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Obé Review

Monday, May 19th

2025 Online Fitness Program Reviews

Obé Review 1.5 Star Rating

Obé

1.5 Star Rating
  • Cost: $24.99/month or $14.17/month with annual billing
  • 10,000+ on-demand videos across cardio (HIIT, dance, boxing), strength (sculpt, pilates), yoga, and activate/recover categories
  • Quiz-based personalized training plans with filters for fitness level, body focus, impact, experience level, and goals
  • High-energy instructors
  • Mobile app functionality - user interface, offline access: available on iOS and Android, with Chromecast and Apple TV compatibility
  • Body-positive approach to fitness.

Founded in 2018 by entertainment industry veterans Ashley Mills and Mark Mullett, Obé Fitness aims to transform your relationship with movement by offering a refreshing alternative to traditional fitness culture. The platform was born from their shared love of 80s-style living room workouts (like Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons) and their recognition that existing fitness options weren't meeting modern needs. Through their signature technicolor studio called "the Box," high-energy instructors, and engaging classes, Obé provides a unique approach focused on making daily movement joyful rather than punishing.

Website includes an overview of women's history in fitness

Obé's mission directly challenges the fitness industry's history of diet culture marketing and negative messaging toward women, instead emphasizing body positivity and sustainable wellness through entertaining programs, body-positive language, and modern habit-building techniques. Their website even includes a brief timeline of women's fitness history. Can you imagine being banned from running a marathon just because you're a woman? That's exactly what Kathrine Switzer faced in 1967 when she entered the Boston Marathon using an alias to hide her gender, since men back then wrongly believed women were incapable of running more than 2 miles. When it was discovered she was a woman, the men in the race tried to physically remove her. We think it's great that Obé is highlighting this important moment in women's fitness history on their website, but their choice to use an AI-generated, arguably sexualized image of Switzer in a pink tracksuit with perfect hair and Hollywood makeup feels like a missed opportunity to showcase the power of this historical moment - especially when the real photographs are in the public domain.

Best Online Fitness Programs

Obé offers an expansive workout library organized into four main categories

Obé's library includes more than 10,000 on demand videos. You'll find them in categories such as:

  • Cardio: Including HIIT, Dance HIIT, Dance Cardio, Boxing, Bounce, Jump, Ride, Step, Endurance, Run, and Walk classes to get your heart pumping
  • Strength: Featuring Sculpt, Pilates, Strength, Power, and Barre workouts to build muscle and tone your body
  • Yoga: Offering Vinyasa Yoga, Yoga Sculpt, Restorative Yoga, Breathwork, and Meditation for flexibility and mindfulness
  • Activate/Recover: Providing Warmup, Cool-down, Stretch, and Foam Roll sessions to prepare for workouts and help your body recover

Live streaming went the way of the dodo

You can easily find the perfect workout by filtering based on music, fitness level, class length, body focus, impact level, instructors, equipment needed, release year, and fitness goals. While you can see descriptions and equipment requirements before signing up, you'll need to create an account to actually preview any workout videos. Also, Obé no longer offers live streaming classes, which came as a blow to much of their user-base (and the trainers they laid off), especially those who used it to stay connected and active during COVID lockdowns.

No free previews of video content

Before you can access Obé's fitness content, you'll need to complete a quick questionnaire about your fitness goals, experience level, preferred class types, and specific interests like running or dancing. The quiz also digs into your habit-forming style (are you self-motivated or do you need regular check-ins?) and other wellness interests such as meditation or cycle tracking - but stay tuned on that. Once you finish, Obé provides a personalized training plan and fitness "personality type" that determines which workouts appear in your feed.

Monthly plan costs more than rival fitness platforms

After completing the quiz, you'll finally see pricing options: $14.17/month with an annual commitment or $24.99 for month-to-month billing (which is rather expensive compared to competitors, though it has decreased slightly since they discontinued live classes).

