First update! Yay!
So we have begun to compare yoga services. It's been a few weeks into our just about daily yoga practice, and we have a lot to talk about! It's been an amazing experience so far and we are both very happy with our progress and are both looking forward to the continued progress in our journey as Yogis (or Yoginis! Because we are gals after all!)
It took way too long to publish this first service review and comparison of services, and have since discovered other ones we like, so it's somewhat null, but we wanted to go ahead and give you all our thoughts anyway. Here we go!
It took way too long to publish this first service review and comparison of services, and have since discovered other ones we like, so it's somewhat null, but we wanted to go ahead and give you all our thoughts anyway. Here we go!
We tried a beginner class, a class we thought was a beginner class, and a beginner-to-intermediate class. We have tested
two different services (actually three now, and a few miscellaneous apps and youtube yoga instructors, but we will discuss those other posts), Core Power Yoga, and Daily Burn. We each have some thoughts on the two, and a favorite thus far. How We Do
Our tests were performed on our Samsung SMART TVs. Each Vinyasa practice we chose was approximately 60 minutes. The First Service we tried was Core Power Yoga Online.
CPY @ $10-15/mo (depending on commitment level) - CorePowerYoga online classes are produced by a yoga studio in California for, well, what it sounds like, people who are doing power yoga at home... and it focuses on core. The Teachers are professional. It actually breaks up the flow of your yoga practice fairly heavily to introduce what we think of traditional anaerobic exercises like crunches and sit ups, more so than other power yoga we have been exposed to, it seemed to be a real hybrid from the classes we tried.
Next, we tested out DailyBurn's Yoga videos.
DailyBurn @ $10/mo - Daily Burn is a service Caitlin was already subscribed to, so we though we would give it a chance and checked out its Yoga Selection. We thought we were getting into something just above the basic yoga poses level. We've both done yoga before and don't need too much detail about mountain pose or down dog. I'm not sure if this is a pro or con, but the Yoga narration lady makes a lot of silly analogies which had us laughing through some of the yoga poses. It messed with our breath, but it was amusing. I'm not sure that I could handle it every time though, might get old. The yoga videos definitely seem to be oriented to a more casual workout crowd, rather than encompassing the full values of yoga practice. It's a Vinyassa Flow style class, so it has less breaks in it for true traditional anaerobic exercises, but it does include targeted core strengthening yoga poses, and a lot of opening stretches that will help lengthen and get into the tough poses over time.
CPY @ $10-15/mo (depending on commitment level) - CorePowerYoga online classes are produced by a yoga studio in California for, well, what it sounds like, people who are doing power yoga at home... and it focuses on core. The Teachers are professional. It actually breaks up the flow of your yoga practice fairly heavily to introduce what we think of traditional anaerobic exercises like crunches and sit ups, more so than other power yoga we have been exposed to, it seemed to be a real hybrid from the classes we tried.
Next, we tested out DailyBurn's Yoga videos.
DailyBurn @ $10/mo - Daily Burn is a service Caitlin was already subscribed to, so we though we would give it a chance and checked out its Yoga Selection. We thought we were getting into something just above the basic yoga poses level. We've both done yoga before and don't need too much detail about mountain pose or down dog. I'm not sure if this is a pro or con, but the Yoga narration lady makes a lot of silly analogies which had us laughing through some of the yoga poses. It messed with our breath, but it was amusing. I'm not sure that I could handle it every time though, might get old. The yoga videos definitely seem to be oriented to a more casual workout crowd, rather than encompassing the full values of yoga practice. It's a Vinyassa Flow style class, so it has less breaks in it for true traditional anaerobic exercises, but it does include targeted core strengthening yoga poses, and a lot of opening stretches that will help lengthen and get into the tough poses over time.
The Pros
CPY
1. Variety of levels and routines per level, variety of routines to focus on specific body parts. 2. Multiple videos per level keep the interest level high!
2. The beginner video we did was on the easier side, but involved strengthening things like crunches.
3. The video includes the instructor, and at least two 'students'. One who is doing the as directed poses, and one who is doing modified poses.
4. The instructor isn't static. They move to the students and point out their alignment to help you learn and adjust your own pose and alignment.
DailyBurn
1. Has an app for the smart TV. It is also accessible on a game console, phone app, and computer. For the TV app, once you sign in, it keeps you logged in on that TV.
2. Daily Burn has many fitness program you can select and it will make a schedule for you, and you can also select individual practices outside of your program, kind of like a Netflix but for workout videos.
3. The video we followed (level 4) was challenging, but not impossible. We jumped right into a medium intensity level workout, not following a program. It was a full flow of Surya Namaskar A + B, Warrior 1+2, and some balancing poses. It was a pretty standard flow set, but was intensified by the addition of some difficult revolving plank poses, core strengthening poses at the end of the set, and some really great stretches.
4. There are 16 yoga videos in total. 9 of the 16 are from the directed program. The extra ones are shorter videos, like a meditative yoga class, or a dedicated stretching yoga class, or a 15 minute high intensity yoga session.
5. It has a calorie burn estimation based on your input weight and your practice.
1. Variety of levels and routines per level, variety of routines to focus on specific body parts. 2. Multiple videos per level keep the interest level high!
2. The beginner video we did was on the easier side, but involved strengthening things like crunches.
3. The video includes the instructor, and at least two 'students'. One who is doing the as directed poses, and one who is doing modified poses.
