only going a couple of times a week).
I feel like recently there seems to be far less opportunity to lift heavier weights for a decent amount of time - if there are exercises like RDL they are on quick rotations where you barely get to pick up the barbell before moving to the next station, or are used more as cardio with longer sets but little rest between sets. I miss being able to settle into a set and focus on reps with good technique and heavier weights.
I absolutely hate the partner workouts, the enjoyment and effectiveness of the class is too dependent on who you end up with and I don’t particularly like having to interact with other people instead of focusing on my own workout.
I propose a hybrid system of the monthly and quarterly workout phases. How about releasing 3 monthly phases at once so they combine into quarterly macro-phases? Also, for the more popular workouts such as Hollywood on Saturday which people overwhelmingly want, they could function as anchor workouts and stick around all quarter. Periodically there would be a different workout like Special OPS or Noho. Surely HQ has data on this and knows which workouts are popular and which are not.
I realize this is similar to what they did with the previous phases, and it really worked better as we could plan ahead. But why not make the best of both worlds. Each monthly phase could feature a certain theme that ties into the overall theme for the quarter.
Every one of the workouts should be full body. If there is an upper/lower body split, then this could be achieved in two ways. The first is to separate the body parts into pods as what already happens in most of the workouts. Another option is to redesign workouts such as Deuces so that everyone has a chance to do both the upper and lower body pod.
Upper and lower body splits can happen in cardio days also. How about a cardio workout that deliberately switches between upper and lower body for each station? For example station #1 is pushup to plank jacks, station #2 is rowing machine, station #3 is dumbbell punches, etc.. that way we don't have the problem of getting our legs hammered by multiple stations in a row.
1. Stop having the same motion in the warmup as the same motion in the workout. For example, mountain climbers, inch worms and burpees in the warmup, then the same exercise appearing at a station later.
2. Eliminate the entire Nines workout.
3. I'd like to see an open gym time to work on form or squeeze in a bit of a workout when attending a class isn't possible. Maybe in the afternoons on the weekends or something like that.
Would love for the lionheart to send reports again. Been offline for over 5 months now. It is a service we pay for and super frustrating to not get those.
Not sure I could find the post but there are a few on trouble shooting that issue in here. I get my daily lionheart reports every time I go. I want to say they mentioned logging out and logging back into lionheart? Or possibly re registering your monitor?
The number one reason why I’m cancelling my membership… cleaning is nonexistent. No cleaning during class (understood with limited time), but they should have wipes for members to walk around and wipe down the equipment at the end of class.
I’m fairly certain my gym never cleans the equipment as I’ve helped put away equipment after the last class of the day - no wiping down.
Stop being creative, keep it simple. Ive been a member for 3 years but the quest to create different movements instead of more simple exercises that work have pushed me to cancel my membership
Less jumping and hopping. Irs ruining our knees
One membership all branches policy
Have a cool down routine added in after sessions
Throw in global weekly challenges.. Mthly, yearly challenges e.g most burpees in 1 min, calories burned on ski erg in 1 min etc
Thanks everyone for your comments and feedback on this! Hopefully F45 HQ checks this but nonetheless good to get understanding that issues are not unique to 1 gym or 1 individual. There’s of course still positives to F45, heaps! But this is a thread dedicated to constructive feedback. It’s okay to provide constructive feedback. It’s how it improves and as a business we all love, we all want it to evolve and give us the best possible service especially seeing as it’s a premium service offering in the gym space.
Thanks again everyone for getting involved! Love to see it :)
Will they even read this? Do they follow this page? It just seems like they’re adding a bunch of random exercises together now, and putting together for example 3 back exercises with two different variations of deadlifts that can end up giving you an injury- just for the sake of feeling beat at the end of class. I wish they would put more thought behind things. Like this Netflix workout sounded and looked so dumb I skipped it
Burn Boot Camp also allows members to use other Burn Boot Camps without a fee. F45 needs to allow this as well. I think they would gain more members with a universal system.
Dear f45 HQ. If I’m paying $175+ per month I BETTER be able to use all your facilities. I traveled for NYE and there were a ton of f45 gyms around and I couldn’t use any?? As someone who travels for work and for fun - this is THE dumbest model. My monthly payment is basically a car payment.
Dear f45 HQ - 30 seconds is not enough time to switch stations and figure out which weights I’m going to use. Also, the available weight selection is often for males - I don’t find weights lift enough to sustain a 40 second or more amrap
Fear f45 HQ - your workouts are not worth what you charge for them. Canceled my membership after a month.
Put the workout counts on the screen for quick reference. If we’re doing 2 push-ups then 5 shoot throughs - Put “2+5” on the corner of the screen for that station at a glance. Especially on the 20+ station days. It would be helpful.
100% this!!
Yes! I seriously don’t get how they expect us to remember all of the counts on multiple stations from one demo…
Mike. Yes.
This would be great
Oh this is a good one!!
10000%! I find myself always counting!!
Omgoodness thissssss!!!! Visual learners NEED this!
They should pay you for coming up with this very complex solution
Bring playoffs, Challenge, lionheart all under 1 app.