Best Online Fitness Programs

Obé's tech experience is frustrating and buggy

You can access Obé workouts through their website, iOS app, or Android app. They claim compatibility with Chromecast and Apple TV for big-screen viewing (which definitely creates a better workout experience), but many users report serious casting problems. If you're planning to travel offline, the iOS app lets you download up to 30 workouts - a feature apparently not available on their neglected Android platform. Many users believe Obé has effectively abandoned Android development despite continuing to market the platform to all smartphone users - it's reported to be buggy, to require frequent reinstallation, and the music playing often doesn't match what's advertised for a given workout.

iOS users face declining service quality, too

Even the iOS experience has deteriorated significantly. Long-time subscribers note that Obé has reduced new content uploads to mostly short 10-minute workouts, closed their community Facebook group, and limited instructor interaction.

Misogynistic data practices

One of our biggest concerns with Obé is their menstrual cycle tracking feature. When an app markets itself so strongly as anti-misogynistic and supportive of women's health, it should live up to high standards in these areas. When we looked at Obé's privacy policy, however, we discovered that they collect and share sensitive data like menstrual cycle information with third parties -including law enforcement. The privacy policy explicitly states they can use such health information for "complying with legal obligations, law enforcement, and legal processes." This is particularly concerning in the post-Roe v. Wade era in the United States, where period tracking data could potentially be used in miscarriage- and abortion-related investigations.

Obé's values and practices are fundamentally at odds

Given Obé's problematic approach to user data, declining service quality, and technical issues across platforms, we cannot recommend this service - especially to women in states affected by draconian reproductive health laws. (It's hard to imagine a more profound betrayal of feminist principles than covertly collecting women's intimate health data and then reserving the right to hand it over to authorities investigating reproductive choices.) The disconnect between this fitness brand's feminist marketing and their actual business practices is too significant to ignore. Women looking to get fit would be better served by basically any other fitness platform in our review.

Which Online Fitness Program is Right for You?

To answer that, you need to think about what you want from an online fitness program. Are you someone who struggles to stay consistent and wants a structured plan to keep you on track? Maybe you're a former athlete looking for challenging workouts to push your limits? Or are you a busy parent who only has 20 minutes a day to squeeze in some movement?

Whatever your reasons, online fitness programs offer great convenience and flexibility for people with busy schedules. Unlike going to a gym with set hours, online programs let you work out whenever you have time. Whether you're an early riser or like to work out late, you can access your workout anytime. You can also exercise from home, which saves you time and money that would otherwise be spent commuting to a gym.

The Best Online Fitness Programs Compare Online Fitness Programs Compare Online Fitness Program Reviews What are the best Online Fitness Programs Best Online Fitness Program Reviews

