Reviewing USC’s Stay Active Premium Pass
By: Jordan Bucknor ‘22
With a lot of us still stuck at home, fitness has been a popular topic this year — everyone trying to make the best out of their situation. I’ve made a post about fitness/working out before, but I recently became aware of another option for students: WORK. USC Rec Sports partnered with WORK to bring you even more workouts. WORK offers not only live (everyday but Sunday), but a collection of pre-recorded videos for constant access. Not limited by a schedule, students can have full control over when you’d like to work out, even past the semester. While there are a collection of free classes available, WORK and USC Rec Sports is offering a 70% discount for USC students to total in at $25 a month.
We should first start with a list of the different categories of videos available on the platform:
Bands and Bodyweight
Dumbbells and Bodyweight
HARDCORE Series
Metabolic Strength Training
Prehab and Recovery
Suspension Trainer Series
(Replay) WORK Online Live Classes
Livestreams of numerous other types of classes!
First Impressions:
As far as first impressions go, a lot of classes seem to require tools and supplies that some students may not have. Weights can sometimes be replaced with water bottles (or things of the like) and exercise bands aren’t too expensive, but in terms of the tools used in the Suspension Trainer Series and some of the gear in the Metabolic Strength Training, I don’t think most students will have or want to buy them. Still, there seems like an average amount of things for the average person to do.There are far too many classes available (a good thing!) for me to be able to try them all, so I tried my best to sample one from each category.
1st Class: Online Live Replay, WORKflow Yoga w/ Caro 10/21
The class started by welcoming returners, something I imagined would be a nice encouragement to keep coming to the class and help build a virtual community.
I was a bit confused at the beginning (and a couple other points throughout the lesson) because the instructor would call out poses without doing them and I honestly have, like, zero of them memorized.
I enjoyed the peaceful music playing in the background and that the instructor shared personal stories for the sake of relatability.
Instructions also came in kind of fast at times, but there is a feature to slow the video down (or go faster!) if you wanted.
I loved that I had two different angles to see from!
I liked the alternating focuses on different parts of the body, but the moves did repeat a bit more than I would like.
I loved the cool-down stretches after struggling so much during the session.
The class was about 50 minutes total.
There were some moves I just chose not to do and at times came up with alternatives for myself — a benefit to being online/unseen because there is no guilt for doing so.
It was challenging (I kept trying to do the crow pose throughout the session and could never quite get it), but it was also helpful to discover what my strengths and weaknesses were.
This class was a mix of exercise and brief meditative moments, but I don’t think I’d call it “easy”.
2nd Class: Prehab and Recovery, Mobility 4 (Neck & Shoulders)
This class was intended to relax a body after a workout (from my understanding), but I liked that it was quick and short: something to just get my body moving when I was feeling super lazy.
There was a lot of emphasis on taking your time during the session even though the class was only ten minutes long.
The class was basically stretching and made me realize how tense I was.
I enjoyed the encouraging words during the session.
With only a couple of moves and a few minutes long, this could definitely be done in between class breaks.
I really enjoyed this class overall and even freestyled a bit at the end!
3rd Class: HARDCORE Series, Hardcore 1
I knew right off the bat this class would be a bit intense for me because of the name, but I wanted to try it anyway.
Even the instructors acknowledged it would be hard, but still encouraged viewers to go at one’s own pace.
This was the first class I did that had one person giving instruction and one person actually doing the moves: a good strategy in my opinion because there’ll never be a moment you won’t know what to do with two people leading you!
The video was short, around 30 minutes, but the moves are fast-paced; every move is timed.
The moves are also repeated in sets which you could find either comforting or boring depending on what you like.
This would be a good option for those who are up for a tough challenge and want to knock their workout out for the day, but it was a bit much for me.
4th Class: Metabolic Strength Training, Pulse 1
This was another two-screen tutorial, but in addition, this one had a list of the upcoming moves on the side and a timer at the bottom.
There were super fast transitions, but that’s not a critique as much as it was a feature of the fast workouts; there was even a warning given in the beginning!
The moves themselves only last about thirty seconds.
Dumbbells are incorporated later on, but it’s still optional.
There’s a lot of jumping involved in this, so it may not be the best option if you live above someone.
Similar to the last, this might be another good option for people who want to workout but also just want to get it over with seeing as it’s about a 30 minute class.
5th Class: Bands & Bodyweight, Bands & Bodyweight 1
You’ll need a floor band for this class, but you won’t need it the entire time; this is absolutely a full body workout.
This is also another class with two people teaching: one to give instruction and one to actually do the moves so you always know exactly what to do.
The workout jumps right into with a fast-paced, full-body warm-up but there are slower transitions later between moves since you have to go from standing to crawling a lot.
This is another class of repeating sets/circuits and lasted about 40 minutes.
There is a lot of jumping involved in this workout too so be wary if there are people living below you and try to use a yoga mat to stifle the impact.
I didn’t find this one to be super intense, especially by opting for the easier alternatives every now and then.
I almost wish there was just a band class in itself since I enjoyed it so much.
6th Class: Dumbbells and Bodyweight, Total Body Strength 1
You’ll need dumbbells for this, but you won’t use them the entire time either.
I still feel like you could do the workout without the weights or just use water bottles/something else similar if you don’t have weights on hand; you also totally have the choice to adjust the weight of dumbbells to increase or decrease intensity.
Do be careful that you’re using weights you can actually handle.
Another class with a two person combo!
As the name implies, this (and what most of the classes seem to be) is a full-body workout.
I opted to not use the weights more often than not.
This was about a 40 minute class with not too much resting time.
I liked that this class ended with a stretch as not all of the other classes did.
For my last class, I wanted to experiment with the different playback speeds since they were offered; I mean, you could always just go fast during the normal time offered but why not try it out?
I think 2x is impossible to keep up with unless you’re super athletic (or superhuman), but 1.25x–1.75x are more realistic/doable.
On the other hand, while you might think slower equals easier, 0.5x comes across as just brutal since the longer time you hold a move the more it burns; the same goes for 0.75x.
Overall, I’m really not sure of what the purpose of the speeds are, but hey, do you.
Summary:
With all that’s going on right now, I at least, find it hard to really stop and show up for myself. But none of us need to be perfect; we don’t even have to enjoy each part of it — we just need to try. Progress over perfection!
When it comes to all of the classes overall, you’ll need a bit of room for all of them. You should also have water and a towel handy. Be prepared to sweat! I found the fact that I could pause the video both a blessing and a curse because there was a risk I might pause it and then just not return. Easier/harder variations of moves are always offered as well. I think the one instructor/one demonstrator method works the best. Since the moves are timed, the emphasis isn’t on how many you can do, just that you keep moving.
I do wish there was some classification on what classes were for a “beginner” or “intermediate” and that more classes had music in the background — something I actually sort of missed and fond I depended on to keep me going. I also wish all classes had a move list/timer since it super helpful when it did appear. Naturally, pre-recorded videos felt a bit more distant than live ones because of the lack of true audience interaction; but I think that comes more with the territory than any actual fault of the platform.
I wouldn’t recommend this subscription to those who are just beginning their workout journey, as I don’t think there are enough beginner/easy workouts. But if you already see yourself as a bit athletic or at an intermediate phase in your workout journey with a couple of tools of your own, you’d probably find the WORK platform really helpful!
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