I have never been a natural athlete. I didn’t play sports as a kid, I’ve never actually enjoyed working out, and I’ve only became marginally interested in the health benefits of moving my body as I get older. The only force that compels me into the gym is vanity, and I feel fine admitting that.
Given I find no intrinsic motivation in mastering physical skills, you might think I hate the gym. But I don’t, for one silly reason: To satisfy an undergrad PE requirement, I opted for a two-week intensive weightlifting class, assuming it would be easier (and less humiliating) to knock it out quickly. For two weeks, I spent 10 hours a day in the gym for two weeks, where I learned not only how every single machine in that room functioned, but the science behind how exercise works. I learned how to fuel my body for the activity I had planned, when and how to plan my rest days and how to gauge my growth.
In the years since, I have never walked into a gym and felt confused or overwhelmed—but I know a lot of other newbies and casual gym-goers do. I’ve long wished others could experience a crash course in fitness like I did, so we could all feel as brazen as I do when walking into a new gym or starting an at-home fitness routine. And recently, I realized the Les Mills+ fitness app offers its subscribers something that sort of fits the bill.
The Les Mills+ app offers educational fitness courses
I’ve spent the past few weeks testing out Les Mills+, which guides you through at-home versions of the global brand’s popular group fitness classes. Ultimately, I determined that I would say Peloton is the way to go for most people, even though it is pricier. But Les Mills+ edges out Peloton, in one way worth highlighting—especially if you’re new to working out and want to better understand how and why exercise works in relation to your body.
Les Mills+ offers up familiar guided workout classes for cardio and strength training, but it also houses a library of videos that dive deeper on related topics. These aren’t workout videos, but educational videos.
When you open the app, you’re greeted by a menu offering up the exercise programs (BodyCombat, BodyStep, or Les Mills Barre classes). For the first week or so of testing LM+, I stopped there and did one of those classes. But if you keep scrolling, you’ll see the subheading Focused training. It includes links to landing pages like Getting started, Habit building strategies, and more. Through this portal, you’ll find wellness coaching, explainers on best practices for working out during pregnancy and menopause, and even a Change series, where you can find educational content on health disparities and body image.
Understand why you work out a specific way
The topics are designed to help connect you to your exercise and overall health, enhancing your motivation so you stick with your program. The videos are science-backed, but straightforward. Certified instructors walk you through the content, referring to studies and data as they go, and connecting it all back to exercise, nutrition, and wellness. On-screen graphics highlight key points, the instructors speak clearly, and it’s all easy to grasp, even when the topics are more complex. In one video, trainers explain concisely why BMI isn’t a reliable indicator of whole-body health and how you can assess your own fitness in other ways, then tailor your workouts and overall health plan accordingly.
Some topics might seem a little duh, but even those are presented in a way that feels engaging and motivational. A great example is the video on rest and recovery, filed under the Getting started series. Like, obviously you know you need rest days to give your body the chance to recover from a workout. I felt a little smug starting that one, assuming it would all be obvious stuff. I still learned a bit though. The video took care to outline the different types of fatigue the body can experience, and how those relate to physical performance—stuff I didn’t know.
Other videos give you a rundown of what to expect in certain kinds of workout classes so you don’t feel confused when you open up a class video and immediately get hit with confusing instructions from the teacher. I find these teasers valuable. If you don’t know what’s going on in a class, you probably won’t enjoy it and may not do it again. Even watching a three-minute explainer to orient you can help you nail it on your first attempt.
A good primer for beginners
Given the breadth and depth of the material, I find these educational videos a worthwhile component of the Les Mills+ offering, which costs you around $15 per month. Plenty of apps will take your money in exchange for choreographed workout classes you can complete on your own, but this informative content goes a step beyond.
Like I said, I’m motivated to work out by vanity. I am aware of the physical and mental benefits (I’m a certified spin teacher and have my Masters in public health), but that’s part of it. We all have our reasons: The students in my classes are training for races, or working on their cardiovascular health, or looking for some endorphins. My boyfriend hits the gym every day because he takes pride in sticking to a long-term goal. One of my friends goes on her lunch break because she prioritizes the mental health benefits. All of these motivations would be enhanced by digging deeper on the science behind how it all works and how you can exercise more efficiently to meet your goals.
Beyond that, I think it’s really useful stuff for beginners. Learning about nutrition, rest, different kinds of exercise, form, and more are crucial to exercising safely and effectively. If you go at your wellness goals in an unhealthy way, the best-case scenario is you burn out or lose enjoyment, but the worst-case scenario is you get hurt. Neither of those outcomes is why you’re exercising.
The videos are available during your one-week free trial. Give them a look.
