REVIEW – online fitness with Hoolio + two months’ free access

Today I’m reviewing hoolio – the online fitness app.

Last week I faced a challenge. A very tough and serious challenge. Fiancé asked me to take a picture of myself, high fiving myself, without using the timer.

(Oaky, this is a lie, he didn’t say ‘without using the timer’, but I didn’t realise until afterwards that my phone camera has a timer, and then I felt a bit stupid, so I’m pretending that that was the challenge all along.)

It was tricky. Try it now if you don’t believe me. I tried various methods that involved propping my phone against things and trying to take the picture with my nose, but none of them worked. In the end, I had to take off my shoes and tights, and hold the phone between my toes, whilst twisting my body to get my hands around in front of the camera, and pressing the button with my toe.

I ended up with this, as well as a feeling that I probably have too much time on my hands:

HOOLIO FITNESS APP

As you can see, I struggled to focus the camera with my toe.

Anyway, the point of this story is that I discovered, not to my surprise, that I’m not as flexible as I used to be. Getting my foot up onto the footstool and reaching around it with both hands was not as easy as I felt it should have been. I clearly need to exercise more.

Which is where hoolio comes in.

Hoolio is an online fitness platform, where you can create a personalised fitness regime that’s flexible, fun, and totally built around you. It’s a cross between doing boring online workout videos at home on your own and going to a class, but has the best bits of both – you don’t have to travel anywhere, and you can do your workouts at a time that suits you, but you can also use your computer’s camera to workout with friends, so you don’t miss out on the social element.

Intrigued?

If you are looking for an easy and affordable way to get fit, read on while I tell you more about hoolio.

Okay, so first up, hoolio asks you a little bit about yourself and your current fitness levels, so that you can find exercises to suit you. There wasn’t a box to tick that said ‘I’m a lazy heffalump who’d far rather sit and watch Pointless than do a sit up’, so I went for their very tactful ‘masterpiece in progress’.

Hoolio workout online

Hoolio workout online

Then you can get started. Obviously you’ll need a couple of weeks to make sure you’ve got the right outfit, footwear, lighting etc* but then you’ll be all set and ready to get those abs of steel you’ve always dreamed of. You can choose to do individual videos, or pick out a preset plan that’s targeted on one particular part of your body, or created with a particular aim in mind.

Hoolio online workout

Hoolio workout online

You can opt just to do the free videos, which are YouTube based, and there are plenty of free ones to choose from. Alternatively, you can go for a premium package, for just £3.99 a month, for access to a much wider range of videos. You can get a free 30 day trial of the premium programme, so you’re absolutely not committing yourself to anything. (Top tip – sign up through my link for a bonus free month – that’s two months’ of premium videos for nought.)

With hoolio Premium, you also get access to videos from famous trainers such us: 

  • Svava Sigbertsdottir – creator of The Viking Method and trainer to Nicole Scherzinger & Amanda Holden.
  • Joshua Holland – who has trained everyone from Madonna to Gigi Hadid.
  • Charlotte Dodson  – Miranda Kerr’s & Gerard Butler’s Yoga teacher.

Fancy.

hoolio premium trainers

I had a go at both the free and the premium videos. One of my favourite free ones was called ‘Yoga for lower back pain relief.’ It was just 15 minutes of back stretching exercises, but at a really lovely pace. I had a go at this one in my office, (I share with just a couple of other people and no one else was in), and I found it a lovely way to break up the hours of sitting at my desk in front of a screen.

Hoolio online workout

Hoolio posture camera

One of the tricky things about an online workout, as opposed to working out as part of a class, is that you don’t get any feedback from the instructor to tell you whether or not you’re doing it right. hoolio gets around this by giving you the option to switch on your camera, so you can check as you go along to see if your movements match the movements you’re being shown. I tried out a back bend workout with the hoolio posture camera working alongside the exercise video. As you can see from this screenshot, you also get notice of what’s coming next, which helps the workout flow more naturally.

(I couldn’t figure out how to do a downward facing dog and take a screenshot at the same time, but this gives you an idea of what it will look like on screen.)

Hoolio online workout posture camera

Invite a friend

If you’re worried that you’ll start a workout and not be able to see it through, or just want to make the whole experience a bit more sociable, you can also use your camera to workout alongside friends. Once you’re in a hoolio workout, just click ‘add friends’ at the top of the screen and you can invite up to two friends to join your workout. (The workout pauses while you do this.)

