Cait as of Late

What’s better than 1 free class trial a week? 5 classes in one week! CorePower Yoga touts a one week free trial, and I intended to take full advantage of the opportunity., despite the fact that I’ve never done a heated workout class and I am one of the sweatiest people I know (thanks Dad for giving me these amazing genes!!). I also happen to be one of those people who carries around an electric fan on a mildly hot day– I just can’t hang.

When I told my mom that I was going to be doing hot yoga for a week, she said, “Oh… that doesn’t seem like something made for you. Maybe for other people, but not you.” She’s right, but I try not to knock something before I’ve tried it.

This week was definitely the most challenging week of my Free Group Fitness Challenge thus far, but not for the reasons you might expect.

Made it this far and still wondering what’s going on or who I am? Check out my About page here!

Facilities

When you walk into the building, up the stairs, and into the front office area, you’re greeted with apparel for sale on both sides of the walls (lots of Lululemon!), a fireplace, a comfy little seating area in the center of the room, and a desk at the back of the room. There are shoe cubbies and a small bench for taking off or putting on shoes. Around the corner of the front area lies the 2 studios; one for slower, more yoga-focused classes, and the other for the classes that lean more into cardio and strength.

I checked in at the front desk with an instructor, who quickly gave me a tour of the facilities. There are nice locker rooms, with open cubbies, lockers (bring your own lock!), 3 showers, 3 bathroom stalls, and a changing area. There’s a small basket in the locker-room with spray deodorant, cotton swabs, and some other small toiletries.

CorePower charges $2 for towel rental and $6 for mat rental, so I brought my personal yoga mat and an old towel that I usually use in the winter time at my front entryway to wipe my snowy boots (don’t worry, I cleaned it!).

Monday, Class 1 – CorePower Yoga 1 (aka “C1”)

• Heat intensity: low
• Physical intensity: medium low
• Focus: Flow & Cardio

Tuesday, Class 2 – CorePower Yoga 2 (aka “C2”)

• Heat intensity: high
• Physical intensity: medium high
• Focus: Flow & Cardio

The next day, I took C2, as it seemed like the obvious step up. Although this class was supposed to be harder than C1, the only difference I really noticed was that it was super effing hot. Soooooo hot! I’ve never sweat so much. It was miserable. I missed Claudia and C1. This class was much more crowded than the previous one (~20 people in class), so that added to the smell of BO and feet. I felt gross after class, not refreshed like I’d hoped.

I took a break day after C2, and I could definitely feel a little soreness in my arms and legs from the 2 classes, but nothing major.

Thursday, Class 3 – Yoga Sculpt (aka “YS”) Justin Bieber Night

• Heat intensity: medium high
• Physical intensity: high
• Focus: Strength Training

I was so excited for this class. I was hoping it wouldn’t be so miserable because the heat was supposed to not be as intense as C2. It was a special “Justin Bieber Night”, so I thought that would also make the experience more fun. I walked into the studio to see 30 girls packed into the space. Before class started, 10 or so additional people crammed in. Everyone looked to be 18 to 22, with only a few outliers. It was so crowded, we had to stagger ourselves at the front or back of our mats to not hit the arms of the person next to us.

I grabbed some light weights and blocks from around the room to set up. As I was setting up, I accidentally knocked over my water bottle, and a small amount of water spilled onto the floor. No worries, I thought, I literally have a towel right here! One wipe, super quick, and I cleaned up the water. To my horror, this singular wipe on the floor left a black streak on my towel.

wtf…

Do they even clean in here? I know they don’t clean between classes, I’ve come early enough to witness the changeovers. Do they clean every day? I don’t know! Later, I searched on the r/corepower subreddit and discovered multiple allegations of uncleanliness. Some people were claiming to have gotten ringworm from certain locations’ rental mats. Apparently, CorePower does not hire cleaners, and instead incentivizes its students to come and clean on weekends in exchange for free classes.

This is so gross. Everyone is barefoot, walking around, the air is hot and stinky, I’m stinky, and maybe 10% of students wipe off equipment after using it.

These thoughts were running through my head as we began class. Yoga sculpt was fine for the first ~20 minutes, and then I overheated. I started to feel dizzy, especially with how fast we were doing the yoga poses and lifting. We were doing full length bicep curls with our weights to the beat of the JB’s top hits, which felt way too fast to actually have good form or work the muscles intentionally. We were doing our “vinyasas” in about 3 seconds, which made it feel like a burpee. I hate burpees!!! All the exercises were combos (like squats while doing an Arnold press, or lunges while doing curls). This would have been fine, but not at the speed we were going and with the crazy heat on top of it. I also really struggled to hear the two instructors over JB blasting.