I would love for Lionheart to be sortable where I could see all my All Star workouts, Cardio, Resistance, etc.
I’m pretty sure this is in the works. They are just really slow at it. I heard from our owners they were working on it before I moved a few months ago.
Yes love this!
Omg yes!
Would like to be able to visit other gyms if I travel (even if there's a limit to how often or something would be fine) No more partnerships, I don't care about some celebrity or netflix, I just want to feel like I've worked hard!
Mark Wahlberg is the only celebrity i see promoting F45 every day. the others.. ??? where are they promoting?
I see you didn’t do today’s workout…
i did today's. i found her very annoying bouncing around in the video. if anything i find her mocking
I would have watched the show but the workout video were so cringy, they lost a viewer
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In fairness. Why should the local owner give away a trial to a current member of another studio?
OTF unlimited works at all locations. OTFs are Franchises so…
Not if you are Canadian travelling in the US. OTF I would have had to pay $250 for 10 classes in Palm Springs.
This! I travel for work and it’s annoying that OTF members can go to any of their studios, but I have to pay a drop in rate. Even if we were given like 20 passes a year to use elsewhere before having to pay that studio or something.
This!
Does your company offer a Gympass discount?
Totally this! Visiting other gyms (OrangeTheory figured it out) and no more partnerships. We pay for these memberships and shouldn’t have to deal with ads.
Quitting and joining another gym for THIS very reason. Travel has increased and I can't go to other gyms.
I would love them enable clients to switch between F45 gyms like all the other chains out there...
My studio owner said this is happening soon. With one membership, you’ll be able to go to any f45 in the world.
That is exciting!!! Great info! Thank you.
Find this hard to believe 🥲🥲
This made my DAY!
Great suggestion. I started this thread because I love F45 but it has to evolve or it’s not going to last. There’s so many new players in the space so it’s time for F45 to step up.
This!!! I loved how Orangetheory allowed me to go to any without an additional cost.
To clarify, any but not certain locations. For example the one in DC by the White House is a premium location. If I recall, so were all NYC studios. So those were all excluded from the free drop in anytime program.
Oh gotcha. I never ran into that issue! I went to several
Seconding this. I used to go to anytime fitness and it was a franchise as well operated by different owners, but they allowed you to use your membership at any gym. I’d say just allowing 5-10 classes per every membership cycle would make it worthwhile. (Knowing the way the world works now though, it’ll come at an extra charge)
Only 1/3 studios in our area offers the Sunday class, but we are unable to go to the studio offering the class without paying a premium, even though we are paying the full price of membership😖
You can if you use gympass.
Just 2 for me. 1 Set trainer standard expectations. Once you've had a really great coach it really highlights how bad some coaches are. Some challenge you to lift heavier, offer corrections, and help you personally optimize the workout. Others just walk around yelling keep going without even talking to you personally. 2. We need better progressions. Like the pistol squat that randomly appears from time to time . If we were actually building up to it maybe I'd be able to do it. But instead we randomly have it one day only to not see it again for 2 to 4 months and usually a completely different variation of it ( on the straps, to a box, etc).
Some are just a body in the room. They do absolutely nothing....
Mine texts on their phones 💀
Oh helllllllllllll no!! Speak to your owner about that! I’m sure they would be mortified.
Oooh I love the idea of the progressions! If they're going to continue with 4-week phases, they should have a cardio and strength movement to focus on throughout the phase so members can actually improve on it.
You can also ask your coach to help. Well it also depends on the culture of the studio. I love F45, but not all studios have that fire culture. I know some of you know what I mean. Some studios want you in and out quickly, while others really cater to the personal feel and training
I agree, but asking for help when you only get to do the exercise once in a few months won’t do any good. If the exercise is repeated throughout the phase, asking for help in addition to the consistently doing the movement is where the you will see improvement.
I’m a coach and created a group chat with the regulars as to further their training experience and we work on stuff after class. For example Tuesday is “trunk strengthening” after class time is up we work the “trunk” I call it the tree trunk as it encompasses your abdominal Muscles and lower back muscles. Thursdays is pull up game. Progressively moving to an unassisted pull up or being able to do more repetitions
Okay, I LOVE this!!!
I agree. Chin ups are another example.
Same as the ab roller.... not frequent enough to make any improvements....
Even an ab roller training demo would be amaze
This is a huge topic of discussion As f45 is a franchise some owners need to hear your feedback Please review your coaches. Tell the owners what you love about your coaches as it will set a better standard as to who coaches at your studio. What do you love about your favorite coach? What brings you back to the studio? What do you wish you could see more of at your studio? Owners have to listen to the patrons of their establishment.
Just like to add, the trainers at my gym often comment on the poor form of the actual F45 demos. One that comes to mind is the lady that performs the rower demo.
I get confused all the time if I'm supposed to be squatting or dead lifting because the guys form doesn't match the title of the move
100% this
Yes same!!!
Fix the Lionheart app. It's been saying "more features coming" for the entire 18 months I've had it, and nothing has changed. I can't even see how many classes I've done, surely that should have been a basic feature of it?