I’m guessing this works best when you let people know in advance, so you could perhaps schedule a time that you were going to all set aside for the workout? You’re much more likely to stick to it if you exercise like this.

Sync with your iPhone or Apple Watch

As is the modern way, hoolio also has an app, and can sync with your wearable technologies, making it easier than ever to monitor your progress. The app also doubles as a remote control, which is really handy. Best of all, when you sign up through my link, you get two months’ of fitness free, instead of one. You literally have no excuse. Give hoolio a go!

What’s your favourite way to work out?

Hoolio online workout posture camera

*That was obviously a test to see exactly how prone to procrastination you are. You don’t really need any of those excuses – best to just crack on.

Sponsored post. All opinions my own.

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15 Comments

  1. 14 July, 2016 / 1:30 pm

    I love this, looks so great, I’m subscribing now and I hope this motivates me to start working out regularly.

  2. 14 July, 2016 / 1:54 pm

    The beginning of this post was pretty funny. I too find myself in these kinds of moments where I’ll step outside of myself, thinking “I really have too much free time lol” My wife loves a fitness vlogger mom “Shelly Dose”. I think she loves how personal Shelly is. It feels like she’s just working out with another mom/friend. I hear you when you say it’s challenging not to get feedback from an instructor. That said, I think you do get a different sense of inspiration. You have this “rewindable” role model in front of you and you can really study their form using your own timeline. Anyway, I’ll ask my wife if she’s heard of hoolio. I know she’s always looking for new fitness routines to follow. As for me, I’ll stick with my basement workout of dumbbells and isometrics. That seems to be working for now :) Thanks for the read and your personal take.

  3. 14 July, 2016 / 3:01 pm

    How clever, I might give hoolio a try. I’d like to see you taking a photo with your nose! … I hope you’re having a great week.

  4. 14 July, 2016 / 8:12 pm

    This has come at the perfect time: I’ve been looking for a good yoga video I can do at home. I shall be checking out immediately!

  5. 15 July, 2016 / 6:58 am

    I do a lot of work with technology in education and am delighted to see some real similarities here. The posture camera feature is interesting – many schools use their tablets and cameras in sports lessons now to help pupils improve their techniques. It’s all coming together!

  6. 15 July, 2016 / 12:33 pm

    I love all these online workout things, will check this one out. Great for when life is unpredictable and for holidays when you can’t always make classes and the gym. The posture camera is a clever idea, online exercise is really booming isn’t it!

  7. 15 July, 2016 / 5:10 pm

    I signed up obviously because I can’t say no to a monthly subscription. I did cancel about 5 recently so I feel like I deserve this one. Especially because it is so much cheaper than the gym I was going to join!

  8. 18 July, 2016 / 11:50 am

    This app sounds fantastic and a real solution to busy moms and people who cannot find enough time to hit the gym – I am certainly going to take up the offer of 2 months free and try and find time each week as I know the benefits of keeping fit are so important

    Laura x

  9. 18 July, 2016 / 10:22 pm

    now this looks great – I really need to start working out, and getting to a class is just never going to happen – so this could be a lifesaver!

  10. 20 July, 2016 / 5:05 pm

    I can’t afford to do yoga classes so I’ve been thinking i should try to access some online yoga tutorials that I can do at home. This one sounds quite affordable! x

  11. 27 August, 2016 / 4:27 am

    Its an awesome and really helpful article. The satrt of the post was really nice. I really need to start working out, and as I know the benefits of keeping fit are so important.

  12. 7 October, 2016 / 5:22 pm

    Hoolio seems like a very interesting app to use. Though I’m not into yoga, my wife will definitely enjoy this. I’ll recommend it to her so she can make her own fitness routine.

  13. 14 December, 2016 / 7:37 am

    Best of luck with CommentLuv on the blog. I didn’t find it very useful for my personal blog, I tried it many moons ago.
    I found Disqus worked/works well for my small personal blog.

  14. 6 March, 2017 / 12:20 am

    nice app

    • 8 March, 2017 / 4:06 pm

      I see the apps at a glance my thinking its may be helpful to do better exercise any time.

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