Online Fitness Program FAQ

Online fitness programs are workouts you can do from anywhere. They might include step-by-step instructions on how to do different strength training exercises or provide a fast-paced cardio workout that you follow on a video. In addition to focusing on improving physical strength, online fitness programs sometimes help with meal planning to improve your overall health.
Many online fitness courses come with a series of classes that build on each other. This will help you get stronger each day and build on the progress you have made. Many fitness program apps also let you record how long you exercised, what types of exercise you did, what you ate that day, and track some of your vitals. This keeps you accountable for the frequency of your workouts and helps you see areas where you could improve.
An online fitness program is one of the most convenient ways to get your exercise in. You don't have to leave your house, but you still get your own kind of personal trainer. Have you ever had a plan to get to the gym, but the hassle of having someone watch the kids, getting dressed, driving to the gym, and having to see other people prevented you from getting there? You're not alone. Having a workout plan you can do from home will likely increase the consistency of your exercise.
It is reasonable to spend $10 - $20/month for full access to an online fitness course. If you pay for a few months at a time or buy a year-long subscription, you'll end up saving money. Luckily, most online fitness programs offer a free trial so you can see what they have to offer and try out a few days of workouts before deciding if you want to continue long-term.
You could use your phone, computer, or tablet to view your fitness course. Whatever is most conducive to the type of workout you are doing will work for most fitness apps. Some apps even have Bluetooth capability that will sync with your heart rate monitor, Apple health, or other fitness resources to give you the best overview of your progress.
If you want to update your fitness app or stream any of the workouts on-demand, you'll need access to the internet. However, if you know ahead of time that you'll be away from the internet and want to have one of your courses accessible, some online fitness programs allow you to download videos and/or guides to your device. This would be useful if you're going to be camping or traveling in an area where you aren't sure you'll have a good connection, but don't want to skip a workout.
Some online fitness courses are geared toward one type of workout (cardio, strength training, kickboxing, etc.), while others give you a taste of everything. If you have a home gym with weights and cardio equipment, you might want to do strength training exercises that allow you to use your resources. Some people prefer fast-paced classes online like Zumba, while others want to practice mindfulness with yoga. Chances are, no matter what online fitness program you go with, there will be hundreds of different workouts that target all areas of the body and give you enough variety that you'll never get bored or run out of challenges.
When deciding what online fitness program to go with, ask yourself what your goals are. Are you wanting to lose weight? To tone your upper body? To feel healthier overall? Knowing the purpose behind your workout will be the first step. It also helps to know what kinds of exercise you do and don't like. If you choose a program all about weight lifting, but you don't like that kind of strength training, odds are you won't stick with it long. Most online fitness programs allow you to customize the way you want to work your body and cut out things you don't want to do.
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Another benefit is the variety available in online fitness programs. There are many types of workouts to choose from, such as yoga, pilates, HIIT, or weightlifting. This range of programs helps keep things interesting, and you can easily change up your workouts if you want to try something new or challenge yourself in a different way. Many programs also offer personalized plans that match your fitness level and goals, so you get a workout routine that's perfect for you.

And most people are pleasantly surprised when they discover that online fitness programs are generally much more affordable than traditional gym memberships or personal training. With online programs, you can access a wide range of workouts for a low monthly fee. Some platforms even offer free workouts, so you don't have to spend much money to get fit.

There's an online fitness platform for just about every situation. Some programs are designed to hold your hand every step of the way, providing personalized workout plans and progress tracking. Others offer massive libraries of workout videos, letting you choose what you want, when you want. Some include meal planning and nutrition coaching, while others focus purely on exercise.

No matter what you're looking for, most online fitness platforms follow a similar model: you can usually try them for free before deciding whether a paid membership is worth it. If you're on a tight budget, don't worry - plenty of great options offer free workouts. While you might see some features locked behind a paywall, you can often get a solid workout experience without spending a dime.

Once you have a clearer idea of what you're looking for in an online fitness program, it's time to narrow down your options. With so many choices, it can feel overwhelming, but keeping these factors in mind will make your decision easier:

  • Price and value. How much are you willing to spend? Free options exist, but if you're paying for a membership, make sure you're getting the features and workouts that matter most to you.
  • Variety and customization. If you get bored easily, look for a program that offers multiple workout styles. Some even let you create personalized plans based on your goals.
  • App support and accessibility. Consider which devices you use most - does the program have a user-friendly mobile app? Is it compatible with your smart TV or fitness tracker? Good cross-platform support means you can work out wherever you are.
  • Reputation and reviews. What do other users say? Are the workouts fun? Does the app work smoothly? Is the program easy to stay committed to?
  • Nutrition programs. Do you need help with your diet? Some fitness platforms include nutrition guidance, meal plans, or calorie tracking alongside their workouts. If you're looking to completely overhaul your lifestyle, find a program that addresses both exercise and eating habits.

To make your search easier, Top Consumer Reviews has evaluated and ranked the best online fitness programs available. Whether you're looking for structure, flexibility, or a mix of both, we hope this guide helps you find the perfect fit for your fitness journey!

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