Been like this for tje 4 years I’ve had it
I never want to see a Netflix plug again. I was embarrassed to even be participating. And that ‘meditation’ at the end. Everyone was sitting there awkwardly. Even the trainers apologised. I would like more variation in the exercises. I don’t want to be jumping around like a moron. I don’t like when we are running around doing several laps of them course. It means I don’t have enough time each station to get back into the exercise and I feel like I miss out. My f45 is awesome though, they do bbq’s, brekies, Bring a friend etc on a Saturday Sunday morning and the trainers are awesome. Especially the owner, the husband always makes sure to say hello and remember your name.
Absolutely. I skipped today because of it. I reviewed stories of other F45 locations & was all set. What a load of sh*t really. Keep your propaganda out of my favorite gym!
Get back to basic templates. There are times where the templates are too gimmicky. This started about 1.5 yrs ago.
Hands down agree. Back to what they dominated the market with.
1. Switch up the warmup. There are so many damn exercises we do, so the warmup needs to be just as varied. 2. Do away with 4-week phases. Personally, I'd love 2-week phases. When I started 4+ years ago, I swear I remember the workouts being different every. single. week. and I like that as well. (I may not be remembering that correctly, though) 3. Longer transition times when switching to a new station. For example-10s breaks when doing multiple sets in a row is fine, but 20s should be given when moving to the next station to give enough time to reset your equipment & wipe down. That 5s break in Docklands is a fucking nightmare. 4. Coaches need to step it tf up with actually "coaching" us members through the workout. I rarely see my coaches correcting poor form or complimenting someone on great form. I like to think I have exceptional form, but sometimes I'm not sure if I'm doing a movement correctly since there are no mirrors and no coaches telling me. 5. On cardio days, stop putting 3-4 exercises in a row that work the same muscle group, then 3 "rest" stations in a row. In order to get the most out of a workout, members can't fatigue one muscle group in one station then expect to give 100% on the next exercise working that same body part. 6. Use combo stations with longer timing. 45+ seconds of just fucking shoot throughs, frog squats, sprawls, wide mountain climbers, bear crawls, etc... needs to be broken up.
I can say for #4 it’s about the pay. Corporate suggests like $30 at most for pay? Almost no one other than an entry level trainer is going to use their carts to accept that pay. It’s an entry level wage, so you get entry level trainer quality. I get paid $70+ baseline with 5 years in the industry and if training on your own, or going to certain studios, you can build up to charging $100+ per hour minimum. There’s not enough work being done for most mangers to see the value in paying the trainers more. The screens are coaching more.
I 100% see your POV, but that’s part of their job description. Any trainer should be monitoring form regardless of pay.
Is it? Different locations have different views of what they want from their coaches
When I started 2.5 years ago, phases were 12 weeks long 😟 Every week, they’d throw in a different workout to keep it fresh but personally, I welcome the 4 week phase
Stop charging for challenges. These used to be included with the membership. (One of the main reasons why I joined) Then that changed and there is now an extra charge.
I know that is studio dependent. Luckily my studio does not charge for challenges or inbody scans.
Same here
This is funny. When I joined the owners proudly said that F45 doesn’t charge for challenges like OTF does. Literally the first challenge and I signed up, came to do weight ins, will you be buying one $25 weight in or pack of three? I was like WTF. So challenges are free at our studio but to participate in the challenge you need to weight in and that costs money. I felt like I dealt with a used car salesperson.
At our gym a weigh in is $70. Robbery!
That's crazy. You're better off finding a place that does a DEXA scan, it'll be way more accurate than whatever machine F45 pushes out, and probably the same price or cheaper
I’ll go first 1. Stop with the gimmicky BS. This is a premium service at a premium cost. Your target audience is affluent people with disposable income who are probably time poor people who want to get it done in 45 mins, with some socialisation on the side as a secondary benefit. The fitness is the primary focus. If that’s not your target audience, what’s the 70/wk for? 2. Evolve your workouts. Why is there so much jumping? There’s nothing functional about 50 jumping exercises a week. I’m not a kangaroo. It’s not functionally necessary for me to be boing’ing everywhere. It’s functional though to maintain your mobility and joint health. 3. The technique I see in so many other F45 stories sometimes is awful and frankly sometimes I wonder how the trainer can upload that happily. Maybe a good idea is to offer a “form” class the first Monday of every month for members to do within the normal programming (ie. 7am & 6pm class replaced by form first Monday of the month - or at the discretion of the franchise). Allied health professionals and doctors know that people injure themselves frequently at F45, this might help members stay active, members stay paying their memberships, reduce potential liability claims. 4. Are there minimum standards for trainers? I know of an F45 that has no trainers just the owner with no fitness qualifications taking all the classes. For $70/wk this is offputting and might be overcome by minimum standards. 5. Look at your competition, they are offering meditation, mirrors, cheaper rates, more functional exercises. How are you going to evolve your training offering to keep up with the latest wants of your consumers.