4. The instructor isn't static. They move to the students and point out their alignment to help you learn and adjust your own pose and alignment.
DailyBurn
1. Has an app for the smart TV. It is also accessible on a game console, phone app, and computer. For the TV app, once you sign in, it keeps you logged in on that TV.
2. Daily Burn has many fitness program you can select and it will make a schedule for you, and you can also select individual practices outside of your program, kind of like a Netflix but for workout videos.
3. The video we followed (level 4) was challenging, but not impossible. We jumped right into a medium intensity level workout, not following a program. It was a full flow of Surya Namaskar A + B, Warrior 1+2, and some balancing poses. It was a pretty standard flow set, but was intensified by the addition of some difficult revolving plank poses, core strengthening poses at the end of the set, and some really great stretches.
4. There are 16 yoga videos in total. 9 of the 16 are from the directed program. The extra ones are shorter videos, like a meditative yoga class, or a dedicated stretching yoga class, or a 15 minute high intensity yoga session.
5. It has a calorie burn estimation based on your input weight and your practice.
The Cons
CPY
1. The jump from beginner to intermediate can be overwhelming.
2. Has no app and must use the SMART TV browser, which is only OK with a mouse and keyboard attached. Also, we must sign in each time instead of registering the account with the TV.
3. No ability to group videos by skill level, but it looks like they are working on it.
4. There is a weird pause for what seems to be a commercial that never happens. And then they will be right back. Hi we're back to ... why? Its not really important, just odd.
5. The music... is very counter productive to a centering yoga practice. It's the opposite of Zen.
DailyBurn
1. Limited Yoga Videos, in comparison to dedicated yoga services.
2. SMART TV app's search interface is hard to navigate and has no description of classes.
3. While the set of classes builds a very good foundation, it leaves much to be desired for advanced yoga students.
4. Would be very lacking for students looking for advanced practices or wide variety of styles specifically in yoga.
5. Get's repetitive, doing the same classes over and over. So far it doesn't look like they are adding any
new ones.
6. Navigating the TV app interface is clunky. When you get to the app it automatically takes you to your daily video in your selected workout routine, but if you want to select a different video, there isn't much of a way to sort videos other than to just flip through them.
1. The jump from beginner to intermediate can be overwhelming.
2. Has no app and must use the SMART TV browser, which is only OK with a mouse and keyboard attached. Also, we must sign in each time instead of registering the account with the TV.
3. No ability to group videos by skill level, but it looks like they are working on it.
4. There is a weird pause for what seems to be a commercial that never happens. And then they will be right back. Hi we're back to ... why? Its not really important, just odd.
5. The music... is very counter productive to a centering yoga practice. It's the opposite of Zen.
DailyBurn
1. Limited Yoga Videos, in comparison to dedicated yoga services.
2. SMART TV app's search interface is hard to navigate and has no description of classes.
3. While the set of classes builds a very good foundation, it leaves much to be desired for advanced yoga students.
4. Would be very lacking for students looking for advanced practices or wide variety of styles specifically in yoga.
5. Get's repetitive, doing the same classes over and over. So far it doesn't look like they are adding any
new ones.
6. Navigating the TV app interface is clunky. When you get to the app it automatically takes you to your daily video in your selected workout routine, but if you want to select a different video, there isn't much of a way to sort videos other than to just flip through them.
The Winner
In Jamie's Opinion, the winner in this round was CorePowerYoga online. That said, since Caitlin already uses Daily Burn, there is no reason we couldn't use both for more variety.
In Caitlin's Opinion, it's a draw. Daily Burn is a great service overall. It has a lot of options for at home exercise, from dance videos, kickboxing, "inferno" which is their version of a insanity type workout, even pre-natal yoga and other gentle workouts for various needs, intense full body circuits, and the discussed yoga classes-- all of which can be done in your own home as long as you have space to lay down and spread out your arms. I like the direction it gives you with selecting a training program. By doing the directed yoga class each day you build a good foundation, doing the classes in the repetition and order it is telling me to, I do find myself getting stronger, but I can see outgrowing the yoga classes and needing much more advanced classes down the road (or so I hope!). CPY seems to have more variety, and also introduces more advanced poses faster which could be good or bad. You need to know your limit.
In Caitlin's Opinion, it's a draw. Daily Burn is a great service overall. It has a lot of options for at home exercise, from dance videos, kickboxing, "inferno" which is their version of a insanity type workout, even pre-natal yoga and other gentle workouts for various needs, intense full body circuits, and the discussed yoga classes-- all of which can be done in your own home as long as you have space to lay down and spread out your arms. I like the direction it gives you with selecting a training program. By doing the directed yoga class each day you build a good foundation, doing the classes in the repetition and order it is telling me to, I do find myself getting stronger, but I can see outgrowing the yoga classes and needing much more advanced classes down the road (or so I hope!). CPY seems to have more variety, and also introduces more advanced poses faster which could be good or bad. You need to know your limit.
Afterthoughts
After reviewing these services and looking at a few others as well as some other platforms, both of these services are lacking in some teaching fundamentals. At the time we started our practice and started using these services, we were unaware of this, but as we looked at other services and platforms we realized they are both seriously lacking in some pretty important areas of yoga practice. We are going to address that in a future post pretty soon, so keep your eyes peeled Yogis!
-Caitlin and Jamie out!
-Caitlin and Jamie out!