Friday, Class 4 – candlelit Hot Power Fusion (aka “HPF”)

• Heat intensity: high
• Physical intensity: medium
• Focus: Mobility & Recovery

The next day, my wonderful coworker and friend, Eleni, decided to join me for Friday night’s candlelit hot power fusion class. It was 104 degrees inside the studio, even hotter than C2 and YS had been. Luckily, there was no cardio involved in this class. Unfortunately, it was a 75 minute class, so I knew I’d be in for a real treat.

Because we were moving more slowly through the poses and flows, I was having a better time than previous classes, but oh my god– it was hot. There were about 15 people in this class, which was a relief after the Justin Bieber sweat shop experience. As the class went on, I started to get a little bored, as I felt like the class didn’t have as much flow to it as C1. I was definitely sweaty and feeling tired, but I was experiencing the euphoria that a solid power yoga class usually brings. As we approached the end of class, we just kept… going? The instructor lost track of time and we ended up being in that 104 degree room for 90 minutes instead of 75.

I noticed we were over time almost immediately, but in those final 15 minutes we’re supposed to be stretching and breathing and relaxing, and it felt rude to bring it up or just up and leave.

Sunday, Class 5 – CorePower Strength X

• Heat intensity: low
• Physical intensity: high
• Focus: Strength Training

I was going to go to a class on Saturday, but after the too-fast bicep curls at Yoga Sculpt on Thursday, my arm was feeling off and I decided to rest.

On Sunday, I went to the strength class. This class, thank God, was not heated. Still, heavy and warm air lingered from the previous class, feeling a lot like C1. We were instructed to grab heavy weights (I went for 5s, 8s, and 12s because I wanted to focus on form, but they had weights up to 25 lbs). This class had only about 7 other participants. The instructor, Nikki, kind of scared me.

Pricing

Unlike barre3, Pure Barre, and Orangetheory, I never was prompted to go over pricing with a staff member during my time trying classes at CorePower Yoga. Here’s what the internet’s told me about prices at my location. The class options can typically be used at any other CorePower location. You can check out prices at different studios at their website here:

https://www.corepoweryoga.com/content/buy

Option	Price	Rate
1 Studio Class	$35	$35 / Class
5 Studio Classes	$169 (expires 6 mos)	$33.80 / Class
10 Studio Classes	$279 (expires 1 yr)	$27.90 / Class
20 Studio Classes	$530 (expires 1 yr)	$26.50 / Class
30 Studio Classes	$765 (expires 18 mos)	$25.50 / Class
50 Studio Classes	$1225 (expires 18 mos)	$24.50 / Class
All Access Membership	$189 / month *	$15.75 / Class (3x/wk)

Some notes:

• Cancelling or freezing your membership costs $15 and requires 30-day notice
• Additional price/pack options are available for online memberships (at home workouts)

Final Thoughts and Scorecard

Aaaaand here’s my personal scorecard of the CorePower Yoga classes overall:

Category	Grade	Notes
Instructor vibe/energy	C+	Claudia was an A, most were Bs, but the Yoga Sculpt instructors were Fs…
Class difficulty	A	I was so exhausted
Cleanliness of space	F-	gross gross gross
Music quality/volume	B	Mostly good, but too loud in Yoga Sculpt
Class size / crowding	C+	Yoga Sculpt is once again bringing down the score for everyone!
Variety of classes offered / schedule convenience	B-	Wide variety of options, but strength and restore classes only on weekends
Price after trial	C	More expensive that Orangetheory!
How my body felt after	B-	Exhausted, but not always in a good way.
Sweat factor	A	If you like that!
Fun factor	B	Classes were generally fun, if you can get past the heat
Number of people wearing coordinated outfits	—	Maybe 20% of students
Number of people who said Hi	—	1 person after C1

Pros and Cons

PROS	CONS
Lots of classes to choose from	NOT CLEAN
Showers at facility	TOO HOT (for me)
Next to Homegoods	Having to bring so much of your own equipment or rent towels/mats

Final Grade for CorePower Yoga: C+

I know a lot of people really like CorePower Yoga, and I’m happy for them, really. But you won’t catch me paying for any memberships or class packs there any time soon.

Should I give hot yoga a chance somewhere else? Or will I be equally grossed out no matter where I go? Let me know in the comments where you think I should try next!

ttyl, Cait