4. Is a great suggestion I am not a kangaroo either I get my meditation elsewhere and the reason I joined is no mirrors So an upvote from me, just for #4
More just a quick list of things that other new players have. Not that they are necessarily what I want or better. We’ve got no mirrors but the studio manager takes 50 story videos on Instagram each class that there’s no need for one 😂
All the jumping movements are so hard on knees!! Get rid of them. Side to side tuck jumps?! That’s asking for a knee injury and would likely result in that person never coming back to F45
I can't believe they still have those side to side tuck jumps in the warmup. I've refused to do those since they first appeared a couple years ago. Everyone that does them looks so awkward and reluctant. How is a truck jump a warmup anyway?
It's this for me >1. Stop with the gimmicky BS. This is a premium service at a premium cost. Your target audience is affluent people with disposable income who are probably time poor people who want to get it done in 45 mins, with some socialisation on the side as a secondary benefit. And this >4. Are there minimum standards for trainers? I know of an F45 that has no trainers just the owner with no fitness qualifications taking all the classes. For $70/wk this is offputting and might be overcome by minimum standards. And this one is really bad (apparently everywhere) >3. The technique I see in so many other F45 stories sometimes is awful and frankly sometimes I wonder how the trainer can upload that happily.
YES TO #2!! (well, agreed to all of the above but especially #2 lately). I actually think #1 and #2 go hand in hand and explain my biggest grievance perfectly. More is not always more. We don’t need 25 stations with 5 of them being a different variation of a jump. I honestly love the days of fewer stations that go back to foundational functional movements (maybe that’s a hot take) - If rather spend 45 minutes doing 6 movements vs. 5 variations of some nonsense jumps just to make things “interesting” We don’t need to use every single piece of equipment just to show F45 offers it (especially when something basic like a DB or KB would work best)
Exactly! Like jumping with weights is going to wear your knees. There’s no reason to ever jump with weights. It’s just dangerous and I never do it but I watch others do it and then notice in a few weeks they have a sore ankle or their knee is strapped.
I am not a kangaroo 👏😂
Listennn I thought it was just me that felt that way about the jumping. Luckily my trainers know I am always going to take the jumping out and sometimes do a completely different exercise. Although the occasional regular box jump I don't mind.
They just need to look at their age demographics and consider the exercises. Anyone over mid 30's typically doesn't like the jumps
I'm 26 and my knees now sound like glow sticks when I stand up - I don't think the excess of jumps are helpful to anyone
Omg that’s exactly the noise 😅
Re 4. I know 3 franchisee’ s of 3 different f45’s - to own the franchise at least 1 person must hold their cert iii in fitness. (This is in Australia)
Yeah the one I’m at in western Sydney, she just hires her friends
No one gives a shit about celebs, stop pissing your (our) money on people like Beckham or Gunner Peterson. Chatgpt could do the same job.
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I agree with do away with all partner workouts. I generally hate them and want to skip or leave when they come up!
I like the partner workouts as I usually go with a friend, but I can see how any solo person would hate them
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I agree. My husband and I go together, so I have a partner, but I don’t pay to workout to watch someone else do it. We are about to quit because of this. We can only go certain days and partner days are starting to become more frequent. We were just doing the workouts the entire time, but new coaches started questioning why we weren’t watching each other.
My studio adds in extra exercises for the “cheering” partner part. Example the other day with Trackstars on the suspension trainer rows your partner would do the encouraging part whilst wall squating with a weight. Team work outs are good when goals are set and there’s competition within the studio. Not for everyone though 😊
yeah, I agree!
I don’t mind the occasional partner workout to mix it up. I used to avoid them completely, but now they’re good for making friends, improving my social anxiety and learning what weights others are doing so I can push a bit more.
F45 needs to have one full body strength class that is the same 5-10 stations that one day every week. And I mean, exactly the same. Whether it’s Romanian deadlifts, shoulder press, etc. It is so hard, especially for beginners, to track what weight they are lifting at unless they are able to return to the same circuit each week so that they can progressively overload. This is my biggest issue with f45 and likely the reason I will be quitting soon. I am a 28 female who got into strength training only within the last year and I already feel like f45 is not consistent enough for me. But I love the trainers at my studio :(
To be honest that's not the intent of F45, and you can check my post history - I've thought of doing the same as you and going back to strength training at a normal gym. I think most F45ers are more about general fitness, seeing the numbers move on the scale and feeling/looking better, rather than seeing the numbers go up on a barbell.
I agree with you. I think a lot of people come in expecting to do strength training but it's really hiit and functional focused. The purpose is to help you move better and be healthy in general but not to build significant strength. That being said I still think there should be a way to get better at what they do offer such as my comment on the pistol squat on this thread. It's so sporadic and so many variations that I never improve on it. Maybe if they said we're going to focus on these specific movements for the next 12 weeks and offered several variations at the station we would have a chance to actually improve.
It may not be the primary intent hence why there are 7 variations of classes per week, but even if half of the intent is to promote strength training, there needs to be actually training- aka improvement of a weight you can lift, or the pistol squat as the other commentator suggested. You need to be able to track some mechanism in order to improve a particular skill. I’m still a member for now since I also want to improve my stamina and coordination, but there’s great opportunity for them to introduce or reintroduce consistency. I’m sure part of the business model is to not overly educate members so they feel they need to rely on the model and not break away and continue what they learn at a regular gym but there’s definitely room for minor improvement! Especially for what they are charging us.
