BODi beta impressions

Beachbody has designed a new fitness platform called BODi, also known as Beachbody Interactive. BODi offers daily live classes and is supposed to be released sometime in September. It is being promoted as an alternative to other programs like Peloton, iFIT, Apple Fitness+, and more. I am going to share my initial impressions with you on BODi beta so far.

The BODi beta was released in August. Since then, I have been jumping into classes and getting a sense of what Beachbody has to offer. I even got onto the live BODcast, which I will tell you more about later.

I had never used any Beachbody program before. So their whole platform and way of doing things was entirely new to me.

When I first jumped into the app I was a little thrown off, but not in a bad way. I just did not realize that when I started the BODi beta, it would include almost every program Beachbody has put out.

Beachbody library

They have some pretty popular programs and you have probably heard of some of them before, like P90X or Insanity. I dug in to check these out as well and all I can say is, wow. They are actually really full and complete programs.

With most connected fitness services, you will often get random workouts. Every once in a while, you might see something that actually includes structured programs that provide week-to-week progressions.

While there are other services that offer workout plans, I have never seen programs built out as complete as Beachbody’s.

Each program includes intro videos, guides, progression trackers, nutrition plans, and more. There are all sorts of tools to make sure you are doing everything you need to hit your goals.

Many of these programs are up to six days a week. They also include recovery workouts and mobility work that is designed alongside the strength workouts.

Just looking at all of the other programs Beachbody has built over the past 20 years, I was very impressed. But the Beachbody interactive BODi beta is all about their 30-minute live classes for now.

BODi beta studio

I have taken many live classes on different platforms, and most of them tend to be pretty well-designed but not super highly produced. The biggest thing that stood out to me was that these new BODi classes have high production value.

The whole room must be in front of a giant green screen. Sometimes they work out in a giant flame room, and other times, they are in a funky water room.

All of the BODi classes are filmed in the same room, just with different video production.

Often there is also a huge BODcast in the background that shows other Beachbody members who are doing the workout live with you. The coaches do a great job of talking to you about modifications and interacting with everyone on the BODcast.

I registered to be on the BODcast for one of the classes, and I actually showed up there. It was pretty cool and I think some people will really enjoy that feature.

The BODi program is not just going to be strength, bodyweight, and cardio classes. There will also be classes designed for the MYX 2 bike.

Beachbody just released the MYX 2 bike and I am looking forward to reviewing that as well once it’s delivered. It looks like a really nice bike at a cost that is very attractive.

Obviously I was not able to try out any of the MYX 2 classes just yet. Plus, I don’t think they were available on the beta. From what I have heard, the MYX 2 classes will be available on the BODi platform when it releases in September.

Beta fixes

As with all new programs, platforms, and betas, there will always be some problems as well. A few small things I noticed were:

• There was no way to connect my heart rate to the platform
• There is no leaderboard or anything similar to that
• The program would freeze and not track properly when I tried to save my class and mark it as complete
• Even though I was given the option to do so, I was not able to cast the workouts to my TV

These bugs will probably be fixed soon. They were just things I noticed while testing the beta. Besides those, the BODi beta ran smoothly.

I mentioned this previously, but I do believe that Beachbody, BODi interactive, and the MYX bike really do have the resources to become one of the best and most popular connected fitness devices alongside Peloton, iFIT, and others.

If they are able to create this type of production value just for their first beta test, I think we are going to really start seeing impressive things coming from BODi. Especially if they are able to provide some really high quality devices, like the MYX 2 bike, at cheaper price points than some of the other competitors.

Even though Beachbody has been around for 20 years, I really do see this as a starting point for them to elevate into a more complete platform with connected fitness tech.

I am really excited to see how this program grows once it’s launched, and I’m looking forward to taking more BODi classes. I have my MYX 2 bike on the way as well, and I am looking forward to giving some impressions on that soon.