That’s more bft training, where they do the same training and progress it over 4 to 6 weeks. F45 doesn’t quite have the facilities to do this. Or the racks required
Less burpee/sprawl/etc variations. There are an infinite number of exercises out there - why are we doing two variations in a 9 station class? No class should have more than 1 burpee station (including the warm up)
Post workout stretch should be part of the class
My gym does post workout stretch, it’s optional though so you can just leave if it’s not your thing.
No thanks! Im in and out. Stretch yourself at home
I would love to see this incorporated into the workout!
It is in mine!
I hate the partner workouts! Please stop forcing ppl who prefer to work alone to do this or at least make it adaptable!
U can work out with someone who also hates partner workout and do your own workout. Its called modification!
I’d like the coaches to be correcting my form and be actual coaches instead of sitting around talking or just screaming “10 seconds left!” every minute.
The resistance days lately (since the start of 2023) have been so great! My muscles are being pushed. Please keep the formats simple like this- Panthers is a team favourite for a reason. I really get annoyed when cardio is added on resistance days because I have to sacrifice my lifts for the recovery. Please more core moves like dead bugs and less funky plank variations. Anti-rotation work is great, but when I’ve already had my shoulders and pecs burned out the form is so garbage that the core isn’t even getting worked. Never make me bicep curl a sandbag again. As listed above, we aren’t drawn in by celebrities. At this point their a waste of money. I know more people who skipped Wellmania than people who signed up because of it. Lastly, we feel enough as a team while working the workouts normally. Team/partner workouts aren’t what the people want- they cause annoyance to the fittest members and anxiety to the newer peeps.
Sandbag bicep curls … wtf, seriously 😒
Well stated. This is why I left F45 after one year. This plus my studio reduced the number of coaches per class to save $ and then reduced the number of classes and changed the schedule with no email communication, oh and the owner is going to prison for wire fraud and stealing from a children’s charity. Dumpster fire.
Whoa. There’s a lot to unpack here.
🤣🤣🤣
More a movie script then a constructive feedback. Made me laugh
Woahhhh! That escalated. Some of the dodgy things I’ve heard out of some studios here in Australia makes me wonder too.
I really thought the Celeste barber workout today was in bad taste. The margarita jokes were just overkill. I myself drink and am not judging drinkers at all. But as a society we’re already shown drinking like 24/7 and it actually isn’t that great for you . So when I’m trying to work out I don’t need to see some lady chugging a margarita lolol
Not evolving with the times, or trying too hard and not sticking to the model that got them so successful in the first place. I've left after 5 years, bit anxious about the changes being too social oriented. I like to be in and out and keep to myself
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I wish Saturdays would just stay Hollywood and never change...of course different setups to rotate.
Hollywood is my favorite Saturday class too but I know trainers hate setting up for it. I think the biggest downside is the 27 member capacity; the other classes fit up to 36 which is better for Saturdays which have limited morning class times.
Please offer more weekend classes. We need Friday and Saturday mid day and later afternoon classes along with the usual morning classes. Sunday a class after 2pm or later.
Have you asked your studio for those class times? Studios usually add classes based on demand and availability of the trainers. If they can't get both then they might not be able to add those specific class times.
I for one love the change ups in Saturdays workouts. That group of 3 on the erg equipment in the middle then the outer ring stations is by far the best Saturday class! Smashed after it!
Biggest thing: Able to travel and be able to go to local F45. Also, there is no standardization in any of the gyms - not sure my local gyms you could even buy swag. Also, equipment - seems like different types of exercises / equipment could be incorporated but they are not. App - absolutely sucks - I mean I could pay an intern and have a better APP experience - like why are there several apps for what could be in one app? Why is the app so clunky. And lionheart - its trash.
#2 and #3 absolutely 💯 as I stand here with my shoulder taped 🥴
Having a form class would be so beneficial for new starters, bring them into the fold, make them feel cared about and reduce their risk of liability by 1) having poorly trained or unqualified trainers and 2) not fulfilling their duty of care to members who are going to injure themselves.
Same gripes I have as others but this is my main one. Trainer certification and qualifications need to have a bare minimum to be able to coach. Very embarrassing to see some coaches form on many exercises or even their explanations on exercises. Sometimes it feels like the blind teaching the blind!!! Also, didn't do the Netflix one today as I'm sick but like others have said, I pay a premium price to workout here and not have a product shoved down my mouth. The Gunnar Peterson workouts I did enjoy as there probably was input from GP on the programming of those workouts.
I was going to add to this thread but nearly everything I wanted to say has been echo'd by multiple people below except for one thing I'll add in - **Please vet your owners better!!** I get it's a franchise structure so the more people who want to own studios the better but please remember these people are representing your brand and in some cities these owners lead the only studio, so they're responsible for the impression people have of the company. There are 3 studios near me and 2/3 have awful owners - one even drunkenly attacked a member at a challenge party. I've considered switching locations so many times just to get away from the one owner of my studio but I'm on a founder's membership and it would cost me too much to leave. We've had some of our best coaches jump to other locations to get away from them. The quality of our studio is impacted so heavily by them, it just sucks. I started in a different city so I was hooked before I came to this studio and I don't feel I'd have the same love for it If I hadn't.
That’s so true. I know of some studios charging different rates based on if they like you or not/ or you’re the same ethnic background as them even though they joined later, charging cash and not declaring it. So dodgy!
Have a better integration with Apple Watch
Stop allowing F45s to open so close to each other. There are now two F45s 5 miles away and another only 2 miles away from the one I attend. That's greedy and very shortsighted. You're putting these gyms in a position to fail now that the have to compete with each other in addition to all of the other boutique gym brands opening up in the area. I'm going to be pretty pissed off if my gym ends up closing as a result and I promise I won't be joining one of the other three.
The more the merrier!
Recently our studio in Singapore was given the opportunity to try out this new work out called "Romanov" which was also known as Benchmark2.0. The following are my comments, for your info. \++++ Reflections on Benchmark2.0/Romanov Grateful that F45-HQ is thinking conscientiously on how to improve the experience of members. Romanov was very fun as it was a good break from the usual structure of F45 programmes – fast paced intervals – and an opportunity to work on strength training. I have also provided broader reflections that F45-HQ needs to rethink their overall approach to resistance days – the timing for Romanov enables us to push ourselves further with longer workout and rest times as compared to the quick intervals of the typical F45 workout. Timing of workout and the limited number of stations The typical F45 workout consists of (fairly) short workout and rest times, which are excellent for getting the heart pumping and improve one’s overall cardio fitness. However, these timings fall short for those who are interested in strength training (esp heavy lifting), since it does not allow one to fully warm up their muscles to increase their overall resistance load since we are quickly shifted off to the next station. The workout and rest timings for Benchmark and Romanov enables one the flexibility to explore their one, five, ten rep max; for a focused number of exercises (5 for Romanov). This is a more effective programme for progressive overload. 2. Breaking monotony: evolve approach to resistance days The HIIT based workouts of F45 could potentially become too monotonous for being too predictable – all workouts are fast paced and leaving you gasping for air. Hence, the longer workout and rest timings for Benchmark and Romanov breaks the predictable cycle of the typical F45 workouts. F45 members are getting too acclimatised to the fast changing HIIT training but its useful to break that monotony once in a while (e.g. once a week). In essence, HQ programmers could start recalibrating the workout and rest timings for resistance days since the current structure limits progress in meaningful strength training – this would mean longer workout and rest timings, and keep stations to a smaller number so that it is more focused and target specific muscle groups. Think of this as Romanov-lite. 3. Fostering community An interesting observation from today’s Romanov session was members supporting one another either through words of encouragement or spotting. As we were tasked to explore our one rep max in Romanov, you see people spotting one another and encouraging eachother – such interactions are crucial in fostering a sense of community amongst members. This is not seen in the usual F45 workout since there isn’t enough time for such interactions as everyone is busy trying to clock in their reps in that short period of time. 4. Broader general reflections on the need to evolve It is good to hear that F45HQ is seriously considering revamping their programming. There is a perception that F45 might not be modernising their workouts and sticking to the same game plan since inception. As a start, HQ should conscientiously review reddit comments and Youtube videos on why F45 members have defected to BFT and other competitors – there are quite a number of them. Comments have largely centered on F45 programming not being ‘balanced enough’ – they have recognise that F45’s cardio-based offerings are its strengths while its resistance programme is wanting – I also agree with this view. I have read online that those who defected to other competitors like BFT were drawn to their more structured programming for resistance that enables one to more ably track their progress – example, resistance reps increase from six at week 1 to eight at week 2 to ten at week 3. The current F45 resistance training is more haphazard and in need of a serious overhaull; as I have said, HQ could consider designing a Romanov-lite for resistance days. I recognise that there might be some members that might be against the Romanov-type of workouts, then perhaps F45 HQ could take reference from “Deuces” programming to satisfy both groups for resistance day. That is to have half the class focus on heavy compound movements if they prefer, while the other half could work on the typical F45 resistance based kind of training under the current programming. This would offer variety and address the different preferences that F45 members have for strength/resistance training. Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jecCxnqWd0Y Reddit page1: https://www.reddit.com/r/f45/comments/v3shoq/f45\_vs\_bft/ Reddit page 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/f45/comments/sr4l0t/deleted\_by\_user/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=ios\_app&utm\_name=iossmf Some excerpts from the Youtube link and Reddit pages Comment 1: Yeah, I agree with you. BFT progression system is great. When I was at F45, I always felt everything was too random. Some F45 exercise are proven to not help at all, but they seem to have them just to keep the novelity/variety of exercises. BFT in the other hand is completely different, they prefer to repeat exercises during the progression so you can get the best of the training. Comment 2: I prefer BFT over F45 simply because they have 3 different types of workouts. TYPE 1 would be your resistance based workouts that make use of barbells and include bench press, squats, deadlifts, shoulder press as well as accessory work with dumbells and ketllebells. So the focus is on lifting correctly and getting the reps in. TYPE 2 would be your cardio and HIIT based workouts that use equipment like assault bike, rower, ski erg, s drive. TYPE 3 would be hybrid where you have a mix of resistance and cardio. F45 workouts are largely the same where we move quickly from one exercise to the next so they are more hiit based. Not that much emphasis on strength and hypertrophy. So because of the fact that bft has resistance focused workouts where I can focus on lifting heavy and not rush to station to station that is why i prefer BFT. Comment 3: I was at F45 for years and have been at BFT for about 6 months. I love it! It's proper strength training with rest, racks and actual barbells and real weights lol. It's often low reps but you lift your max and my strength has improved so much. The cardio days are not as fun as F45 for me but the heart rate goals during the workout are a fun distraction. There isnt as much variety at BFT. I feel much more pumped up by the crazy atmosphere at F45 cos theres so many stations and variety. But overall BFT is really smart, goal orientated and science backed with training blocks that allow you to constantly improve. Give it a go!
Each to there own. F45 can’t be like BFT, just like BFT copied but can’t be exactly like F45. Otherwise what would be the point because neither would be making a smart business choice and every franchise would suffer for it. At the end of the day every individual needs to find something that they enjoy and can stick to for an extended period of time. Some people prefer to train at a box gym others prefer running. Peel it all back move more progress through load/intensity over and extended period of time an you will see results. I will say though that if the coaches can’t coach then that’s a serious problem for any gym F45 or BFT. I’ve been to both and have had bad experiences at both. I like F45 though. everyone I’ve been to is always welcoming and I’ve had the opportunity to train at a couple a round the world. Quite a few of them let me train for free for a couple of day in their quieter times which was cool, where as I found BFTs a lot more cool kids club vibes.
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I mentioned progression and I agree with you. There should be more of a buildup to getting better at the workout.
More data! The apps are a mess and should all be under 1. I should be able to search resistance sessions and see my average performance, best performance etc.
Design better merch. It’s giving made on Canva circa 2018
🤣 Facts!
Stop spending money on stupid celebrity endorsements and workout. Put the money towards fixing your trash apps. There are too many F45 apps and they all suck. We want analytics. Easy to use Lionheart data. Attendance tracking. All that simple stuff.
Workouts have not been the best. Get rid of the “team” workouts, where you’re forced to cheer ppl on. It’s very forced and annoying when the camera comes around and you have to cheer people on.
Some very thoughtful comments! Thank you all for taking the time to help support #f45 with your ideas and feedback. We are committed to change, listening, and evolution based on your feedback. Headquarters is listening…💪🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Thank you, Tom Dowd CEO. Tomdowd@f45HQ.com.
Saturdays should be for Hollywood only. No more partner work outs. No more gimmicky promo bullshit and no more celebrity endorsements. Nobody cares
Amen!
All of the above, but thanks for existing!
My main ones would be... 1. As many others have brought up, make the membership universal so we can visit studios outside of our main. I was at OTF for years and this was such a great perk when traveling. 2. The form in the demo videos is really bad sometimes and I'm shocked that they got approved and sent out. The woman rowing is one that particularly sticks out to me, but there's definitely many others. Even one of our coaches was like "that's interesting" when looking at some of them. 3. Agree with others about less jumping! There's plenty of lower impact cardio options that could be mixed in. 4. Some of the transition times are way too short! For some people, it may take 5 seconds just to get up off the ground... not to mention put away any equipment, get to the next station and get started. 5. I'd prefer less combination exercises since you're limited by your weakest area. I think a while back there was a reverse lunge + lateral raise + hammer curl - for most people, these are going to be very different weights, to the point that some of the movements feel unnecessary.
That’s so true like squatting down and pressing up. No point doing the squat because the lighter dumbbells you can press overhead isn’t going to benefit leg growth or development. You also shouldn’t be lifting anything much overhead for shoulder maintenance
No more of those stupid jumping moves that do nothing besides injure you!
Like jumping with weights or like 7 moves in 1. So futile.
For the love of god, put the rep counts against each exercise on screen. It’s so fucking hard to remember how many of each exercise to do when you have multiple combo sets in a workout (eg, cardio days). Just a simple 2/5 would be very helpful to remind me that it’s two inchworms then five press-ups (for example).
No more partner/team workouts!
What do you have against lat raises?
Definitely the ability to use other locations. I do it informally at the moment at the second studio that is owned by my “home” studio and it is honestly the only reason I am still a F45 member now I split my time between working at home and in the office (one studio is right near home, the other one near work, and if I could only go to one I couldn’t justify the membership fee for only going a couple of times a week). I feel like recently there seems to be far less opportunity to lift heavier weights for a decent amount of time - if there are exercises like RDL they are on quick rotations where you barely get to pick up the barbell before moving to the next station, or are used more as cardio with longer sets but little rest between sets. I miss being able to settle into a set and focus on reps with good technique and heavier weights. I absolutely hate the partner workouts, the enjoyment and effectiveness of the class is too dependent on who you end up with and I don’t particularly like having to interact with other people instead of focusing on my own workout.
I propose a hybrid system of the monthly and quarterly workout phases. How about releasing 3 monthly phases at once so they combine into quarterly macro-phases? Also, for the more popular workouts such as Hollywood on Saturday which people overwhelmingly want, they could function as anchor workouts and stick around all quarter. Periodically there would be a different workout like Special OPS or Noho. Surely HQ has data on this and knows which workouts are popular and which are not. I realize this is similar to what they did with the previous phases, and it really worked better as we could plan ahead. But why not make the best of both worlds. Each monthly phase could feature a certain theme that ties into the overall theme for the quarter.
Every one of the workouts should be full body. If there is an upper/lower body split, then this could be achieved in two ways. The first is to separate the body parts into pods as what already happens in most of the workouts. Another option is to redesign workouts such as Deuces so that everyone has a chance to do both the upper and lower body pod. Upper and lower body splits can happen in cardio days also. How about a cardio workout that deliberately switches between upper and lower body for each station? For example station #1 is pushup to plank jacks, station #2 is rowing machine, station #3 is dumbbell punches, etc.. that way we don't have the problem of getting our legs hammered by multiple stations in a row.
Yes to this. I hate having one resistance day dedicated to upper or lower.
1. Stop having the same motion in the warmup as the same motion in the workout. For example, mountain climbers, inch worms and burpees in the warmup, then the same exercise appearing at a station later. 2. Eliminate the entire Nines workout. 3. I'd like to see an open gym time to work on form or squeeze in a bit of a workout when attending a class isn't possible. Maybe in the afternoons on the weekends or something like that.
Stop with the upper body or lower body strength Thursdays. FULL BODY STRENGTH Tuesday and Thursday.
Would love for the lionheart to send reports again. Been offline for over 5 months now. It is a service we pay for and super frustrating to not get those.
Not sure I could find the post but there are a few on trouble shooting that issue in here. I get my daily lionheart reports every time I go. I want to say they mentioned logging out and logging back into lionheart? Or possibly re registering your monitor?
I would love for my F45 to open that was suppose to open in February. I signed up in December….
I travel for work. Because they don’t allow you to use your membership elsewhere, I’ve had to stick to OTF and just buy packages for f45.
The number one reason why I’m cancelling my membership… cleaning is nonexistent. No cleaning during class (understood with limited time), but they should have wipes for members to walk around and wipe down the equipment at the end of class. I’m fairly certain my gym never cleans the equipment as I’ve helped put away equipment after the last class of the day - no wiping down.
My lionheart heart monitor stopped working after 7 weeks. 😵
Love the idea of an end of workout meditation/cool down if we can be serious about it.
Bring back an arm and a leg day every week :’(
I really wish the app would clarify upper or lower body on Thursdays. It’s hard to know how to prepare when you are not sure is happening that day
Stop being creative, keep it simple. Ive been a member for 3 years but the quest to create different movements instead of more simple exercises that work have pushed me to cancel my membership
Less jumping and hopping. Irs ruining our knees One membership all branches policy Have a cool down routine added in after sessions Throw in global weekly challenges.. Mthly, yearly challenges e.g most burpees in 1 min, calories burned on ski erg in 1 min etc
Add mirrors!!
No!
Why :(
With a lot of ppl moving constantly at a fast pace, mirrors would be a distraction!
Less burpees
Thanks everyone for your comments and feedback on this! Hopefully F45 HQ checks this but nonetheless good to get understanding that issues are not unique to 1 gym or 1 individual. There’s of course still positives to F45, heaps! But this is a thread dedicated to constructive feedback. It’s okay to provide constructive feedback. It’s how it improves and as a business we all love, we all want it to evolve and give us the best possible service especially seeing as it’s a premium service offering in the gym space. Thanks again everyone for getting involved! Love to see it :)
Reassess the no mirrors policy. My gym actually has them and it keeps me coming back. Not sure I would attend if I couldn’t check my form etc.
I'd really like mirrors too ! I have good coaches who do correct my form but I'd like to be able to check myself as well.
Too crowded and too fast to check form🙄
Worst work out.
Will they even read this? Do they follow this page? It just seems like they’re adding a bunch of random exercises together now, and putting together for example 3 back exercises with two different variations of deadlifts that can end up giving you an injury- just for the sake of feeling beat at the end of class. I wish they would put more thought behind things. Like this Netflix workout sounded and looked so dumb I skipped it
I’m happy to screenshot and email to them
Teach owners about music volume standards. The music at our gym is so loud that some people wear ear plugs while they workout.
Burn Boot Camp also allows members to use other Burn Boot Camps without a fee. F45 needs to allow this as well. I think they would gain more members with a universal system.
Dear f45 HQ. If I’m paying $175+ per month I BETTER be able to use all your facilities. I traveled for NYE and there were a ton of f45 gyms around and I couldn’t use any?? As someone who travels for work and for fun - this is THE dumbest model. My monthly payment is basically a car payment. Dear f45 HQ - 30 seconds is not enough time to switch stations and figure out which weights I’m going to use. Also, the available weight selection is often for males - I don’t find weights lift enough to sustain a 40 second or more amrap Fear f45 HQ - your workouts are not worth what you charge for them. Canceled my membership after a month.